To quote Greg Costikyan: “A bibliography is a list of the books you’ve written; a discography is a list of the music you’ve recorded; and a ludography is a list of the games you’ve designed.”

TMNT: Shadows of the Past

TMNT: Shadows of the Past was the first appearance of what has become the AUGS game system, centered around a dice sharing action mechanic that deeply emphasizes teamwork among the players. However, the miniature molds to the game got destroyed, and IDW had to relaunch it as TMNT: Change is Constant, in which Pete Walsh and Daniel Lansdown added in a bad guy AI to allow full co-op play. I had planned to do that in the City Fall expansion, but because of the loss of the molds, my schedule didn’t line up with IDW’s. That’s okay though, because Pete and Daniel did a good job with it, and the system’s next major release is for Batman: the Animated Series.

• Publisher: IDW Games
• Expansions: Re-implemented as Change is Constant, City Fall

Dungeons & Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation and Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Dungeons & Dragons is where I got my start as a gamer, and I’ve always wanted to get my name on an official D&D game product. Finally, I got my chance when Zev Shlasinger at Wizkids contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in designing the 5th game in the D&D Adventure System line, which was going to be inspired by the classic Tomb of Horrors module. Naturally, I said yes. It was an interesting project, as I was working within an existing system designed by Peter Lee and Bill Slavicsek. I got to add in a few refinements to the game, including a spell deck that spellcasting enemies could use, and some tweaks to the trap and campaign systems. I also got to create and name an original character that is now at least a small part of D&D canon in the form of Birdsong the Bard.

After Tomb of Annihilation, I was asked to design the 6th game in the series as well, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, this time based on their popular Undermountain adventures. This go around, I was able to expand the leveling up in the game to include 3rd and 4th level, as well as including some more powerful Expert skills. The spell deck I created for Tomb of Annihilation came back, playing a big role since a lot of important enemies were spellcasters.

• Publisher: Wizkids
• Expansions: None

Mistborn: House War

Mistborn: House War was a great project for me in a lot of ways. I was excited to check out Brandon Sanderson’s cool Mistborn setting, and I was delighted to work with my friends Patrick Kapera and Alex Flagg over at Crafty Games. They asked me for a game that was set from the viewpoint of the bad guys of the novel series, so I created a negotiation system inspired by Sid Sackson’s I’m the Boss. In addition, I worked in a fun mechanic where the player in last place wins if too much “unrest” builds up in the game, keeping the players competitive and allowing them to try and play for the good guys in a way, if they so desire.

• Publisher: Crafty Games
• Expansions: None

Escape from 100 Million B.C.!

This time travel adventure game was in the vein of Arkham Horror, but was a lot lighter, both mechanically and in tone, and had way more dinosaurs. It very well received, and sold out in a month, but for various reasons hasn’t gotten another printing yet. It will definitely return at some point, though.

• Publisher: IDW Games
• Expansions: None

More entries soon…