Marco Rafalà | |
---|---|
Born | Middletown, Connecticut, United States |
Occupation | Novelist & Game Writer |
Notable work | How Fires End |
Marco Rafalà is a first-generation Sicilian American novelist and writer for award-winning tabletop role-playing games. [1]
Born in Middletown, Connecticut, [2] [3] he earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English literature from Albertus Magnus College and a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing from The New School. [4]
Marco Rafalà's award-winning debut novel How Fires End was published in October 2019 by Little A. Formerly a musician, Rafalà spent the 1990s recording and touring with various indie bands until he accompanied his father on a trip to Melilli, Sicily, his father's birthplace. He spent the next ten years writing what would become his first novel, taking inspiration from his time in Sicily and the stories his father told him about growing up during and after the Second World War. [2]
On October 15, 2019, How Fires End, the debut novel by Marco Rafalà, was officially introduced during a book launch event held at Ferrara Bakery & Cafe in New York City. The occasion featured a discussion with novelist, poet, and translator Idra Novey, moderated by poet and editor Hafizah Geter, along with musical performances by Solo Di Gondolieri. [5] Rafalà also appeared at the Wesleyan RJ Julia Booksellers in Middletown, Connecticut, with novelist, Juliet Grames (The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna), in 2019 to discuss his novel and its ties to the Italian American immigrant community there. [6] [7] Other book tour events included the fifth installment of New Haven's "Songs and Stories," on December 28, 2019, [8] the 2020 Bazaar Writers Salon in San Francisco, [9] the Argenta Reading Series in North Little Rock, Arkansas, [10] At the Inkwell in Denver, Colorado, [11] and a discussion at Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, with Rena Priest (Poet Laureate of Washington State, 2021-2023). [12]
Rafalà has also written for many leading tabletop roleplaying games, including Star Trek Adventures, The One Ring Roleplaying Game , Lex Arcana, and Beowulf: Age of Heroes. [13]
The One Ring Roleplaying Game — An award-winning tabletop game based on the novels by J.R.R Tolkien and published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment.
Star Trek Adventures — an award-winning tabletop roleplaying game published by Modiphius Entertainment.
Lex Arcana — a historical-fantasy roleplaying game set in a world where the Roman Empire never fell. Published by Quality Games.
Beowulf: Age of Heroes — a critically acclaimed tabletop roleplaying game setting based on one of the oldest recorded stories in Western Europe. Published by Handiwork Games.
Forts & Frontiers — a historical roleplaying game set in 17th and 18th century North America, based on the D&D 5E rules set. Published by Campaign Games.
Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises, is a subdivision of the Embracer Freemode division of Embracer Group and formerly a trade name for a division of The Saul Zaentz Company. The subdivision owns the worldwide exclusive rights to certain elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's two most famous literary works: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These elements include the names of characters contained within as well as the names of places, objects and events within them, and certain short phrases and sayings from the works.
Keith Baker is an American game designer and fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ronin Publishing. In 2014, Baker and Jennifer Ellis co-founded the indie tabletop game company Twogether Studios.
Living campaigns, or shared campaigns, are a gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe. In contrast to traditional isolated role-playing games, living campaigns allow and encourage players to develop characters that can be played at games run by many different game masters, but which share a game world and campaign setting, as well as a plot line that is overseen by a central core of professional or volunteer editors and contributors. Many living campaigns serve a dual role of providing a creative outlet for highly involved volunteer contributors while also serving as a marketing tool for the publisher of the game system that is the focus of the living campaign. While the earliest living campaigns were run by the now defunct RPGA, many groups around the world run active living campaigns which are independent or sponsored by other publishers.
Jordan Weisman is an American game designer, author, and serial entrepreneur who has founded five game design companies, each in a different game genre and segment of the industry.
James Daniel Lowder is an American author, anthologist, and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular culture.
The following is a timeline of tabletop role-playing games. For computer role-playing games see here.
The One Ring Roleplaying Game is a tabletop role-playing game set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, set at the time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Designed by Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, the game was initially published by Cubicle 7 in 2011 under the title The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild. Cubicle 7 continued to publish the first edition of the game until 2019. Nepitello and Maggi developed the second edition, which is published by Free League Publishing under the same title, The One Ring Roleplaying Game.
Free RPG Day is an annual promotional event by the Tabletop role-playing game industry. The event rules are fairly simple: participating publishers provide special free copies of games to participating game stores; the game store agrees to provide one free game to any person who requests a free game on Free RPG Day.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.
Cam Banks is a game designer known for his work on the Cortex System line of roleplaying games as lead designer for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and the Big Damn Heroes Handbook supplement to the Serenity Role Playing Game, among other titles. He is the Cortex Creative Director for Fandom Tabletop, the publishers of Cortex Prime.
Kobold Press, also known as Open Design, is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.
Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of is a sword and sorcery pen-and-paper role-playing game set in the world of Conan the Barbarian, the fictional Hyborian Age. Both the character and the setting were first imagined by author Robert E. Howard. Howard's original literary work has since spawned a vast franchise of novels, comic books, films, video games, board games, role-playing games, etc. Following this tradition, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of is the third officially licensed Conan role-playing game. The two precedent games were Conan Role-Playing Game (1985–1988) and Conan: The Roleplaying Game (2004–2010), although there also had been supplements for independent generic systems, like GURPS Conan (1988–1989).
Modiphius Entertainment is an RPG and tabletop game publisher based in Fulham, London. Modiphius was founded in 2012 by husband-wife team Rita and Chris Birch to publish their first game, Achtung! Cthulhu. The company have since published a number of product lines based on independent licenses and established brands.
Scott Fitzgerald Gray is a Canadian writer, editor, story editor, and role-playing game designer known for his work on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game.
City of Mist is an urban fantasy neo-noir detective tabletop role-playing game (RPG) designed by Amít Moshe and published by Son of Oak Game Studio. The game is set in a modern-day metropolis where ordinary people of all walks of life become modern-day reincarnations of myths, legends, and fairy tales, gaining magical powers and abilities.
Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer.
Forbidden Lands is a fantasy role-playing game published by Free League Publishing in 2018. It takes place in a medieval fantasy post-apocalyptic setting, where the destruction has limited itself to one kingdom. A fatal mist, which had killed any person venturing outside at night, has cleared. Adventurers may now explore the uninhabited castles and cities left behind.
Justin Alexander is an American actor, playwright, and role-playing game reviewer, critic, and designer who blogs and streams under the name The Alexandrian. He is known for inventing the Three Clue Rule and as a long time proponent of hex-crawl style adventures. He is the RPG Producer of Atlas Games, overseeing RPGs like Feng Shui, Unknown Armies, Ars Magica, Over the Edge, and Magical Kitties Save the Day.
How Fires End is a debut novel by author Marco Rafalà. It is a Sicilian American family saga about a vendetta and a curse that follow two families from Melilli, Sicily, during the Second World War to an Italian American community in Middletown, Connecticut, in the 1980s. The novel is inspired by family history and the local folklore of Melilli, Sicily, where the author's father grew up.
Star Trek Adventures is a table-top roleplaying game based on the Star Trek franchise and published by Modiphius Entertainment. The game uses a modified version of the publisher's 2d20 system and has been in publication since 2017. The game was released in August 2017 at Gen Con.