M.B. Downey lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his spouse Stephanie, daughter Wilhelmina, and rescue dog Ginger. He does not work in politics.
His first foray into official RPG design was the Holiday Adventure Contest 2012 - THE HORROR!, which he did at the last minute. This surprised absolutely nobody. What did surprise everyone is that his entry placed a close second to Jason Morningstar's.
His second attempt was a satirical and humorous game for the 2012 RPG Geek 24-hour RPG contest! It did not come anywhere close to placing, but did what the author intended, which was to get some laughs.
He took a hiatus to attend grad school, and then rejoined the design world in 2015, with the 2015 24 Hour Design Contest. Attending Origins that summer expanded his idea of what an RPG is, so he tested the boundaries with a solo, GMless game, that some (most?) might not consider a game.
While working on other designs, he did two other contests in 2016. These resulted in one game with players as AIs and another told in an investigation and flashbacks.
