I haven’t updated this site in nearly three and a half years. In my defense, I’ve been busy. In the time since I last posted, I’ve switched jobs, met an incredible woman who agreed to marry me, fostered a better than ever relationship with my kids, and done a lot of fun stuff.

If you look at my published works, you’ll notice I have this Clue interactive audiobook listed there. I want to talk about that for a second.

I’m fortunate that I have friends who look out for me and that was definitely the case here. When toymaker Lunii reached out to a famous author friend of mine to do a Choose Your Own Adventure style audiobook for kids, said friend had to politely decline due to scheduling but, in doing so, they offered me up as an alternative. They were well aware of my deep love for children’s media, branching narrative, kid detectives, and the Clue board game. I chatted with Lunii and it was clear early on that we were a good fit for each other. They showed me what they wanted, I pitched some ideas for it, and a little back and forth aaaaand…

…that all resulted in this:

Over the course of many months, I worked with my great editor at Lunii to realize a fun, engaging, and oh-so mysterious interactive audiobook for their My Fabulous Storyteller device. You can check it out here, available in English and French.

As someone who has absolutely loved Clue since they were a child, this was a dream project. The new take on the characters is just stunning–modern, elegant, enticing–and I got to breathe life into these absolute icons. I cannot think my author friend, Lunii, and Hasbro enough for this opportunity.

In addition to that, well, I’ve been living life. Going to shows, seeing live music, having incredible food, spending time with my family, and trying to take advantage of every day. If you follow me on socials, you…probably noticed I’m barely on them anymore. It’s for good reasons though.

I won’t promise to update this often but just know that, as of right now, things are going well. I love my job, my people, and all the incredible experiences we are having.

Much much love to you all. I hope you are doing well too.

A few months ago, I was inspired to create a roleplaying game system that used standard decks of playing cards to create dynamic, engaging stories through play. RPGs with card mechanics aren’t new but I wanted to make the cards you play more than your usual randomizer. I wanted them to introduce elements into the story, for the system to be as active in the storytelling as the players.

The result is Full Deck Roleplaying. I am currently working on the complete ruleset for release later this year but I wanted to get the core mechanics out to as many people as possible to read, play, and give feedback on how the system worked for their group. This isn’t intended as simply a design experiment but a full, functioning game system that can accommodate a wide array of genres, characters, and settings.

Full Deck Roleplaying will be released as a standalone system that players can use in whatever worlds they desire, but I am also working on official settings that use the system at its core with tweaks and adjustments particular to the setting’s needs. Through these settings, players will see the dials turned in different ways that show off the customization options and scalability of the Full Deck Roleplaying system.

Currently in development are:

Seven Thunders

In a world after the Rapture, a war between Angels and Demons ravages the globe. Human bands, the remainders who didn’t make it to Heaven, try to survive and thrive as they attempt to find a way to end the constant fighting.

No Mere Mortals

Superheroes strive to protect humanity against a dark, extradimensional menace that threatens reality itself. Inspired by such comics as Umbrella Academy, Doom Patrol, and Justice League Dark.

Wyrd is Bond

A new version of my magic-hits-the-streets setting from 2004, this new edition of Wyrd is Bond is set in an alternate modern day where practitioners of magic are in the mainstream, releasing hit singles, streaming gang wars, and recruiting neophytes while serving clandestine agendas and hidden masters.

You can get a copy of the Full Deck Roleplaying Playtest Document for absolutely free over at DriveThruRPG. You can chip in a few bucks if you want but there’s no obligation. The PDF includes everything you need to play the game and let me know what you think. People who submit feedback on the game will get a 25% discount when Full Deck Roleplaying hits virtual shelves later this year.

So I gave up writing.

It wasn’t intentional. It honestly just happened. A confluence of rejection, exhaustion, and anxiety wore me down and I stopped writing.

Outside of the day job, that is.

Time passed. Writing became something I didn’t do. I didn’t even think about it.

It was freeing. I stopped worrying about a lot of things and allowed myself to be okay with where I was in my career, in my life.

Then things started nagging at me. Unconsciously. I started to feel that anxiety when walking through a book store. I felt an aversion to reading. I got The Guilt over not having an agent and not having some big publishing contract. The tells.

The desire to write showed up soon after.

I dreaded things going back to how they had been. Back to being stuck in this constant cycle of unfulfilled ambition and unending self-defeat.

