Steve Crompton
Steven S. Crompton is a Canadian-born artist, author and designer who has worked in the role-playing and comic genres since 1981. In the gaming industry he is best known as the artist for the Grimtooth's Traps books as well as other Catalyst role-playing game supplements, Tunnels & Trolls and the Nuclear War card game.
Education
Steven Crompton went to Arizona State University art college for two years, the Scottsdale Community College, and the Vo-Tech Commercial Art School.Career
Starting in 1981, Steve Crompton worked as staff illustrator for Flying Buffalo Inc., and did the art and designed some of the traps in Grimtooth's Traps. He also did maps and Illustrations for numerous other RPG books and games published by the company from 1981 to 1985. During that period he did freelance work for Steve Jackson Games, Game Designers Workshop, Fantasy Games Unlimited, and others.His first widely distributed comic was Elves of Lejentia #1 - 3, in 1987. In 1991, he was hired by Todd Loren to work on Psychoman and his own creation, Demi the Demoness. The Demi comics have been in continuous publication since 1992. Demi was adapted into a live-action movie and released on DVD in 2008 and new Demi comics continue to be published.
He developed the art and marketing for the City of the Gods: Forgotten novel and related books, games and comics.
Since 2005 he has managed entire projects, contributing to all aspects of a publishing endeavor including marketing, working directly with other creators, design, writing, art, maps, pre-press, printing liaison and final delivery to the end users. Recent examples include Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls RPG, 50th Anniversary Nuclear War, Ace of Aces limited edition reprint, the Grimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection an updated edition of the Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes RPG, and a 2nd edition of the Monsters! Monsters! RPG.
In August 2019, after the death of Flying Buffalo publisher Rick Loomis, Crompton was named the managing director of Flying Buffalo. He oversaw the continuation of Flying Buffalo's intellectual properties and ongoing publishing ventures. In August 2021, Flying Buffalo's assets were sold, and a new company took over the ownership of Flying Buffalo. Steve Crompton is currently the art director for Trollhalla Press Unlimited and is co-creating and working on RPG projects with Ken St. Andre.
Art for games
Besides Grimtooth's Traps and Nuclear War, other notable games include Tunnels & Trolls, Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes, Traveller, DCC RPG, Immortal, GURPS, Space Opera, Space: 1889, Lejentia Campaigns, Grid Iron, Lost Worlds, the Powerz Card Game, and many others.Several of the games he has worked on have won the HG Wells Origins Award, including Citybook, Stormhaven, Nuclear Escalation and Nuclear Proliferation. Nuclear War won the Hall of Fame Award as one of the best card games of all time.
Selected game bibliography
Along with art, he also contributed to the design and writing of some of these products.Grimtooth's Traps - 1981 Catacombs of the Bear Cult - 1981 Grimtooth's Traps Too - 1982 Citybook I: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker - 1982 Nuclear Escalation - 1983 The Traveller Adventure - 1983 Alderson Yards Shipbook - 1985 Fantasy Games UnlimitedGrimtooth's Traps Fore - 1986 Lejentia Campaigns Book 1: Skully's Harbor - 1988 Lejentia Campaigns Book 2 - 1989 Grimtooth's Traps Ate - 1989 Grimtooth's Traps Lite - 1991 Case of the Pacific Clipper - Mugshots 1 - 1991 Lost World: Flaming Cherry - 1992 Lost World: Gargoyle w/ Spear - 1992- Nuclear War Booster Cards - 1993 Grimtooth's Dungeon of Doom - 1993
- Maps 1 - Cities - 1993
- Maps 2 - Places of Legend - 1994 Grimtooth's Traps Bazaar - 1995 Citybook VII - King's River Bridge - 1997 Nuclear Proliferation 2nd ed - 1990, 2003 Nuclear War 2nd ed - 2001 Wurst of Grimtooth’s Traps - 2005 Weapons of Mass Destruction - 2005
- Origins Poker Decks — 2007-2011
- City of the Gods Map Pack - 2013 Adventurers Compendium - 2014 Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls - 2015 Grimtooth's Ultimate TRAPS Collection - 2015 Agent of Death - 2016 T&T Adventures Japan - 2017 Vaults of K'Horror - 2018 Grimtooth's Trapsylvania - 2019 Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes - 2019 Alice in Weirdworld T&T solo - 2020 Monsters! Monsters! 2nd Ed. RPG - 2020 Monsterary of Zimrala - 2022 Monsters! Monsters! 2.7 - 2023 Humans! Humans! RPG Supplement - 2024