Steven S. Long’s been involved in the gaming industry for twenty years, during which time he’s written, co-written, edited, or developed nearly 200 books. He got his start as a freelancer for Hero Games, for whom he wrote several books in the mid-Nineties. He soon branched out into working for other game companies, such as White Wolf Game Studios.

In 1997, Steve quit his job — he was a practicing trial lawyer — to try game writing and design full-time as a freelancer. During this time he wrote for lots of companies, including White Wolf, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and Last Unicorn Games. His work on Last Unicorn’s Star Trek RPG lines earned him a full-time job with the company as Deep Space Nine RPG Line Developer. He held that job for about fifteen months, until Wizards of the Coast bought LUG. He then became a Designer for WOTC, working on (among other things) the Wheel Of Time RPG.

After leaving WOTC in December 2000, Steve was hired by Decipher, Inc. to work on its new Star Trek and Lord Of The Rings RPGs. He contributed substantial portions of the two Trek core books, but spent most of 2001 writing nearly all of the LOTR RPG, for which he won his second Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game of the year.

In 2001, Steve became part owner of DOJ, Inc., the company that bought Hero Games. From 2001 to 2011 he was HERO System Line Developer, writing most of the 110 books the company produced during the decade, and handling editing and other creative matters. Currently Steve is back to freelancing and is exploring the brave new world of self-publishing. In addition to several gaming projects he’s also working on Fantasy fiction.

Steve, who’s single and in his late 40s, lives in scenic Greensboro, NC. He’s a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Law (go Blue Devils!). During those rare moments when he’s not doing something related to writing or game design, his hobbies include reading, origami, calligraphy, collecting antique maps and travel guides from the 1920s and ’30s, pontification, and being a young curmudgeon.

You can find out more about Steve and what he’s up to at www.stevenslong.com