Jason Bulmahn is an American game designer especially known for his work on the fantasy role-playing game Pathfinder.
Early life & education
Jason Bulmahn was born in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. He attended Milwaukee High School of the Arts, and became an avid player of
. He attended his first
Gen Con convention in Milwaukee while in high school, and developed an interest in role-playing games such as
Dungeons & Dragons (
D&D).
Bulmahn graduated from high school in 1994, and enrolled at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. While attending classes, Bulmahn also became a competitive player, and played in the 1995 World Championship in Seattle, as well as Pro Tour New York in 1996.
Architecture
After graduating, Bulmahn was employed as an Associate Designer at American Design Incorporated, an architecture firm in Milwaukee.
He also began to volunteer at the Role Playing Game Association Network (RPGA). He worked on the
Living Greyhawk campaign, at first coordinating play in Wisconsin, then later becoming part of the central advisory group overseeing the campaign's global structure.
In later interviews, Bulmahn would credit this experience with teaching him "more about pacing, stakes, and improvisation than any book ever could."
Game industry
In 2004, Bulmahn decided to make a career in the game industry, and applied to Wizards of the Coast (WotC), publishers of
D&D. When he failed to get a position there, Bulmahn took a job at
Paizo Publishing as managing editor of
Dragon, which Paizo produced under license from WotC. Bulmahn's time as editor marked the final years of
Dragon as a print publication.
In 2007, WotC announced that it would not be renewing Paizo's license for
Dragon, instead opting for online publishing. Paizo published the last print edition of
Dragon in September 2007.
Following this, Bulmahn was made lead designer at Paizo. Later the same year, when WotC announced the discontinuation of D&D 3.5 to make way for the fourth edition of D&D, Paizo decided not to apply for a license for the new system, but instead to continue to support D&D 3.5. Bulmahn had been developing his own version of the d20 system as a side project, which would eventually result in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Pathfinder
In early 2008, Paizo announced that Bulmahn would be the lead designer of the fantasy role-playing game
Pathfinder being developed as a continuation of
D&D 3.5.
The Beta version of Pathfinder was made available as a free download in August 2008 and won the 2008 gold ENNIE Awards for "Best Free Product or Web Enhancement". Bulmahn also led the design of the Core Rulebook and numerous supplements, including Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, and Mythic Adventures.
Minotaur Games
In 2013, Bulmahn formed Minotaur Games, a game publishing company dedicated to creating high-quality supplemental material for
Pathfinder and other role-playing games. He also used Minotaur to self-publish original works such as a pirate-themed card game,
Pirate Loot.
Starfinder
In 2017, Bulmahn was named as Director of Game Design at Paizo, and helped develop the science fiction/fantasy role-playing game
Starfinder. He also oversaw the development of updates and design work for the 2nd edition of
Starfinder.
Writing & adventure design
Aside from system designing, Bulmahn has also authored and co-authored many adventures and sourcebooks, including
-
Carnival of Tears,
-
The Fall of Plaguestone, the first module for the second edition of Pathfinder.
-
Articles for Dungeon and Dragon.
Bulmahn also worked on D&D products for WotC such as Dungeonscape, Secrets of Xen’drik, Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk,
Pathfinder second edition
In 2018 and 2019, Bulmahn was the lead designer of
Pathfinder Second Edition).
Hopefinder
In 2023, Bulmahn expanded beyond fantasy role-playing, contributing to the development of
Hopefinder, a horror-themed role-playing game that uses the
Pathfinder Second Edition game rules.
Further role at Paizo
In 2024, Bulmahn was the Director of Games at Paizo Inc. and was responsible for the design teams that created all of the company's RPG product lines. He also continued to write material for Minotaur Games and freelanced game design, event organization, and narrative design.
External links
