Paul Kidd

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Pauli Jayne Kidd, previously known as Paul Kidd, is an Australian fantasy novelist based in Perth. Before writing fiction full-time, she worked at the Australian game developer Beam Software, where she served as writer, director, and lead designer of the NES action-adventure title Nightshade and as lead designer on the 1993 video game Shadowrun, giving her an unusually strong grounding in interactive storytelling. Her debut novel, Mus of Kerbridge (1995), was short-listed for the Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel. Kidd went on to publish more than a dozen standalone novels and several series, alongside licensed Dungeons & Dragons fiction for the Forgotten Realms (the Nobles series) and Greyhawk settings, including well-regarded adaptations of classic modules such as White Plume Mountain, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Lilith, and Petal Storm. She also wrote a strategy guide for the video game Discworld II and published two short stories in Dragon Magazine. Her later original fantasy work includes the Effectuators series (four books, 2011-2014), the Travellers trilogy (2010), and the Spirit Hunters series (four books, 2014-2017). Spanning from 1995 to 2021, her career combines an insider's understanding of tabletop and video-game design with a prolific and versatile output of published fantasy fiction.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Council of Blades (1997) · 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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