User:Harrytc/Sample page

Grant Howitt is a role-playing game designer, writer and journalist.

Juvenilia
While attending the University of East Anglia Howitt co-ran "story-telling machine" ZombieLARP with partner Maz Hamilton and "his best friend-turned-business partner, Christopher Taylor."

Early Career
After university, Howitt and Hamilton built on the success of ZombieLARP with the formation of live experience company Serious Business

At the same time, Howitt was working as a freelance writer for mainstream publications such as the Mirror and Guardian and indie organisations such as Video Brains.

Articles such as Max Payne 2 is the best at jumping sideways and that's honestly beautiful for the NME and the profanity-laden 11 ways to be a better roleplayer exemplify a style he has described as "Gonzo Tech Journalism"

Growing as a game designer
Howitt's burgeoning productivity as a game designer coincided with the rise of Patreon, Kickstarter, and the launch of games publishing platform itch.io

In 2014, Howitt kickstarted GoblinQuest, a game first published on his Patreon., and was a co-author on the Kickstarter of a long-awaited Paranoia reboot, published as Paranoia Red Clearance Edition.

Between 2014 and the present, Howitt has published 79 games on his itch.io profile In 2016, Howitt started publishing a one-page game every month, a change of focus suggested by Hamilton.

In 2017, one-page game Honey Heist was used by actual play creators Critical Role in three one-shot episodes: Marisha's Honey Heist, Honey Heist 2: Electric Beargaloo and Honey Heist 3: Tova's Honeys

Rowan Rook and Decard
In 2017, Howitt joined Taylor to form Rowan, Rook and Decard with Hamilton as business director. The company currently publishes, amongst others, DIE RPG, Heart: The City Beneath, Spire, Honey Heist, Unbound, and Goblin Quest.

In 2018, Howitt's game Crash Pandas was used by Critical Role in one-shot Crash Pandas: Too Trashed, Too Curious and by Twitch stream Surprise Round in 4 raccoons, a car, and a dream

In 2019, The Adventure Zone used Howitt's Honey Heist system as part of their event MaxFunDrive "Fur" The game regularly appears in critics' lists of notable games

In 2022, Howitt worked with Marisha Ray on the one-page RPG, A Familiar Problem, used on the Critical Role one-shot Sprinkle's Incredible Journey, and later published by Critical Role imprint Darrington Press

Awards
Field Work (With Josh Fox and Shreyas Sampat): 2015 Threeforged RPG Design Challenge winner

Mechanical oryx: 2017 200 Word RPG Challenge winner

Royal Blood: 2020 ENnie nominee for Best Game

Sexy Battle Wizards: 2020 ENnie nominee for Best Free Game/Product

Heart: The City Beneath (with Christopher Taylor): 2021 Gold ENnie winner for Best Setting, Best Writing and Best Layout, and Silver ENnie winner for Best Art, Best Art - Interior, Best Game, and Best Monster/Adversary. Nominated for Product of the Year.