Archive
2017: The Year in Review
2017 was not the best of years, but it still brought several things on which I look back with pride – and a few things that make me look forward to 2018. Here are the year’s professional highlights from my point of view:
HAWK: Freedom Squadron
I have blogged before about my love of aviation, so when My.com approached me to work on this bullet hell shooter game I was intrigued. I crafted the main storyline about a ragtag band of heroes coming together to help a peaceful nation resist its brutal neighbor. Released last January, the game has topped five million downloads and seen a billion enemy planes destroyed. It is available at the iTunes Store and the Google Play Store.
Fenix Magazine
This tabletop roleplaying magazine from Sweden has a mix of Swedish and English content, the latter provided by renowned writers like Kenneth Hite, Pete Nash, Will Hindmarch – and lately, me. I highly recommend checking out their all-English Best of Fenix volumes, which are available in PDF form from DriveThruRPG and other online retailers. I describe their content as “thoughtful articles for grown-up roleplayers,” and whatever games you read or play, you will find something useful and interesting within their pages. I contributed to four issues in 2017, and I have plans to continue in 2018.
- Fenix 2/17 included a reprint of “As God is My Witness,” a systemless article on the Medieval practice of trial by ordeal which was first published in Imagine magazine in 1984, and “CSI: Fantasy,” a new article on forensic folk-magic from European tradition.
- For Fenix 4/17, I wrote “Bloodthirsty Blades,” a review of cursed swords in myth and fantasy literature, with some ideas for the GM to make them into a major part of a roleplaying campaign.
- Fenix 5/17 included “When is a Dragon Not a Dragon?” taking examples from myth and folklore to show how dragons can be more than just a powerful boss monster.
- Fenix 6/17 included “Creating Cults,” an examination of cults and cultists, examining the structure, organization, and goals of six different types of cult for a fantasy campaign.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition
Toward the end of the year, British tabletop RPG publisher Cubicle 7 announced that they had won a license from Games Workshop to produce a fourth edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the game that arguably started my career thirty-odd years ago. I am not allowed to go into too much detail, but I have contributed some writing to the core rulebook and I am currently in the planning phases of a project called The Enemy Within Director’s Cut. I will be going back over the beloved campaign, making some changes based on the experience of thousands of games played over three decades, and adding some new material to bring this version more into line with the vision that Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, and I developed for the original. That is all I can say for now, but keep an eye on this blog and the Cubicle 7 web site for more details.
Colonial Horrors: Sleepy Hollow and Beyond
Another proud achievement this year was the publication of this anthology of early American horror fiction, all set in or around the Colonial era. I tracked down some great stories by writers famous (Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft), obscure (Charles Brockden Brown, John Neal), and better known for writing outside the horror genre (James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne). The book has garnered some good reviews, and I am hoping to edit more anthologies in a similar vein.
My Complete and Utter Bibliography: Odds and Ends
Down the years, I have worked on a few things that do not fit in any of the categories covered by previous Bibliography posts. Here they are:
Board Games
Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, Games Workshop, 1988 – rules editing.
“In Search of Eternity,” White Dwarf 102 – new characters for Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb.
Rogue Trooper, Games Workshop, 1987 – rules editing.
“We Gotta Traitor to Find,” White Dwarf 90 – new cards for Rogue Trooper.
Miniatures Games
Silent Death: Night Brood, Iron Crown Entertainment, 1992 – flavor text.
Card Games
Dragon Ball GT, Score Entertainment, 2004 – text editing.
InuYasha, Score Entertainment, 2004 – text editing.
Yu Yu Hakusho Spirit Detective, Score Entertainment, 2003 – text editing.
Historical Games
“Hounds and Jackals: Reconstructing an Ancient Egyptian Board Game” KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, Vol. 22 No. 1, Spring 2011.
“Hnefatafl: A Viking Board Game,” Learning Through History, January/February 2007.
“Patolli: An Aztec Board Game,” Learning Through History, January/February 2006.
“Play Go,” Calliope (online), January 2006.
“Latrunculi: or The Game of Robbers”, Dig, May/June 2005.
“Play Senet,” Dig, November/December 2004.
“Tau, an Egyptian Board Game,” The Ostracon, Winter 1995.
“Reconstructing Rules for the Ancient Egyptian Game of Twenty Squares,” KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, Vol. 4 No. 2, Summer 1993.
