Richard Ruane
Since I was a teen, I’ve been enthralled by the unique social power of games—not only how tabletop games shape a table’s dynamics, but also by how the table’s culture and relationships change why and how games are interpreted and played.
I started work in tabletop RPGs during a much earlier incarnation of White Wolf and left to work on educational media, but as fulfilling as that could be, game writing kept calling me back. I began publishing my own work in 2018, and much like a sprawling, demanding, and sometimes even curmudgeonly table of players, I was impressed at how serious independent tabletop RPG designers, writers, and creators were about forming and maintaining communities. I joined SFWA in 2022 and was thrilled to be asked to work on the Game Writing Committee and, during a lingering period of unemployment, GC&Q.
I am currently an editor and publishing operations manager at Plus One Exp, and have had the privilege to work on our titles as a writer, copyeditor, development editor, and, most recently, acquisitions editor. I love working with new and emerging writers, and have had the privilege to work on projects with emerging writers and designers from across the world, including Jay Dragon, Daniel Kwan, and Sharang Biswas. My own titles include Dark Designs in Verdigris, Barrow Keep, Sherwood, Moonlight on Roseville Beach, and the upcoming werewolf game Silver Age. I’m currently an acquisitions editor for Plus One’s Zine Club Adventure line, as well as XXXP, a line of LGBTQ+ focused adult games.
Marie Vibbert
I wrote my first video game in pencil, after a guy visited my junior high and showed us a few lines of BASIC. When I brought my twelve-page “fortune teller” program to school the next morning, I was told that the computer lesson was a one-off and no one could help me do more.
I was crushed.
Now, helping others have access to creative tools is vital to me.
During Covid lockdown, I stumbled into a meeting of the SFWA Game Writing Committee in the SFWA Discord, because I was just looking for people to chat with! They were enthusiastic and welcoming, and I haven’t looked back. The committee has given me a way to contribute and bring visibility to indie games I love, as well as peers to chat with about the latest developments (and headaches) in the industry. Games are big business, but profits do not trickle down to the hands that produce the goods. Our committee is one small way to advocate for the artist and create standards.
We also share tools. If I hadn’t been introduced to Ren’Py, I wouldn’t have made a tie-in dating simulator to my “Galactic Hellcats” book series last year, (you can play it for free on reasie.itch.io).
I’m continuing to look for ways to include my day job as a software developer in my writing. Some day, my spouse and I will release our masterwork, Tinselfly, but my latest work is a novella, Multitude, following a hive mind of cephalopods as they discover humanity and try to figure us out.