Hi, Sohrab, thanks for talking with us. You’ve written children’s books, and now a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for younger players. What came first in your life: writing fiction or role-playing games? When did you start playing RPGs? Did you always write stories?
I started playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition when I was in elementary school. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction, fantasy, and comics. As a kid, I dreamed of making comics, but that dream faded as I got older and began working toward becoming a computer scientist.
When I started writing in 2021, I initially focused on children’s books, often using my kids as inspiration. My shift to writing TTRPG content started about three years ago.
What’s your most recent project?
Wilds of Amaranth Part I: Save the Dog Kingdom is the first campaign set in the Wilds of Amaranth setting. A mysterious druid raised within the pacifist Dog Kingdom asks the heroes to help locate her lost companion. What they discover, however, is a deeper and more dangerous conspiracy that threatens not only the Dog Kingdom, but all the peace-loving kingdoms of the land. Will the heroes uncover the truth in time to stop the threat, or will the Dog Kingdom become the first to fall under this dark new menace?
This volume contains 13 adventures for beginning characters, along with a gallery of maps and puzzles to challenge players. The adventures were designed and playtested to be fun and engaging for kids ages 7 and up. They include a mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and creature encounters to keep players immersed, regardless of their primary interest.
You run your own publishing company. When did you start Flat Mountain Publishing and what’s the most difficult part of publishing books?
The most difficult part of publishing books is everything that happens after writing them. Finding and working with illustrators, formatting the books, marketing, social media—there’s a lot that goes into finishing and promoting a book. These tasks don’t come naturally to me.
I formed Flat Mountain Publishing as soon as I decided to take my writing seriously. Running it as a company helps me properly track the expenses and income related to the business.
You’ve been a vendor at game conventions. What’s the biggest difference between game conventions and book or toy conventions? Do you prefer one over the other?
I’ve been attending comic book conventions, toy shows, and gaming conventions since I was a kid—hundreds of shows over the years. I really love conventions. As a collector, I was a vendor at dozens of comic conventions and toy shows long before I started writing.
When selling my RPG books, my best shows have been a gaming convention and a general pop-culture convention. There’s a lot of overlap between people who love TTRPGs and those who love comics. I tailor what I bring based on the type of show I’m attending.
Are your children’s books connected by a shared world? Do you have a favorite book you’ve written?
No, each of my children’s books is set in a different world. Each one is written so it could become part of a series if sales are strong enough.
I’m sentimentally fond of my first series, The Adventures of Princess and Goose, which I based on my kids and my two silly dogs. But my most recent children’s book, How Did the Hippopotamus Get There?, received the most positive reviews, and the artwork matched the writing very well.
Do you play video games, and do you have a favorite?
I don’t currently play video games. Growing up, I played the NES and a little SNES. My favorite games were always RPGs like Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Chrono Trigger.
In high school and college, I enjoyed playing Age of Empires II, and I still occasionally watch matches on YouTube. My favorite games of all time were on the PC—Ultima VII Parts I and II (The Black Gate and Serpent Isle).
What’s something that’s happened during your writing career that our readers might be surprised by?
This can be a very challenging career. I’ve had disastrous shows where I didn’t sell a single book, and author events where only a couple of people stopped by.
If you could collaborate with any person on a project, who would you choose?
I don’t really have a wish list of specific people, but there are projects I would love to work on someday—X-Men, Star Wars, and The Phantom would all be dream jobs for me.
What other hobbies or interests do you have?
I collect comics and read about 300 each year, sometimes fewer depending on how many novels I read that year. I also collect comics-adjacent items like trading cards and toys.
I play the trading card game OverPower, and I watch a lot of soccer. I’m an avid supporter of Arsenal Football Club.
What haven’t we asked you that you’d like our readers to know?
My next project is an Arsenal Football Club-themed D&D fan adventure. The project will launch on Kickstarter later this summer.
Thanks, Sohrab ! If you’d like to do a Q&A here, please send an email to shadomainrpg@gmail.com. We’d love to hear enyone’s opinion form new players to grizzled veterans.
Tunnels & Trolls Rides Again
Tunnels & Trolls was one of the earliest TTRPGs, and Rebellion Unplugged is Kickstarting an updated version soon. Check it out here. I never played Tunnels & Trolls back in the day, but I know many people did, so I'm curious what the reaction will be. Truth: I don't know the company Rebellion Unplugged. They've successfully Kickstarted 4 other projects over the past 5 years.
Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e, That's the Name!
The team at DnDbeyond has announced that they are officially accepting the abbreviation 5.5e as the tag for the 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Check out the announcement in the changelog from March 2, 2026.
The Wizards of the Coast D&D team has become more interactive with the community in 2026, with the DnDbeyond team on a number of streaming shows and the recent State of the Game show at Nerd Immersion.
What do you think? Do you have a topic for an article, review, interview, or gaming news item you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments, or at shadomainrpg@gmail.com
NOTE: the opinions expressed in interviews are those of the guests, not necessarily those of shadomain.com.
