The New Guard: Nathan Dowdell
June 19, 2018spyrer
Personal Standard
While I was at Origins this year (2018), I had a conversation with Eric Simon about awards speeches. We discussed what makes a great awards speech, and Eric’s opinion was quite interesting to me. He said that one thing he would love to do in an awards speech is not just acknowledge those who had
Origins 2018 Report
June 18, 2018spyrer
Personal, Warhammer 40K Standard
Hello readers, this time around I’m here to discuss my visit to Origins Game Fair 2018. As usual, Origins takes place during Pride week, and the parade goes down very close to the convention center. There were people showing off their rainbows all over, and it was great to see. Origins has been called “diet
2016, in Review
December 29, 2016spyrer
Accursed, Evil Beagle Games, Hero Games, Historical, Personal, Savage Worlds Standard
Greetings, readers. 2016 has been a heck of a year, both in good things (for me, personally) and bad (though surely I don’t need to list some of the ways this year has disappointed us, especially with all the fine and talented folk who died). I want to use this post to take a look
A Rogue Warden at Ropecon
August 5, 2016spyrer
Evil Beagle Games, Personal, Savage Worlds Standard
It is an immense privilege to be invited as a Guest of Honor to any convention. Even more so when that convention is held overseas. Ropecon 2016 extended me the esteem of being their gaming Guest of Honor this year, and it was an amazing experience I shall never forget. Ropecon is held in Helsinki,
Blast from the Past: 2004-2007
January 16, 2016spyrer
Historical, Personal, Warhammer 40K Standard
Hello readers! I’m continuing a semi-historical look at my career in the gaming industry. I’m inspired by Shannon Appelcline’s excellent Designers & Dragons series, and I’ve already written several blog posts chronicling the earlier years. In 2003, I got hired by Games Workshop as a copywriter, a position I would hold until 2005. While I
Blast From the Past: 2003, addendum
January 4, 2016spyrer
D20, Historical, Personal Standard
Hey readers, Thanks for sticking with me as I journey through the past and chronicle my history in the gaming industry. 🙂 2003, as I mentioned before in the first part, was a big year. I started the year out as my last one living in Louisville and ended it by moving out to Maryland,
Year in Review: 2015
December 31, 2015spyrer
Accursed, Evil Beagle Games, Historical, Personal, Savage Worlds, Warhammer 40K Standard
Greetings, readers! It’s time I took a look back at 2015 as we wave goodbye to this year and move on to 2016. Here’s some of the highlights from the year: Professional I did well this year, 17 different products got out onto stole shelves (virtual and physical), and many more on the way. Regicide
Blast From the Past: 2003
December 30, 2015spyrer
D20, Hero Games, Historical, Personal Standard
2003 was a huge year for me as a game designer. I was living in Louisville at the time, which was both good and bad. It was good, since I had a lot of time to focus on my writing. I had earlier broken into the d20 market through Citizen Games, and I was able
Blast From the Past: 2001 Addendum–Winter Fantasy Con
December 21, 2015spyrer
Historical, Personal Standard
A Quick Addendum for 2001: One thing I forgot to mention in my last blog post was a very influential convention that I attended early that year: Winter Fantasy Con, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This convention was heavily focused on the RPGA, but it was not far from my location in Louisville, so I drove
Blast From the Past: 2001-2002
December 12, 2015spyrer
Champions, D20, Hero Games, Historical, Personal Standard
Inspired by Shannon Appelcline’s excellent Designers & Dragons series of historical books about the RPG industry, I’ve decided to go through my own history and talk about my perspective on the projects I’ve been involved in. By 2001, I had already had some published work. If you can call it that. I spoke before about