Fallout Writer Scott Bennie Dead at 61

Scott Bennie, game designer and a writer on the original Fallout, has died at age 61 as a result of complications from pneumonia.

In addition to writing for that first Fallout, Bennie wrote and produced on several games during his time at Interplay, including The Lord of the Rings, Starfleet Academy, Starfleet Command and its sequel, and Castles 2: Siege and Conquest.

When interviewed by Steemit in 2017, Bennie stayed humble about his Fallout contributions.

"I didn't have that much to do with Fallout," he said. "A few maps, some bits of the Hub, and some system messages. And the Mysterious Stranger Perk. And I named Dogmeat — if anything endures of my writing career, it will be the name of that dog."

Indeed, Dogmeat has continued to appear in the Fallout games released in the decades since the original came out in 1997.

After leaving Interplay, Bennie worked on several video games: Descent, Descent to Undermountain, Stonekeep, Champions of Norrath and an enhanced edition of the first SimCity. He also wrote supplements for tabletop RPGs including Dungeons & Dragons, Champions, Marvel Superheros, Mutants & Masterminds, and adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings" and World of Warcraft.

Bennie was a fixture of the community in the MMO adaptation of Champions, where he was well known by his in-game name Thundrax.

"The entire Champions and Cryptic family is saddened to hear about the passing of Scott Bennie, aka Thundrax, a long time designer for the pen and paper Champions game and a avid player of [Champions Online]," the Champions Online Twitter account wrote Tuesday. "Rest in peace, Scott, we'll miss you terribly."

Several of his colleagues posted tributes to Bennie on Twitter, including fellow designer Colin McComb.

"My friend and former coworker, the game designer Scott Bennie, has died from complications from pneumonia," McComb wrote. "His Champions work was groundbreaking. I hope he knew the esteem in which people held him."