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26-535: Pete Fenlon was running a six-year Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in Middle-earth while he was attending college in the late 1970s, when he started developing unique house rules with S. Coleman Charlton and Kurt Fischer . When most of them graduated from the University of Virginia in 1980, they wanted to make a business out of their special game rules, so they founded Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), named after

52-526: A moderately successful space miniatures battle game called Silent Death (1990), based on Spacemaster but with simpler mechanics. Silent Death was released in two major editions, with supplemental books and a fair number of paintable lead miniatures. ICE also expanded its original Loremaster supplements into a full-blown fantasy world to support Rolemaster , called the Shadow World , supported by dozens of adventures and sourcebooks. In 1986, ICE signed

78-463: A publication contract to take over Hero Games ' production and distribution. Later, with Hero Games staff leaving for other jobs, ICE took over the creative reins of Hero's products. Iron Crown branched out into the solo gaming books under the Tolkien Quest (later called Middle-earth Quest , 1985), Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries (1987) and Narnia Solo Games (1988) book lines. Unknown to ICE at

104-534: A rapid decline in its distribution net; nearly 70% of ICE's distributors either went bankrupt or became moribund. There has been some debate over whether Tolkien Enterprises forced ICE into bankruptcy in order to get the gaming license in anticipation of the upcoming new movie franchise. The company entered bankruptcy and filed for Chapter 7 in October, 2000. This bankruptcy cost ICE the Middle-earth license, ending both

130-522: A regalia from Middle-earth. Aside from Fenlon and Charlton, ICE originally included Richard H. Britton , Terry K. Amthor , Bruce Shelley , Bruce Neidlinger , Kurt Fischer, Heike Kubasch , Olivia Johnston, among others. The company originally only had a few full-time staff, relying on volunteer work from the other founders. But as income increased, it brought more on as employees. ICE soon published its first three game products: Arms Law (1980), The Iron Wind (1980), and Manassas (1981). Arms Law

156-577: The MERP and MECCG lines. Many of the authors and illustrators were not paid for substantial amounts of work. In December, 2001, ICE's assets were purchased by Aurigas Aldebaron LLLC, an intellectual property ownership company backed by several wealthy individuals. The new owners licensed the Iron Crown Enterprise name and other assets to Mjolnir LLC until 2011. Starting in January, 2011, licensing

182-606: The Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries line. All this brought ICE to near bankruptcy in a "voluntary-type of receivership". With the rise of collectible card games , ICE released Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (1995) and Warlords CCG (1997). In 1997, ICE bailed out Mayfair Games , a publisher well known for the Settlers of Catan board game. Despite ICE's many successes and overcoming many setbacks over 17 years, in 1997 ICE suffered financial difficulties from

208-700: The Muirhead Library of Philosophy and Unwin Books, a paperback imprint. Rayner Unwin retired at the end of 1985, and the firm was amalgamated in 1986 with Bell & Hyman to form Unwin Hyman Ltd. , with Robin Hyman as chief executive. From this time "Allen & Unwin" continued only as the name of the Australian subsidiary of Unwin Hyman. Rayner Unwin returned for a while as part-time chairman of Unwin Hyman, retiring again at

234-682: The Virginia State Bar exam. In 1982, Fenlon married Olivia Johnston and moved to Charlottesville , Virginia. He has since worked as a game publisher. Fenlon is very active in the Boy Scouts of America , serving as the Council President to the Virginia Headwaters Council from 2018 to 2021. He began his career by creating custom fantasy role playing game rules and drawing detailed, full-color Middle-earth maps after passing

260-451: The Bar exam. He has created and published games and fiction since 1980. Fenlon began playing Dungeons & Dragons when it was introduced in 1974, and Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton and Kurt Fischer were developing house rules for their six-year campaign set in Middle-earth , starting Iron Crown Enterprises in 1980 to make a business with their unique rules. Fenlon's first Middle-earth map

286-474: The Middle-earth line by publishing the sourcebook A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth (1982) which could be used with any fantasy role-playing game. According to some interpretations, at the time of its publication ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing was the second best selling fantasy RPG after TSR 's Dungeons & Dragons . ICE then added the science fiction RPGs Spacemaster (1985) and Cyberspace (1989) to its line. ICE also published

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312-607: The Shadow World. Pete Fenlon Pete Fenlon (born 1955) is an American role-playing game cartographer, game designer, game developer, graphics designer and publisher. His works include stories, art and games (electronic and non) in the genres of science fiction , mystery , fantasy and historical fiction . He was born in Japan to an Air Force Colonel (Peter C. Fenlon) and Captain (Melba S. Fenlon, RN). He also lived in Germany and

338-656: The US before settling in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School (1964–1987) , where he served as Executive Officer of the Simulations Club. Fenlon began playing Dungeons & Dragons when it was introduced in 1974. After obtaining a degree in history and anthropology at the University of Virginia , he earned a Juris Doctor degree at the College of William & Mary Law School and passed

