Twenty Questions - Game 171

[Spartaculous]

Born January 1, 1925 or after?

Yes.

Primarily known as an athlete or actor?

No.

born before 1955?

Yes.

That's seventeen questions, by my count. I will give a clue, which is simply that I have already given a clue that no one has remarked upon yet.

[Jamiet99uk]

1.5.9.15.17 Born in the North-Western quadrant of the globe, between 1 January 1925 and 1955.
2.3.6.7. Living white man whose first language is English.
4. Not a political figure.
8. Known as an actor, writer, or athlete, although this may be slightly ambiguous.
10. Born in North America.
11. Born in the Midwest, South, or West, by current US Census definitions.
12. Not a musician who has released at least one album (but it took "a bit of research" to determine this).
13. Not a TV host.
14. Has never won a Nobel Prize or Pulitzer Prize, and never been nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, or Tony.
16. Not primarily known as an athlete or actor.

[Jamiet99uk]

So, it's some kind of writer.

[Jamiet99uk]

Musician who has released at least one album?

After a bit of research, it looks like the answer is no.

I think this is the little clue.

Maybe it's a songwriter?

[Spartaculous]

Musician who has released at least one album?

After a bit of research, it looks like the answer is no.

I think this is the little clue.

Maybe it's a songwriter?

I am interpreting this as not an official question; please clarify if I am wrong.

[damo666]

Musician who has released at least one album?

After a bit of research, it looks like the answer is no.

I think this is the little clue.

Maybe it's a songwriter?

A songwriter who hasn't released an album? [not a q for the qm]

[Jamiet99uk]

After a bit of research, it looks like the answer is no.

I think this is the little clue.

Maybe it's a songwriter?

I am interpreting this as not an official question; please clarify if I am wrong.

Not an official question, I was speculating about your clue.

[Hominidae]

Maybe he's released an album, but purely as a songwriter, not a musician.

(Not a question for the QM.)

[Jamiet99uk]

After a bit of research, it looks like the answer is no.

I think this is the little clue.

Maybe it's a songwriter?

A songwriter who hasn't released an album? [not a q for the qm]

Yes exactly. Like Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. They wrote hundreds of hit songs, all of them recorded and released by other people (often with Gamble/Huff as producers, but not credited as the performing artist).

[Jamiet99uk]

Max Martin would be another example. You'll know him for hits like "Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. He has written 25 (and counting) US number one hit singles, but there are no albums by Max Martin as an artist.

[damo666]

OK let's ask

is he a songwriter?

[Spartaculous]

OK let's ask

is he a songwriter?

He has written at least one piece of music. This is definitely not the major source of his fame.

Musician who has released at least one album?

After a bit of research, it looks like the answer is no.

I think this is the little clue.

This is not the clue you are looking for. Hominidae made sure to highlight the fact that this took some research in his summary right after I posted that:

12. Not a musician who has released at least one album (but it took "a bit of research" to determine this).

[han-shahanshah]

The clue is rule zero in the rule list. But I can’t figure out what it is supposed to refer to…

[damo666]

The clue is rule zero in the rule list. But I can’t figure out what it is supposed to refer to…

Something to with D&D? But I don't know.

[damo666]

Is this person known for inventing games?

[Spartaculous]

The clue is rule zero in the rule list.

You are on the right track.

Is this person known for inventing games?

No. He has certainly written about games, but this is not his major source of fame.

But I can’t figure out what it is supposed to refer to…

I will explain a bit about how I changed the text of the rules. cdngooner made a change/clarification to rule 6 in the previous game (a good idea, I should add). I then realized that rules 6 and 7 in that set seemed a bit contradictory, so I combined them into a single rule that I thought was clearer. But, having 10 rules seemed preferable to 9 rules, and I realized that there wasn't a rule that explicitly stated the object of the game, so I decided to create one. None of the decisions I am describing in this paragraph were intended to be clues.

That was Q19. I think we can agree that Q15 was not the most useful question in the world, so I will allow two more questions before the five guesses. I will likely give one more hint after the next question (unless a lot of progress is made).

[Spartaculous]

Something to with D&D? But I don't know.

There is no way that this would ever help you all, but it just occurred to me: I can draw a connection between the person in question and the creator not of Dungeons and Dragons, but of a different well-known game with a fantasy setting that I bet has been played by at least one forum regular.

[Hominidae]

I'm really struggling to come up with a useful question that isn't just narrowing down biographical information.

[han-shahanshah]

I think narrowing down biographical information might be our best bet at this point.

[cdngooner]

We know he writes something, but to call him a writer per se would be misleading. He did not write music or games, but he is connected with a fantasy game that is not D&D (perhaps Magic: the Gathering ... I don't know, I don't play fantasy games; others will know better). I think perhaps he is a writer of software, but don't want to waste our last question having botched my last question so badly. Others?