Matt Forbeck's Blog

Gamers! The Avengers Expansion to the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game debuts today! Go grab it from your friendly local games/comics store!

I was the lead writer/designer on this book, but I had a LOT of help with it. Big thanks go to my fellow writers, Marty Forbeck, Alex Irvine, and — with his first writing credit — Pat Forbeck. Thanks also to Brian Patterson for his amazing maps, Simeon Cogswell for their incredible graphic design, Paco Medina and Jesus Aburtov for that stunning cover, and Ruairí Coleman, Adriano Di Benedetto & Andrew Cramer for the fantastic new interior art.

Plus, as always, massive thanks to CJ Cervantes, Amir Osman, Brian Overton, and all of the rest of the folks at Marvel for all the support they give us and all the work they do to make these books as great and fun as they can be.

In other massive news for the Marvel Multiverse RPG, the books are now finally available as PDFs! This is probably the #1 request we’ve had for the game since day one, and it’s finally happening! Head to DriveThruRPG to grab them!

Yesterday, my dad’s whole family gathered together here in Beloit, Wisconsin, to celebrate his life. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to extend their sympathies, including many family friends I hadn’t seen in decades. We shared a lot of memories, tears, and even laughter — the good, healing kind.

My stepmother, Nancy, led off the ceremony by greeting everyone and then introducing the three oldest grandchildren — Savannah, Murray, and Jack — who each read a couple stanzas of my dad’s favorite poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas.

Next, my Aunt Kathy gave a great and funny eulogy focusing on my dad’s early life. After that, his best friend, Tom Nee, gave another heartfelt eulogy, in which he read my dad’s cutting letter to the hospital that kicked him off their transplant list 11 years ago and told him to go home to die.

Then it was my turn. (See below for more on that.)

We concluded by playing a song that meant a great deal to Nancy and my dad: “It’s Your World Now” by the Eagles.

In the evening, we hosted a family gathering at my house that featured loads of food and drink and trailed into the wee hours of the night. As I heard many times over the course of the day, my dad would have loved every minute of it.

Writing a eulogy for a parent is damn hard, but the support of my entire family helped bear me through it. I admit, I choked up a few times while delivering it, but the love in the room always brought my voice back to me after a moment.

Here’s what I had to say:

Thanks to everyone for joining us today. It’s good to see so many familiar faces. 

I’m Matt Forbeck, Ken’s oldest kid. 

I want to thank you all for coming here this afternoon to remember my dad. I especially want to express my gratitude to his wife, Nancy, and everyone in our big, blended family: Kim, Mark, Jody, Susie, Dan, Steve, and all our spouses and kids. You all stepped up to help whenever Dad needed you — especially over the past year — and I know he was grateful for that. 

My dad always said he didn’t want a big, fancy funeral. The only thing he said we needed for his sendoff was a Hefty bag and a shovel. 

Despite that, we wanted to hold this celebration of his life, keeping his wishes for a modest affair in mind. 

I have a lot of stories about my dad, some of which I shouldn’t tell in public. As an attorney, he always advised me that, when in doubt, the best option is to keep your mouth shut. As a writer, I sometimes struggle with that, but this is a good day to respect those wishes too. 

Dad was one of the hardest-working people I ever knew. As they say in Hamilton — one of his favorite plays — “The man was non-stop.” 

He was the first person on either side of his family to go to college — at Marquette University — and he immediately went on to law school after that. My mom once told me he wanted to apply to med school right away as well, but she pointed out that they already had two babies at home, so he took his first job as an attorney here in Beloit instead. That was way back in 1970, and he shot roots fast and stayed here ever since. 

He worked as an attorney for decades, giving that up only to become a judge. He helped found nonprofits like the Roy Chapman Andrews Society and the Crossroads Counseling Center, and he spent years on the boards of the Stateline Boys & Girls Clubs and the Beloit Library Foundation. He and Nancy also long volunteered with CASA of Rock County, advocating for young kids in court

Despite that, he always ignored the phones in his law office when it was after 5. He drew a sharp border between his job and his life. As we like to say, “Work hard. Play harder.” 

