Rick Britton
Richard H. "Rick" Britton is a historian and former game publishing executive in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Career
In 1980, after graduating from the University of Virginia, Britton and nine fellow alums founded Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), a publisher of roleplaying games.[1]:133 As Pete Fenlon commuted from law school for two years, Britton ran the company.[1]:133 Britton's Civil War era wargame Manassas was set in ICE's home state of Virginia.[1]:133 Britton served as vice-president in charge of operations.[1]:137 While most of the games produced by the company were set in fantasy worlds, the company also published Britton's creation Manassas in 1981. The game reenacts the eponymous Civil War battle.
By 1992, Britton had left ICE,[1]:137 and has since written books about local history. He is a former board director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society and former editor of The Magazine of Albemarle County History. He guides tours of Virginia historical sites, including Civil War battlefields and Jefferson's architectural masterpieces, Monticello and the University of Virginia. He also frequently speaks about local history on WINA, a Charlottesville radio station.
Britton's collection of essays, Jefferson, A Monticello Sampler, published by Mariner Publishing, won the 2009 "IPPY” Award in National and Regional Book Competition.[2]
He is also a cartographer, photographer, and book illustrator.
Works
- Jefferson: A Monticello Sampler. Buena Vista, Virginia: Mariner Publishing, 2009.
- Albemarle & Charlottesville: An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years. Charlottesville, Virginia: Historical Publishing Network, 2006.
- The Sea of Trolls with Nancy Farmer, maps by Rick Britton. New York: Atheneum Books, 2004.
- On the Downtown Mall with Gary D. Kessler, Stacey Evans (photographer), and Rick Britton (photographer). Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2002.
Awards
- The Thirteenth Annual (2009) IPPY Independent Publisher Book Awards (the Jenkins Group).