Tom Wham

Tom Wham
Born	1944 (age 72–73) Chester, Illinois, United States
Nationality	American
Known for	Fantasy art, Illustration

Tom Wham (born 1944 in Chester, Illinois) is a designer of board games who has also produced artwork, including that for his own games.

Wham worked a variety of odd jobs during his early adult life. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he worked for the Guidon Games hobby shop in Maine where he got his first game, a variant on a Civil War naval miniatures campaign, published. One of Wham's books was published in the same series of books from Guidon Games that began in 1971 with Chainmail. In 1972, Wham got a job with Don Lowry at Guidon Games, in the shipping/layout department of Campaign magazine; there, he co-authored a set of Civil War naval miniature rules, Ironclad. Afterwards he became a prison guard in his hometown, then held an office job in Denver. In May 1977 he began working for TSR, Inc. at their Lake Geneva, Wisconsin headquarters as a general office worker, the company's 13th employee. After running the Dungeon Hobby Shop for a summer, he was moved upstairs to the company's art department. Wham worked with Dave Sutherland and Dave Trampier on the original Monster Manual. Wham began doing some creative work for the company, contributing a handful of illustrations for the original AD&D Monster Manual, including the creature called the beholder. He also made a deal with Tim Kask, editor of The Dragon, to do a game in the centerfold, called Snit Smashing; this led to other games in Dragon, including The Awful Green Things From Outer Space. These games, printed on cardstock and included in the centerfold of the magazine, usually featured artwork supplied by Wham.

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