It Begins…

After a misspent youth reading comics, watching movies, and playing D&D, Andy officially joined the gaming industry on April 1st, 1996. As a member of the fledgling Arena League team at Wizards of the Coast, Andy helped build the first store-based league for Magic: The Gathering. His responsibilities soon included the role of editor-in-chief of the Duelist Sideboard, a magazine devoted to covering the Magic tournament scene.

Roll for Initiative

In 1998, Andy shifted to Wizards of the Coast’s R&D department. He began as an editor of role-playing game products, including the massively popular Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for Dungeons & Dragons and the cult favorite Dark Matter Campaign Setting for the Alternity sci-fi RPG. Andy was soon tapped to design and write RPG products, including the d20 version of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game and the ENNIE-nominated Epic Level Handbook for 3rd Edition D&D.

Leveling Up

Andy’s R&D responsibilities grew rapidly. He led the development team responsible for revising the D&D rules for the successful  D&D v3.5 relaunch of the game in 2003, then became the overall Lead Developer of the game line. Later, he served on the core design team for the award-winning 4th Edition of D&D, alongside Rob Heinsoo and James Wyatt. For the last few years of his time at Wizards of the Coast, Andy managed a team of 10 in-house RPG designers and editors (half of the department) while continuing to contribute to many products.

Avengers Assemble!

In 2010, Andy’s career shifted from tabletop to the digital realm, and from system design to narrative. At Gazillion Entertainment, he led the story design for Marvel Heroes, a Diablo-style action RPG featuring dozens of famous (and soon-to-be-famous) super-heroes and super-villains. As a Marvel Comics fan from a very early age (his first comic memory is issue #3 of Spidey Super Stories, published in September 1974), the opportunity to craft stories in collaboration with superstar comics writer Brian Michael Bendis was a dream come true.

Urrrr… Brains…

The next stop on Andy’s journey was Undead Labs, where he led the world-building and narrative efforts for the short-lived creature battler known as Moonrise. Along the way he also pitched in on dialogue writing for DLC for the State of Decay zombie-apocalypse game. When development on the sequel started, the studio gave Andy full responsibility over every word in the game — every line of VO dialogue, every bit of mission text, and every item description. To deliver the full range of voices required for State of Decay 2, he assembled a team of 20 freelance writers, providing guidance, feedback, and mentorship for these talented folks. Andy continued to craft stories and characters for the franchise for nearly ten years, including the fan-favorite Homecoming DLC that brought closure to the saga of Trumbull Valley.

The Launch of Bold Cat

In 2023, Andy moved on from the zombie apocalypse to a new frontier of independent creativity by launching Bold Cat Studios with his wife, Gwendolyn Kestrel. In addition to his own personal projects (and too many D&D campaigns to count), he works directly with studios and designers to help develop and polish their unpublished games.

Through decades of lessons learned from talented colleagues and challenging projects, he has honed keen insights into what makes a game or a story work — and how to transform something good into something great.

 

Accolades

Golden Joystick Nomination (2018) for Game of the Year (State of Decay 2 / Narrative Design)

Gamescom Award Nomination (2018) for Best Add-On/DLC (State of Decay 2: Daybreak / Narrative Design)

Gold ENNIE (2009) for Product of the Year (D&D 4th Edition Player’s Handbook / Designer)

Gold ENNIE (2009) for Best Game (D&D 4th Edition / Designer)

Gold ENNIE (2009) for Best Rules (D&D 4th Edition Player’s Handbook / Designer)

Gold ENNIE (2009) for Best Monster or Adversary (D&D 4th Edition Monster Manual / Development)

ENNIE Nomination (2003) for Best Non-Open-Gaming Product (D&D Epic Level Handbook / Designer)