I've been writing since 1988,
and have authored or co-authored over fifty books and games.
GURPS (Steve Jackson Games )
My first published roleplaying game book was Ultra-Tech, a science fiction sourcebook for Steve Jackson Games' Generic Universal Roleplaying System (GURPS). Since then I've become one of the more prolific GURPS authors. Most of my work was done freelance, but In January 2001, I joined the company as an editor and writer.
GURPS Books
Ultra-Tech (128 pages).
Psionics ( 128 pages).
Space Atlas IV (128 pages - with Stephen Dedman).
Vehicles
1st edition (208 pages).
Robots (128 pages).
Vehicles 2nd edition (208 pages).
Reign of Steel (128 pages).
Ultra-Tech 2 (128 pages).
Mecha (128 pages).
Technomancer (128 pages) .
Bio-Tech (144 pages).
Traveller Alien Races I (144 pages)
Transhuman Space (208 pages).
Traveller Planetary Survey 6: Darkmoon (48 pages)
GURPS Lite for Transhuman Space (32 pages).
Transhuman Space Hardcover (240 pages).
Vehicles Lite (64 pages).
Transhuman Space: Deep Beyond (144 pages).
GURPS Fourth Edition (576 pages in two volumes - with Sean Punch)
These
are GURPS books I authored solo, with
the exception of GURPS 4e (co-authored
with Sean Punch) and Space Atlas IV
which
combined two 64-page books, one by
myself and one by Stephen Dedman, into a single volume (my half was
"The
Phoenix Sector"). I've listed Vehicles
twice as the two editions were quite different.
GURPS Adventures
"Mordag's Little Finger " in
GURPS Fantasy Adventures .
"Rebirth" in
GURPS Space Adventures .
"The Medusa Sanction" in GURPS Cyberpunk Adventures .
"Web of the Zyrani" in
GURPS Super Adventures
"Soulburner" in
GURPS Time Travel Adventures .
In the early 1990s, SJ Games produced a number of 128-page themed adventure compilations, each containing three or four lengthy adventures. I contributed to five of the books.
Other GURPS Contributions
I've also contributed one or more chapters to other GURPS books, including:
Traveller (chapter 4, Equipment, and appendices B. Modular Starship Design, and C. Space Combat).
Y2K (chapter 8, Paranoia Plus)
Traveller Alien Races 2 (chapters 3 and 4, Devi Intelligence and Inyx).
Traveller Alien Races 3 (chapters 4 and 5, Inheritors and Lithkind).
Traveller Alien Races 4 (three chapters).
Traveller Ground Forces (Chapter
7, Modular Grav-Vehicle Design)
GURPS
Traveller Starships
(Design system)
Transhuman
Space: High Frontier
(Compiler, and author of a number of chapters).
GURPS
All-Star Jam 2004 (author
of one chapter)
I also have "additional material" credits in several other GURPS books, such as Cyberpunk; the majority of them are for equipment and vehicle design rules that were excerpted from Vehicles or Ultra-Tech.
GURPS Revisions
I was asked to add new material to revise a couple of classic GURPS books written by other authors. In the case of High-Tech, the revisions were fairly minor, while in the case of Space, I contributed a lot of new material.
GURPS Vehicles Expansions
I wrote some of the material in these books, but most of it was submitted by various contributors, chief among them M.A. Lloyd. My contribution was to revise, rewrite, and assemble the material into a cohesive whole.
Tri-Stat from Guardians of Order
In late 1999 I was hired as staff writer and editor for Mark MacKinnon's new company Guardians of Order. Mark had written the first edition of his anime role-playing game Big Eyes, Small Mouth and was working on the more ambitious Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book. We hit it off together, and I stayed with GOO for two years, during which Mark skillfully guided his company's transformation from a small press publisher with only one paid employee to one of the most successful new RPG companies of the last several years.
During my period with GOO, I wrote or co-authored many games, often working closely with Mark, Jeff, and others at the company. My most enduring contribution was to produce a series of games that developed the "Tri-Stat" rules system into a full-powered "universal game system" rivaling the Hero System or GURPS.
Big Eyes, Small Mouth
Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies (with Jim Crocker).
Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2nd Edition (with Mark MacKinnon).
Centauri
Knights .
BESM
Dungeon
(with James Maliszewski)
(I also edited and contributed to Cute and
Fuzzy Seizure Monsters .)
D20 System
BESM
d20 RPG (additional
writing)
Centauri
Knights d20 (author)
d20
Mecha
d20
Military Vehicles (co-authored
with Rich Spainhour)
Dominion Tank Police RPG and Resource Book (author).
Demon City Shinjuku RPG and Resource Book (author).
Tenchi Muyo RPG and Resource Book (co-authored with Karen A. McLarney).
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (with John R. Phythyon).
Tenchi
Universe RPG and Resource Book (with Jeff
Mackintosh, Karen McLarney, & Mark MacKinnon).
