Scott Haring

Scott Dennis Haring (June 16, 1958 – July 1, 2025) was an American game designer who worked primarily on role-playing games.

Scott Haring
Born	Scott Dennis Haring (1958-06-16)June 16, 1958 Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	July 1, 2025(2025-07-01) (aged 67)
Occupation	Game designer

Early life and education

Scott Haring was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 16, 1958, to Robert and Joan Haring.^[1] Haring earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Journalism from Texas A&M University.^[1] During his time at university, Haring displayed a talent for singing.^[1]

Career

Following graduation, Haring began working in the adventure gaming industry in 1982.^[2] Haring had a long career with Steve Jackson Games, having worked at the company five different times over a period of 15 years.^[3]: 103 Haring worked as the Car Wars line editor, and became editor on the new magazine Autoduel Quarterly when it debuted in 1983.^[3]: 103 He also wrote and edited for Ghostbusters and GURPS and served as the editor for Pyramid magazine.^[2] Steve Jackson related that "when [Haring] put on the editor hat, he was one of the few people I would trust, without checking, to write or edit good copy."^[4] Haring was also a columnist for Comics & Games Retailer from 1987.^[2]

Haring was newly hired at TSR when he added four pages of purely game material to a series of "comic modules" published by TSR West, since TSR had an exclusive license for comic books with DC.^[3]: 23 Haring identified Empires of the Sands (1988) as his first big project that he worked on at TSR.^[5] He also wrote and edited for the Top Secret/S.I. and Marvel Super Heroes role-playing games.^[2] His other D&D design work includes The Republic of Darokin (1989) and Otherlands (1990).

Haring was also the editor for The Gamer magazine.^[2] He lived in central Texas with his wife and stepson.^[2]

Personal life and death

Haring lived most of his life in Austin, Texas, and continued singing in community choirs.^[1] He was an avid baseball fan – especially of the Houston Astros – and travelled to every MLB ballpark and many minor league ballparks as well.^[1]

Haring died from complications of pneumonia on July 1, 2025, at age 67.^[4]