Drew Karpyshyn

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Drew Karpyshyn was born July 28, 1971, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and is of Ukrainian descent. After a car accident while working as a loan officer, he returned to college and earned a degree in English. He joined Wizards of the Coast as a game designer before joining BioWare in 2000, where he became senior writer on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and lead writer for the first two Mass Effect games, also contributing significantly to Jade Empire, the Baldur's Gate series, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He left BioWare in February 2012, returned in 2015, departed again in March 2018, and joined Archetype Entertainment, a Wizards of the Coast studio, in February 2020. His novels include the 2001 Wizards of the Coast novelization Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal and Temple Hill, the Mass Effect tie-in trilogy (Revelation, Ascension, and Retribution, 2007-2010), the Star Wars novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (2006), and his original Chaos Born trilogy (2013-2015). He shared an "Excellence in Writing" award at the 2003 Game Developers Choice Awards for Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect won Game of the Year plus four other honors at the 2008 Elan Awards. He relocated to Austin, Texas, in 2009 and once appeared on Jeopardy!, finishing third.

Universe(s)

Books

• Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Temple Hill (2001) · 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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