Steven E. Schend

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Steven E. Schend was born in 1967 in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up in Kenosha, where he began gaming in high school. He earned a degree in English from a college in Madison in 1989. Before entering the game industry he worked as a teacher, street sweeper, concrete curb builder, and landscaper. TSR hired him as a Games Department editor in early 1990, beginning more than fifteen years at TSR and later Wizards of the Coast as an editor, designer, assistant manager, and world builder. He managed the Marvel Super Heroes RPG line and, alongside Julia Martin, served as continuity monitor for the Forgotten Realms setting. His major design credits between 1990 and 2001 include City of Splendors: Waterdeep (1994), Undermountain products (1996), Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves (1998), and Sea of Fallen Stars (1999), which he has called the most original world-building of his career. He later worked with Bastion Press, Green Ronin, and Goodman Games. As a novelist, Schend wrote the Forgotten Realms books Blackstaff (2006) and Blackstaff Tower (2008), continuing the storyline of the archmage Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun. Alongside his design and writing work, he has taught writing and world-building workshops at institutions including Kendall College of Art and Design and a college in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Universe(s)

Books

• Blackstaff (2006) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Blackstaff Tower (2008) · 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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