Alternate Worlds: A Memoir From The Early Days Of Playing And Making Magic: the Gathering

by Brian H. Schneider

Alternate Worlds is a the Gathering memoir written by Brian Schneider, one of the game’s early R&D leads, about the fun and merit of growing up a gamer.

Consider Alternate Worlds a love letter to the Gathering, to gamers, and to anyone who woke up one day and thought, “I miss my friends.”

If I were to summarize why this book exists, I’d say that I got pretty fed up with the cloning culture in the gaming industry and just wanted to make something that felt like the opposite of that.

I wanted to create something that felt loved, just to do it, and Alternate Worlds is that creation.

The book itself is a “Magic deck” of sixty short, delightful, stories -- all tales about lessons learned along the way.

All profits from Alternate Worlds will be donated periodically to nonprofit organizations of the highest need.

215 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2025

About the author

Former R&D lead for Magic: the Gathering in the early-to-mid 00's.

More recently a startup executive in gaming, interactive entertainment and mental health..

Alternate Worlds (a memoir-based history of early Magic) was written as a gift to friends, family, colleagues and gamers -- all proceeds will go to support nonprofit causes of highest need.