Born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Williams was informally acquainted with many of the people who developed and influenced the original Dungeons & Dragons game, going to school with Gary Gygax's son Ernie and participating in a gaming group that Gary used to playtest some of the AD&D rules.
[2] Williams was laid off after a time but continued to work for TSR in a freelance role, performing odd jobs; it was in this circumstance in 1987 that he came to write "Sage Advice" in the pages of Dragon - Williams recalls that Dragon editor Roger E. Moore simply couldn't find anyone else willing to regularly write the column.
[citation needed] In 1989, Williams joined the RPGA staff for a few years before becoming a roleplaying game designer for TSR.
[2] Although he was released from Wizards of the Coast in 2002 and has since moved back to Wisconsin, he continued to produce D&D and d20 material on a freelance basis up until 2005.
Williams and his wife Penny live in rural Wisconsin in a century-old farmhouse surrounded by several acres of abandoned farmland.