Robin D. Laws (October 14, 1964) is a writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the author of a number of role-playing games and related products.
Robin D. Laws designed the collectable card game Shadowfist, as well as the role-playing game (RPG) Feng Shui, originally published by Daedalus Entertainment in 1996 and later published by Atlas Games, as well as supplements for Feng Shui. Laws also designed the Rune RPG for Atlas Games, based on the computer game Rune, for which he determined that "the game would need to have a big point of difference to distinguish it from the many other fantasy games available"; in this case, the game would allow players to swap roles with the Game Master (GM): "You can win! And when you're not the GM, it's not boring because the GM can win!" Laws was the senior designer for the Dying Earth Roleplaying Game based on the Jack Vance stories in the Dying Earth setting, and a sourcebook for the setting titled White-Walled Kairn. Laws also had stories published in Synister Creative's pulp magazine, and in the fiction anthology The Book of All Flesh for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten RPG: "The first is a light-hearted adventure, and the other is really, really dark".
Laws is also known for design work on Over the Edge (with Jonathan Tweet), Hero Wars, GUMSHOE System and Dungeons & Dragons supplements such as Tyrants of the Nine Hells and Dungeon Master's Guide II. He has also authored or contributed to dozens of supplements for other RPGs, worked as co-designer on the Shadowfist collectible card game, contributed to the King of Dragon Pass computer game, and written several novels, among them Pierced Heart and The Rough and the Smooth. He is currently working on a new version of HeroQest as well as products for 4th Edition of D&D called Raiders Guild. He writes an irregular advice column for role-players called See Page XX.
