Tom Braunlich
Tom Braunlich is an American customizable card game designer credited as a designer of Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SWCCG).[1][2]
This page is a fan encyclopedia stub focused on SWCCG. It is not a full biography.
SWCCG role
Wikipedia lists Braunlich among SWCCG's designers, together with Rollie Tesh, Warren Holland, and Jerry Darcy.[1] Wikipedia's Braunlich article states that he worked for Decipher, Inc. and helped create SWCCG, calling it Decipher's most monetarily successful CCG and second-most successful game by longevity.[2]
Booster Pack interviews present Braunlich (with design partner Tesh) as designers of Decipher's Star Trek and Star Wars CCGs, discussing the move from Star Trek design into Star Wars and aiming for a cinematic feel in the rules.[3][4]
Path into Decipher CCGs
Braunlich is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a journalism graduate.[2] With Rollie Tesh he was a world champion of Pente (later published by Decipher).[2][5] In 1993 Braunlich and Tesh approached Decipher with an idea for a licensed collectible card game; the result was Star Trek: The Next Generation CCG (1994).[2][5][6] Virginian-Pilot coverage of the December 1995 Star Wars launch is cited on Wikipedia's Braunlich page.[2]
Former Decipher staffer Mark Tuttle later described SWCCG as "Tom and Rollie's … game," recalling Braunlich recruiting him from Star Trek CCG community work into Star Wars playtesting.[7]
Interviews
The Booster Pack
- THE BOOSTER PACK #27 (10 August 2022) — making of the Star Trek CCG with Tom Braunlich.[3] Podcast mirror: Castro.fm Throwback 27.
- THE BOOSTER PACK #28 (24 August 2022) — making of the Star Wars CCG with Tom Braunlich.[4] Podcast mirror: Buzzsprout Throwback 28.
Radio Free Decipher (with Rollie Tesh)
Player's Council YouTube uploads; episode index on the LOTR-TCG PC wiki:[8][9]
- RFD Broadcast 14 (16 April 1999) — Rollie Tesh and Tom Braunlich (Part 1); billed as game creators in the index.
- RFD Broadcast 16 (30 April 1999) — Rollie Tesh and Tom Braunlich (Part 2).
Other activity (brief)
Wikipedia summarizes additional work as a games writer (including Pente and chess) and chess tournament organizer, and notes a USCF Life Master chess rating.[2] Those topics are out of scope for this SWCCG stub.
See also
- Creators of SWCCG
- Rollie Tesh · Jerry Darcy · Warren Holland
- Decipher · Star Wars CCG · Premiere Limited
- History of the Players Committee
Gaps
- Primary Premiere rulebook / packaging designer credit line not yet transcribed here.
- BoardGameGeek Braunlich designer page not fetched this pass (host 403).
- Exact division of SWCCG design labor with Tesh, Darcy, and Holland is only partly documented in secondary sources.
Sources
- Tom Braunlich (Wikipedia)
- Star Wars Customizable Card Game (Wikipedia)
- Decipher, Inc. (Wikipedia)
- Decipher Star Trek CCG timeline (Wayback)
- Fantha Tracks interview with Mark Tuttle (2018)
- Booster Pack #27 (YouTube, 2022)
- Booster Pack #28 (YouTube, 2022)
- Booster Pack Throwback 28 podcast page
- Radio Free Decipher episode index (LOTR-TCG PC wiki)
- Shannon Appelcline, Designers & Dragons (Mongoose, 2011) — cited via Wikipedia Braunlich/Decipher articles
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Star Wars Customizable Card Game, Wikipedia (designer credit line)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Tom Braunlich, Wikipedia
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 THE BOOSTER PACK #27 — The making of the STAR TREK CCG with Tom Braunlich, YouTube, 10 August 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 THE BOOSTER PACK #28 — The making of the STAR WARS CCG with Tom Braunlich, YouTube, 24 August 2022
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Decipher, Inc., Wikipedia
- ↑ The History of Star Trek CCG: The Timeline, Kathy McCracken, Decipher (Wayback)
- ↑ Guest Interview: Mark Tuttle, Fantha Tracks, 15 March 2018
- ↑ Radio Free Decipher episode index, LOTR-TCG PC wiki
- ↑ Radio Free Decipher YouTube playlist, Player's Council