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* [http://www.blacklibrary.com/author.asp?id=94 Black Library Profile for Gav Thorpe]
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Gav Thorpe is one of the most influential designers for Games Workshop.
Born in Stevenage, a short distance from the smoggy clouds of London, he had a few part-time job whilst studying for his A levels and joined Games Workshop in 1993 at the age of 19. Since that date in 1993, Gav has been involved in millions of projects, far too many to list in fact, but they have spanned a large chunk of Army Book and Codexes, and every Warhammer game from Warhammer Quest through to 6th edition as well as event campaigns like Storm of Chaos. <sup>1</sup>
Originally employed as an Assistant Games Developer, Gav moved over to work on White Dwarf for a couple of years, before returning as a Games Developer once more, and then on to the lofty position of "Warhammer Loremaster " in 2000, overseeing the development of the Warhammer Fantasy game. He is now in an oversight position with responsibility for the background, imagery and general IP that is produced by Games Workshop. <sup>2</sup>
He’s possibly most proud of his work on [[Inquisitor (game system)|Inquisitor]], a game he chiefly created. As a game and an exploration of the 40k background and imagery, he feels it was a challenging project and a great success.
Andy's youth was marked by an ever-diversifying interest in gaming, roleplay, re-enactment with like minded people and lots of "could try harder" results in school reports. In education Andy pursued a career in Art right up until Degree level before he discovered he didn't really like being taught it and wasn't particularly good at it anyway. After this he wandered the wasteland of unemployment for a number of years, sinking ever deeper into gaming in general and Games Workshop's [[Adeptus Titanicus]] game (by the redoubtable Jervis Johnson) in particular.
In late '89 Andy sent in a submission for White Dwarf that was initially turned down. Several rewrites later he was given temporary employment and due to a willingness to do any jobs required (including being the White Dwarf 'photoboy') he eventually got a permanent job as a games developer.<sup>13</sup>
He properly started by producing expansions and supplements for the 2nd edition of the Adeptus Titanicus game, [[Space Marine]]. Over fourteen years Andy worked in the development of all of Games Workshop's core game systems, culminating with 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions of Warhammer 40,000 game, several editions of the [[Epic]] game, [[Necromunda]], [[Battlefleet Gothic (game system)|Battlefleet Gothic]], and numerous Codex books.
Andy was then entrusted with running the Warhammer 40,000 games development team, recruiting and training a new generation of games developers to replace those now in cryo-tanks and adopting the suitably evil-overlord title of "40K Overfiend." As a result of all of this, his impact on Games Workshop is largely unquestionable.
After fourteen years at Games Workshop, Andy left to pursue other projects He began Red Star Games in June 2004 for freelance writing and games designing, worked for Mongoose games on creating their Starship Troopers line and as of April 2006, is employed by Blizzard Entertainment in the role of Creative Director.<sup>24</sup>
;Black Library works:
==Sources==
* <sup>1</sup>:[http://us.games-workshop.com/Community/Moderators/gavt.htm Games Workshop profile for Gav Thorpe]* <sup>2</sup>:[http://www.strike-to-stun.com/WFB/Interviews/Gav.htm Interview with Gav Thorpe]* <sup>3</sup>:[http://www.blacklibrary.com/author.asp?id=12 Black Library profile for Andy Chambers]* <sup>24</sup>:[http://www.redstargames.net/ Red Star Games]
* [http://www.blacklibrary.com/author.asp?id=125 Black Library Profile for Andy Hoare]
* [http://www.blacklibrary.com/author.asp?id=63 Black Library Profile for Graham McNeill]
[[Category: Games Developers]]
