Ty E. Smith—known to his children as the original Defender and the creator of all things Zzzodd—began his storytelling journey behind a well‑worn Dungeon Master’s screen. Years of guiding adventurers through perilous quests in Dungeons & Dragons, Changeling, and other tabletop realms sharpened his imagination and narrative instincts. Eventually, those talents pushed beyond the gaming table and into the written word, allowing his stories to reach far beyond the small circle of players who once heard them.

By day, Ty is a salaried restaurant manager and the father of five; by night (or whenever the household briefly quiets), he still slips into fantastical worlds of dice, dreams, and daring. It was during the long, surreal stretch of the COVID pandemic that he encountered a problem no rulebook had prepared him for: very few roleplaying games existed for younger children.

Rather than accept this gap in the world of imagination, he did what any determined dream‑weaver would do—he embarked on a quest to fix it. From that quest, Defenders of Zzzodd was born. Developing the game alongside his children became a joyful experiment in chaos, creativity, and collaboration. The rules may still be evolving, but that has never stopped the family from diving headfirst into its whimsical adventures.

Out of the beautiful disorder of fatherhood—and the wild, unpredictable magic of Defenders of Zzzodd—a new creative chapter emerged. Ty began gathering the stories, mishaps, triumphs, and bizarre encounters his children experienced during play, layering them together like dreamstuff until they formed the shape of a novel. What started as a homemade game has grown into a living mythos, stitched together from bedtime giggles, improvised heroics, and the boundless imagination of five young adventurers.

Now, he invites you to step into his world of Zzzodd—a dream‑realm teeming with Mad Scientists, sentient stuffed animals, and creativity‑fueled magic. In Zzzodd, dreams don’t merely echo reality… they shape it. Whether that reality becomes wondrous or terrifying depends entirely on the Dreamer.

You can begin your own journey into this realm by exploring his debut novel, Defenders of Zzzodd: Dreamers Return.