Tom Wham

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

Born in Chester, Illinois, 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 "Wargaming with Miniatures" 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.

Other work included co-editing (with Timothy Jones, Mike Carr, and Brian Blume) the first edition of Gamma World.

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.

Notable games published this way include:

After TSR, Wham collaborated on books with Rose Estes, and did his own novelette in Christopher Stasheff's The Exotic Enchanter.

More games followed, including Kings & Things (with Rob Kuntz), the SimCity card game, and Iron Dragon.

Later efforts include a reprint of Snits and Awful Green Things from Outer Space from Steve Jackson Games, and Planet Busters by Troll Lord Games.

Wham designed the board game "King of the Tabletop" with Robert J. Kuntz, which was published in Dragon #77 (September 1983); the game was expanded and published separately as the Origins award-winner Kings & Things (1986) by West End Games.

Since leaving TSR, Wham has designed many more games, including collaborating with James M. Ward on the board game Dragon Lairds, published in April 2008, and Feudality published by Z-man Games Inc. in 2011.