I was thrilled to create the maps for four of the five adventures in Goodman Games’ Pinball Crawl Classics boxed set, a wonderfully nostalgic project inspired by some of the greatest fantasy and science fiction pinball machines of the 1970s and 1980s. My maps appear in adventures based on Gorgar, Centaur, Embryon, and Cosmic Gunfight, each one translating the distinctive atmosphere of these classic machines into playable tabletop adventures. (Swords of Fury was the only adventure in the set that I did not have time to map, illustrator Jorge Peral did a fantasic job on that one.)
Designing these maps was unlike any other cartography project I’ve worked on. Rather than drawing from traditional fantasy tropes, each adventure was inspired by the striking artwork, themes, and gameplay of its original pinball machine. The challenge was to create maps that captured the spirit of these arcade classics while remaining clear, functional, and engaging for players and Game Masters alike.
As someone who grew up during the golden age of arcade gaming, this project was a wonderful blend of two lifelong passions: tabletop roleplaying games and vintage pinball. It was great fun to help transform these beloved machines into explorable fantasy worlds, giving players the chance to step inside the stories that once unfolded beneath the glass of their favorite pinball tables.
Pinball Crawl Classics was successfully crowdfunded in early 2026 and brings together five standalone adventures in a deluxe boxed set. I’m delighted to have helped chart the worlds behind these iconic games and to have been part of such an imaginative and unique addition to the Dungeon Crawl Classics line.
