User:PHill4455/sandbox

Marco Rafalà (born 1971) is a first-generation Sicilian-American novelist and writer for award-winning tabletop role-playing games.

Family and education
Marco Rafalà, son of a Sicilian immigrant father and an American mother of Irish and Swedish descent, was born and raised in Middletown, Connecticut, and graduated from Middletown High School in 1989. He holds a B.A. in English literature from Albertus Magnus College and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The New School. He resides in New York City.

Early life and career
A self-taught guitarist and mandolinist, Rafalà spent the 1990s recording and touring with various indie bands until a trip to Melilli, Sicily, where his father was born, inspired his debut novel, How Fires End. 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.

Awards and honorable mentions for How Fires End

 * A 2020 Connecticut Book Awards finalist and honorable mention
 * Winner of the 2020 Best Book Awards in Literary Fiction at the American Book Festival
 * Named a best book of 2020 by the Brooklyn Rail
 * Named a best book of 2019 by Writer’s Bone

Novel

 * How Fires End, Little A, 2019

Short fiction

 * “Tenebre”, Bellevue Literary Review, Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2001

Essays

 * “When a Family Measures Time by its Losses,” Literary Hub, November 6, 2019,
 * “How a Trip to My Father’s Village in Sicily Inspired a Novel That Took Ten Years to Write,” Italian America, Vol XXV, No.2, Spring 2020

Games
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.
 * “What Lies Beneath,” written with Richard Harrison for Ruins of the North
 * Journeys & Maps, Contributing Author
 * Adventurer’s Companion, Contributing Author

Star Trek Adventures — an award-winning tabletop roleplaying game published by Modiphius Entertainment.
 * “A World With A Bluer Sun” for These Are The Voyages, Mission Compendium I
 * “Plato’s Cave” for Strange New Worlds, Mission Compendium II
 * Alpha Quadrant Sourcebook, Contributing Author
 * “A Forest Apart,” a standalone PDF adventure
 * “A Star Beyond the Stars,” an introductory campaign for the Star Trek Adventures Starter Set

Lex Arcana — a historical-fantasy roleplaying game set in a world where the Roman Empire never fell. Published by Quality Games.
 * “Eye of the Cyclops” for Mysteries of the Empire

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.
 * Horror at Herrogate

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.
 * The Feast of the Dead, a starter scenario written with Jameson Proctor. Available on Free RPG Day 2019.

Film Appearances

 * Shooting at the Moon (1998, re-edited 2003), Directed by Jesse Richards and Nicholas Watson, as Speaking Man

References