David "Zeb" Cook

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer born in East Lansing, Michigan, best known for his extensive career at TSR, Inc., which he joined as the company's third full-time designer after responding to a Dragon magazine advertisement and passing its designer test. Over more than fifteen years there he rose to Senior Designer, working on role-playing games, modules, family board games, card games, rulebooks, and party mystery games, including the D&D Expert Set, Isle of Dread, and Slave Pits of the Undercity. His Partyzone mystery game line had its first title named among the Top 100 Games of 1985. He served as lead designer on the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, invented the Planescape campaign setting, designed the original Oriental Adventures (introducing non-weapon proficiencies), and worked on the Kara-Tur setting. After leaving TSR in 1994, he continued as a video game designer, contributing to Fallout 2, leading design on City of Villains (2005), serving as lead systems designer for Stargate Worlds, and working on The Elder Scrolls Online. He was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in 2001.

Universe(s)

Books

• Horselords (1990) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Soldiers of Ice (1993) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• King Pinch (1995) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Uneasy Alliances (1998) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 40 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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