He coached us kids in softball and basketball, went camping and fishing with us, and took us on family trips. He loved us and didn’t mind showing it. Even after my parents split, he was always there. Maybe not in the house, but just a short drive away. 

He took us to plays at the American Players Theater. He brought us to countless basketball and baseball games. He watched endless movies with us and taught us to play all kinds of games. He hauled us along on vacations that became the source of epic stories — both good and bad — part of the bonds that hold our family together. 

We tubed down the Boardman River near his parents’ place in Buckley, Michigan. We took a houseboat up and down the Mississippi River. There were so many trips to Englewood, Florida. 

He didn’t actually leave North America until he and Nancy came to pick me up from England when he was 44, but they ranged broadly after that, visiting Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Austria, Barbados, Toronto, and more, including several trips to see Jody in Italy.

He had a lot of fun, but he had his hard times too. No matter what life threw at him, though, he always found a way to deal with it, mostly through fierce determination, whether that was in work or in life. 

He had awful arthritis that caused him terrible pain. He had a hip and both knees replaced, but he always held out until everything became unbearable, even for someone as tough as him. 

Before the knee replacements, he was walking around as bowl-legged as a cowboy, but the surgery straightened him right up. I think he got two inches taller that day, and the pain of the surgery was so much less than the pain that he’d been in before that he practically waltzed out of the recovery room. 

I was a sickly kid myself, with terrible asthma, and Dad and I spent a lot of time at Beloit Memorial Hospital when I was young. Our family priest even came and gave me Last Rites when I was six. 

In the spring of my junior year of high school, I had a concussion and couldn’t make any new memories for a whole day. I kept asking “What time is it?” every five or ten minutes. One of the few things I remember from that day was my dad messing with me and telling me it was Christmas Eve. Somehow that cut through the fog. 

He spent countless hours at my side, making sure I was okay. 

That turned out to be good training for later in life. Over his 80 years, Dad dodged death a number of times, but those close shaves often involved long stays in a hospital too. 

He had a condition called amyloidosis that caused his heart to start failing on him almost twenty years ago. By the time the doctors identified the core problem, he’d already had a triple bypass, and he was on the waiting list for a heart transplant at St. Luke’s. 

And the team there gave up on him. They didn’t think he was the ideal patient, and they didn’t want a black mark on their record, so they told him to go home to be with his family and prepare to die. 

Of course, he wasn’t going to let that happen. With the help of my sister Kim, Dad got admitted to the amyloidosis department at the Mayo Clinic instead. Knowing this was his last chance, he presented the team there with the most important case of his career, something he called his Final Argument. 

He laid out the facts for them. He was only 69, and his parents had both lived to 92. He was working as a judge — a job he loved — and he had a family that he loved even more. Most importantly, he was determined to live, if only they would give him the opportunity to try. 

And they did. He waited 144 days in the hospital for that new heart to arrive — for someone else’s tragedy to become his salvation — and it happened just in the nick of time. 

We’re forever grateful to the donor’s family and to the Mayo Clinic for that and for the additional time they gave us with him. Nearly eleven extra years of life. 

A year after he’d been told to make his peace, Dad walked back into St. Luke’s with Nancy and danced in the lobby. Just to show them how wrong they’d been. 

It’s going to be hard carrying on without him. But by way of example, he showed us how: determination and — if you’re lucky enough — dancing.

If you follow me on social media, you likely know that my dad died on August 6. My family and I have had a long week and a half since then, packed with preparations for his celebration of life, which happened yesterday afternoon. I’m posting his obituary here for posterity.

Judge Kenneth William Forbeck of Beloit, Wisconsin, passed away at Aurora Medical Center – Summit on August 6, 2025, surrounded by his loving family.

Ken was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 22, 1945, and spent much of his childhood in Monroe, Michigan. He graduated from Monroe Catholic Central High School in 1963 – where he pitched multiple no-hitters – and he graduated from Marquette University with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1967 and a law degree in 1970. 

