RPG Pioneer Andrew Greenberg Has Passed Away

Andrew Greenberg, co-creator of the legendary Wizardry series, passed away on August 30th at the age of 67.

Alongside his colleague and lifelong friend Robert Woodhead, Andrew Greenberg (nicknamed “Evil Wizard Werdna”) was an incredibly important figure in the early days of computer RPGs, bringing the experience of pen-and-paper TTRPGs to the then-burgeoning platform of home PCs. He had a hand in the first five Wizardry titles, before ultimately retiring from the games industry to become a patent lawyer.

Greenberg and Woodhead’s legacy runs deep and can be seen and felt in most, if not all modern RPGs, with Wizardry widely known to be a critical influence on the earliest role-playing titles from Japan. Most notably, Yuji Horii has spoken openly about the influence the series and its contemporary Ultima had on his masterwork Dragon Quest series, which helped birth the modern JRPG genre.

Recently, Digital Eclipse released a full remaster of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, painstakingly restoring the original experience whilst bringing the visuals up to a standard more befitting of modern machines and players. Check out Mark Roddison’s excellent review to learn a little more about it.

Andrew Greenberg will forever live on in the hearts and minds of RPG fans and RPGFan. He has left an irreplaceable legacy on the genre, and for that we can be thankful to him.

Source: Time Extension