David F. Tepool (20 October 1954 – 28 May 2009; age 54) was a game designer who had been one of the co-designers of the FASA Star Trek: The Role Playing Game (RPG) system in the 1980s, along with Guy W. McLimore, Jr. and Greg K. Poehlein.
For the game he (co-)authored several game supplements such as The Klingons, The Romulans, the Ship Construction Manual or The Triangle among others (sometimes credited as "Dave Tepool"), but the game system component contribution he was most recognized for aside from the main RPG, concerned the Star Trek II: Starship Combat Simulator and its two direct Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator and Star Trek III: Starship Combat Game descendants, he designed for FASA.
Career[]
He retired from game design at the same time that McLimore and Poehlein created the MicroTactix company, but in the mid-2000s, ran Olde Rivertowne Miniatures, a mail-order firm in Indiana.
During the 1980s, he worked primarily for FASA, but also did some work for TSR, including a collaboration with McLimore and Poehlein on a portion of the Castle Greyhawk set. While game design had been a passion for Tepool, it was not his primary source of income as he conducted his gaming business on a parttime basis. In daily life Tepool was a controller at a local carwash, he was employed at for his entire adult life.