Jennell Jaquays
| Jennell Jaquays | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Jaquays October 14, 1956 Michigan |
| Occupation | Game designer and artist |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Role-playing games, video games |
Jennell Jaquays (born October 14, 1956) is an American game designer and artist of table-top role-playing games (RPGs) and video games. Her notable works include the Dungeons & Dragons modules "Dark Tower" and "Caverns of Thracia" for Judges Guild; the development and design of conversions on games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for Coleco's home arcade video game system; and more recent design work, including the Age of Empires series, Quake 2, and Quake III Arena. Some of her best known works as a fantasy artist are the cover illustration for TSR's Dragon Mountain adventure.
Jennell Jaquays was born Paul Jaquays on October 14, 1956 in Michigan, assigned male at birth, and lived her early life in Michigan and Indiana. She graduated from Michigan's Jackson County Western High School in 1974 and Spring Arbor College in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art.
While still at college, Jaquays became interested in science-fiction and fantasy gaming and the nascent role-playing game industry through the pages of The Space Gamer. Jaquays discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1975 and formed the Fantastic Dungeoning Society with several friends at college including Mark Hendricks. Together they decided to create a fanzine, which would provide adventures for other Game Masters. TSR's Tim Kask gave Jaquays a casual license to publish this fanzine, The Dungeoneer, an amateur publication but one of the earliest RPG periodicals. The first issue was published in the same month as Dragon #1 (June 1976). The first issue was mainly drawn and written by Jaquays, with some contributions from other FDS members. In all, FDS produced six issues of The Dungeoneer from 1976-1978. Marketed as a "dungeonmaster's publication," the magazine was noteworthy for its pioneering approach to pre-factored adventures, "F'Chelrak's Tomb" was published in June 1976, the same month as Wee Warriors' Palace of the Vampire Queen. The publication has been an inspiration for many similarly-themed magazines in the United States and elsewhere. In addition to these "honest efforts at quality contents to interest readers," Jaquays began submitting artwork to TSR's in-house gaming magazine, The Dragon, in 1976. Her work appeared in the premiere issue of The Dragon, and later contributions included the cover of issue #21.
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