364-467: The company went on to become the most successful "independent" publisher in Australia. It currently publishes up to 250 new titles a year. Among the many authors published by Allen & Unwin are Alex Miller , Christos Tsiolkas , Garth Nix , Jodi Picoult , Kate Morton , Michael Connelly , Thomas Keneally , Peter Corris , Paul Keating , Stephanie Dowrick , and Christopher Hitchens . Allen & Unwin

390-451: The company, which published works by Bertrand Russell , Arthur Waley , Roald Dahl , Lancelot Hogben and Thor Heyerdahl . It became well known as J. R. R. Tolkien 's publisher some time after publishing the popular children's fantasy novel The Hobbit in 1937, and its high fantasy sequel The Lord of the Rings novel in 1954–1955. Book series published by the firm in this period include

416-563: The end of 1988. It was over the objections of Rayner Unwin, the largest shareholder , that in 1990 Hyman sold the firm to HarperCollins. HarperCollins has since sold Unwin Hyman's academic book list to Routledge . Allen & Unwin Australia Pty Ltd became independent in July 1990 by means of a management buy-out after the UK firm was bought by HarperCollins . Now known simply as "Allen & Unwin",

442-546: The necessary rights to license Narnia to ICE. That company went bankrupt from the legal settlement and was unable to pay ICE their damages. ICE reached terms in 1988 for a gamebook license with the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Allen & Unwin for four new Middle-earth Quest books, beginning with A Spy in Isengard . However, the solo game book market was going soft by this time. ICE canceled all solo game book lines, with dozens of books still in development. Returns were high on

468-543: The rules supplements, ICE began releasing world campaign content materials in what was originally called the Loremaster series, beginning with The Iron Wind . Rolemaster had originated from a game set in Middle-earth, so ICE sought a license from Tolkien Enterprises to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , which was granted because no had ever asked them for such a license before. Tolkien Enterprises granted an exclusive, worldwide license to ICE in 1982, and ICE began

494-545: The time, the Middle-earth Quest books violated ICE and Tolkien Enterprises' contract with Tolkien's book publishing licensee, George Allen & Unwin . ICE and TE considered the books to be games and under their license, but the format came too close to being literary books. ICE was forced to recall and destroy the whole line of books, at devastating cost. Meanwhile, ICE sued the Narnia licensor as they turned out to not have

520-454: Was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian subsidiary in 1976. In 1990 Allen & Unwin was sold to HarperCollins , and the Australian branch was the subject of a management buy-out . George Allen & Sons

546-561: Was an wargame set during the American Civil War in the ICE home state of Virginia. ICE's series of rules supplements, beginning with Arms Law , were intended to serve as modular add-ons to other RPG systems offering greater detail. Arms Law was followed by Spell Law (1982), Character Law (1982), and Campaign Law (1984). In time, these supplements were tied together to form an RPG system of their own, Rolemaster . Concurrent with

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572-414: Was established in 1871 by George Allen , with the backing of John Ruskin , becoming George Allen & Co. Ltd. in 1911 when it merged with Swan Sonnenschein and then George Allen & Unwin on 4 August 1914 as a result of Stanley Unwin's purchase of a controlling interest. Frank Arthur Mumby and Frances Helena Swan Stallybrass, Unwin's son Rayner S. Unwin and his nephew Philip helped him to run

598-571: Was one of The Beast's four "Puppetmasters" and awarded a Peabody Award for Transmedia Storytelling on March 24, 2022. In 2007, Fenlon was appointed CEO of Mayfair Games , the worldwide English-language publisher of Catan (from 1997 until 2015 The Settlers of Catan ). In 2016, he became CEO of Catan Studio, Inc., an independent studio with the Asmodee Group (see Asmodée Éditions ). George Allen %26 Unwin George Allen & Unwin

624-564: Was printed in A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth in 1982, and his maps continued to appear in ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing supplements for about 15 years. He also worked on ICE's Rolemaster and Shadow World games. Fenlon announced in October 2000 that Iron Crown Enterprises had entered chapter 7 bankruptcy . In 2000–01, Fenlon became involved in development of alternate reality game The Beast , for which he served as Content Lead and Producer. Together with Jordan Weisman , Sean Stewart , and Elan Lee , he

650-585: Was the first release including the house rules from the University of Virginia days, which began Rolemaster as an alternate system for combat in AD&;D rather than a standalone role-playing game. The Iron Wind was a campaign for any fantasy role-playing game taking place on a fantastic island, and although it did not receive supplements for years it would come to be considered the first release from ICE in their Loremaster campaign setting. Manassas by Rick Britton

676-634: Was transferred to Guild Companion Publications Ltd. In 2016, Aurigas Alderbaron merged with Guild Companion Publications Ltd to create a single company: Guild Companion Publications. This company both holds the Iron Crown Enterprises intellectual property and produces and sells Iron Crown products. On January 9, 2017, Guild Companion Publications Limited officially changed its name to Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd. Iron Crown Enterprises continues to produce products for its Rolemaster and High Adventure Role Playing (HARP) line, including products set in

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