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter Bibliography: The Rest of the RPGs
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
Although I’m best known for my work on tabletop games, electronic games have been my bread and butter for the last 25 years. Like a lot of “names” from the golden age of tabletop RPGs – Mike Brunton, Jim Bambra, Zeb Cook, Lawrence Schick, Ken Rolston, Paul Murphy, and many more – I found in the early 90s that the electronic games industry offers writers and designers something that the tabletop games industry cannot: a chance to actually make a living.
So far, I have worked on more than 40 electronic games that made it to market, as well as quite a few that didn’t, and a handful that have not yet been announced. Below is a list of the first category.
If you are interested in finding out more about my services and availability as a game writer, a good place to start is my LinkedIn profile.
Merge World Above (Merge, iOS/Android), MY.ru 2020 – Narrative Designer
HAWK: Freedom Squadron (Bullet Hell, iOS/Android), MY.ru 2017 – Narrative Designer
Dawnbringer (Action-RPG, iOS/Android), Kiloo 2016 – Story Designer/Writer
Metal Skies (Arcade, iOS/Android), Kabam 2014 – Localization Editor
Blades of Excalibur (Arcade, Web), Kabam 2014 – Localization Editor
Ravenmarch (Strategy, Web), Kabam 2014 – Localization Editor
Wartune (Strategy, Web), Kabam 2014 – Localization Editor
Wartune: Hall of Heroes (Strategy, iOS/Android), Kabam 2014 – Localization Editor
Heroes of Camelot (Card Battle, iOS/Android), Kabam 2013 – Story Designer/Writer
Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon (Strategy, iOS/Android), Kabam 2013 – Writer
The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth (Strategy, Mobile), Kabam/Warner Bros. 2012 – Story Designer/Writer
The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age (Strategy, Web), Kabam/Warner Bros. 2012 – Writer
Arcane Empires (Strategy, iOS/Android), Kabam 2012 – Story Designer/Writer
Mobile Command: Crisis in Europe (Strategy, iOS), Kabam 2012 – Story Designer/Writer
Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North (Strategy, iOS), Kabam 2012 – Story Designer/Writer
Imperion (Strategy, Web), Travian Games 2011 – Writer/Editor
Viking Tales: Mystery of Black Rock (Casual, iOS), AiLove 2011 – Writer/Editor
Ruse (Strategy, PC/Console), Ubisoft 2010 – Story Consultant
Empire: Total War (Strategy, PC), SEGA 2010 – Writer/Designer
Dragonica (MMORPG, PC online), THQ/ICE 2009 – Localization Editor
America’s Next Top Model (Casual, Mobile), PressOK Ent. 2009 – Writer/Editor
Houdini’s Infinite Escapes (Casual, Mobile), PressOK Ent. 2008 – Writer/Editor
Parking Frenzy (Casual, Mobile), Reaxion Corp. 2008 – Writer/Editor
Parisian Puzzle Adventures (Casual, Mobile), Reaxion Corp. 2008 – Writer/Editor
Detective Puzzles (Casual, Mobile), Reaxion Corp. 2007 – Writer/Editor
Men in Black: Alien Assault (Casual, Mobile), Ojom 2006 – Writer/Editor
Online Chess Kingdoms (Casual, PSP), Konami 2006 – Design Consultant
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (RPG, Xbox/PC), Bethesda Softworks 2005 – Pickup Writer
Spartan: Total Warrior (Action, Console), SEGA 2005 – Writer
Rise of the Nile (Casual, PC/Mac), Evil Genius 2005 – Design Director
Rhiannon’s Realm: Celtic Mahjongg Solitaire (Casual, PC/Mac), Evil Genius 2005 – Design Director
Medieval: Total War – Viking Invasion (Strategy, PC), Activision 2003 – Writer/Researcher
Nightcaster (Action, Xbox), Microsoft 2002 – Voice Talent
Em@il NASCAR Racing (Casual, Email), Hasbro 2000 – Designer
Nomads of Klanth (MMO Sim, PC online), AOL 1999 – Lead Designer
The SARAC Project (MMO Sim, PC online), So-Net Japan 1999 – Writer/Designer
Microsoft Fighter Ace (MMO Sim, PC online), Microsoft 1997 – Writer/Researcher
Air Attack (MMO Sim, PC online), VR-1 1996 – Researcher
G-Police (Sim, PSX/PC), Psygnosis 1997 – Writer/Designer
Beyond the Limit: Ultimate Climb (Adventure, PC), Microsoft 1996 – Designer
Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer (Adventure, PC), US Gold 1996 – Writer
One Small Square: Backyard (Edutainment, PC/Mac), Virgin 1995 – Writer/Designer
The Legacy (RPG, PC), MicroProse 1993 – Pickup Writer