Afterward, he moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, to take a job with the law firm O’Neal & Elliott. He worked for a short time as an assistant district attorney before returning to the firm, leaving in 1984 to form his own firm – Forbeck & Monahan, S.C. – with his longtime friend Terry Monahan. They worked together until 2007, when Governor Jim Doyle appointed Ken to be a Rock County Circuit Court judge. He served in that position until 2015, when he declined to seek reelection after receiving a heart and kidney transplant at the Mayo Clinic in October of 2014.

In 1987, he married Nancy Schooff (née Vuchetich), and they lived happily together until his passing. He loved to read, travel, fish, listen to blues and jazz, watch movies, enjoy theater – he had season tickets to the American Players Theater for over three decades – and play and watch sports, cheering on his beloved Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers. He also loved spending time with his family. 

Over the years, he served on the boards of several local organizations, including the Stateline Boys & Girls Clubs and the Beloit Library Foundation Board, and he was one of the founding board members of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society and the Crossroad Counseling Center. He and Nancy also volunteered with CASA of Rock County. 

Survivors include his wife, Nancy Forbeck; children, Matt (Ann) Forbeck of Beloit, Wisconsin; Mark Forbeck of Pensacola, Florida, Kim Forbeck (Todd Dunsirn) and Jody Forbeck (Giovanni Marta) of Shorewood, Wisconsin; stepchildren, Susie Schooff (Mark Meyer) of Middleton, Wisconsin; Dan Schooff (Alyssa Whitney) of Beloit, Wisconsin; and Steve (Jen) Schooff of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; sisters, Kathy Kundrat (John Keegan) and Pam (Richard) Poll; grandchildren, Marty, Pat, Nick, Ken, and Helen Forbeck, Savannah and Delaney Forbeck, Murray, Henry, and Leo Dunsirn, Luke and Matteo Marta, Jack Rongstad, Cullen and Devin Schooff: and great-grandchildren, Lively and Sunny Rguig, along with several beloved cousins, nieces, and nephews. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Ken and Angie Forbeck, and by the mother of his children, Helen Forbeck. 

Ken fought tenaciously for his family, his community, and even for his own life. He made the most of the extra years his transplants gave him, and his family would like to thank the family of his donor for that gift. Ken’s family would also like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff at the Mayo Clinic, the Beloit Health System, Aurora Medical Center – Summit, and Three Pillars Senior Living Communities for their skill and care. 

A celebration of Ken’s life will be held on Sunday, August 17, at the Rotary River Center, 1160 S Riverside Dr, Beloit, WI. The visitation starts at 1 PM with a short ceremony at 2:30 PM. A private burial will be held at a later date. 

In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations be made to CASA of Rock County and the Stateline Boys and Girls Clubs.

This week, I’m off to my favorite event of the year: Gen Con! I’ve gone to it every year since Gen Con XV back in 1982, which makes this my 44th year in a row. Whew!

If you’re going to be at the show, I hope to see you there. I don’t have any official signing sessions set up at the moment, but I’m happy to autograph anything I’ve worked on if you can catch me in a free moment. In any case, I hope to see you there!

Here’s my public schedule:

Wednesday, July 3011 AM: The Interplay Of Mechanics & Narrative In Games: A Game Academy talk I’m giving for Trade Day. When designing a game, should you start with the mechanics or the story? Why not both? Come learn how narrative and mechanics can blend together to form a whole greater than the parts. 9 PM: Hosting the Diana Jones Award ceremony. (This is an industry-only event, not open to the public.)Thursday, July 3110 AM: Marvel Multiverse RPG: Escape From Planet Hulk! (with Matt Forbeck) SOLD OUT2 PM: Marvel Multiverse RPG: Escape From Planet Hulk! (with Matt Forbeck) 1 ticket left! 3 PM: Coffee Klatch with Matt Forbeck SOLD OUT4 PM: For the Love of (Writing) the Game: Join our panel of game writers as they get together and celebrate all things regarding writing games — and loving what you do. Featuring: C. S. E. Cooney, Karen Menzel née Bovenmyer, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Will Sobel, and me. Friday, August 110 AM: Marvel Multiverse RPG: Escape From Planet Hulk! (with Matt Forbeck) SOLD OUT2 PM: Marvel Multiverse RPG: Escape From Planet Hulk! (with Matt Forbeck) SOLD OUT6 PM: The Interplay Of Mechanics & Narrative In Games: Same as the Game Academy talk from Trade Day, but during the regular show. When designing a game, should you start with the mechanics or the story? Why not both? Come learn how narrative and mechanics can blend together to form a whole greater than the parts. SOLD OUTSaturday, August 210 AM: Marvel Multiverse RPG: Escape From Planet Hulk! (with Matt Forbeck) SOLD OUT4–6 PM: 39th Annual Gen Con Costume Contest. I’m emceeing this for the fifth year in a row. SOLD OUTSunday, August 312 PM: Andrew Hackard Memorial Munchkin Game: Watch Matt Forbeck and family continue their tradition of playing Munchkin at Gen Con in honor of departed Munchkin Czar Andrew Hackard. Proceeds go to the Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer Program. We have a big box of prizes donated by Steve Jackson Games to give out during this, so come on by!

