James Desborough (game designer)


James "Grim" Desborough is a British game designer, author and blogger who has worked primarily on role-playing games, as well as card games, board games and social computer games.

Career

James Desborough wrote The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming in 2000/2001, winning an Origins Award for that work along with his co-author Steve Mortimer. Desborough was the co-author of CS1: Cannibal Sector One and for a short time he was the SLA Industries line editor. Desborough is also the owner of Postmortem Studios. Due to Desborough's connections with Angus Abranson, Postmortem Studios was one of Cubicle 7's early partnerships. He later became creative director at Chronicle City, Abranson's new venture.
In 2017 he released a licensed role-playing game based on John Norman's fantasy series Gor, which also included art by Michael Manning.
Desborough's work was included in Red Phone Box, and in The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination. He also self-publishes.
His D&D design work includes Monster Manual V and City of Stormreach.

Reception

Desborough has been quoted or used as a pundit on men's issues in various places, including The Stream on Al Jazeera. Some of Desborough's work has been criticised for being "hateful, violent and misogynistic", leading critics to petition game companies to drop his work.