Frank Mentzer

Frank Mentzer (born Jacob Franklin Mentzer III in 1950), is an American fantasy author and game designer best known for his work on early materials for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. He was a performing folk musician from 1968 to 1975, and played one concert at the White House during the administration of Richard Nixon. He has been closely involved with the world's largest game auction at the GenCon game convention since 1983, and is an expert on (and a major collector of) family boardgames and role-playing games.

Mentzer was an employee at TSR, Inc. in the early stages of the company from 1980 to 1986. In 1981 he founded the Role-Playing Games Association (RPGA). Among other positions he held at TSR, he was Creative Advisor to the Chairman of the Board, Gary Gygax.

He currently resides in Minocqua, WI where he is the General Manager of a bakery called "The Baker's House," which he runs with his wife Debbie.

He has also authored materials for Gygax's Fantasy Master series, as well as the Cyborg Commando role-playing game (published by New Infinities Productions Inc., aka NIPI), which he helped develop along with Gygax and Kim Mohan.

Frank Mentzer left the game industry after the demise of Gygax's NIPI.

Selected Bibliography

• Adventure module T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil, co-authored with Gary Gygax  (1985)
• Accessory module AC4 - The Book of Marvelous Magic (TSR, 1985), also co-authored with Garu Gygax.
• Module I-11, Needle (TSR, 1987).
• Module I-12, Egg of the Phoenix with Paul Jacquays (TSR 1989), a revised compilation of R1 - R4.
• Module IM-1, The Immortal Storm (TSR, 1986).

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