by Matt Forbeck

(This essay originally appeared in The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design, edited by Mike Selinker. I’m giving a couple talks on his subject at Gen Con 2025, so I’m posting this here to make it easy for people to find. If you’re interested in board game design, though, I wholly recommend picking up the entire book.)

When many game designers sit down to tackle a new project, they aim at it from one of two angles. They either figure out the mechanics first or go straight for the metaphor instead.

For our purposes, the mechanics include the hard and fast rules that make the game tick, the stuff you work with as you play the game. The metaphor is what the game is supposedly about.

For example, the mechanics of Monopoly include: rolling two dice and adding the results together to determine how many squares you must move your pawn around the board; using points (in the form of fake money) to establish advantages over other players, transfer power between players, keep score, and determine the end of the game; the board itself, including the placement of various features around the track that bounds it; and the rules for trading advantages (properties).

In Monopoly, the metaphor is that each player is a capitalist who sets out to make himself rich at the expense of those around him. You win the game by accumulating all of the wealth in the game and bankrupting everyone else.

The mechanics are the abstract means by which the game works. The metaphor is the game’s beautiful lie, the fiction that gives the game context and a broader meaning.

So, which is more important? Which should you start with to give yourself the best game?

Neither, silly.

Making Your Game Purr

A game is a complex conglomerate of many elements, including art, rules, components, mechanics, and metaphor. Think of each of these elements as a piston in a car’s engine. A game can limp along with the pistons coughing or knocking along out of sequence, but for it to really hum you need to be firing on all pistons in perfect sync with each other.

A game without mechanics isn’t a game. It’s a story. Or possibly a thought experiment.

A game without a metaphor isn’t a game. It’s a math problem. Maybe a puzzle. Or a toy.

Even the most abstract games wear at least a veneer of metaphor. That gives the players a way to wrap our minds around the various mechanics and give them meaning.

The most famous abstract game of all — by which I mean, something that concentrates on mechanics rather than story — is chess, a game in which you move stylized pieces around a grid of squares to emulate a battle between two kingdoms vying for power. You could play it without any metaphor at all, but it would lose most of its meaning. Why can the knight move the way it does? What’s all this about castling? Why does a bishop move at oblique angles? How come pawns start so weak but can advance in power?

So as a game designer, where do you start? With the mechanics or the metaphor?

That’s entirely up to you, and it can change from game to game, depending on the circumstances.

The Mechanical Method

Sometimes a great mechanic or a component comes along, and you decide you just have to make a game out of it. Maybe it’s the idea of a card game that’s sold in packs of cards randomly selected from a much larger set, like Magic: The Gathering. Or maybe it’s a fantastic component, like a headband you can wear to mentally control the movement of a ball, as in Mind Flex.

In any case, once you have that singular element, you can start to build a game around it, but don’t mistake that element for the game itself. Games of even moderate complexity require a number of different mechanics working together in symphony. And if you strive for elegance in your game design — intuitive rules that hang together in a way that makes them both memorable and sensible — your mechanics should all work together seamlessly.

Once you’re done with the mechanics, you have the bare bones of a game, the skeleton on which you can now throw some flesh. A good set of mechanics can be used in conjunction with all sorts of metaphors. Just look at Richard Borg’s Command and Colors rules, which have served as the basis for Memoir ’44, Battle Cry, and a number of other excellent games. Or at Steve Jackson Games’s GURPS, literally the Generic Universal RolePlaying System, which has had dozens of setting (metaphor) supplements published for it over its decades in print.

