Interview: John Gronquist
As a kid, playing D&D pulled John Gronquist from the dark. Fifty years later, Daggerheart is helping him show players the light.
IT WAS THE FOOTNOTE.
“Void if death occurs in certain realms. Resurrection may be delayed due to backorder.” It was on the first page of Halflight Halls—a campaign published by Hack Shack Games I had stumbled across while editing an edition of The Dispatch—and made me want to talk to its writer John Gronquist.
There’s plenty of humour in TTRPGs. But the genre is mostly bathed in a stoic voice to situate the high fantasy heroics, which makes stumbling into Monty Python territory all the more delightful.
I reached out to John to ask if he’d like to chat about the book and found myself in an equally delightful conversation, ranging from John’s early days with D&D (white box era!) and his game design career (Halo, Total Annihilation, Dungeon Siege), to falling in love with Daggerheart(“it’s the perfect system”) and publishing his campaigns.
Along the way we discussed the Shire, the need for humour in games and stories, and how—during a dark patch in his early life—roleplaying kept him alive. We also did a lightning round for the shits and giggles.
This interview was held in September 2025 and has been edited for length and clarity.
We were set to talk about publishing when you mentioned that playing D&D saved your life.
I had a pretty rough childhood, and D&D was one of the few escapes I had. Being able to go to a world where I could actually change things, even in my imagination, helped me believe it was possible in the really real world.
What era are we talking?
White box. I still play with a good portion of the group I played with back then.
That’s, what, 50 years?
Since 1976. We’ve been friends for life because of the hobby, and many of them have since shared similar stories. We had no idea we were each in similar boats as kids. We only had the game, and it was enough to get us through.
This is all in Seattle?
We’re just outside Seattle, in the endless tracks of techno-suburbia. Unlike most living here, I’m a local who’s been here since childhood. Love the area. It’s the Shire of America.
I have to believe your first character was a Hobbit.
A human Paladin called Nautcar. I totally lucked out and rolled up the stats to be a Paladin, having no clue how impossible that was back then. His entire goal in life was to have a small stone keep of his own. I guess he was a very early cozy-fantasy style hero.
Kids today call it cottagecore.
Truly. TTRPGs are always evolving and changing, and yet always remains about you and your friends around a table making up stories together.
This love of the game clearly influenced your career…
It did. I’ve been a professional videogame artist/designer for more than 25 years.
Your resume is stacked.
I’ve worked on a range of games, from PC RTS’ like Total Annihilation to console shooters like Halo 3 and ODST. Probably the game I worked on that I most personally enjoyed as a player was Dungeon Siege. My videogame career has been thankfully blessed with every game actually making it to release, unlike a lot of friends in the industry.
That's worth a moment of applause, followed by a moment of silence.
Pour more than one out for my homies. It’s a rough gig, but the actual creative work of making games has always been “enough” to make it all worth it.
You’re designing videogames. You’re playing RPGs at home. What’s influencing you? What are you reading as your taste and voice develop?
I love fantasy books that include a lot of humor and humanity in them. Anything by Terry Pratchett being way on top. I also love the work of Craig Shaw Gardener, Ursula LeGuin, and Michael Moorcock, amongst many others. Recently very hooked on the Dungeon Crawler Carlseries, which is pure genius.
