Born and raised in the granite state of New Hampshire, Troy, proud dad of two daughters, is a lifelong and avid reader of comic books and novels (mostly in the fantasy, sci-fi and adventure/thriller genres) and self-professed geek collecting action figures and building LEGO. He enjoys creating adventures that entertain and hopes to see his works appear in all forms of media. Don’t expect to bother him during football season, especially when the Patriots are playing.
Troy Osgood delivers an action-packed System invasion series with Warbreaker’s Rise, featuring a father fighting to survive in a transformed world while protecting and building a new home for his family. Don’t miss the start of this epic LitRPG Apocalypse adventure—especially with Book 4, Warbreaker’s Ruse, now available!
How do you celebrate when you finish writing a book?
By starting on the next one. I don’t really celebrate finishing a book. My writing time is limited so when I finish one, I need to start in on the next. No time off!
Have any real-life locations inspired the settings in your books?
The series mostly takes place in Northwood, NH (with a couple stops in Massachusetts) and all the locations in Northwood are real places in the town. When Kelly Brady is transported to Martha’s Vineyard, the locations there are real. Her journey through Massachusetts doesn’t really call out any real locations, it’s mostly kept open just to make the travel easier. But everywhere Loch and his girls go, that’s a real place.
What’s your proudest moment as an author?
This happened pretty recently. A fellow author was in Texas at a party and talking to someone who mentioned they were a fan of litRPG and mentioned my books as the ones that had gotten them into the genre. That was a huge “wow” moment for me. But really it was when I went to the parent/teacher conferences this year and a couple of my oldest daughter’s teachers remarked how she’s always talking about me being an author and how proud she was of it. Hearing that, it was very special.
How do you choose which story idea to pursue next?
I have a huge file of all these ideas to get to in the future and I’m constantly adding to it. When it comes time to start planning the next book, I revisit those ideas (or a new one that might pop up) and start fleshing them out. I might write the opening chapters or work up a kind of story bible for them. I go back and forth with a couple of ideas probably about a dozen times, working at little parts of them until one of them just stands out from the rest and screams “WRITE ME OR ELSE!”
Do you ever imagine how your characters’ lives continue after the book ends?
All the time. Too often. I have follow-ups for most of the series that continues where they ended, picking up their lives and what happened next. Hall and Leigh, from Sky Realms Online, have a daughter named Hallee who, with her Aunt Triss, tends to get in trouble all the time. Battlegrounds Offline would continue Eric’s post- Battlegrounds Online adventures and what happens now that he’s been changed.
Without giving any spoilers, what’s your favorite line or moment from the series?
I just wrote it the other night, from the ending of The Connected System book 5:”Because she’s a Brady!”
Some writers write multiple series in the same universe. Is the Connected System series connected to any of your other series? If not, could you see writing a different series in that universe in the future?
No shared universe yet but it’s coming. None of my currently published works are in the same universe, but starting late in 2025/early 2026 it will be happening. Seth Ring, J. Pal and Sean Oswald all are doing shared universe concepts and they inspired me to come up with my own. So after some commitements are done, the Celestial Systems will be launching. But beyond that, I would love to revisit all of my universes in the future, even telling stories with different MCs. In Sky Realms Online, book 6 introduced some other characters, Krim and Triss, who were always meant to have their own series but it just never ended up happening. In the Connected System, there are plenty of adventures waiting for the Bradys in the future and their Clan members. A Drew series would be fun to write.
What inspired the cover design for Warbreaker’s Ruse?
Funny story, originally the cover of Riot (the 5th book) was going to be the cover for Ruse but then as I finished the series, I realized that it made a better cover for Riot, so we had to go and get a new cover for Ruse made up. I wanted something showing Loch standing confident, beckoning the enemies to come to him. Through the early books, readers wanted Loch to be more proactive, so this cover was meant to show that he’s getting there.
If The Connected System were made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles
This one is tough as the Bradys (Loch, Kelly, Harper and Piper) are all somewhat modeled on my family.
