Jamie Chambers

Jamie Chambers (born January 25, 1975) is an American game designer who works primarily on role-playing games, contributing in a variety of genres. He served as Vice President of the non-profit Game Manufacturers Association, a trade association for the hobby games industry, from 2007 until 2016, when he chose not to seek re-election. He succeeded Marcus King for the post. Chambers worked with Margaret Weis at Sovereign Press in 1988, then transitioned with her to Margaret Weis Productions (MWP) where he served as Vice President and Lead Designer. While there, he created the Cortex System, a role-playing game ruleset that has been used by MWP since that time.
Career.
Jamie Chambers contributed to the mythos of the world for Sovereign Stone through short stories, as well as by running the Sovereign Stone website. Margaret Weis and Don Perrin, along with Chambers and Christopher Coyle, wrote the licensed "Dragonlance Campaign Setting" (2003) for publication by Wizards of the Coast, and afterward Sovereign Press was allowed to expand and supplement that book using the d20 license. After Perrin left Sovereign Press and Weis created Margaret Weis Productions, the company's new direction kicked off with the Cortex System and the "Serenity Role Playing Game" (2005).
Through Margaret Weis Productions, Chambers also created and published the role playing games Battlestar Gallactica and Supernatural. At the time, Serenity RPG was the most popular role playing game since the original Dungeons and Dragons, requiring four print runs in the first year of publishing.
Cortex System.
Chambers created the Cortex System for the Serenity Role Playing Game during his time at Margaret Weis Productions. He then used it for additional licensed game supplements, several of which were based on television shows and movies, including Battlestar Galactica and Supernatural. The Cortex System shifted away from gameplay determined by the rules toward a gaming experience guided by them, which was considered a necessary step to counterbalance the computerization of role playing games. The system allows the game to evolve throughout a game session, providing the players with ways to create and modify the rules to meet their needs. The system was later adapted into Cortex Plus and Cortex "Prime" by Cam Banks when he took over for Chambers at Margaret Weis Productions as lead designer. Banks later founded Magic Vacuum, a production studio that has licensed the original Cortex System and the revised Cortex Plus, which is considered more narrative than the original Cortex system, building on the move away from systems constrained by rules and allowing further differentiation from computerized role playing games.
Bibliography.
Roleplaying Supplements
Short Fiction
Short Nonfiction