Please see the Buy My Books page for my fiction books (as well as buy buttons for purchasing them).
Below are lists of the publications to which I contributed writing, development (content editing), and/or game design. The list includes novels, computer games, roleplaying game books, miniatures games, and downloadable content.
Computer games (Various publishers):
Dracula Unleashed (Viacom)
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (Interplay)
Emperor of the Fading Suns (Segasoft)
Final Liberation: Warhammer 40K (SSI)
Hammer of the Gods (New World)
Merchant Prince II (Take 2)
Mall Tycoon (Take 2)
Noble Armada: Lost Worlds (HDI) — available now on Steam.
Fading Suns (Ulisses)
The newest edition of this classic sci-fi RPG, designed and developed my me.
Universe Book
Character Book
Gamemaster Book
Faction Book
Intrigues & Escapades
House Hawkwood (Imperial Dossier)
Reeves Guild (Imperial Dossier)
Urth Orthodox (Imperial Dossier)
Fading Suns Play Kit
Gamemasters Screen
State & Perk Card Set
Vuldrok Space
St. Paulus Field Guide to Spacecraft
Spacecraft Deckplans
Hard Times on Hargard
Lost Worlds
Brother Battle (Imperial Dossier)
Charioteers Guild (Imperial Dossier)
New Frontiers Play Kit
Equipment Cards
Fading Suns (Holistic Design, Inc.)
I am the co-creator (with Andrew Greenberg) of the Fading Suns universe, a far-future roleplaying game setting. Available as digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.
Fading Suns 4th edition core books: Universe Book, Character Book, Gamemaster Book
Factions Book
Intrigues & Escapades
Imperial Dossiers: House Hawkwood, Reeves Guild, Urth Orthodox
Fading Suns rulebook (1st and 2nd editions)
Al-Malik Fiefs
Al-Malik Ships (Noble Armada)
Aliens & Deviltry
Byzantium Secundus
Capital Ships (Noble Armada)
Decados Fiefs
Dreadnoughts (Noble Armada)
Fading Suns d20
FS d20 Character Codex
Gamemasters Screen
Hazat Fiefs
Hazat Ships (Noble Armada)
Into the Dark
Legions of the Empire
Li Halan Fiefs
Li Halan Ships (Noble Armada)
Lord Erbian’s Stellar Bestiary
Lost Worlds
Lords & Priests
Merchants of the Jumpweb
Noble Armada
Orphaned Races
Passion Play LARP
Players Companion
Ships of the Line (Noble Armada)
The Sinful Stars
Sinners & Saints
Spies & Revolutionaries
Star Crusade
Starship Deckplans I, II, II
War in the Heavens: Hegemony
War in the Heavens: Lifeweb
Worlds of the Realms
Werewolf: the Apocalypse (White Wolf)
I was the original line developer for this World of Darkness game about werewolves in the modern world. Available as digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.
Werewolf: the Apocalypse (Second Edition and 20th Anniversary Edition)
The Apocalyptic Record (W20)
Axis Mundi
Bastet
Black Furies (Tribebook)
Bone Gnawers (Tribebook)
Bone Gnawers & Stargazers (Tribe Novels)
Book of the Wyrm
Children of Gaia
Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth
Croatan Song
Drums Around the Fire
Fianna (Tribebook)
Freak Legion
Garou Saga
Get of Fenris (Tribebook)
Glass Walkers (Tribebook)
Kinfolk: A Breed Apart
Last Battle (Novel)
Monkeywrench: Pentex
Nuwisha
Pentex Employees Handbook
Project Twilight
Rage CCG
Rage Across the Amazon
Rage Across Appalachia
Rage Across New York
Rage Across Russia
Red Talons (Tribebook)
Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage 2
Savage Attack: Players Guide to Rage
Shattered Dreams
The Silver Crown (novel)
Silver Fangs
The Silver Record
The Song of Unmaking (novel)
Songs of the Sun and Moon: The Changing Breeds Anthology (short stories)
Umbra: The Velvet Shadow
The Umbra (Rage)
Under a Blood-Red Moon
Valkenburg Foundation
Ways of the Wolf
Wendigo (Tribebook)
Wendigo (Tribe Novel)
Werewolf Players Guide
Werewolf Storytellers Handbook
Werewolf: the Dark Ages
When Will You Rage
White Howlers (Tribebook)
The Wyrm (Rage)
Mage: the Awakening (White Wolf)
I was the lead designer and writer on this new vision of the modern-day occult roleplaying game, part of the “new” World of Darkness game lines. Available as digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.
