Harold Johnson (game designer)

Harold Johnson
Born	Evanston, Illinois
Occupation	Game designer, editor, author
Spouse(s)	V.J. (1982–present)
Children	Allison

Harold Johnson is an American game designer and editor, and author of several products and articles for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.

Harold Johnson was born in Evanston, Illinois. Johnson attended Northwestern University and got his B.S. in Biology in 1977. Johnson played his first game of Dungeons & Dragons in 1976; he soon became an avid player, and attended his first Gen Con convention in Lake Geneva in 1977. "I was very surprised to find that TSR was located so close to Chicago." After graduating from college, Johnson continued to work odd jobs, and play games.

In the fall of 1978, Johnson responded to an ad in Dragon magazine for a job as a games editor at the magazine's publisher, TSR. He was not selected for the job after the interview, but applied for another job with TSR as a game designer, but instead TSR hired him as an editor. His first assignment was as a copy editor on the original Dungeon Masters Guide, to which he also contributed some rules. He also began working on a tournament module which would later become C1, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. "That was to prove to the company I could write."

Johnson was promoted to Manager of Production less than seven months after being hired by TSR. He had responsibility for editing, layout, and dealing with the printers—from design turnover to manufacturing turnover. In the following years, Johnson worked as Assistant to the Vice President for Research & Development, Manager of Game Design, and Manager of Editing. In 1982, Johnson was promoted to Director of Games Research & Development. The same year, Johnson married his wife V.J., and in 1984 they had their first child, Allison.

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