About

Where Did GBDW Games Come From?

In 2019, I started getting requests about freelance writing for tabletop RPGS, starting with Archons of Nikud, a game using the Savage Worlds system. Needing a way to bill things, I expanded my sole-proprietorship in a new direction and GBDW Games was born. In 2020, I moved from writing for others to creating my own content, releasing an alternate level and experience system for 5th Edition D&D under their OGL and game designed to make COVID-19 lockdowns more bearable, Station Hunt. After that, it became my primary publishing imprint.

The GBDW Design Philosophy:

GBDW Games embraces the ideas that I’ve espoused on POCGamer. Fun world building designed to support the game being played and the mechanics it has, inclusion, diversity, and the firm idea that discrimination isn’t required to make a game or setting work. What I figure is that pretty much anyone can grind out a generic game that hits all the conventional tropes and calls it a day. I want to do better.

Why So Many Videogame Inspirations?

Because they’re a dominant form of media. While people still argue about whether or not they’re art (I think they are), the reality is that for a lot of people since the 1990s, videogames have been their entry point to science fiction, science fantasy, and fantasy. And I think the trend is only growing. On my end, I was deeply influenced by videogames, anime, and movies when I was younger, and have seen that the ideas and concepts behind a lot of that media have remained attractive. Fight City’s success among a spread of ages is a strong indicator of that to me. So I continue to draw on them.

Why The Slow Release Schedule?

This one is easy. I’m one man with a computer, and have to split my time between family and work obligations. I have contracted writing to do, POCGamer articles and short videos to make, and the stuff for here. So add on a family and it’s a juggling act. Hopefully one day I’ll be big enough to expand and have more time, but that’s not reality right now.

What Systems Do You Work With?

There’s two sets of systems, in-house and Creative Commons SRD systems. In-house, I have the VHS Action System, DiVE 2d6, and DiVE d20. On the Creative Commons SRD side, there’s Breathless, 24XX, and FATE.