JD Wiker is an Indianapolis native who has been professionally designing games since 1995. He joined the game industry in 1994 as a Customer Service representative for Wizards of the Coast, where he acted as Wizards' official company netrep on America Online. At the same time, JD designed material for the Ars Magica Roleplaying Game and Vampire: Dark Ages. His experience led to a change in jobs in 1998, when, after Wizards of the Coast had acquired TSR, Inc., the roleplaying game team at Wizards hired JD to write for the fledgling Alternity line, including the Dark*Matter Campaign Setting.