Hey, uh… so. I’ll dive right into it.

I’ve got some tabletop roleplaying games out in the world that people can check out!

First is Arium, and if you’ve been following along on social media, you know that Adept Icarus ran a crowdfunding campaign last Fall to get it into print. Now it’s available IN PRINT and digital formats over here on the Adept Icarus website! The game turned out really well if I do say so myself. Here are the two core books released so far (and some of the internal art).

A little about Arium: it’s a love letter to creating worlds and giving RPG groups more control over the story, places, and people in their games. I got to work closely with a team of incredible folks to put it together, and that experience alone is worth the effort.

Arium: Create is all about creating that world, and you’ll have fun doing it. As I’m fond of mentioning on Twitter, WORLDBUILDING IS PLAY (or at least it should be.) The crew that wrote, playtested, and ultimately published this book has ensured that it is a 100% true statement. Besides being fun, Create‘s rules will ensure that the entire group loves what they, uh, create. How do I know this? We’ve put it to the test with tons of game sessions with diverse groups. Without fail, gamers love the world they put together, and while the rules of the game enable this, they do it in the most natural way possible. Everyone jots down ideas quickly (it’s timed), and then they look for ways to combine those ideas to make them even more awesome. Finally, the group votes, and only the favorites of the entire group make it into the canon of the world. It’s fast, easy, and a total blast.

Arium: Discover brings streamlined and easy-to-follow rules for roleplaying that will work with pretty much anything a group can imagine. If your groups haven’t branched out much from 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, that’s just great! Discover won’t be a huge leap in terms of learning new ways to do things. If you’ve tried tons of different games, you’ll see some things that are familiar from games like The Great American Novel or FATE, but you’ll also see some of the typical patterns of old-school RPGs. The goal with Arium: Discover is to keep things streamlined and enable your group to tell the story they want to tell, in the world they want to tell it in. It’s streamed on many different Twitch, Youtube, and Facebook Live channels, and folks tend to love it!

So yeah. Check out Arium! Onward to the other big game that’s released both digitally and in print for quite some time. Yes, I’ve been neglecting this blog. It’s Zorro™: The Roleplaying Game by Gallant Knight Games. This game is, by far, the most ambitious project I’ve been a part of to date, and I was both a writer and a producer for the game. In many ways, Zorro™ prepared me for the work on Arium, and I owe GKG owners Alan and Erin Bahr a ton of appreciation for taking a chance to involve me heavily in the project. It was the experience I needed!

It was a privilege to work on a game from this iconic franchise about the first Latinx American hero. Not only that, he’s one who I’ve enjoyed watching on the small and large screens from my early youth to today. I got to write critters, quickstart characters, and even an adventure seed (and more) for this book, to say nothing of working with amazingly talented folks in the RPG industry. The writers, the editor, the layout, and of course the publisher were all top-notch, and I can’t say enough good things about them! Their skill and professionalism encouraged me to up my game (pun both intended and not intended) in ways I could scarcely have imagined prior.

All in all, it’s been an action-packed couple of years. If RPGs are your thing, check out Arium and Zorro™!

Coming up this year, I’ll continue to work and help deliver Arium crowdfunding stretch goals: Arium: Bridge, Arium: Flash, and Arcadia Planetary Amusement Recreation Kingdom. They are all in varying states of completion. You can follow along with the public Arium Kickstarter updates here, if you’re interested. Also, I’m adapting my old short story, Rue From Ruin, to an RPG ruleset called Wretched & Alone by Chris Bissette. For those who read any of Rue, you’ll know why I think it’s a perfect fit from name alone. Oh, and it will maybe, MAYBE have a soundtrack too. Keep an eye out for that someday!