Mizuno Ryou is a Japanese author and game designer best known for creating the fantasy worlds of Record of Lodoss War and Rune Soldier, along with designing the Sword World RPG system that introduced tabletop gaming to a wider Japanese audience. He's also behind Starship Operators and had a hand in the Galaxy Angel manga.

Born July 13, 1963, Mizuno co-founded Group SNE, an influential creative collective that shaped Japanese gaming and fantasy media. He's worked across multiple genres—both serious, story-driven work and comedy—which has kept his career pretty versatile over the decades.

In more recent years, he collaborated with Tri-Ace and Square Enix on Infinite Undiscovery, an action-RPG that showed he could still adapt to modern game development. Fans often note his ability to balance epic worldbuilding with genuine humor, something that made his early properties feel fresh even as they've aged.