Then something else happened. I broke through a barrier, pierced some emotional membrane. I felt the need to write, the drive to create, but all those other anxieties melted away. I had the desire to go and make—and that was it. Nothing weighing me down, making me feel less-than. I fell back in love with both writing and reading without all this other baggage.

I wasn’t used to that. Depression, fear, anger had always been part of the package. Without those feelings, that creative fever I felt wasn’t a burden. It was exciting.

Admittedly, that made me nervous. I waited for the other shoe to drop and it didn’t.

Certain I wouldn’t be ambushed, I wandered into the writing fields again. I dusted off an old story of mine and started revising it. Free and clear and without. Without all those other, horrible things.

Which leads us to now and the name of this blog post. The story I’m revising, the story I’m finishing, is a Middle Grade horror novel called Something’s Wrong with Sissy. It’s a dark fable about a young girl named Margaret whose twin comes down with a strange affliction that only she can solve—or at least try to.

It’s about 20-25% of the way done now. I’ve posted some bits of it on my Twitter but will post longer excerpts here as I’m comfortable.

It appears I’m back writing. And for the first time in a while, I’m happy about that.

Stay tuned.

I’ve been here a month but am just now getting around to updating my site.

On May 7th 2018, I started my new gig as Creative Director at Funcom, Inc, makers of the exceptional supernatural horror MMO Secret World Legends and the new brutal survival game Conan Exiles set in the world of Robert E. Howard’s renowned barbarian.

I’m super excited for this change—it’s been great already—and I can’t wait to share what we’re working on.

I published a book! A book I’ve been wanted to get out for ten years. Introducing the first book in the Little Fears Middle Grade fiction line: The Wolf Pact. Here’s a cover!

About The Wolf Pact
Eleven-year old Nate Torrance is alone. His best friend, Darren, no longer talks to him. His mom works all the time. His dad lives out of state and never calls. He’s pretty much given up on the whole idea of “friendship” until an encounter with a monster gives him a common bond with Jennifer Mills, the new girl in his class. When Darren’s little sister, Lindsay, is abducted, the two set out to save her—and discover an unexpected truth behind the monster they’re hunting and the place where all monsters live: Closetland.

How you can get it:
Kindle version on Amazon.
PDF and eBook version on DriveThruRPG.

Physical copies will be coming soon.

Wow. This is a huge one for me.

I’ve worked in video games for over a decade and on multiple projects (some of which even shipped!) but I’ve never put so much heart, soul, sweat, and tears into a game as I have into Agents of Mayhem.

Four years of my life. I can’t properly convey just how much of myself is in this game, how much making it pushed me to my limits, put me in the fire with some of the best and brightest people I’ve ever known.

Today is an incredibly emotional day. Every game release is a minor miracle. And I have no idea how Agents of Mayhem will sell or how it will review. But I know what the team at Volition faced and overcame to put this latest game together and out the door and I am so proud to be among them.

To all those who contributed, in house and through outsourcing: We made a good game. It’s fun and funny and personal and hits the tones we were aiming for. Be proud. Be happy. This thing of ours? It’s really really good stuff.

Thank you. And congratulations.

So it’s been a year, huh?

Man, what craziness the past twelve months have brought.

I won’t be getting too much into it right now but I’m facing down a full left hip replacement next Thursday and about a month of recovery so my blogging time should shoot right up!

Until then, please enjoy these videos for Agents of Mayhem, out for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on August 15th (NA) and August 18th (EU).

A trailer!

Videos I am in!

The E3 2017 Demo!

For more videos, check out the official Deep Silver Volition YouTube Channel and the official Agents of Mayhem website.

I am so incredibly excited and relieved to finally be able to talk about what I’ve been doing at work!

For those who have been wondering, I am Lead Writer on Deep Silver Volition‘s upcoming Agents of Mayhem! Check out IGN.com for the announcement—and watch the trailer below!

It’s a bit embarrassing how long it’s been since I last updated. But the reason is fairly simple: I’ve been really really busy. In addition to my duties at the day job, I’ve been working on fiction writing. I am very happy to announce that I finished the first draft of my Middle Grade novel Little Fears: The Wolf Pact. I am currently editing it for a summer release. I am also working on another kids’ book that I will shop around once it’s ready.

I’ve embedded the cover to The Wolf Pact below. Click on the link to check out LittleFears.com.

I recently sat down to play through the very first game I ever worked on, Prey, here at my current job at Deep Silver Volition. Check out my wonderful first-person skills in the below video.

Also, I wrote the manual.