The great thing about having a sturdy set of mechanics is that if a player learns them once, they know the bulk of the rules for every other game that includes those mechanics. It reduces the learning load for the players and makes it easier for them to pick up a new game. At their heart, though, most games represent an abstraction of a complex situation. That means that even generic, reusable rules eventually need to be tailored to the specific metaphor or setting to which you transplant them.

Thinking Metaphorically

To nail your game’s metaphor, try reducing it to its essentials. Take some time to consider what your game is about. Write it down. Keep it less than a paragraph. If you can make it a single sentence, that’s ideal. Try the following format:

[Game name] is a [category of] game in which [the players or their avatars] [do or compete for something] by [using tools the game provides them].

Monopoly is a board game in which landlords strive to drive each other bankrupt by purchasing and improving properties and charging the highest rents they can.Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game in which powerful wizards duel to the death with each other by tapping the magical power of the lands around them and using magic to do battle with their foes.Trivial Pursuit is a board game in which players compete to answer questions in six different categories before the others by testing each other with cards filled with trivia questions.

For example:

Once you’ve done this, you should have at least a good idea about the silhouette of your final game. From there, you just need to fill it in from th edges.

Metaphors and Licenses

In many ways, it’s easier to design a game based around an existing metaphor. If someone hands you a licensed property to work with, something based on a TV show, film, book, comic, song, or whatever, all the hard part’s been done for you, right? The story’s already there.

But even then, you have to figure out what’s so incredible about the original story and then hope you can translate that into a game. Every medium is different, and things that work wonderfully in one don’t always translate well to another. (Just ask anyone who’s loved a book but hated the film based on it.) The interpersonal dramas of a comic book series like X-Men, for instance, are harder to model in a board game than a superpowered battle that pits the X-Men against their most dangerous foes. In a roleplaying game, the opposite might be true.

The great thing about a game, though, is that you can choose to focus on a single aspect of a story rather than trying to jam an entire saga into the game. You can hint at the larger story in color text, of course, but you can pick and choose the elements that best work in a game and, more importantly, fit the game you want to make. You get to highlight what works for your game and leave the rest of it to hide in the shadows.

Finding the Fusion

In the best games, the mechanics and the metaphor inform each other. They influence and support each other in intuitive ways at every level. If you get stuck on one aspect of developing the game, you can turn to the other for inspiration. As long as you respect both the mechanics and the metaphor, this works well.

When you’re creating your own game, you can alter either aspect of a game to fit the other, but you need to make sure they always match up seamlessly. You don’t always have the same freedom with games based on an existing story or property, but if the story can’t bend, then push the mechanics toward it instead.

Either way, though, your finished game should never ring false. If it’s a game about dueling wizards casting spells at each other across a fantastic and ever-changing landscape, then rules that factor in political intrigues at the emperor’s high court will stab out at the players like a dagger. If the game’s pitched as being a simple, light game for kids, but it takes twelve hours and a college education to complete, it’s not going to fly.

The story tells the players what to expect from the game, and it’s up to you as a designer to use every tool you have, including especially mechanics and metaphor, to deliver that to them in the best and clearest way you can. If you defy the players’ expectations and give them something that doesn’t mesh at all with what reasonable people would hope to find in the game, you wind up with players who are angry and confused. Those people might never come back to play your game again. There are just too many better options out there.

The Game’s the Thing

Any part of the game that fails to support the game and make it better — whether metaphor or mechanic — should be cut. It doesn’t matter how enamored you might be of a particular mechanic or a clever bit of story. If it doesn’t fit, let it go.

One of the best things about an idea is that it doesn’t spoil if you leave it out. It has an infinite shelf life. You can always use it somewhere else later, in a project that suits it better than the one you’re working on at the moment. 

It’s not always a matter of having to choose one thing over the other, of course. Sometimes, you need to find a balanced compromise, a happy medium between the two extremes. The best games don’t favor abstract mechanics over story-rich metaphor, or vice versa. They mix them both up and blend them together into a recipe for fun.