The
Authority Role-Playing Game (additional material)
Ex
Machina: Tri-Stat Cyberpunk Genre
(rules and technology sections, editing and project development)
Dreaming Cities
(editing and project development)
(I also contributed a short article on anime to the El Hazard RPG and Resource Book.)
Other Games
In addition to GURPS and Tri-Stat I've written supplements for other RPG systems. These include:
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition (TSR)
Glory of
Rome (author)
The
Complete Druid (author)
Like many people, D&D was my introduction to roleplaying, so I was
very pleased to have a chance to contribute to it with two books I
thought
were pretty solid. Unfortunately, both are now obsolete in the 3e world.
Firefly Games
Escape from Monster Island (game design)Cybor Gladiators (game design)
Fuzion (R. Talsorian)
Bubblegum Crisis:
Before and After (author)
"Virtual Vision" adventure in
Bubblegum Crisis Ex .
BGC was the first anime series I fell in love with, and I was very pleased to be asked to write the second book in R. Talsorian's licensed adaptation. The R. Tal people were very good to work with.
Indiana Jones (West End Games)
Indiana Jones and the Rising Sun.
I wrote the 1930s Japan sourcebook and adventure contained in this supplement for the Masterbook system.
Marvel Superheroes (TSR)
"Mutants and New Warriors" in Gamer's Handbook of the
Marvel Universe: 1992 Update.
It was nice to get some use out of my extensive X-Men comic collection! This project was followed by a contract to write a large Marvel boxed set on the horror characters of the Marvel universe, from Tomb of Dracula and Blade to the then-new Midnight Suns relaunch. I completed it (and was paid), but just before the project was to go into production, TSR decided the Marvel license was too expensive to renew. The boxed set did not appear.
Ogre (Steve Jackson Games)
"Tomorrow's Tanks Today" in The Ogre Book 2nd Edition.
Steve Jackson's robot tank game Ogre was the third wargame I ever played; I remember getting it and playing it only a few months after I was first introduced to roleplaying games. I was very pleased to be able to contribute an article for the 2nd edition of The Ogre Book: a non-fiction piece on trends in future tank design.
Shatterzone (West End Games)
"Vehicles" in Shatterzone Arsenal
I did a chapter of sci-fi vehicle designs and descriptions for this SF game's equipment book.
Spacemaster (Iron Crown Enterprises)
Aliens and
Artifacts (author)
This was a collection of alien species, animals, and technology. They were originally created for my own GURPS Traveller campaign, but ICE were looking for an aliens book, so I sold it to them. As a result of ICE's financial troubles, the rights to the manuscript reverted back to me, and SJ Games eventually invited me to adapt the aliens for use in GURPS Traveller., Some of them have since appeared as "minor races" in various GT books.
Spawn Online (Internet Hollyworlds)
Spawn
Online.
I wrote the initial design document for this online VRML game, which was intended to promote the Spawn movie. I was also involved in the initial stages of several other projects, which ranged from a Lost in Space interactive web site to a massively multiplayer Muppets roleplaying game. My favorite was a computer adventure game based on Gregory Benford's Galactic Center series of hard-sf novels (e.g., Great Sky River). However, Hollyworlds shut down its game development division before these projects could see the light of day.
Stone Keep computer RPG (Interplay)
Thera Awakening (co-authored with Steve Jackson).
This was a hardcover fantasy novella that was packaged with the Stone Keep computer game. Steve and I collaborated on the outline; I wrote the first draft, and Steve did the final draft. I think it worked out pretty well.
Roleplaying Games in Translation
Some of my work has been translated into other languages than English. The translations I'm aware of are:
GURPS Psionics (Japanese edition of the source book, from Kadokaw; Portugese edition from Devir).
GURPS Ultra-Tech (Portuguese edition of the source book, from Devir).
Wiedergeburt (German translation of my GURPS adventure "Rebirth," from Pegasus.
Der Medusa Virus (German translation of my GURPS adventure "Medusa Sanction," from Pegasus).
GURPS
Basic Set Fourth Edition (Korean translation).
Projects Dead or in Limbo
Ghost Rider
and the Midnight Sons (Marvel Superheroes
Boxed Set from TSR).
Legions of Steel: The Roleplaying Game (with John Nowak) from Global Games.
GURPS Abydos (from Devir)
The above books were written, but were either cancelled by the publisher (LoS, Ghost Rider ) or are still awaiting possible publication ( Abydos)
Magazine Articles
I've always loved gaming magazines. My favorites were the old White Dwarf (back when it covered games from every publisher) and the Space Gamer (when it was published by Steve Jackson Games), and the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society . My first time "in print" was in Space Gamer, where my submission to the Magic in Car Wars contest saw my item ("wrench of repairing") being printed as a runner-up.
Challenge Magazine
"A Place in the Sun," in Challenge 38 − a Battletech scenario.
"The Ultra-Tech File" in Challenge 47 - new gadgets for Ultra-Tech and designer's notes.
