Drew Karpyshyn

Drew Karpyshyn (born July 28, 1971) is a Canadian video game scenario writer, scriptwriter and novelist. He served as a senior writer for BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and lead writer for the first two Mass Effect video games. He left BioWare in 2012 to focus on his Chaos Born novels, and returned to it three years later in 2015. On March 9, 2018, he announced he was once again leaving BioWare to focus on his independent work.

Drew Karpyshyn
Drew Karpyshyn at Lucca Comics & Games, 2014
Born (1971-07-28) July 28, 1971
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada[1]
OccupationNovelist, game designer
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy, science fiction
SpouseJennifer
Website
drewkarpyshyn.com

Career

Karpyshyn was at one point employed as a loan officer.[2] Following a car accident, he quit his job and returned to college, gaining a degree in English.[3] He got his start as a game designer for Wizards of the Coast, and he also has written two novels for Wizards of the Coast, both published in 2001 and both set in the Forgotten Realms setting: Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal and Temple Hill.[2]

Karpyshyn joined the video game company BioWare in 2000.[2][4] He wrote the scenario and much of the dialogue for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and was one of the lead writers and planners on Jade Empire, as well as working on several games in the Baldur's Gate series. His next major project was the Mass Effect series of games.[5] His third book, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction was published by Del Rey Ballantine Books in 2006.[2]

Mass Effect was named Game of the Year, in addition to receiving four other awards at the 2008 Elan Awards.[6]

Karpyshyn moved to Austin, Texas to help with Star Wars: The Old Republic.[7] He left BioWare in February 2012 to focus more on his own projects.[1] He returned to BioWare 3 years later in 2015 to focus on the post-release development of SWTOR.[8] He later started working on Anthem, a new game developed by Bioware.[9] On March 9, 2018, he announced he would once again be leaving BioWare to work on other things, including more original novels, co-creating a sci-fi graphic novel, and freelance gaming work.[10]

Karphyshyn announced in February 2020 that he had joined Archetype Entertainment, an internal studio of Wizards of the Coast with former BioWare staff James Ohlen and Chad Robertson as studio leads. Archetype had been revealed in January 2020 and that it was working on a new science fiction role-playing game. Karphyshyn said that while his interest in video game development waned as BioWare had changed over the years, "my passion has been rekindled. The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare; I can feel the magic in the air."[11]

Personal life

In March 2000, Karpyshyn appeared on an episode of Jeopardy!, finishing third.[7][12] He is a fan of the NFL's San Diego Chargers.[13] He believes that in the NFL, Bill Belichick is most likely to follow the ways of the Sith, and Peyton Manning is the most likely to be a Jedi.[14] Though his musical tastes lean more to what he calls "mainstream alternative", such as the Foo Fighters and Green Day, he also enjoys Sage Francis' song "The Best of Times". He prefers to write at night without any music playing.[15]

He previously lived in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, with his wife Jennifer.[3] In the spring of 2009, he moved with his family to Austin, Texas.[13]

Works

Games

Novels

Forgotten Realms
  • Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (novelization) (2001)
  • Temple Hill (2001)

Star Wars

Mass Effect

Chaos Born
  • Children of Fire (2013)
  • The Scorched Earth (2014)
  • Chaos Unleashed (2015)

References
  1. "BIO - Drew Karpyshyn". Drewkarpyshyn.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  2. "Karpyshyn, Drew". Contemporary Authors. January 1, 2007. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2012. – via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
  3. "Drew Karpyshyn". Archived from the original on March 9, 2009.
  4. Gelinas, Ben (September 16, 2008). "Spinning a gripping ... game". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014.
  5. "Pixels, Panels, and Prose Colloquium at University of Texas at Tyle April 14". US Fed News Service. April 15, 2012. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2012. – via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
  6. Zacharias, Yvonne (February 18, 2008). "Mass Effect dominates as game of the year: Science fiction video, made by Edmonton company, cleans up at Elan Awards", The Vancouver Sun, p. D1.
  7. Drew Karpyshyn's FAQ
  8. Chalk, Andy (September 21, 2015). "Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn returns to BioWare". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  9. "Mass Effect 1, 2 and KOTOR writer is working on Anthem, Bioware's new IP". Neowin. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  10. "A New Beginning".
  11. Wales, Matt (February 12, 2020). "Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn joins ex-BioWare vets' new Wizards of the Coast studio". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  12. J! Archive - Show #3577, aired 2000-03-07
  13. "BIO | Drew Karpyshyn". Archived from the original on 2010-12-24. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  14. Taking a Knee with 303: Drew Karpyshyn
  15. A Word with New York Times Best Selling Author and NFL Fan Drew Karpyshyn | The Warren Peace NFL Report
  16. Karpyshyn, Drew (2017-06-13). "Yes. Yes I am. :)". @DrewKarpyshyn. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  17. Star Wars: The Old Republic | News Articles
  18. "Mass Effect novelizations". Archived from the original on July 23, 2010.
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