Allen Hammack
{{Short description|Role-playing game designer}}
Allen Hammack is a role-playing game designer.
Personal life
Allen Hammack grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.{{cite news |last=Hodges |first=Sam |date=1984-11-16 |title=Games people play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707902/ |newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-20 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420092346/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707902/ |archivedate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack was living in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in 1980.{{cite news |date=1980-10-09 |title=Image caption |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lake-geneva-regional-news/145707780/ |newspaper=The Lake Geneva Regional News |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-20 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420090942/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lake-geneva-regional-news/145707780/ |archivedate=2024-04-20 }} He played a muleteer in a production of "Man of La Mancha" at the Elkhorn Area High School which featured performances from area residents.
Hammack was living with his wife Susan in Williams Bay, Wisconsin by 1982, when he was accepted into the MBA program at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Lake Forest, Illinois.{{cite news |date=1982-11-11 |title=Hammack Attends Lake Forest |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lake-geneva-regional-news/145707805/ |newspaper=The Lake Geneva Regional News |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-20 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420091201/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lake-geneva-regional-news/145707805/ |archivedate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack left Lake Geneva with his wife and returned to Birmingham, where he opened the game and bookshop called the Lion and Unicorn in 1984. Hammack was running monthly Dungeons & Dragons games for adults at his store by 1985 to teach parents about it and clear up misinformation about the game.{{cite news |last=Slawson |first=Tabby |date=1985-09-27 |title=Dungeon master opens door to parents: Class to unravel mystery of Dungeons & Dragons |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707823/ |newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=2024-04-20 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420091505/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707823/ |archivedate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack also began showing episodes of Doctor Who in his store.https://www.al.com/spotnews/2013/05/as_doctor_who_reaches_50_years.html Hammack sold his store around 1992 and began working as a lab technician for the Jefferson County Water Pollution Laboratory.Schauer, Roman (1995-03-24). "Outer limits: Fantasy gathering nurtures creativity" (pages [https://web.archive.org/web/20240420092746/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707934/ 1] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20240420092922/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707946/ 2]). Birmingham Post-Herald. Archived from the original (pages [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707934/ 1] and [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald/145707946/ 2]) on 2024-04-20. Retrieved 2024-04-20 – via Newspapers.com.
Career
Allen Hammack joined TSR in 1978, where he was one of a few employees who designed, wrote and edited games. Hammack wrote the adventure The Ghost Tower of Inverness (1979).{{cite magazine |date=Winter 1981–1982 |title=Convention Wrapup 1981 |url=https://archive.org/details/Polyhedron105/polyhedron%20magazine/01-20/Polyhedron%20003/page/n21/ |magazine=Polyhedron |via=Internet Archive |volume=1 |number=3 |page=22 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack was the developer and editor for the 1980 role-playing game Top Secret, and with Merle Rasmussen who wrote the game, they wrote an article that year for Dragon titled "The Super Spies" with dossiers on spies from James Bond to Maxwell Smart.{{cite magazine |last=Mohan |first=Kim |date=December 1980 |title=Cover to Cover |url=https://archive.org/details/dragon-magazine-270/Dragon%20Magazine%20044/page/n4/ |magazine=Dragon |via=Internet Archive |volume=5 |number=6 |page=3 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack wrote the 1981 adventure Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords.{{cite book |last=Schick |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Schick |date=1991 |title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-playing Games |url=https://archive.org/details/heroicworldshist0000schi_r6y9/page/69/ |location=Buffalo, New York |publisher=Prometheus Books |via=Internet Archive |pages=[https://archive.org/details/heroicworldshist0000schi_r6y9/page/85/ 85] |isbn=0-87975-652-7 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack was the design manager for TSR Hobbies, Inc. by 1982. He was also editing and designing games for TSR at that time.{{cite magazine |last=Mentzer |first=Frank |date=1982 |title=Where I'm Coming From |url=https://archive.org/details/polyhedron-153/Polyhedron%20004/page/5/ |magazine=Polyhedron |via=Internet Archive |volume=2 |number=1 #4 |page=5 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }} Hammack designed the 1982 board game Viking Gods for TSR.{{cite news |last=Leake III |first=George R. |date=March 1983 |title=Capsule Reviews |url=https://archive.org/details/space-gamer-61_202207/page/36/ |magazine=The Space Gamer |via=Internet Archive |number=61 |page=36 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }} TSR got into financial trouble in the early 1980s and let go of middle-level management personnel, including Hammack.
Hammack wrote the supplements Fantastic Treasures (1984) and Fantastic Treasures II (1985) for Mayfair Games.{{cite book |last=Schick |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Schick |date=1991 |title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-playing Games |url=https://archive.org/details/heroicworldshist0000schi_r6y9/page/69/ |location=Buffalo, New York |publisher=Prometheus Books |via=Internet Archive |pages=[https://archive.org/details/heroicworldshist0000schi_r6y9/page/98/ 98] |isbn=0-87975-652-7 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }} A young woman in Ragland, Alabama was murdered in 1985 by participants in a live action role-playing game version of Top Secret, to which Hammack responded that "It's such a departure from what the game is intended to be that I can't even begin to tell you what they might be doing or what guidelines they might follow."Hicks, Roderick (1985-12-08). "Murder a part of the game?" (pages [https://web.archive.org/web/20240420093407/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-anniston-star/145707990/ 1] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20240420093614/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-anniston-star/145708003/ 2]). The Anniston Star. Archived from the original (pages [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-anniston-star/145707990/ 1] and [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-anniston-star/145708003/ 2]) on 2024-04-20. Retrieved 2024-04-20 – via Newspapers.com. Hammack wrote the 1986 adventure Day of Al'Akbar.{{cite magazine |date=March–April 1987 |title=New Games in Print |url=https://archive.org/details/different-worlds-45/page/42/ |magazine=Different Worlds |via=Internet Archive |issue=45 |page=42 |accessdate=2024-04-20 }}