Today we talk with Sohrab Rezvanof Flat Mountain Publishing. You can find his work here:
Hi, Sohrab, thanks for talking with us. You’ve written children’s books, and now a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for younger players. What came first in your life: writing fiction or role-playing games? When did you start playing RPGs? Did you always write stories?
I started playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition when I was in elementary school. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction, fantasy, and comics. As a kid, I dreamed of making comics, but that dream faded as I got older and began working toward becoming a computer scientist.
When I started writing in 2021, I initially focused on children’s books, often using my kids as inspiration. My shift to writing TTRPG content started about three years ago.
What’s your most recent project?
Wilds of Amaranth Part I: Save the Dog Kingdom is the first campaign set in the Wilds of Amaranth setting. A mysterious druid raised within the pacifist Dog Kingdom asks the heroes to help locate her lost companion. What they discover, however, is a deeper and more dangerous conspiracy that threatens not only the Dog Kingdom, but all the peace-loving kingdoms of the land. Will the heroes uncover the truth in time to stop the threat, or will the Dog Kingdom become the first to fall under this dark new menace?
This volume contains 13 adventures for beginning characters, along with a gallery of maps and puzzles to challenge players. The adventures were designed and playtested to be fun and engaging for kids ages 7 and up. They include a mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and creature encounters to keep players immersed, regardless of their primary interest.
You run your own publishing company. When did you start Flat Mountain Publishing and what’s the most difficult part of publishing books?
The most difficult part of publishing books is everything that happens after writing them. Finding and working with illustrators, formatting the books, marketing, social media—there’s a lot that goes into finishing and promoting a book. These tasks don’t come naturally to me.
I formed Flat Mountain Publishing as soon as I decided to take my writing seriously. Running it as a company helps me properly track the expenses and income related to the business.
You’ve been a vendor at game conventions. What’s the biggest difference between game conventions and book or toy conventions? Do you prefer one over the other?
I’ve been attending comic book conventions, toy shows, and gaming conventions since I was a kid—hundreds of shows over the years. I really love conventions. As a collector, I was a vendor at dozens of comic conventions and toy shows long before I started writing.
When selling my RPG books, my best shows have been a gaming convention and a general pop-culture convention. There’s a lot of overlap between people who love TTRPGs and those who love comics. I tailor what I bring based on the type of show I’m attending.
Are your children’s books connected by a shared world? Do you have a favorite book you’ve written?
No, each of my children’s books is set in a different world. Each one is written so it could become part of a series if sales are strong enough.
I’m sentimentally fond of my first series, The Adventures of Princess and Goose, which I based on my kids and my two silly dogs. But my most recent children’s book, How Did the Hippopotamus Get There?, received the most positive reviews, and the artwork matched the writing very well.
Do you play video games, and do you have a favorite?
I don’t currently play video games. Growing up, I played the NES and a little SNES. My favorite games were always RPGs like Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Chrono Trigger.
In high school and college, I enjoyed playing Age of Empires II, and I still occasionally watch matches on YouTube. My favorite games of all time were on the PC—Ultima VII Parts I and II (The Black Gate and Serpent Isle).
What’s something that’s happened during your writing career that our readers might be surprised by?
This can be a very challenging career. I’ve had disastrous shows where I didn’t sell a single book, and author events where only a couple of people stopped by.
If you could collaborate with any person on a project, who would you choose?
I don’t really have a wish list of specific people, but there are projects I would love to work on someday—X-Men, Star Wars, and The Phantom would all be dream jobs for me.
What other hobbies or interests do you have?
I collect comics and read about 300 each year, sometimes fewer depending on how many novels I read that year. I also collect comics-adjacent items like trading cards and toys.
I play the trading card game OverPower, and I watch a lot of soccer. I’m an avid supporter of Arsenal Football Club.
What haven’t we asked you that you’d like our readers to know?
My next project is an Arsenal Football Club-themed D&D fan adventure. The project will launch on Kickstarter later this summer.
Thanks, Sohrab ! If you’d like to do a Q&A here, please send an email to shadomainrpg@gmail.com. We’d love to hear enyone’s opinion form new players to grizzled veterans.
Tunnels & Trolls Rides Again
Tunnels & Trolls was one of the earliest TTRPGs, and Rebellion Unplugged is Kickstarting an updated version soon. Check it out here. I never played Tunnels & Trolls back in the day, but I know many people did, so I'm curious what the reaction will be. Truth: I don't know the company Rebellion Unplugged. They've successfully Kickstarted 4 other projects over the past 5 years.
Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e, That's the Name!
The team at DnDbeyond has announced that they are officially accepting the abbreviation 5.5e as the tag for the 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Check out the announcement in the changelog from March 2, 2026.
The Wizards of the Coast D&D team has become more interactive with the community in 2026, with the DnDbeyond team on a number of streaming shows and the recent State of the Game show at Nerd Immersion.
What do you think? Do you have a topic for an article, review, interview, or gaming news item you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments, or at shadomainrpg@gmail.com