Grant Howitt

HERE’S THE DEAL: I write one tabletop or live roleplaying game a month. It will be no bigger than one side of A4 paper (that’s one side of letter paper, for you American types) and I will do all the art, layout and design myself in pen.

WHO ARE YOU?

I'm Grant Howitt. I've written games such as Goblin Quest, Unbound, One Last Job, Honey Heist, Spire, Heart, Paranoia, Crash Pandas, Jason Statham's Big Vacation, Skyfarer, and more. I do it for a living, and I'm pretty good at it!

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

I want to write lots of roleplaying games, but I don’t want to get tied into big ongoing projects that need a lot of art, playtesting, development and design to get into a finished state - I've got enough of those on the go as it is. Plus, I like arbitrary creative challenges. To that end: this means I get to keep writing games, and you get to read them, and everyone’s happy.

Also, keeping them short means that I won’t run into problems on postage and packaging, which has really caused me some trouble in the past.

WHAT CAN I GET IN EXCHANGE FOR MY CONTRIBUTION?

I’ll be releasing the games for free online, so you get the warm satisfaction of helping get more roleplaying games into the world.

HOWEVER for a low, low fee I will SEND YOU a personally signed copy of each and every one-page roleplaying game I write, which will contain a SECOND PAGE (printed on the back) with Patreon-exclusive, never-digitally-released stuff. Stuff like scenarios, alternative/additional rules, characters, adversaries, short stories, additional artwork, etc. Maybe it’ll be a whole other game! Who knows. We’ll see what happens on any given month.

WHAT SORT OF GAME CAN I EXPECT?

Here’s a link to my games portfolio, which has downloads for such titles as:

• Goblin Quest, where you die over and over whilst trying to achieve basic tasks
• Havoc Brigade, where you burn down a city trying to sneak into it
• Doctor Magnethands, a drinking/shouting/roleplaying game
• Drunken Bear Fighter, where, well, you can probably work out what you do
• One Last Job, where you’re brought back in for a final heist
• Warrior-Poet, where you duel using haiku
• Exodus, where you leave home and lose yourself in the process
• Royal Blood, where you hijack loose magic from the Major Arcana

(Alternatively, simply scroll down and take a look at the 30 or so free games I've released over the last few years.)

My games are, in general: short, punchy, well-written, and exciting. Over the last six years of writing I’ve become more serious and less silly, so expect to see a mix of tones ranging from introspective and heartbreaking to daft and explosive. I’ll always strive to innovate and offer something original or surprising in each game.