Loch = Charlie Hunnam (because my wife has had a crush on him since Sons of Anarchy) but I think maybe Stephen Amell would be the better choice
Kelly = Rose Leslie (this one is easy, my wife is a red head so….)
The girls are really tough. All the shows my daughters watch, the actresses are all too old now.
Harper = Mallory James Mahoney (my oldest watched her as Destiny in Bunk’d, so casting her to play Harper, who is modeled after my oldest, would really make my oldest happy)
Piper = Ryan Kiera Armstrong from Skeleton Crew or Anna Cooke, who played Maudie Miller in the Inbestigators (my youngest, who Piper is modeled after, loves the InBestigators so having Maudie play her would be great)
Do you have a favorite villain from your books, and what makes them stand out to you?
Tom Servo, the rogue AI from Jeff The Gamemaster. He was just so fun to write. Theodore Kincaid from The Connected System. He hasn’t even gotten his moment yet, but the build-up has been fun to write.
Which of your books or characters would you recommend as a starting point for new readers?
Sky Realms Online. I think it’s a good introduction to not just my writing, but also to litRPG in general. Not too crunchy, but enough to really show what the genre is about. I consider it an entry series to the genre.
What’s your favorite part of hearing from readers?
It still surprises me when I’m in the Facebook groups and seeing someone mention my books. I have a hard time believing they are talking about me and my stuff. I write, and read, for entertainment. I like hearing that readers got a couple hours of enjoyment from my books. That they got a couple hours of escapism. I don’t intend to write books that change lives or change thinking. I just want to entertain and hearing that my readers are entertained, that’s what I write for.
If one of your books had a soundtrack, what songs would be on it?
It would be mostly instrumentals. Lindsey Stirling, Caledonia, Goober Beatz, 2Cellos, Taylor Davis. Maybe throw in some Dropkick Murphys, Shaboozey, Janet Devlin, FIddler’s Green, Anthrax, Jay Webb, Windrose. My musical tastes are all over the map, so I’d change it up by scene.
It’s fun to get a little glimpse into character creation, so we’re curious : which character from the series went through the most drafts or changes?
For the most part I’m a pantser. My outlines consist of 3-4 bullet points of things I want to happen in the book. They may all happen or something else replaces it, or they get pushed to another book. Or sometimes the plot pont doesn’t happen at all. My characters really do write themselves. and they create themselves. I come up with the basic character. Who they are, personality, and the rest writes itself as they develop in the story. I don’t go through drafts or changes. I see some writers have these elaborate spreadsheets about their characters with all these things filled in. I don’t do that. They don’t really change because they are already existing when I start writing. Fully fleshed out in my mind, even if I don’t have it figured out, but they come out that way. Before starting a new project, if someone asked me to describe the main character, I wouldn’t be able to beyond the basics. But as soon as I start writing that character, they are fully created.
Is there a particular scene in one of your books that was especially fun (or hard) to write?
The forum chats in Jeff The Gamemaster were so much fun. Jaime and I had a blast playing around with gamer stereotypes and complaints.
Dive into Troy Osgood’s latest series in Warbreaker’s Rise: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure out now on Amazon
The Connected System has come to Earth, bringing with it the apocalypse…
In an instant, life as it was known is gone, replaced by a System called The Connection. It doesn’t come quietly as earthquakes rock the planet, the chosen survivors falling unconscious as the Connection takes their bodies and Adapts them.
Lochlan Brady and his family were on their way home from a camping weekend when the Connection appears. He awakens with a new Adapted body, finding his wife missing. Now Loch must survive and thrive in this new world with his two teenage daughters, Harper and Piper. All Loch wants to do is protect his daughters and find his wife.
A chance encounter with creatures straight out of myth will force the family to quickly confront the reality of their new lives, the changed world, and give Loch a jump in power. But with that power will come responsibility and more danger.
Along with the attention of some of the most powerful beings in The Connected System.
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