Anne Vétillard

Born in 1963, Vétillard was part of the first generation of role-players and publications on French role-playing games.^[4] She discovered one of the first role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons, in 1977, the year it was first published, when the game had yet to be published or marketed in France.^[5] In 1986, she created the game Premières légendes : Légendes de la Table Ronde, a simplified version of Légendes [fr].^[6][7] She also translated an expansion of the game Torg.^[8] She contributed to the magazine Casus Belli, where she wrote as an expert on J. R. R. Tolkien^[9] and live action role-playing games.^[10] She published many games throughout her career and translated the likes of Bushido, Conspiracy X, and Fading Suns into French.^[11]

Vétillard is best known for her works La Dame noire,^[12] Premières Légendes: Légendes de la Table Ronde, and the latter's supplement, Accessoires pour la Table Ronde. She was best known in the French- and English-speaking worlds for her games.^[13] She worked relentlessly to establish the role-playing game industry in France and was one of its first female personalities.^[5] She was one of the world's first women to write role-playing games.^[5] Her work on Tolkien focused on in-depth expansions of his ideas on Middle Earth while remaining true to Lord of the Rings canon.^[14] Additionally, she covered life-size role-playing games for Casus Belli, including Soirées Enquêtes [fr] (sorts of murder mystery games) and paintball.^[5]

Vétillard died on 1 April 2024.^[15]

• La Dame Noire (1985)
• Légendes de la Table Ronde (1ères Légendes) (1986)
• The GodNet (1991)
• "Le Jeu de rôle Grandeur Nature" (1992)
• "Les Baronnies Rouges" (1999)