Fields of Glory (Strategy, PC), MicroProse 1993 – Writer/Voice Talent
Harrier Jump Jet (Sim, PC), MicroProse 1992 – Writer/Designer
B-17 Flying Fortress (Sim, PC), MicroProse 1992 – Writer/Researcher
Castles: The Northern Campaign (Strategy, PC), Interplay 1991 – Writer
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Myth and Monsterography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
Dark Future was released in 1988, the same year as Adeptus Titanicus. At least part of Games Workshop’s strategy was to get better at plastics before introducing them as a major part of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 product lines. It has been claimed that Bryan Ansell was also testing the competition’s tolerance by producing games that were very similar to two major titles of the day: Steve Jackson Games’ Car Wars and FASA Corporation’s BattleTech. I don’t know if that is true, but no lawsuits resulted.
The title Dark Future came before the game. After reading William Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, Jervis Johnson became very excited about the potential of a cyberpunk RPG. Cyberpunk was a very new sub-genre at the time, and no cyberpunk games existed. Marc Gascoigne and Jervis developed a whole setting for the proposed game, but the tide in Games Workshop had already turned against new RPGs and so far as I know the project never received an official green light.
Dark Future was developed by Richard Halliwell at the same time as Jervis was working on Adeptus Titanicus, and the work done for the cyberpunk RPG was grafted onto the car combat game. The spaces between Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay products were growing longer and longer, so I was drafted in as an editor/developer on both games.
Initially, no link was planned between the Dark Future setting and the Warhammer/WH40K mythos. This changed around 1990 when the first Dark Future novels appeared, with some stories featuring demons based on Realm of Chaos.
Another departure from the GW norm was the scale. This was so that players could adapt commercially-available toy cars for use in the game. The boxed set came with two types of cars: the Interceptor used by the Sanctioned Ops (the good guys), and the Renegade used by wasteland gangs such as the Mad Max style Maniax. GW never released any other cars for the game, but the line of metal miniatures included accessories for adapting other toy cars.
Dark Future was a modest success initially. A supplement, White Line Fever, was released later in 1988, and another was planned under the title Dead Man’s Curve. When sales plateaued, the Dead Man’s Curve material was published in White Dwarf 124-125. After that, the novels puttered on as a minor GW fiction line, but nothing was done with the game until 2015, when Auroch Digital announced an electronic version subtitled Blood Red States. It remains to be seen whether this will help revive the IP.
There are still Dark Future fans out there. I recently discovered the Oldhammer: Dark Future Facebook group, with over 500 members who are still modeling and converting vehicles and playing the game. There is also a fan-made wiki.
My involvement with Dark Future was brief and peripheral, but I’m still happy with it. It was a fun setting to play with during that time when cyberpunk was still new and cutting-edge, and I enjoyed writing a lot of the flash fiction and text vignettes that went into the two supplements. Here’s what I did:
Products
Dark Future (1988) – developer, color text
White Line Fever (1988) – developer, color text
Articles
“The Sand Cats,” Challenge #52, 1991 – author Buy it here
“Dead Man’s Curve” White Dwarf # 124-125, June-July 1990 – developer, color text
“Saint Louis Blues,” White Dwarf #112, May 1989 – developer, color text
“Redd Harvest,” White Dwarf #104, Sep 1988 – author
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
Are you a fan of black-powder fantasy? Do you enjoy the backstories of movies and TV shows like Sleepy Hollow and National Treasure? Do you prefer Joseph Curwen and Keziah Mason to Randolph Carter and Charles Dexter Ward? If so, you might like Colonial Gothic.