Mage: the Awakening
Boston Unveiled
Guardians of the Veil
Legacies: the Ancient
Legacies: the Sublime
Magical Traditions
Reigns of the Exarchs
Sanctum & Sigil
Secrets of the Ruined Temple
Tome of Mysteries
Tome of the Watchtowers
Mage: the Ascension (White Wolf)
I was one of the writers and designers of the first edition of this classic World of Darkness game, and have contributed to it many times in its history, including developing the last books in the series. Available as digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.
Ascension
Book of Madness
Book of Shadows
Dark Ages Mage
Dreamspeakers
Forged by Dragon’s Fire
The Fallen Tower: Las Vegas
Hollow Ones revised
The Infinite Tapestry
Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary edition
Mage Storytellers Handbook
Manifesto
Order of Hermes revised
Sons of Ether
Sons of Ether revised
Truth Beyond Paradox (short stories)
Verbena revised
Virtual Adepts revised
New World of Darkness (White Wolf)
I was one of the writers and designers on most of the “new” World of Darkness titles, and I was the lead designer of Promethean: the Created, the World of Darkness’ version of the Frankenstein story. Available as digital downloads at DriveThruRPG.
World of Darkness Rulebook
Changeling: the Lost
Demon Seed Collection (Demon: the Descent)
Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)
Promethean: the Created
Storytelling Adventure System (SAS)
SAS: Chicago Working
SAS: Parlor Games
SAS: The Resurrectionists
Vampire: the Requiem
Werewolf: the Forsaken
World of Darkness: Chicago
Classic World of Darkness (White Wolf)
I was an early writer on first-edition Vampire: the Masquerade titles, and many more World of Darkness books. Available as digital downloads at DriveThruRPG.
The Anarch Cookbook (Vampire)
Changeling: the Dreaming
The Endless Ages Anthology (Vampire)
Haunts (Wraith)
The Hunter’s Hunted (Vampire)
Of Predators and Prey: The Hunted’s Hunted 2 Anthology (Vampire)
Immortal Eyes 2 (Changeling)
Midnight Circus (WoD)
Orpheus
Outcasts (WoD)
Vampire Players Guide
Succubus Club
Vampire Storytellers Handbook
Wraith: the Oblivion
Miscellaneous books and games (Various publishers)
Afghanistan d20: Real-Life Roleplaying (HDI)
Blackbirds RPG (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Carnage (HDI)
Creature Collection (White Wolf)
Columbia d20: Real-Life Roleplaying (HDI)
FBI d20: Real-Life Roleplaying (HDI)
Fist of God (HDI)
Hobby Games: the 100 Best (Green Ronin)
Pendragon (Chaosium)
Rapture (HDI)
Savage Mountains (Chaosium)
Scion: Hero (White Wolf)
Street Fighter (White Wolf)
Street Fighter Screen (White Wolf)
Street Fighter Players Guide (White Wolf)
Secrets of Shadoloo (White Wolf)
Somalia d20: Real-Life Roleplaying (HDI)
Star Trek: the Next Generation (Last Unicorn)
Star Trek: Narrator’s Toolkit (Last Unicorn)
Star Trek: Aliens (Last Unicorn)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Last Unicorn)
Good Afternoon,
My name is Cassandra Stapleton and I’m trying to break into the video game industry as a writer. Do you have any advice to give out? I came across your name as a special guest for the Escapist Expo in September. I’ll be attending and I hope you don’t mind me asking you questions like this. Thank you for your time and I look forward in meeting you at the convention.
Sincerely,
Cassandra Stapleton
Hi Cassandra! I don’t have all the answers, and breaking in is going to be different for many people, but networking is certainly helpful. Many people begin as interns, which is a good way to get to know people in a company and also to learn how things are done. From there, a lot of people move into QA or gamemastering. When a job does come open for writers, at least the company knows you.
Of course, many writers in this industry work on a contract basis, in which case networking is definitely needed. You need a strong resume of samples showing that you can write dialogue, create characters, create interesting environments (levels), and script cinematics and situations in game. You then want to get those samples in front of the people who are empowered to hire you, which means doing some research on who does what where. It’s good to mingle with other writers at shows like GDC and GDC Austin — and Escapist Expo, which you mentioned. A lot of time it involves luck — a hired writer drops out and needs to be replaced at the last minute, and the content lead just happens to read your stuff then.
I guess I was lucky in that I started out when the industry was young and full of small developers doing lots of games who often had need of writers. I began in the tabletop roleplaying game field, which is very good experience (but is not as thriving an industry as it once was). If you could cut your teeth on roleplaying game sourcebooks, that certainly couldn’t hurt. It hones your craft, gives you something tangible to show (even if it’s just a PDF), and some of the people in a position to hire you might well play the game you wrote for.
Hope this helps. I know it’s vague, but you can always grill me with more questions at Escapist Expo.
— bill