Work

I craft games and stories. And so, I offer freelance game design, writing, and editing, including indexing and consulting. See my pricing here. Feel free to send me a query.

You can download my CV to learn more about my skills and career. Below are my publications, my writing portfolio, and several of my plaudits.

My previous clients have included dScryb, Ghostfire Gaming, Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, Undead Labs, Schwalb Entertainment, and Onyx Path Publishing, among others.

Publications

The following are recent projects. You can see a comprehensive list here. I have a much less thorough amazon author page.

Draculola

I made the Draculola game with my daughters (6 and 9). I interviewed them about the characters and setting material, and I did the writing, game design, and graphic design. Emma Welch illustrated the book. Check it out on itch.io (digital only) or DriveThruRPG (digital and print). More Draculola material will be out in 2021.

The Free Lunch

I’m editor on the quarterly print memo for The Free Lunch Commission, The Free Lunch. This magazine contains an eclectic mix of cultural material, from art and architecture to science and social issues. Check out The Free Lunch website for articles that have appeared in the first two memos.

Portfolio

I’m pursuing more design and writing for games and film. The following are speculative works along those lines.

Illumination is a film treatment worked up for the Austrian Film Institute. It includes details, an abstract, and the treatment, followed by a script of the first few scenes.

Triskele is a short interactive fiction piece I wrote with the help of my friend and editor, Cal Moore. I did much of the writing and scripting. You can also play it in its inkle format or download it as a choose-your-path ebook for Kindle.

Inner Light is a training-mission script for a hypothetical urban-fantasy game. It’s a spiritual sequel to Triskele, although it makes some assumptions Triskele does not.

Over Here is a script about starting an exploration of life after death.

Dem Bones is a sample Borderlands 2 quest script I cooked up for Gearbox. It has a cutscene intro entitled “Lost!”

Unblooded is a script for a prequel to Skyrim, referencing a tragedy that can be discovered in that game near Ivarstead.

“World Building: Explain a Game” is a blog post on creating a game from a sentence composed of three random elements, including character, goal, and game type.

Liza Beta is a speculative character for Gearbox’s Battleborn shooter.

Plaudits

The following are the most recent awards I or products I’ve worked on received. This list is limited to awards relevant to my contributions.

2019

Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes; editorial assistance; Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement Fan Favorite

2017

Artist in Residence, November; game design; MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria

Volo’s Guide to Monsters; design and writing; Golden Geek for Best Supplement

2016

Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide; editorial assistance; Judge’s Spotlight ENnie

Volo’s Guide to Monsters; design and writing; New York Times Best Seller

2015

Wizards of the Coast; Gold ENnie for Best Publisher

D&D Player’s Handbook, fifth edition; development; New York Times Best Seller, Gold ENnies for Product of the Year, Best Game, and Best Rules; Silver ENnie for Best Writing; Origins Award for Best RPG, Origins Fan Favorite for Best RPG

D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide, fifth edition; development; Gold ENnie for Best Supplement

D&D Monster Manual, fifth edition; design and development; New York Times Best Seller, Gold ENnie for Best Monster product; Origins Award for Best RPG Supplement, Origins Fan Favorite for Best RPG Supplement

D&D Starter Set, fifth edition; development; Gold ENnie for Best Family Game

D&D Basic Rules, fifth edition; development; Gold ENnies for Best Electronic Book and Best Free Product

Triskele; writer and designer; runner-up, Write a Game Challenge