I haven’t worked on tabletop roleplaying games much over the last few years. While the industry has always been rich in ideas, it is increasingly cash-poor. This earlier post goes into some of the reasons why. But when I came across Colonial Gothic back in 2009, I was intrigued. Thanks to mysteries like the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony, events like the Salem witch trials, and classic American horror fiction from writers like Washington Irving and H. P. Lovecraft, the Colonial era is a rich environment for historical fantasy, and historical fantasy has always been one of my favorite genres. Add in the extensive body of conspiracy theory surrounding the Templars in America, the Freemasons and the American Revolution, Franklin’s alleged occultism – not to mention local legends and Native American lore – and you have a setting that can support just about any kind of fantasy and horror adventure.
The game can be played as Cthulhu 1776 – which was one of its earliest incarnations. It can involve nerve-wracking investigations of the great and powerful. Players can fight an occult war for America’s freedom, confront witch-cults and monsters, and even seek the hiding-place of the Holy Grail in lost Templar colonies.
While Colonial Gothic has received some great reviews and built up a small but passionate following, it has yet to break out from the pack of indie RPGs and achieve the success I think it deserves. But check it out, and judge for yourselves.
Products
Lovecraft (2015) – co-author More Information
Bestiary (2013) – co-author More Information
Locations (2012) – developer
The French & Indian War (2012) – developer
Flames of Freedom: The Philadelphia Affair (2011) – developer
New France (2011) – developer
Organizations Book 1: The Templars (2010) – author More Information
Templates (2010) – author
Flames of Freedom: Boston Besieged (2010) – co-author, developer
Gazetteer (2010) – author
Articles
“Converting Between Call of Cthulhu and Colonial Gothic,” (2016) – author Download article
“La Llorona: A Legend of New Spain,” (2015) – author Download article
“The Puckle Gun,” (2014) – author Download article
Also Visit
The Rogue Games Colonial Gothic page
The Rogue Games Store
The Colonial Gothic Facebook Group
The Colonial Gothic Google+ Community
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter Bibliography: The Rest of the RPGs
My Complete and Utter Bibliography: Odds and Ends
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
Fighting Fantasy gamebooks started in 1982 with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Over the next twelve years, a total of 59 gamebooks was published, along with a magazine, a multi-player RPG, and other spin-offs. I was by no means the most prolific contributor to the series, but here’s a list of my contributions to the gamebook craze.
Books
Fighting Fantasy 10th Anniversary Yearbook, Puffin Books 1992 – “Rogue Mage” adventure (reprint)
Fighting Fantasy # 29: Midnight Rogue, Puffin Books 1987
The Adventures of Oss the Quick, Oxford University Press 1987 – 6 vols
The Adventures of Kern the Strong, Oxford University Press, 1986 – 6 vols
Articles
“Field of Battle,” Warlock #12 October/November 1986
“Into the Unknown,” Warlock #11, August/September 1986
“More Monster Conversions,” Warlock #10, June/July 1986
“Rogue Mage,” Warlock #10 June/July 1986
“Monster Conversions,” Warlock #9 April/May 1986
“Magical Items,” Warlock #9 April/May 1986
“The Ring of Seven Terrors,” Warlock #9 April/May 1986
“The Seasoned Adventurer,” Warlock #4, 1985
“Solo Voyages,” Imagine #22, Jan 1985 Download free here
Interviews
Fighting Fantazine #7 – downloadable here
Also on this Blog
All posts tagged “Fighting Fantasy”
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
It was about this time in 1990 that I first heard about the game that would become Vampire: the Masquerade. Having seen the writing on the wall for RPGs at Games Workshop, I was planning to leave, so I was looking around for freelance work. Ken Rolston put me in touch with a young game designer called Mark Rein-Hagen, and we had a series of transatlantic phone conversations about his idea for a game where all the players would be vampires.
This was a revolutionary concept at the time, and very much in tune with the 90s zeigeist. A new wave of Goth and Gothpunk was starting up. Though I wasn’t a part of it – I preferred Rainbow and Pink Floyd to the Sisters of Mercy – I had been weaned on Hammer horror before graduating to Augustin Calmet and Montague Summers, and I knew quite a bit about vampires. I was commissioned to write an introduction for the core rulebook, and I also got to see and comment on early drafts of the rules.
