# Ian Livingstone - Maker: Game designer - Date: b. 1949 - Houses: Games Workshop, Puffin Books - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/ian-livingstone/ > The co-founder of Games Workshop and first editor of White Dwarf who co-created Fighting Fantasy, wrote Deathtrap Dungeon, and later chaired Eidos during the Tomb Raider years. **Why it matters:** Livingstone helped introduce Dungeons & Dragons to Britain, built the retail and magazine network of British fantasy gaming, and with Steve Jackson made the gamebook a mass-market phenomenon. He then became one of the most influential figures in the British video game industry. ## Quick answers **Who is Ian Livingstone?** The co-founder of Games Workshop and first editor of White Dwarf who co-created Fighting Fantasy, wrote Deathtrap Dungeon, and later chaired Eidos during the Tomb Raider years. **When was Ian Livingstone born?** Ian Livingstone was born in 1949 in Prestbury, Cheshire, England. **What is Ian Livingstone known for?** Ian Livingstone is best known for Fighting Fantasy. **Why does Ian Livingstone matter to fantasy and games?** Livingstone helped introduce Dungeons & Dragons to Britain, built the retail and magazine network of British fantasy gaming, and with Steve Jackson made the gamebook a mass-market phenomenon. He then became one of the most influential figures in the British video game industry. ## Life Ian Livingstone was born on December 29, 1949, in Prestbury, Cheshire, and grew up in the Manchester area. He attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, leaving with a single A-level, in geography. He moved to London, where he shared a flat with his school friends [Steve Jackson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/steve-jackson-uk/) and John Peake, and the three turned a love of games into a business. His career has run from tabletop to digital and into education policy. He has campaigned for computer science and game-making to be taught in British schools and has lent his name to schools that pursue that approach. He was appointed OBE in 2006 and CBE in 2013, and was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours. ## Work In early 1975 Livingstone, Jackson and Peake founded [Games Workshop](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/games-workshop/). They secured exclusive European distribution of [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/) from [TSR, Inc.](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/), opened a first shop in west London by 1978 (accounts give 1977 or 1978), and in 1977 launched the magazine [White Dwarf](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/white-dwarf/), with Livingstone as editor. White Dwarf became the center of British roleplaying, and Games Workshop grew from a flat-based mail-order operation into a chain of shops and, through its Citadel Miniatures arm, a manufacturer of fantasy figures. In 1983 the company launched [Warhammer Fantasy Battle](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/warhammer-fantasy-battle/) and published the board game [Talisman](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/talisman/). Livingstone's most famous creation came in partnership with Jackson. After meeting Penguin editor Geraldine Cooke at a Games Day convention in 1980, they devised a solo roleplaying adventure in book form. *The Warlock of Firetop Mountain*, published by [Puffin Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/puffin-books/) in 1982, launched [Fighting Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/fighting-fantasy/). Readers created a character with Skill, Stamina and Luck scores, then navigated hundreds of numbered sections, rolling dice to fight monsters and recording items on an adventure sheet. It was, in effect, a [Dungeon crawl](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/dungeon-crawl/) for one. Livingstone wrote many of the series' best-known titles, including *The Forest of Doom*, *City of Thieves*, *Deathtrap Dungeon*, *Island of the Lizard King* and *Caverns of the Snow Witch*. *Deathtrap Dungeon* (1984), in which the reader competes in a lethal labyrinth built by a baron to test adventurers, became one of the series' signature titles. Livingstone also designed board games, among them *Boom Town*, *Judge Dredd*, *Automania* and *Dragonmasters*. In 1991 Livingstone and Jackson sold Games Workshop, and Livingstone turned to video games, investing in the publisher Domark. When Domark became part of Eidos Interactive, formed in 1995, he became its executive chairman, and he helped the company secure franchises including *Tomb Raider* and *Hitman*. He stepped down as executive chairman in 2002 but remained closely involved, serving as life president after Square Enix completed its takeover of Eidos in 2009, until 2013. ## Legacy Livingstone's career traces the whole arc of British fantasy gaming, from importing D&D boxes in the 1970s to steering a global video game publisher. Fighting Fantasy, which he co-created, sold more than 18 million copies by 2017 and was translated widely, and for many British readers of the 1980s it was their first encounter with fantasy gaming. He has continued to write new Fighting Fantasy adventures for later generations of readers. His later influence has been institutional: as a campaigner for games education and computing in schools, and as one of the best-known advocates for the British games industry. The line from a flat in London to a knighthood is one of the more remarkable careers in the history of play. ## Facts - Livingstone was born on December 29, 1949, in Prestbury, Cheshire, and left Altrincham Grammar School with one A-level, in geography. - He co-founded [Games Workshop](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/games-workshop/) in early 1975 with his flatmates [Steve Jackson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/steve-jackson-uk/) and John Peake. - He edited [White Dwarf](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/white-dwarf/), Games Workshop's magazine, from its launch in 1977. - The [Fighting Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/fighting-fantasy/) series he co-created had sold more than 18 million copies by 2017. - His *Deathtrap Dungeon* (1984) sent readers through a deadly labyrinth-contest in the city of Fang. - He was appointed OBE in 2006 and CBE in 2013, and knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Livingstone) - [Wikipedia: Fighting Fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy) - [Wikipedia: Games Workshop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.