Writer Interview: Meric Moir

Meric is a digital marketing manager at an international engineering company, a MacEwan University graduate from the sadly defunct Professional Writing (PROW) program, a father of four, and a constant storyteller and worldbuilder. Meric recently became the book lead on Cosmere RPG’s Mistborn World Guide.

INTERVIEW

MG: What got you into writing for RPGs?

MM: Podcasts! And having too many unplayed games on my shelf. Every year, I’d schedule 12 games—one a month—and have my friends sign up for which ones they wanted to play. Those sessions turned into the Massive Damage Adventures podcast which ran for five seasons. Around the second season, we were approached by Modiphius Entertainment to do a review for the John Carter of Mars RPG. 

We did more reviews, and I started interviewing game designers from the industry as well. After a fun interview with Ian Lemke, the line developer for The Expanse RPG by Green Ronin Publishing, Ian mentioned he was looking for writers. I sent him a writing sample, and we got to work on my first freelance gig! By that time, John Houlihan was my contact at Modiphius, and he was launching the 2020 edition of their Achtung! CthulhuRPG. I mentioned that I wanted to do more freelance writing, and he got me set up writing adventures. 

MG: Tell us about a favourite project you worked on.

MM: It has to be Vive la Resistance! in the Achtung! Cthulhu line. After I’d written a few adventures and contributed some player options to the Serpent & the Sands, John and I had been talking about getting me my own book to write. I was really excited about it, but there were some initial delays. I thought we’d start work on it in December, but the commission and outline didn’t come until mid-February. With that came a challenge—can you write this book, 25,000 words, in six weeks? John and Modiphius were conscious of my time as a freelancer with a full-time job, and they asked if I wanted them to bring in a second writer to share the load. 

I said no to the help—I wanted it to be my book. For it to be my first sole-writer credit on a printed RPG product. I settled in to do my research, write to John’s outline, and put together the coolest book I could. This brief particularly landed with me because I was thinking about how people would feel, seeing their communities being overtaken by far-right extremism. Not just actual armies marching through, but neighbours joining the ideologies and countries changing in ways that seemed irrevocable. Then, what would people be willing to do to stand up to that? From small acts of defiance to big, pulpy heroic stories.

The best part about writing this book was probably looking critically at the Achtung! Cthulhu game and figuring out what I thought was missing. Providing more options for players so they could tell wider, more diverse stories. I was really engaged reading about the resistance movements in Europe and imagining what themes might evolve from horror pulp action stories in those circumstances. French demonologists, Polish inventors, and Dutch metaphysicians were all very cool ideas to explore. 

MG: How does writing for RPGs differ from other forms of fiction writing?

MM: I’ve seen it stated well in the industry that your job as a game designer (and specifically as an adventure designer) is to be an accomplice. My goal is to create exciting moments and intriguing stories up to 80 or 90% and then have the game master (GM) and their players fill in the rest. In my opinion, the most memorable parts of playing RPGs are in that 10 or 20% of freedom that people have at their own table. The moments when someone throws a soup can at the final boss and knocks them unconscious. The adventure writing portion (that 80 to 90%) is super important because it’s the foundation that means the GM doesn’t have to come up with an entire story from the ground up, but leaving space for improvisation is what makes an adventure different from a novel. 

As adventure writers, we have to create compelling stories that players want to engage with, and we need to write in tools that GMs can use to keep people on track or get them going in the right direction again. 

MG: How do you navigate the worldbuilding and game mechanics aspects of writing for RPGs?

MM: There are different levels of engagement. For something like Dungeons & Dragons, there are a lot of tools to play with and the audience sort of expects you to go off book when publishing third-party options. However, when you’re working on a licensed RPG, like The Expanse RPG, Achtung! Cthulhu, Star Trek Adventures, or the Cosmere RPG, you have to be a lot more diligent. 

For something like Achtung! Cthulhu, the property is owned in-house by Modiphius, so there was always an understanding that worldbuilding was freer and game mechanics could be created to match the story. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the Cosmere RPG is a fully canon representation of Brandon Sanderson’s interconnected novels, so there are many levels of checks and reviews. New lore is scrutinized heavily and needs to be supported by existing evidence from novels or author interviews. Other licensors fall somewhere in the middle. Usually, they’re not canonizing your adventures, but they want to make sure their brand and intellectual property (IP) are represented evenly and consistently. 

So, the answer is, really, be a fan. Do the research. Understand the themes underneath the properties and play to the expectations of your audience and approvers. 

MG: How often do you collaborate with artists, designers, and other creatives when working on these projects?

MM: Not as much as I’d like! Most freelance writers do a pitch, an outline, a first draft, and then incorporate reviewer revisions—then they’re done.  

My work on the Star Trek Adventures starter set was exciting because it was the first time I got to work closely with other freelancers. Jim Johnson, line editor for Star Trek Adventures at Modiphius, brought me on to work with Michael Dismuke and Al Spader on the three-part campaign, and we all brainstormed together on what the adventures would cover. 