Take a look at the territories in Risk, by way of example. The game is purportedly about trying to take over the world a nation at a time, but some nations are broken up into pieces, while others are grouped together for geographical convenience. It’s set up this way because Risk works much better with 42 territories than trying to shoehorn in the nearly 200 nations we have in the real world. You’d need a magnifying glass to see some of the smaller places on the Risk board, and assigning proportional benefits to the more powerful nations would require you to shove cartfuls of playing pieces into them.

Similarly, any parts of the story that don’t fit with the game can be jettisoned too, or at least ignored for the purposes of the game. Professor Plum may have a staggering backstory and a full character development arc that ends in a mind-shattering twist that would put The Sixth Sense to shame, but none of that matters in the game of Clue. If you want to tell those stories, either make the game specifically about them, or write a novel or short story instead.

In the end, it’s your job to make every element of your game true to the game and to serve the entertainment of the people who will play it. If you can manage that, its pistons will hum like a choir

I had a wonderful time at Origins Game Fair. Thanks to the folks there who brought me out and to everyone who joined me for all the fun and games. That especially goes to Ralph, Peter, Sean, Ellis, and the rest of the crew that ran the Marvel Multiverse RPG room. You can’t find people more dedicated and passionate about playing games.

I also got to hang out one night with the three gamers who have been to each and every of the 50 Origins Game Fairs. That includes my longtime pal Will Niebling, Carl Olson, and Alan Conrad.

The summer rolls on fast, though, and next up is Gen Con! I’m skipping Comic-Con International this year. I love the show dearly, but I got a great taste of it at Wondercon earlier this year. Also, the fact that it’s once again been bumped to the week before Gen Con makes it a bit of a death march, so I’m focusing on Gen Con instead.

I never miss Gen Con. I’ve been going every year since 1982, and I’m not about to break that streak if I can.

You can see many of the events I’ll be part of listed here.

Some of those events have already sold out, and others are going fast. This includes five two-hour games I’m running featuring the first act of the Planet Hulk adventure from the new Marvel Multiverse RPG Starter Set. Marvel is charging $100 a seat to join the fun, and — amazingly — most of the tables are already full. As I write this, there are still two seats available for Thursday at 2 PM and 3 seats available for Friday at 10 AM, but that’s it.

However, there are 5 seats left at the Coffee Klatch with Matt Forbeck, plus plenty for “For the Love of (Writing) the Game” (a panel about writing video games) and for the Andrew Hackard Memorial Munchkin Game that I play with my kids every year in honor of our pal. That one comes with a big stack of giveaways for those who attend, so join us for the fun!

On top off that, I’m also running the Diana Jones Award event on Wednesday night and emceeing the Costume Contest on Saturday afternoon. So I’ll be around. I hope to see you there!

Once again, the fine folks at Origins Game Fair invited me to be a special guest at this year’s show in Columbus, Ohio, which celebrates the convention’s 50th year. I’ll be there Thursday through Saturday — June 19 through 21 — running some sessions of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game. Those are all sold out at the moment, but I’m also going to be signing in the autograph area at 1 PM each of those days.

Autograph sessions for game designers can be quiet affairs during which all of us take the time to catch up with our neighbors, so come on over and bother us instead! I’ll have lots of time to wander around too, so if you randomly bump into me, be sure to say hi. It’s a fantastic show, and I hope to see you there!

This year, the fine folks at WonderCon invited me out to the show in Anaheim, California, as a special guest. I’ve never had the pleasure of attending it before, but they also run Comic-Con International in San Diego, which I’ve enjoyed countless times, so I was thrilled to accept.

I’ll be there for the entire show, from Friday through Sunday of this week, March 28–30. Please come out and join us! They have me on pretty light duty, so I’ll have plenty of time to wander around and join in the fun myself.

