Biography
Willis began by designing science fiction wargames for Metagaming Concepts, starting with Godsfire in 1976. : 78 He designed the MicroGames Olympica (1978) and Holy War (1979). : 79 Chaosium published Lords of the Middle Sea (1978), : 82 and Willis joined Chaosium in 1978. : 83 GDW published Bloodtree Rebellion (1979). Willis's relationship with Chaosium proved the most enduring; he would turn to role-playing games. He helped founder Greg Stafford trim and refine the RuneQuest rules into Basic Role-Playing, the rules that would serve as the base for many of Chaosium's RPG lines. : 85 He wrote the Call of Cthulhu campaign The Masks of Nyarlathotep (1984) with Larry DiTillio. : 86 He was included in the design credits for Worlds of Wonder (1982) and the Ringworld RPG (1984).
With other members of Chaosium, he co-wrote the Ghostbusters RPG for West End Games, which won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Rules of 1986. Willis co-designed the fifth edition of Call of Cthulhu with Sandy Petersen, and when Keith Herber departed from Chaosium in 1994, Willis replace him as the editor of the Cthulhu line. : 90 He worked with Petersen again for the sixth edition of Call of Cthulhu. Willis created the game Elric! with Richard Watts as a new Basic Role-Playing version of Stormbringer. : 91 After Greg Stafford left the company in 1998, Willis stayed on with Chaosium as its editor-in-chief. : 94
Willis left Chaosium in late 2008 due to ill health; at the time, he was the longest serving employee at Chaosium, having 30 years of experience with the company. : 95