Dave Newton was born in Hermosa Beach, California. A lifelong reader and fan of science-fiction & fantasy, Dave discovered tabletop gaming in the 1980s and has been writing about characters and adventures in faraway places ever since.

He met Gary Gygax in 1988, and submitted a draft for his Abervon fantasy campaign to New Infinities for consideration. At the time, Gary was working on the Dangerous Journeys Multi-Genre Roleplaying Game and offered Dave the chance to help develop the fantasy portion of the upcoming game system.

 

Dangerous Journeys

Mythus was the flagship rulebook produced by GDW, Inc., and included both the basic and advanced version of the game in one rulebook. Mythus was a skill-based roleplaying game, and allowed game masters to add or remove complexity by adjusting the difficulty rating and using the tables applicable to their style of play.

 

Mythus Magic included all the rules for magickal effects and castings generated by the multiple schools and ethos of spellcasters, as well as magick items for use in the game.

 

Mythus Prime was the separate rulebook for use by the basic game.

 

Mythus GameMaster’s Screen included tables for combat, spellcasting, and a variety of often-used rules.

 

Mythus Bestiary was written by Dave and his second wife Michele, as the first in a planned trilogy of source books for the Mythus rules. It included creatures from both the inner and outer game world of Ӕrth, an Earth-like world.

 

Journeys Magazine. After Mythus was released, GDW published a magazine in support of Dangerous Journeys. Dave wrote several submissions, including creature details and a treatise on the advantages of skill-based roleplaying games.

 

Shadis Magazine. After the release of Dangerous Journeys, Dave was interviewed by Shadis, and subsequently published a scenario called Ridiculous Manor.

 

Sadly, Dangerous Journeys and Mythus were acquired by TSR, Inc., and were removed from print. The original books can still be found online in places such as Amazon and eBay, and many of the rules and concepts evolved into content to be found in later versions of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

After the Dangerous Journeys projects were canceled, Dave worked with some friends to put together a roleplaying game company called Quintessential Mercy Studio. The flagship product was called Rapture: the Second Coming – a horror RPG about the biblical Armageddon.

Rapture: The Second Coming

Rapture: The Second Coming was a novel take on the events of the book of Revelations. Quite a bit of research went into covering the different religious and philosophical factions that were represented, and the whole system was very roleplay-heavy, since combat was incredibly lethal.

Rapture: GameMaster’s Screen. This supplement contained a short adventure along with the necessary screen and tables for use by the gamemaster.

Tyranny: The First Seal was the first and only supplemental source book produced. Shortly afterward, QMS disbanded.

Twisted Bedtime Stories

Before co-founding Quintessential Mercy Studio, Dave wrote and presented erotic horror stories in a recurring convention panel called Twisted Bedtime Stories. Initially, he had collected a number of stories and art from other authors and artists to be published by QMS. When the company folded, he abandoned that project – choosing instead to protect the IP and publish a small anthology of his own works. Twisted Bedtime Stories is currently available on Amazon.

Quest!

When Dave’s daughters were young, they were fascinated by his game sessions. One was barely tall enough to see over the table, and had an obsession with moving the figurines and rolling the dice. The other would stand behind the group’s chairs and watch carefully as the gaming strategy unfolded. He decided that there needed to be a game for them, to help them understand the basics of turn-based gaming – one that taught the values of working together, solving problems, and roleplaying, without an emphasis on combat.

Shaintar

Black Lantern Report: Mercenary Companies. This is a supplement for the Shaintar RPG campaign, published by Evil Beagle.