Bill Coffin

Bill Coffin
Born William P. Coffin
(1970-09-17) September 17, 1970
Easton, Pennsylvania
Occupation Author, editor, game designer, journalist
Nationality American
Education B.A. English, cum laude
Alma mater Washington and Lee University
Period April 1995 – present
Genre Fantasy, science fiction
Notable works Heroes Unlimited: Century Station and Gramercy Island
Palladium Fantasy RPG regional adventure guides
Rifts: Coalition Wars
Septimus
Systems Failure
Notable awards George A. Mahan Award for Creative Writing
Spouse Allison B. Higgins

Bill Coffin is a writer of novels and role-playing games in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Perhaps best known for his work at Palladium Books from July 1998 through May 2002, he made significant contributions to several of Palladium's game series, most notably Palladium Fantasy, but also Heroes Unlimited and Rifts, and created his own game, Systems Failure.

Career

Bill Coffin is a well-received author who made many books for Palladium Books from 1988-2002.[1]:196 He was a contributor to Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing and Rifts.[1]:162 In his post-apocalyptic game Systems Failure (1999), Y2K was real.[1]:161 However, due to a conflict with Kevin Siembieda, the president and co-founder of Palladium Books, Coffin left the company, much to the disappointment of his fans.[2] Coffin was let go by Siembieda due to editorial differences and general discontent with the Rifts Coalition Wars (which Siembieda and Coffin had co-authored).[1]:162 At the time of his departure, Coffin was the lead author of six titles in the final stages of production.[3] He was subsequently demoted to second- and third-author status on two of these books prior to their release,[4] and the other four were ultimately shelved and have not been rescheduled for publication.[5][6][7][8] In addition, having only received limited support from Palladium, Systems Failure has since gone out of print.[9]

In March 2007, it was revealed that Coffin was working on Septimus, a new campaign setting for the D6 Space core book for West End Games.[10] However, due to financial concerns, the publisher cancelled the project in March 2008.[11] Shortly thereafter, Coffin declared that he would release the game as a PDF under Evil Hat Productions' FATE system.[12][13] In May 2009, West End Games announced that they had agreed to publish Septimus again and that it would be released August 2009.[14] Eric Gibson released Bill Coffin's Septimus in 2009 as a PDF, which became West End Games's last product.[1]:196 He is currently working on The Dark Britania Saga and will have the third and final book out hopefully before 2014.

Bibliography

Palladium Books

Heroes Unlimited

Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game

Rifts

Systems Failure

The Rifter

West End Games

Novels

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. User: Bill Coffin (September 23, 2003). "Thread: What's up with Palladium and BTS?". RPGnet tabletop roleplaying forum. Berkeley, CA: Skotos Tech. Post 227. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  3. Smith, W., ed. (April 2002). The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (18): 10–13, 15. ISBN 978-1-57457-071-7. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Palladium Fantasy RPG—Land of the Damned Two: Eternal Torment and Wolfen Empire Adventure Sourcebook (formerly Adventures in the Northern Wilderness, Second Edition) – Smith, W., ed. (July 2002). The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (19): 11. ISBN 978-1-57457-076-2. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Rifts Dimension Book Six: Cosmo-Knights (final advertisement) – Smith, W., ed. (July 2002). The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (19): 13, 17. ISBN 978-1-57457-076-2. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. RECON: Modern Combat (final advertisement) – Smith, W., ed. (October 2002). The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (20): 8, 13. ISBN 978-1-57457-077-9. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. Hardware/Gizmos Unlimited: A Heroes Unlimited Sourcebook (final advertisement) – Smith, W., ed. (April 2003). The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (22): 96. ISBN 978-1-57457-081-6. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. Palladium Fantasy RPG—Land of the Damned Three: The Bleakness (final advertisement) – Smith, W., ed. (July 2004). The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (35): 29C. ISBN 978-1-57457-167-7. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Stott, R. & Merrow, S. (January 2004). Smith, W, ed. "Questions & Answers". The Rifter (Taylor, MI: Palladium Books) (25): 92. ISBN 978-1-57457-098-4. Though adventures and source-material for it appear in The Rifter from time to time, the line is dead and the RPG will eventually go out of print.
  10. User: hellsreach (March 12, 2007). "Thread: Bill Coffin Returns With New D6 Game". RPGnet tabletop roleplaying forum. Berkeley, CA: Skotos Tech. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  11. User: trechiron (March 31, 2008). "Thread: Bill Coffin's Septimus Cancelled". RPGnet tabletop roleplaying forum. Berkeley, CA: Skotos Tech. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  12. User: Bill Coffin (May 22, 2008). "Thread: Bill Coffin's Septimus Cancelled". RPGnet tabletop roleplaying forum. Berkeley, CA: Skotos Tech. Post 193. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  13. User: Bill Coffin (May 23, 2008). "Thread: Bill Coffin's Septimus Cancelled". RPGnet tabletop roleplaying forum. Berkeley, CA: Skotos Tech. Post 208. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  14. User: Kai Tave (May 17, 2009). "Thread: Bill Coffin's Septimus coming out August 2009, apparently". RPGnet tabletop roleplaying forum. Berkeley, CA: Skotos Tech. Retrieved July 15, 2012.

External links

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