"Hold Up at the Memory Bank" in Challeng e 48 − GURPS Autoduel/Cyberpunk adventure.
"Wearing the Steel" in
Challenge 50 − an
article on battlesuits for GURPS.
"Gamer's Guide to Cyberpunk Fiction" in Challenge 61 − Book reviews.
Challenge was GDW's successor to JTAS, a general science fiction gaming magazine rather than limited to Traveller. During the time I was writing for them it was edited by Loren Wiseman and then Michelle Sturgeon, both of whom I enjoyed working with. I also wrote a review or two, including one of the boardgame Star Fist.
Games Unplugged Magazine
"Ani-Making" (Games Unplugged 2).
This was an article on creating licensed
anime games, featuring
interviews with Mark MacKinnon (on
Sailor Moon, et al) and Kevin Siembieda (on Robotech).
Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society Online
"Arm of Decision Part 1" (February 8, 2000) − 1/300-scale
miniature rules for GURPS Traveller.
"Arm of Decision Part 2" (February 22, 2000) − 1/300-scale
miniature rules for GURPS Traveller.
"Arm of Decision
Part
3" (May 16, 2000) − 1/300-scale
miniature rules for GURPS Traveller.
The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society was resurrected by SJ Games as an online magazine under Loren Wiseman. So far, I've contributed a single three-part article.
Roleplayer Magazine
This was SJ Games' house magazine that supported GURPS. It later metamorphosed into the general game magazine Pyramid. Most of the articles I had in Roleplayer were "outtakes" from my GURPS tech books.
" Gadgets, Lots of Gadgets " in Roleplayer 17 − Ultra-Tech designer's notes.
" Psi Amplifiers " in Roleplayer 19 − A science-fantasy gadget.
" More Ultra-Technology " in Roleplayer 24 − Outtakes from Ultra-Tech.
" More Bang for the Buck " in Roleplayer 25 − Science fiction grenades.
"
Ultra Weapons, Ultra-Healing " in Roleplayer 27 − Outtakes from the 2nd edition of Ultra-Tech.
" I Laugh at Your Puny Blasters " in Roleplayer 28 − Science fiction body armor rules.
"
The Next Best Thing to Human " in Roleplayer 29 - Androids in GURPS.
Pyramid and Pyramid Online Magazine
"Designer's Notes: GURPS Vehicles" (October 1, 1993) − fiction and three vehicle designs.
"Robots Unlimited" (December 1, 1994) − vignette, designer's notes and new rules for GURPS Robots.
"Cycles, Spikes and Stuff" (December 1, 1995) − A Car Wars Cardgame variant.
" GURPS Mecha Extras" (February 1, 1997) − Anime vignettes and mecha designs.
" GURPS Bio-Tech Designer's Notes (April 3, 1998) − bio-technomagic spells and a vignette.
"Sonic Cannon in GURPS" (Sep 25, 1998) − GURPS Autoduel article.
" GURPS Technomancer Designer's Notes" (June 4, 1999) − magical gadgets and background.
"Designer's Notes: Transhuman Space" (March 1, 2002) − history of the project.
White Wolf Magazine
"Mordag's Little Finger," in White Wolf 17 − One of the first GURPS adventures ever published!
My second professional sale was to White Wolf magazine, which actually predated the company's development of the Storyteller system. As such, it bought articles for any game system. I also wrote a couple of reviews, including reviews of GURPS Lensman, Jovian Chronicles, and GURPS Creatures of the Night.
Fanzines
I'm no longer active in the gaming fanzine scene, but from 1987-1994 I was a semi-regular contributor to Lee Gold's Alarums & Excursions and Lee Graham's All of the Above amateur press associations (APAs).
Awards and Award Nominations
The Origins Awards are nominated by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design and voted on by the gaming public. A couple of projects I've written or co-authored have been recognized by the Academy:
1991 Origins Award nominee, "Best Roleplaying Adventure" for GURPS Space Adventures .
1992 Origins Award winner, "Best Roleplaying Adventure" for GURPS Cyberpunk Adventures .
1999 Origins Award nominee, "Best Roleplaying Supplement" for Big Robots, Cool Starships .
2000 Origins Award nominee, "Best Roleplaying Game" for Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2nd Edition .
2000 Origins Award nominee, "Best Roleplaying Supplement" for Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies .
2001 Origins Award nominee, "Best Game-Related Short Work" for Centauri Knights , Chapter 1.
2002 Origins Award nominee, "Best
Role-Playing Game Adventure" for Transhuman
Space: Orbital Decay (line editor).
2003 Grog d'Or
Award winner, "Best roleplaying game, game line or RPG setting", for Transhuman
Space (writer and creator).
2004 ENNie Award nominee, "Best
d20 Game" for BESM
d20 (additional writing).
2004 ENNie Award nominee, "Best d20
Supplement" for d20
Mecha (author).