Steven Schend was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1967. Schend grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and started gaming in high school; he attended college in Madison, and graduated with a degree in English in 1989. TSR hired Schend as a Games Department editor in early 1990, and he also managed the original Marvel Super Heroes RPG line: "I started working on Marvel pretty much the day I walked in the door".

At TSR, Schend also worked on the Forgotten Realms setting. "Most of all, I'm proud of my body of work within the Realms. So much of it ties together that it's hard to pick favorites. If I had to, I'd choose the... Sea of Fallen Stars accessory as the most original world-building I've ever done." Schend and Julia Martin served as the continuity monitors for the Realms, and Schend also served as the assistant manager to the Realms product group for three years before returning to full-time design work in 1998. Schend then began working on the Alternity game line and the Star*Drive setting.

Steven Schend worked on several Dungeons & Dragons game products from 1990-2001. His design work includes several products for the Forgotten Realms line, such as City of Splendors (1994), Lands of Intrigue (1997), Hellgate Keep (1998), Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves (1998), Wyrmskull Throne (1999), Skullport (1999), Sea of Fallen Stars (1999), and Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, (1999). Schend also did some work for Bastion Press and Green Ronin Publishing.