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Worldbuild With Us - Episode 213: An Interview with Justin Alexander, author of SO YOU WANT TO BE A GAME MASTER

Had the great honor of returning to the Worldbuild With Us podcast to talk about my upcoming book, So You Want To Be a Game Master. Pop over there for a sneak peek at the treasures I’ve hidden inside the book, but stick around for the amazing game setting we brainstorm at the end of the podcast.

This week, we’re honored to have author, RPG designer, and Game Master extraordinaire Justin Alexander back on the podcast to discuss his upcoming book So You Want to Be a Game Master: Everything You Need to Start Your Tabletop Adventure for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and Other Systems!

Justin gives us a tour of this step-by-step guide and how it can help GMs new and experienced alike run their best games, avoid railroading, do quick-and-dirty worldbuilding, and more! Plus: early misadventures with homebrew Batman RPGs, the unexpected power of TV trays, questions from our patrons, a worldbuilding jam featuring the waters of Europa, and heaps of other topics in this XXL episode.

So You Want to Be a Game Master? is due out in November, so be sure to preorder it today or pick it up from your friendly local bookstore when it hits the shelves! Check out https://thealexandrian.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-game-master for more info and links.

Listen Now!

You can find my previous appearance over here.

It’s your first chance to see what SO YOU WANT TO BE A GAME MASTER will look like on your shelf this fall! It’s the book that every GM, whether they’re taking their first step or just looking to take their game to the next level, will want to own.

Preorder Now!Subscribe Now!

As many of you know, but some of you perhaps do not, I have a book coming out!

So You Want To Be a Game Master will be released October 31st from Macmillan and Page Street Publishing. In this Twitch stream we took a deep dive into the book, exploring the full Table of Contents and chatting about some of the hidden treasures you’ll find within.

You can find the video here if the embedded player doesn’t work for you.

PREORDER NOW!

Infinity: Acheron Cascade

May 30th, 2023

Infinity: Acheron Cascade (Modiphius Entertainment)

WRITTEN BY
Bill Heron & Justin Alexander

This is the book that lead to me becoming the co-creator of the Infinity roleplaying game. And now, by a very long and very strange road, you can finally add it your own collection!

Back in 2015 I was shopping around for a publisher who would let me develop and publish a node-based campaign. I eventually reached out to Modiphius, spoke with Chris Birch (who owns the company), and was assigned to the Mutant Chronicles RPG. I started reading the existing material for Mutant Chronicles, but a few weeks later, Chris reached out and said, “Actually, we’ve got this new RPG we’re developing called Infinity, based on Corvus Belli’s tabletop miniatures game. We need a really cool campaign for it, would you like to work on that instead?”

When I took a peek at the Infinity universe, I loved what I saw, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Over the next couple months I started developing the material for, first, Acheron Cascade and also a second campaign. I’m not entirely clear on the sequence of events here, but by the summer of 2015 Infinity no longer has a Lead Developer. At Gen Con that year, I had a few meetings with Chris Birch and others about the campaigns I was working and these evolved into a broader discussion of how I thought the Infinity product line should be organized.

If I recall correctly, on Sunday, as I was packing up my suitcase to head home, I got a call from Chris offering me the job as Infinity‘s new Lead Developer. Which was simply amazing.

Within days we were launching a Kickstarter that was revamped to match the blueprint for the product line I’d proposed, and we went on to have the largest Kickstarter ever for a first edition RPG. (This record has since been blown out of the water multiple times over.)

But now that I was focused on developing the core game, Acheron Cascade needed to be laid aside for a bit.

It got laid aside for a long time.

I eventually left Modiphius, in part because I really wanted to focus on my campaign. I spent a few months fleshing out the first few adventures and beginning to playtest them, but, ironically, I wasn’t able to finish the campaign because a few months later I was hired by Atlas Games to become their RPG Developer.

Benn Graybeaton, who had taken over for me as the Line Developer for Infinity, brought in Bill Heron. I was able to pass my development notes and playtest drafts over to him, and he managed to somehow turn them into a finished book. Bill’s a hero and I’m so grateful to him for using what I’d begun and bringing a book that I thought I would never see to life.

Hope you enjoy it!

INFINITY – ACHERON CASCADE
Modiphius Entertainment – 2022
(Co-Author)

Print EditionPDF Edition

Infinity: Acheron Cascade

We’ve got a video taking a deeper dive into what you’ll find inside SO YOU WANT TO BE A GAME MASTER? and why it’s a book that every GM, whether they’re taking their first step or just looking to take their game to the next level, will want to own.

Preorder Now!Subscribe Now!

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