Peter Adkison

Peter D. Adkison is the founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast (1993–2001), as well as a hobby game professional. During Adkison's tenure, Wizards of the Coast rose to the status of a major publisher in the hobby game industry. Wizards achieved success with its creation of Magic: the Gathering, which started the collectible card game genre. It also distributed the Pokémon trading cards, and later acquired TSR, publisher of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, releasing a successful new edition. Adkison is the current owner of Gen Con, a major yearly game convention in the Midwest. In 1999, Adkison sold Wizards of the Coast to Hasbro, remaining with the company until January 2001.As a longtime fan of role-playing games (RPGs), Adkison has become an advocate for indie RPGs. His own game design work includes The Primal Order, a "capstone system" for use with any of a number of different role-playing games.