The Cosmere RPG has been where I’ve gotten to be much more collaborative. My first assignment with them, on the Stonewalkers campaign book, involved working with other writers Imogen Gingell, Sadie Lowry, and Amber Litke. The four of us were corralled by Lyla Fujiwara, project lead and Stonewalkers book lead, and Johnny O’Neal, creative director. Although Lyla and Johnny coordinate the art and design work, they would often ask our opinions on works in progress or clarify our intentions in the adventure text or art briefs and sketch maps. Out of everybody, Lyla has put in an incredible amount of work to make this book happen. 

Since Stonewalkers, I’ve gotten to do a lot of exciting work on the Cosmere RPG, most of which is still covered under NDA, but the writers, designers, editors, artists, graphic designers, lore experts, and Brotherwise crew are all amazing people to work with. 

MG: How do you balance story and player agency when writing multiple narrative paths?

MM: A clear goal. Define where you want the players to end up, be very clear to the GM what the destination is, then provide lots of options and opportunities to get there. I like to play with different types of consequences and outcomes. You have to be very careful not to create narrative dead ends that result from bad rolls or missed clues, but if you think out how you can put the PCs in a more tenuous position if they fail, that’s more exciting. 

I’m personally a big fan of modular design, but it doesn’t work in every game or for every publisher. In my adventure, Shadow of the Crawling Chaos for Achtung! Cthulhu, the notable modular design happens in the third act. As the PCs move through a fantastic location, the GM has about a half dozen mini-scenes they can use in whatever order they like to challenge the PCs before they arrive at the final scene. Succeeding on any of those mini-scenes might provide a benefit going into the story’s climax, but failing them definitely gives you a setback. 

Part of supporting player agency is not holding too tightly to the story, but that’s mostly on the GM’s shoulders. As an adventure designer, I try to make that easier for the GM by giving them tools to answer player questions and then guidance on how to move the players towards a planned finale, whatever choice the players make. 

MG: What are some of the greatest challenges you face when working on these projects?

MM: Generally, time and pay. It’s not a revelation to say the RPG industry does not pay living wages. Most people working in the industry are freelancers with other careers or incomes. That means a lot of places pay hobbyist rates. The businesses don’t have it easy either—it takes a lot of money and time to develop an RPG book, and the margins are very narrow. Plus, most consumers have no idea how much work it takes to write, design, illustrate, layout, edit, and print a book. Then add on shipping costs over the last five years? Terrible. 

That sort of situation leads to a lot of really passionate people working too hard on short timelines. Burnout is sadly quite prevalent in the industry.

The good news is super cool people like Sen-Foong Lim, who I worked with on The First Step (a starter adventure for the Cosmere RPG), are trying to address those gaps in the industry with organizations like the Tabletop Game Designers Association. Their mission is to “promote the craft of tabletop game design through education and support; to advocate for the designers of tabletop games; and to build community among game designers.” Recently, they’ve been instrumental in getting game designers listed like authors at major booksellers like Barnes & Noble.

MG: What advice would you give writers who are interested in this field?

MM: Talk to people and make the thing. If you can write a 10,000-word adventure and self-publish it, you have a much better shot of landing a commission from a pitch. Grab an adventure that you like and match your word count and organization to that. Learning how to convey information clearly and concisely to a GM is key.

If you’re able and have the means, go to conventions and talk to designers and companies. Ask them how they started or what they’d recommend. Ask if you can have their card and email them some questions. Some of them may have projects that are onboarding new freelancers. Always remember that they’re at the convention working though, so be respectful of their time and effort. There are usually seminars, panels, and meetups you can go to where time has been set aside for these kinds of connections. If you can’t go to conventions, build your online network. Join Discord servers, read publisher blogs, stay informed on a company’s social media. 

Finally, hone your craft. I come from a professional writing background. I spent years in university writing lots of different things, learning how to edit, working style guides, and learning the publishing process. I write and edit things every day at my day job. A freelancer who turns in clean, compelling copy on time and on word count is someone who gets hired more than once. 

MG: What are you currently working on (if you are allowed to talk about it)?

MM: Right now I’m working with several wonderful freelancers on a stretch goal for the Cosmere RPG Kickstarter! It’s called Stormlight Scenarios, and it’ll be a 16-page PDF of seven short adventures. I’ve recently handed in some work on the Mistborn books for the Cosmere RPG, and I’m lining up some exciting opportunities that I can’t talk about yet. One, if it works out, will be yet another cool IP to add to my portfolio.

MG: Are you on social media? Where can people find you?

MM: People can find me on BlueSky as @mericmoir.bsky.social and through my website www.skyhammerpress.com. My streaming work can be found on YouTube, BlueSky, TikTok, Instagram, and Threads in some configuration of @skyhammerpress.