Grant Howitt
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Grant Howitt | |
|---|---|
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| Born | United Kingdom |
| Education | University of East Anglia |
| Occupation | Game designer, Publisher, Journalist |
| Employer | Rowan, Rook and Decard |
| Website | https://rowanrookanddecard.com/ |
Grant Howitt is a tabletop role-playing game designer, publisher, and journalist. He won six ENNIE Awards for his game Heart: The City Beneath. His game Honey Heist, which inspired an online trend of self-published games with one-page rulesets, has been featured on Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Friends at the Table. Through his publishing company Rowan, Rook and Decard, Howitt is a co-designer on Kieron Gillen's DIE RPG.
Games
Howitt designed the games Heart: The City Beneath, Honey Heist, and Spire. In 2022, Howitt became a co-designer and publisher for Kieron Gillen's DIE RPG. In a featured interview on Gizmodo, Howitt described DIE as "a game about why we play games" and his goal for the final product as "a machine to manufacture heartbreak."[1] Howitt has also self-published a large number of games with rules that fit on one page. As of July 2023, Howitt has published 79 games on Itch.io[2][3].
Publishing company
In 2017, Howitt co-founded the games publishing company Rowan, Rook and Decard, with spouse Maz Hamilton as business director. The company currently publishes DIE RPG, Heart: The City Beneath, Spire, Honey Heist, Unbound, and Goblin Quest.[4]
Awards and nominations
Heart: The City Beneath won six ENNIE Awards in 2021: Gold winner for Best Setting, Best Writing and Best Layout, and Silver winner for Best Art, Best Art - Interior, Best Game, and Best Monster/Adversary.[5]
In the 2020 ENNIE Awards, Royal Blood was nominated for Best Game[6] and Sexy Battle Wizards for Best Free Game/Product.[6] In addition to winning six ENNIE Awards in 2021, Heart was also nominated for Product of the Year.[5] In 2023, DIE was nominated for an ENNIE for Best Production Values.[7]
Influence
Howitt's design inspired a trend of "experimental zines" and "poetic lyric games" on Imgur and Itch.io.[8] In a feature article on Grant Howitt, Chase Carter for Polygon called him "one of the foundational voices in the current generation of tabletop RPG creators"[8] because the success of Honey Heist inspired other designers to create and self-publish one-page games. Game Rant refer to him as "veteran TTRPG designer Grant Howitt" [9] and to their request advice for homebrew developers looking to publish their game systems, Howitt responds "Get on itch.io and publish whatever crud you've got as soon as you can. Don't worry too much about it being perfect—it won't be!"[9]
Several of Howitt's games have featured on actual play programs. In 2017, his game Honey Heist was used by Critical Role in three one-shot episodes.[10][11][12] In 2018, Howitt's game Crash Pandas was used by Critical Role in one-shot Crash Pandas: Too Trashed, Too Curious[13] and by Twitch stream Surprise Round in 4 raccoons, a car, and a dream.[14] In 2019, The Adventure Zone used Howitt's Honey Heist system as part of their event MaxFunDrive "Fur". Heart: The City Beneath provided the game engine for the 2021 campaign of the actual play podcast Friends at the Table.[15] 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.[16]
Journalism
Howitt has worked as a freelance writer for mainstream publications such as the Mirror[17] and Guardian[18] and indie organizations such as Video Brains.[19] He has described his style as "Gonzo Tech Journalism".[19]
References
- ↑ "Kieron Gillen on How the DIE RPG Brings the Heartbreaking Comic to Life". Gizmodo. 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ Carter, Chase (2021-07-20). "Honey Heist and the legacy of the one-page RPG". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/things-are-here-6848613
- ↑ "Welcome to Rowan, Rook & Decard". Rowan, Rook and Decard. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "2021 Nominees and Winners – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2023-04-15.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "2020 Nominees and Winners – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ "2023 Nominations – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Carter, Chase (2021-07-20). "Honey Heist and the legacy of the one-page RPG". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Witson, Hank (2022-06-02). "DIE Interview: Kieron Gillen and Grant Howitt Discuss Influences, Aspirations, and More About Kickstarter TTRPG". Gamerant. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ↑ Carter, Chase (2021-07-20). "Honey Heist and the legacy of the one-page RPG". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ↑ Hall, Charlie (2022-06-02). "Critical Role and Honey Heist creators team up for new game, invite Heidi N Closet to play it". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ↑ Heim, Bec (2023-01-01). "Critical Role: Exandria Based One-Shots, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ↑ Sam Riegel's Crash Pandas One-Shot, retrieved 2023-07-28
- ↑ Crash Pandas - surpriseroundrpg on Twitch, 2018-07-29, retrieved 2023-07-28
- ↑ Carter, Chase (2021-07-20). "Honey Heist and the legacy of the one-page RPG". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ "A Familiar Problem – Darrington Press". Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ "The Mirror: The Heart of Britain". mirror. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ "Grant Howitt | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Grant Howitt: STUPID GAMES, CLEVER MECHANICS – VideoBrains". Retrieved 2023-07-28.
External links
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