Martin Buinicki is an author, professor, and game designer living in the Midwest. He is the founding director of the Center for Games and Interactive Entertainment at Valparaiso University and Lead Writer for Gaming Honors LLC, a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) company. His works include Designing TTRPGs for Dummies, adventures like Chaos Before the Mast and O’ Happy Dagger!, parodies like Diapers & Daycares and The Mid-Life Monster Manual, as well as several scholarly books and articles.
A freelance writer and editor for Goodman Games, Martin appears regularly on their YouTube show Honor Among Thieves, and he plays Whisper the rogue on The Roll Seekers and the Legend of Nabell, a TTRPG streaming series.
Martin started rolling dice in TTRPGs in elementary school, and he spent countless hours devouring fantasy and science-fiction novels. He followed his love of storytelling to the University of Northern Colorado, majoring in English and Musical Theatre, and he later earned a PhD in English from the University of Iowa.
Coming November 2025
Designing TTRPGs For Dummies is an introductory romp into the creative and magical world of the game design process. A great TTRPG is full of creativity, surprise, and storytelling. This easy-to-follow guide teaches you the secrets to creating immersive worlds of your own.
Inside
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Explore the exciting world of tabletop roleplaying games and create your own
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Follow step-by-step instructions on fleshing out your game idea, testing it out with players, and improving the overall game experience
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Get tips for designing a compelling game world, creating rules that keep games moving, and handling unexpected player choices
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Find out how and where to publish your completed TTRPG
Designing TTRPGs For Dummies is your magical guide to creating fun adventures you can play with friends and even share with the world.
Dwellings & Driveways: Keep on the Cul-de-Sac!
Tie up those sweatpants, grab a potion of Cure Light Caffeine Headache, and dare to Keep on the Cul-de-Sac!
This hilarious parody module provides an adventurous new perspective on your daily homebound escapades. Explore this keep with your family or friends, or use it as a model to design your own shelter-in-place quests using your favorite RPG system—and your OWN dwelling!
When a murderous zombie-like horde ravages the land, a bold party of adventurers must venture deep into the Slouismo Fen, where legend has it an ancient temple in the center of a dead lake holds a powerful relic known only as the “Bane of the Ancients.”
Players will face horrible monsters and discover wondrous relics of the Ancients, but can they find the cure and return to their village in time to save it?
Take the adventure and find out!
A 2nd-Level DCC and 5E-Compatible Adventure by Martin Buinicki
Somewhere in the middle of the ocean lies a wizard’s prized possession, and he’s offered you a handsome reward for retrieving it. All you need do is set sail on the Intrepid Eel! On your journey, you will work and play alongside the crew, brave fierce squalls, battle the cursed ship Albatross...and face the monster of the sea, the Dread Grampus!
Chaos Before the Mast is a nautical adventure for 4–6 2nd-level characters. Prepare to sing sea shanties, swab the decks, and battle the creatures of the deep!
Recent Work
What Walt Whitman Tells Us about Ourselves
A guest editorial for The New York Daily News in honor of Walt Whitman's 200th birthday.
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Mid-Life Monster Manual
Face the horrors of aging in this old-school parody!
O' Happy Dagger!
Survive the forbidding Purple Planet in the Shakespeare-inspired adventure!