My introduction – framed as a letter from Dracula to Mina Harker after the events of Stoker’s novel – was popular, and it was reprinted in various places over the following years. I worked as a writer and editor on almost every release during the game’s first couple of years, and I attended my first GenCon in 1991 as a guest of White Wolf publishing. In addition to working on Vampire, I wrote introductions for both editions of Wraith. My last job for White Wolf was co-writing the second edition of A World of Darkness: Mummy with James Estes, with whom I shared an office at a multimedia startup at the time. It got very good reviews, and when White Wolf released Mummy: the Resurrection as a full game, Jim and I received a “based on” credit.
Vampire was always the flagship brand of the World of Darkness, going on to spawn a disappointing TV series titled Kindred: the Embraced and World of Darkness Online, an ambitious MMORPG that failed to set the world on fire. Initially billed as “a storytelling game of personal horror,” the original game ended up glossing over the psychological aspects of surviving as a vampire and focused instead on vampire society and politics. Its post-punk take on the children of the night can be said to have inspired movies like the Underworld series and TV series like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, as well as a lot of urban fantasy fiction. It was also one of the first tabletop RPGs to have a significant appeal for female gamers. I look back on it with great affection.
Products
Wraith: the Oblivion, second edition (1998) – introduction Buy it here
Mummy, Second Edition (1997) – co-author Buy it here
Book of the Kindred (1996) – contributor (reprint)
Clanbook: Assamite (1995) – author
Wraith: the Oblivion, first edition (1994) – introduction Buy it here
Vampire Storyteller’s Screen (1993) – insert booklet
A World of Darkness (1992) – contributor: Britain Buy it here
The Succubus Club (1991) – contributor: “Annabelle’s Party” Buy it here
Chicago by Night (1991) – editor Buy it here
The Storyteller’s Handbook (1992) – contributor Buy it here
The Players’ Guide (1991) – contributor Buy it here
Vampire: the Masquerade (1991) – introduction Buy it here
Articles
“Bloodlines,” Adventures Unlimited #6, Summer 1996
“Purgatory,” White Wolf Magazine #28, Aug/Sept 1991 Buy it here
Also on this Blog
All posts tagged “White Wolf”
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter Bibliography: The Rest of the RPGs
My Complete and Utter Bibliography: Odds and Ends
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
NOTICE
Since Steve Jackson Games is based in Texas, until further notice I will be donating all my royalties from SJG products to Texas-based organizations defending women’s rights to reproductive healthcare. I’m not blaming SJG for the laws recently passed in their home state, and it’s not a huge amount of money, but I felt I had to do something.
When I left Games Workshop in 1990, Steve Jackson Games was one of the first companies I approached for freelance work. I was attracted to GURPS because of the large number of settings it supported, especially in my favorite area of historical fantasy. Since I had studied Viking archaeology at college, the first proposal I sent their way was for GURPS Vikings. It got a very positive response, and led to more work in the same vein. A few rules additions from my sourcebooks also ended up in the core rules. Here’s the list:
Products
GURPS Low-Tech (2011) – contributing author Buy it here
GURPS Crusades (2010) – co-author Buy it here
GURPS Faerie (2003) – author Buy it here
GURPS Vikings, Second Edition (2002) – author Buy it here
GURPS Middle Ages 1, Second edition (2002) – author Buy it here
GURPS Best of Pyramid Magazine 2 (2002) – contributing author Buy it here
GURPS Best of Pyramid Magazine 1 (2001) – contributing author
GURPS Discworld Also (2001) – editor Buy it here
GURPS Compendium II (2000) – contributing author Buy it here
GURPS Compendium I (1999) – contributing author Buy it here
GURPS Middle Ages 1 (1992) – author
GURPS Vikings (1991) – author
Articles
“The Viking Dead” and “Indian Ghouls,” Pyramid #3/92, June 2016. Buy it here
“Tempered Punks,” Pyramid #3/87, January 2016 Buy it here
“The Knights Templar,” Pyramid #3/86, December 2015 Buy it here
“La Llorona,” personal blog, December 2015 Download free here
“The Nock Volley Gun,” Pyramid #3/57, July 2013 Buy it here
“The Puckle Gun,” Pyramid #3/52, February 2013 Buy it here
“The Air Loom,” Pyramid #3/32, July 2011 Buy it here
“Templars: The Fighting Priests,” Pyramid #3/19, May 2010 Buy it here
“Mummy Amulets,” Pyramid #3/17, March 2010 Buy it here
