UselessTriviaMan
I've already made my intro in the appropriate thread, but I wanted to try to resuscitate some forum activity around here.
I've been a gamer since 1982, but most of us can say we've been around this hobby for decades. What else have you done to earn your Gaming Geek pedigree?
- My most successful campaign thus far was a 2-year, almost-weekly 3.5E run through the Return of the Temple of Elemental Evil with an eight-player table. I was proud of that one, especially when I whipped out a 12" Human Torch™ action figure (as Imix, Elemental Prince of Fire) in the epic final battle. (I hope to surpass that effort with my new Ptolus campaign, which will be kicking off a week from Sunday.)
- I dragged my wife with me to watch the epic LOTR back-to-back-to-back trilogy in the theater on the opening day of Return of the King. All told, we were in the theater for just over 13 hours that day. (Totally worth it!)
- I'm an amateur voice actor and cast member of the fledgling "Shadowvane":http://shadowvane.net/ horror audio podcast.
- I've been to conventions on-and-off for many years, including two trips to Gen Con in 2006 and 2010, but I hadn't ever actually run a convention game until "our local convention":http://xenocon.weebly.com/ started in 2012. I'd like to think I'm a better-than-average convention GM, and I very much consider myself to be an ambassador to this hobby. I'm a XenoCon convention staff member and "Gamicon":http://gamicon.org/index2.php attendee/GM, and twice a year I run my "one-of-a-kind, spinning 3D miniatures arena combat":http://happyjacks.proboards.com/thread/319/grindhouse-evolution-game-lotsa-pics called the Grindhouse Arena.
So what have YOU done, geeks? :-)
"Ptolus":https://ptolus-city-by-the-spire-by-bryan.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
Ptolus, City by the Spire - 2016 Campaign of the Year
"Please pay attention very carefully, because this is the truest thing a stranger will ever say to you: In the face of such hopelessness as our eventual, unavoidable death, there is little sense in not at least TRYING to accomplish all your wildest dreams in life." - - Kevin Smith
Comments
* I started gaming in the late '70s (Red Box D&D).
* I've helped run roleplaying conventions (2 in college, 4 out).
* I've run demonstration games at other conventions & run open games at local RPG conventions.
* I've even published a few things with a tiny gaming company.
* Since graduation (1992) I've regularly been in at least 2 games (running one, playing the other) if not more.
* The longest game I've ever run lasted 14 years, playing roughly every 2 weeks (with a few months off from time to time).
* The longest game I've ever played is ongoing, but it's played maybe once a month (or so). It started in 2008.
* Like most gamers, I have binders full of RPG stuff; mostly of my own creation. I don't know if the quantity of that information should add or subtract from my "cred". Yes, it does involve new worlds, continents on existing worlds, and political advancements, new gods, whole new magical philosophies, etc., etc., etc.
* I've never been to GenCon or DragonCon.
--
ketherian
"Signs & Portends":swtwc.obsidianportal.com - A mystery-centric game set in HarnWorld.
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm
Let's see...
- Back before 4th edition D&D I was a Master GM for the RPGA.
- I'm 33. I started off playing the old RPGs on the NES, graduated from the to the RPGs on the SNES, and went from there to tabletop gaming when HeroQuest came out. It was just a short jump from HeroQuest to AD&D then.
- I've been to GenCon once (last year) and regularly attend the local convention.
- I ran the Gaming club in Highschool (this should tell you just how popular I was :P).
- I was the head of a local gaming group with 25+ members for a few years after that.
- The longest game I've ever run lasted for about three years with weekly sessions.
- The last five games I've run (three before I joined OP, one unnamed, one named The Book of Creation, one named The Legend of Hersfel. Then "The Book of Destruction":https://the-book-of-destruction.obsidianportal.com/ , and now "Rise of the Durnskald - Wrath of the Fallen Goddess":https://rise-of-the-durnskald.obsidianportal.com/) have all taken place in the same homebrew setting, spanning 5 different eras in the setting's history. It has gotten to the point where the lore is getting so complicated and interwoven that explaining things to players who are new to my group has become difficult since the lore seems to have taken on a life of its own.
- Like Ketherian (and at least most of us here on OP I'd wager) I have binders and folders crammed full of custom races, classes, weapons, armor, items, settings, planes, deities, what-have-you, some of it dating back to when I was still in high school.
