Marcelo Del Debbio (born September 9, 1974) is a Brazilian architect (graduated from FAU-USP) and writer, with specialization in

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, ...

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

and world religions, best known from his several works in role-playing games,

comparative mythology Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

, esoteric and masonic texts.Revista Universo maçônico, n.30 pp. 16–17

Early life

Del Debbio was born and lived in São Paulo his entire childhood. His interest in Mythology and compared religions began early in his life. Playing ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

'' since 1984, he became one of Brazil's first game developers, writing small articles for school papers, and later for University press. He began his career in 1992, writing short texts and essays for role playing magazines (''Dragão Brazil'', ''d20 Saga'', ''RPGMagazine'', '' Dragon Magazine'' and ''Só Aventuras''). He has published over 200 articles in

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

, as well as short stories and related texts. With the engineer Norson Botrel, he created the Daemon System. In 1998, he began working for Daemon Publisher House. In 2005, he created a system called ''RPGQuest'', for using RPG in schools and educational programs, as well as a simple method of introducing role playing games to children. He also has worked in mythology, such as his book ''Enciclopédia de Mitologia'', with over 7200 entries, considered one of the most complete reference books about mythology in Portuguese.

''Small Churches, Big Business''

In 2014 he began one of Brazils most controversials crowdfunding projects, called ''Pequenas Igrejas, Grandes Negócios'' ("Small Churches, Big Business"). Pequenas Igrejas, Grandes Negócios (PIGN) is a cardgame of "science fiction" set in a world where

Evangelical churches Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

are used by unscrupulous and misleading people to launder money from crime, sell useless crap, and explore the good faith of ignorant people, as well as obtain political power; a universe very different from our reality, where churches are community centers, managed by "bastions of good though". This satirical cardgame emulates the Brazilian neo-Pentecostal religious background. In PIGN, each player (2 to 7 players, and can have up to 14 players with expansions) will lead a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and a church, which will give you special powers and resources, in a contest to see who can get richer and destroy the reputation of other pastors faster. WINS the player who survive with less reputation tarnished on the day of the Rapture!. In 60 days, he gathered over US$40k and the total project arrived at US$90k. The name of the game is a pun with Brazil's most important business magazine, called
Pequenas Empresas & Grandes Negócios
' ("Small Enterprises & Big Business"). The project was mentioned even in the ''Non-Prophets Radio'', an American atheist radio program.

Works

Some of his works include: ''Arkanun'' (1995) ''Won Best Brazilian RPG'' in 1996, ''Grimório'' (1996), ''Trevas'' (1996), ''Guia de Armas'' (1997) ( Norson Botrel), ''Guia de Armas Medievais'' (1998) (with Norson Botrel), ''Anjos: A Cidade de Prata'' (1998), ''Vampiros Mitológicos'' (1998), ''Demônios: A Divina Comédia'' (1999), ''Arkanun 2ª Edição'' (2000), ''Templários'' (2000), ''Inquisição'' (2000), ''Clube de Caça'' (2000) (with

J. M. Trevisan ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

), ''Guia de Itens Mágicos vol. 1'' (2001) (with Norson Botrel), ''Guia de Itens Mágicos vol. 2'' (2001) (with Norson Botrel), ''Invasão'' (2001) (with Marcelo Cassaro), ''Guia de Monstros'' (2001) (with Marcelo Cassaro), ''Principia Discordia'' (2002), ''

Anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

RPG'' (2003) (with

Luciana Bacci Luciana may refer to: * Luciana (given name), a Latin feminine given name * Luciana (singer), British pop singer * Luciana, Ciudad Real Luciana is a small village and municipality in the province of Ciudad Real (Spain), near the confluence of ...

), ''Spiritum'' (2004), ''Supers'' (2004), ''Hi-Brazil'' (2004), ''RPGQuest: Nova Arcádia'' (2005), ''RPGQuest 2: Velha Arcádia'' (2005), ''RPGQuest 3: Templários'' (2005), ''RPGQuest 4: Aventuras Orientais'' (2005), ''RPGQuest Módulo Básico'' (2006).

References

External links

Marcelo Del Debbio's official websiteDaemon Publisher House´s official websiteArcanum Arcanorum´s official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Debbio, Marcelo Living people 1974 births Brazilian male writers Role-playing game designers Board game designers Brazilian fantasy writers Brazilian horror writers Brazilian science fiction writers Brazilian occultists Occult writers