Stefan Pokorny
Stefan Alexander Pokorny is an American designer and artist, known for his origination and popularization of miniature three-dimensional terrain systems, now widely used in role-playing games (RPG) including Dungeons & Dragons. Pokorny is a significant figure in the Dungeons & Dragons community, widely known as a "legendary Dungeon Master."
Also recorded as Stefan Alexander Pokorny
Stefan Pokorny
- Birth Name
- Keu soon Inn
- Born
- 25 December 1966
- Birthplace
- Seoul, South Korea
- Field
- Product Design, painting, sculpture, cinema, photography
- Education
- Hartford Art School (MFA, 1992)
- Movement
- Role-playing games
- Full name
- Keu soon Inn.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- designer.
- Languages
- English.
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Stefan Alexander Pokorny is an American designer and artist, known for his origination and popularization of miniature three-dimensional terrain systems, now widely used in role-playing games (RPG) including Dungeons & Dragons. Pokorny is a significant figure in the Dungeons & Dragons community, widely known as a "legendary Dungeon Master."
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Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Keu soon Inn • Born — 25 December 1966 • Birthplace — Seoul, South Korea • Field — Product Design, painting, sculpture, cinema, photography • Education — Hartford Art School (MFA, 1992) • Movement — Role-playing games
Early life
Early life
At age 2½, Pokorny was adopted by New York architect Jan Hird Pokorny (1914–2008) and his wife Marise Angelucci-Pokorny. Pokorny has played Dungeons and Dragons since the 1980s and has said that he discovered Dungeons and Dragons at the age of nine or ten while he was away at a three-month sleepover camp. He attributes his introduction to one of his camp counselors who was a member of The Judges Guild.
Career
Career
In 1996, Pokorny co-founded Dwarven Forge to manufacture and distribute his designs for the first fully modular 3-D terrain systems for games. The company rose to prominence in 2013 when it raised $2 million with its first Kickstarter campaign. Several other Kickstarters followed that equalled or surpassed that mark. The business model Pokorny developed continues to fund operations as of 2023, with over $23 million raised to date. Pokorny was the subject of the 2016 documentary feature film, The Dwarvenaut, exploring him and his role-playing alter ego, The Dwarvenaut. Reviews for the film were mixed noting that the film focused on the story of turning an idea into a business and less on the personal aspects of Pokorny as a person (such as his girlfriend) or the actual way in which his business functions claiming the film began to "feel more like a commercial than a documentary."
Publications
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Design and influence
Prior to Pokorny's innovation, D&D was generally played on 2-dimensional maps drawn on graph or grid paper, with miniature player pieces. Pokorny's terrains add elaborate 3-D aspects to the environment of play. To achieve his design objectives, Pokorny developed a proprietary PVC-based casting material he calls Dwarvenite. Users report it is fairly indestructible and holds its finish well.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Clark, Willie. Meet the Man Who Raised Millions Crafting D&D Dungeons. Vice. Vice Media. 2016-09-04.
- 2.Mixson, Colin. Model citizen! Williamsburger makes best D&D terrain in all the land. Brooklyn Paper. Schneps Media. August 24, 2016.
- 3.Marchese, David. Dwarven Forge Is Brooklyn's Manufacturing Base. New York. 49. 25. 58. 2016-12-12.
- 4.Whalen, Andrew. 8 'Dungeons & Dragons' Tips For Beginning Players And DMs From Legendary Dungeon Master Stefan Pokorny. Player.One. Player.One New York. August 9, 2016.
- 5.Weber, Bruce. Jan Pokorny, 93, Is Dead; Melded Architectural Styles. The New York Times. May 23, 2008.
- 6.STEFAN POKORNY The Dungeon master. X-Press Magazine – Entertainment in Perth. 2018-03-29.
- 7.News: When Dungeons and Dragons and Heavy Metal Collide: The Intersection of Gaming and Music, Part 3. New Noise Magazine.
- 8.About Us. Dwarven Forge.
- 9.Gilsdorf, Ethan. The Dwarven Lord of Kickstarter. Boing Boing. July 31, 2015.
- 10.Lucca Crea srl. Stefan Pokorny at Lucca Games. Lucca Comics and Games. December 16, 2019.
- 11.Top Grossing Creators. Tabletop Analytics.
- 12.A Fandom Company. The Dwarvenaut. TV Guide.
- 13.The Dwarvenaut LLC. The Dwarvenaut.
- 14.The Dwarvenaut. Rotten Tomatoes.
- 15.Lasser, Josh. The Dwarvenaut Review. IGN. 2016-08-01.
- 16.US Government. Dwarvenite. USPTO.
- 17.Henriquez, Rob. Dwarven Forge City Builder Terrain is Great for Wargamers Too. Holy Crap It's Late!.
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Citations
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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