Jim Ward, a longtime game designer for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game, passed away on March 18 at 72 years old.

Born May 23, 1951, Ward began his game career in 1976 with his and Rob Kuntz's Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes rulebook for TSR. That same year, he created Metamorphosis Alpha, TSR's fourth role-playing game ever and its first science-fantasy RPG.

At TSR, Ward worked on various modules and supplements. This was at the same time D&D was in its first popularity boom, and the Ruins of Adventure supplement he co-made with David Cook, Steve Winter, and Mike Breault was adapted into the 1988 Pool o…