Here’s my schedule:

Friday, March 28:

2–3 PM: How to Design Tabletop Games: With over 5,000 tabletop games coming out each year, the need for new games is strong. Are you designing a tabletop game or want to know how to get started? Industry experts Juliana Moreno (game designer, Wild Optimists), Kami Mandell (game designer, The Op), and Matt Forbeck (game designer, Marvel RPG) share their best practices, ways to get started, and stories from their game designs. Moderated by Christopher Castagnetto.3–4:30 PM: Creators Assemble: Charisma Check: Tabletop roleplaying game creators, publishers, performers, game shop owners, teachers, and library workers have brought greater acceptance to TTRPGS and fan culture. Take a break from hectic convention life to experience “speed dating” style networking with diverse TTRPG and board game enthusiasts from all backgrounds. This year’s lineup includes Reuben Bresler, Jeromy DeChant, Eddie Doty, Sarah Durnesque, Lemar Harris, Jason Patrick Galit (JPG), Jem Lugo, Cynthia Marie, Markeia McCarthy, Momo Meas, Ryan Omega, Jenni Powel, and Sidney Rubino, along with TTRPG educators and enthusiasts Joel Bakker, Joe Barrette, Moni Barrette, Janie Ghinazzi, and Dan Wood. (This actually starts at 2:30, but I have an overlap. I’ll be there as soon as I can!)

Sunday, March 29:

12:30–1:30 PM: Spotlight on Matt Forbeck: Matt Forbeck (Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game) has been creating novels, comics, nonfiction, video games, and tabletop games for a living for over 35 years, including the upcoming Minecraft: Roll for Adventure series of game books. Join him for a Q&A session about his storied career and what’s coming next.2–3 PM: Autograph Session.

At the moment, this is the last show I have planned to attend until (possibly) Comic-Con or (definitely) Gen Con, so come out and say hi!

Honestly, it’s kind of hard to believe that Gary Gygax has been gone for 17 years, but I’m always delighted to join his family for Gary Con to celebrate his legacy as the co-designer of Dungeons & Dragons. This year’s tinged with a bit more sadness at the loss of Gary’s eldest son, Ernie, a couple weeks ago, but that emphasizes even more why it’s important to gather with friends and enjoy each other’s company while you still can.

I’ll be at Gary Con this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 20–22. I’d be there longer if I could, but deadlines and life are competing hard for my time at the moment. That Avengers Expansion for the Marvel Multiverse RPG apparently isn’t going to write itself.

I’m running a few games at the show and playing in others as well. Most of them are already sold out, but there are still tickets left for Catacombs & Comedians Presents Death or Glory (Traveller), which I’m playing Thursday at 9 PM with my friends Dan Taylor, John Kovalic, Sarah Babe, Bryan Cp Steele, and Rob Wieland. Join us!

Plus, I have an autograph session in the exhibit hall on Friday at 1 PM.

And on Saturday morning at 10 AM, I’m on Adapting RPG Stories—Games to Other Mediums, a panel with my friends Jim Zub and Erik Mona.

If you spy me wandering around otherwise, be sure to say hi. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of people and hopefully signing some of those brand-new Spider-Verse Expansion books!

I’ve had a long, busy day, but I want to thank everyone involved with the production of the Spider-Verse Expansion of the Marvel Multiverse RPG that debuted today. The book is already selling well and garnered some glowing reviews. So…

Big thanks to CJ Cervantes, Amir Osman, and Brian Overton at Marvel for being the best team to work with in the business. They always push us to make the book better at every step, and their love for the work shines through. On top of that, I’d like to thank the rest of the Marvel staff who help us make these books happen. None of this could happen without them.

When it comes to making the book look great, many thanks to RB Silva and Jesus Aburtov for their spectacular cover, and to Ruairi Coleman and Fer Sifuentes-Sujo for the great chapter headers. Plus to Brian Patterson for his amazing maps and Simeon Cogswell for their fantastic design that ties it all together.

While I handled the bulk of the writing and game design, I had a lot of help from some wonderful writers. This includes three consummate pros — Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, and Matthew Manning — plus my son Marty Forbeck, who wrote not only most of the profiles, but also a full chapter too. On top of that, my son Pat Forbeck did some uncredited work on the profiles too.

On top of all that, I want to thank the players out there who buy these books and play them. With your support, we can keep doing this, hopefully for years to come, and there’s no better treat than that. Thanks!