“The Vikings in the Atlantic,” Pyramid #3/16, February 2010 Buy it here
“Designer’s Notes: GURPS Faerie” View free online
“Solomon Kane,” Shadis #40, Sept 1996
“Nastassia’s Wedding,” Pyramid #19, May/June 1996 Buy it here
“Terra Incognita: The Ghost Ship,” Pyramid #12, Mar/Apr 1995 Buy it here
“Lady Mijiko’s Holiday,” Pyramid #14, Jul/Aug 1995
“Trespasser’s Isle,” Pyramid #16, Nov/Dec 1995 – View free online
“Black Dogs, Church Grims and Hell Hounds,” Roleplayer #30, 1992 View free online
“Norse Trolls,” Roleplayer #24, 1991 View free online
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
For me, as for most people, Dungeons & Dragons was the first roleplaying game. I started playing around 1977 and I started writing articles and adventures while I was in college. My first article was published in 1982, and along the way I’ve written a D&D novel and worked on an unsuccessful pitch for a Greyhawk MMO game. Here is everything that’s been published:
Products
Solasta Campaign Rulebook, Tactical Adventures 2021 – author/editor (Kickstarter stretch goal reward)
Solasta Adventure: The Ruins of Carillach Gar, Tactical Adventures 2021 – author (Kickstarter stretch goal reward)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #41: The Thousand Fangs Below, Paizo Publishing 2010 – adventure author Buy it here
Pathfinder GameMastery Guide, Paizo Publishing 2010 – contributing author Buy it here
Pathfinder Bestiary 2, Paizo Publishing 2010 – contributing author Buy it here
Moons of Arksyra, Hypernova Games 2005 – co-author/developer Buy it here
Mythic Vistas: Eternal Rome, Green Ronin Publishing 2005 – author Buy it here
Creatures of Freeport, Green Ronin Publishing 2004 – co-author Buy it here
Tales of Freeport, Green Ronin Publishing 2003 – author
Slaine: Teeth of the Moon Sow, Mongoose Publishing 2002 – author Buy it here
AD&D Celts Campaign Sourcebook, TSR, Inc. 1992 – author Buy it here
The Goblins’ Lair, TSR, Inc. 1992 – author Buy it here
Fiction
Blood and Honor, Wizards of the Coast 2006 Buy the audio book here
Articles
“Wights in D&D 3.5” (Ecology of the Wight article outtake), personal blog, October 2021 Go to post
“The Tathlum,” (AD&D Celts Campaign Sourcebook outtake), personal blog, December 2015 Download free here
“The Ecology of the Wight,” Dragon #348, October 2006 Buy it here
“The Soul Yard,” No Quarter #8, September 2006 Buy it here
“Dead Man’s Quest,” Dungeon #107, February 2004 Buy it here
“The Rapax,” Tales of Freeport web promo, 2003 Download free here
“Lady Mijiko’s Holiday,” Pyramid #14, Jul/Aug 1995
“The King Beneath the Hill,” White Wolf Magazine #26, Apr/May 1991 Buy it here
“Race Relations,” GameMaster Publications #4, June 1986
“Nightmare in Green,” White Dwarf #75, Apr 1986
“Defenders of the Faith,” GameMaster Publications #3, March 1986
“Find the Lady,” GameMaster Publications #2, Dec 1985 Download free here
“Tongue Tied,” White Dwarf #70, Nov 1985
“Poison,” White Dwarf #69, Oct 1985
“Magic & Mayhem: Viking!” Imagine #30, Sep 1985
“Pentjak Silat: Indonesian Martial Arts,” Imagine #25, Apr 1985
“Japanese Bujutsu,” Imagine #25, Apr 1985
“Monsters from the Folklore of the Philippines,” Imagine #25, Apr 1985 Download free here
“Eye of Newt and Wing of Bat,” White Dwarf #59-63, Dec 1984-April 1985
“New Flail Types,” Imagine #20, Nov 1984 Download free here
“Magic & Mayhem: Celts,” Imagine #17, Aug 1984 Download free here
“Sethotep,” Imagine #16, Jul 1984 Download free here
“Sobek, God of Marshes and Crocodiles,” Imagine #16, Jul 1984 Download free here
“Drowning Rules,” White Dwarf #51, Apr 1984
“Seeing the Light,” White Dwarf #44, Sep 1983
“The Taking of Siandabhair,” Imagine #5, Aug 1983 Download free here
“Bujutsu,” White Dwarf #43, Aug 1983
“Extracts from the Uruk-Hai Battle Manual,” White Dwarf #38, Mar 1983
“The Tower of Babel,” Pegasus #12, Feb-Mar 1983 Buy it here
“The City in the Swamp,” White Dwarf #37, Feb 1983
“More Necromantic Abilities,” White Dwarf #36, Jan 1983
“Drug Use and Abuse,” White Dwarf #32, Aug 1982
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
My Complete and Utter Cthulhu Bibliography
I had been playing AD&D for about four years when the first edition of Call of Cthulhu was published in 1981. Although I wasn’t terribly familiar with Lovecraft’s work at the time, I liked the fact that it was a horror game set in the real world of the 20th century. Initially I thought it could be used to play Hammer-horror style games, but as I read more Lovecraft I quickly came to realize how perfectly Call of Cthulhu was designed for Lovecraft’s more cerebral style of horror – and most importantly, I think, how first edition Call of Cthulhu forced players to think beyond combat as a first response.
