Stephen V. Cole

**Stephen V. Cole** is an American game designer and the CEO of Amarillo Design Bureau (also known as **ADB** or, incorrectly, **Starfleet Games**) which publishes *Star Fleet Battles*, *Federation and Empire*, *Federation Commander*, *Prime Directive* (a series of RPGs for D20, D20M, and GURPS), and other wargames set in the Star Fleet Universe. ADB became ADB, Inc., in 1999.

## Career

Stephen Cole is a registered engineer and former Texas State Guard company commander (and operations officer). He was awarded the Texas Medal of Merit with "V" for valor, a non U.S. military citation. In 1973, while a student at Texas Tech, he founded the company JagdPanther Publications, which published *JagdPanther* (1973-1976), a magazine which featured complete small games in every issue as well as scenarios and variants for existing games. A few years later, Allen Eldridge, who Cole met at a local game club in Amarillo Texas, joined Cole at JP. the company published several games separate from the magazine. Cole and Eldridge decided to close down JP in November 1976, and the company shut down in spring of 1977 after paying all of its bills and subscriptions. JP Publications operated from 1973 to 1977.

In the fall of 1978, Cole and Eldridge co-founded Task Force Games which they used to sell only to wholesalers and retailers and not to individuals (until years later when they added mail order sales). They started a "Pocket Games" line, with four science-fiction releases in 1979 designed by Cole: *Starfire*, *Asteroid Zero-Four*, *Cerberus*, and *Star Fleet Battles*. Cole had first conceived of *Star Fleet Battles* in 1975, and finally published the game after obtaining a license from Franz Joseph. Cole's *Valkenburg Castle* was also released in 1979, and was the company's first fantasy game. Cole has designed over 100 published games on many subjects. He won two Charles Roberts awards for JagdPanther and several awards for Star Fleet Battles.

Stephen V. Cole took ROTC from 1971-1975 but did not enter active duty as the Vietnam War had ended and the Army got smaller. He wrote and published the military intelligence newsletter For Your Eyes Only from 1983-1999. He was a consultant to the military and DIA during this time. He has written over 200 articles on military affairs for several magazines.

In 1983, as the Pocket Games line came to an end, Cole left Task Force Games to form a new company, Amarillo Design Bureau, which would be his design house for future *Star Fleet Battles* products. Through Amarillo Design Bureau, Cole owned and created all products for *Star Fleet Battles, Federation & Empire, etc*. After Task Force Games was sold to John Olsen in April 1990, Olsen moved the company back to Amarillo to better coordinate with Cole. Task Force Games published Cole's *Star Fleet Battles Captain's Edition Basic Set* in 1990 and dozens of other products. Cole took over publishing *Star Fleet Battles* in 1999, turning Amarillo Design Bureau into a corporation in the process. *Star Fleet Battles* continues to be published by Amarillo Design Bureau and was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts, & Design Hall of Fame in 2005 where they stated that "*Star Fleet Battles* literally defined the genre of spaceship combat games in the early 1980s, and was the first game that combined a major license with 'high re-playability'."

Cole was previously a contributor to StrategyPage that "provides quick, easy access to what is going on in military affairs."

Cole has been happily married since 1979 to Leanna. They have owned several Felis bengalensis wildcat crossbreeds. Cole regularly visits the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary where he gives talks on wolf nutrition and behavior as Chef Steve.

## Bibliography

* *Star Fleet Battles: A Captain's Log #14 - Betrayal at Oxvind V* (Paperback - 1994)
* *Captains Log Trek Star Fleet* (Paperback - Jan 1, 1993)
* *Introduction to Star Fleet Battles* (Paperback)
* *Star Fleet Battles: The Best of NEXUS (Captain's Edition, Captain's Log #13)*, with Steven P. Petrick (Paperback - Nov 14, 1993)
* *Star Fleet Battles Captain's Log #15*, with Steven P. Petrick (Paperback - 1994)
* *Star Fleet Battles Advanced Fighters Captain's Module J2* (Paperback - 2002)

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Shannon Appelcline (2011). *Designers & Dragons*. (Mongoose Publishing).
2. ↑ "JagdPanther Publications: A Game Inventory". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-13.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
3. ↑ "Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts, & Design Hall of Fame (2005 Inductees)". Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2007-09-14.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
4. ↑ "StrategyPage homepage". Archived from the original on 2007-09-04. Retrieved 2007-09-13.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>