Although my college gaming group continued to focus mainly on AD&D, I started to run an occasional Call of Cthulhu campaign. As I’ve already said in various places (including the previous post), Call of Cthulhu went on to become a major influence on my writing for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
Although Games Workshop published various titles for Call of Cthulhu during my time there (the best, in my opinion, was the hardback rulebook with bestiary art by Tony Ackland), I only got to work on one GW CoC product, and that was before I joined the staff. At work my time was fully taken up, at first by WFRP and later by other games, so everything I wrote for Call of Cthulhu, I wrote on my own time. I did send an adventure to Chaosium around 1986-87, and I got a very nice letter back from Sandy Petersen saying he wanted to use it in the Second Cthulhu Companion, but it was cut at the last minute and it languished in a to-be-developed pile until 2015, when I finally got the opportunity to develop it into a tie-in novella for the Arkham Horror boardgame called The Dirge of Reason.
Although my bibliography for Call of Cthulhu is shorter than for many other games, I still regard it as one of my favorites. Although opportunities to write for it didn’t come my way very often, it’s still a great game and, as I’ve said before, a milestone in the history of tabletop RPG design. I think of it as the first game of the second generation, when RPG design crawled out of the dungeon, stood upright, and began to do more than just hit things with swords.
Fiction
The Dirge of Reason, Fantasy Flight Games, 2017 – author Buy it here
The Investigators of Arkham Horror, Fantasy Flight Games, 2016 – contributor Buy it here
Cthulhu Britannica, Cubicle 7 Games, 2014 – promotional postcards (Kickstarter)
Products
Achtung! Cthulhu: Under the Gun, Modiphius Entertainment, 2019 – author Buy it here
Cthulhu Confidential, Pelgrane Press, 2016 – editor Buy it here
Colonial Gothic: Lovecraft, Rogue Games, 2015 – co-author Buy it here
Green & Pleasant Land, Games Workshop 1987 – contributing author
Articles
“Converting Between Call of Cthulhu and Colonial Gothic,” blog, March 2016 Download free here
“A Green, Unpleasant Land,” blog, January 2016 Download free here
“Out of the Ordinary,” Shadis #41, Oct 1996
“Mind Over Matter,” Shadis #38, Jul 1996 Download free here
“Spirit of the Mountain,” White Dwarf #99, Apr 1988
“Trilogy of Terror,” White Dwarf #97, Feb 1988
“The Worm Stones,” Fantasy Chronicles #5, November 1986 – co-author
“Ghost Jackal Kill,” White Dwarf #79, Aug 1986
“Crawling Chaos,” White Dwarf #68, Sep 1985 – contributor
“Haunters of the Dark,” White Dwarf #67, Aug 1985
Video Games
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Bethesda Softworks 2005 – pickup writer (in-game documents)
Other Bibliography Posts
My Complete and Utter Warhammer Bibliography (Warhammer, WFRP, HeroQuest, AHQ)
My Complete and Utter Warhammer 40,000 Bibliography (WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus/Epic Scale)
My Complete and Utter D&D/AD&D/d20 Bibliography
My Complete and Utter GURPS Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Colonial Gothic Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Dark Future Bibliography
My Complete and Utter Video Gameography
Graeme Davis 