- I managed to convert my non gamer girlfriend into a gamer wife. It was her idea to buy the DVD collection of the old D&D cartoon, as well as the extended edition of the LOTR films on Blu-Ray.
- A friend of mine and I created a card game based on his comic called Retail Sunshine, which we entered into Proto-Spiel for evaluation a few years ago.
- I have a respectable collection of boardgames.
- I've been mentioned in the credits of a least one videogame and I have no idea why. It's an older one at that. "See here":http://questrpg.org/Readme.html . Surely this counts for something?
-Abersade
DM of "Rise of the Durnskald - Wrath of the Fallen Goddess":https://rise-of-the-durnskald.obsidianportal.com/
GM of Rise of the Durnskald: Wrath of the Fallen Goddess - February 2016 CotM
GM of Core: The Ashes of Alcarna - April 2020 CotM
GM of Stream of Kairos
Need CSS Help? It may be covered here: Abersade's CSS Hub
@abersade: I was an RPGA member in high school for a year or two - I even recently stumbled across my old Membership Card™ in a box of old stuff - but never actually participated in anything. I loved the magazine subscription, though. (In high school I was pretty much a shorter Napoleon Dynamite, sans glasses. Thankfully, I grew out of that.)
I did co-found an RPG organization at Western Illinois University in the late 80's, and it apparently lasted for more than a decade before eventually dying out.
I've also got a couple of bookshelves packed with old gaming books, notes, and stuff. My board game collection would probably fill a third set of shelves, if I consolidated 'em into one place.
My wife dabbled in RPGs with me for a while, but has decided it's not for her.
I've toyed with the idea of game creation, but realized pretty quickly that I don't have a head for game theory. WAY cool that you successfully produced your own game.
And the video game credit? That's completely badass. :-)
Ptolus, City by the Spire - 2016 Campaign of the Year
"Please pay attention very carefully, because this is the truest thing a stranger will ever say to you: In the face of such hopelessness as our eventual, unavoidable death, there is little sense in not at least TRYING to accomplish all your wildest dreams in life." - - Kevin Smith
-Abersade
DM of "Rise of the Durnskald - Wrath of the Fallen Goddess":https://rise-of-the-durnskald.obsidianportal.com/
GM of Rise of the Durnskald: Wrath of the Fallen Goddess - February 2016 CotM
GM of Core: The Ashes of Alcarna - April 2020 CotM
GM of Stream of Kairos
Need CSS Help? It may be covered here: Abersade's CSS Hub
-bort
"Morwindl":https://morwindl.obsidianportal.com
Campaign of the Year - 2018
I highly recommend online gaming, if you have a decent internet connection. The world of "Roll20":http://roll20.net and Google+ Hangout gaming has become far more prevalent these days, and we've been given -- free -- some pretty impressive tools for that type of gaming.
I'm not a big online gamer, but I've played in a couple of one-shots that were a lot of fun. If real life allowed me more time to commit, I'd happily play in a weekly online game, but I really do like being married. I'd really prefer to not give that up...
"Ptolus":https://ptolus-city-by-the-spire-by-bryan.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
Ptolus, City by the Spire - 2016 Campaign of the Year
"Please pay attention very carefully, because this is the truest thing a stranger will ever say to you: In the face of such hopelessness as our eventual, unavoidable death, there is little sense in not at least TRYING to accomplish all your wildest dreams in life." - - Kevin Smith
@abersade - card game creation? Wow. I've never done that; been part of a beta test or two, but never the actual creation. As to the binder, sometimes I think we should have a place to post old pics of stuff, scans of articles, etc. Some place we could organize or digital archive for all to see. It would be cool to see the old binders get used again; and learn what new users do with it all! Hrm. I guess I could do just that with sites on Obsidian Portal like "The Fantastinomicon":https://the-fantastinomicon.obsidianportal.com/ I have a few adventures up there already (they link back to my own site quite heavily, but they're written up for anyone to use). What do you think? Would it be worth the effort?
@bortas I understand the problem, I grew up in a small town (before moving to a city) - where there wasn't much options for games. Recruiting people to play is hard. Is there a game shop in your neck of the woods? I use to have the best results talking to the guys who ran the store. They regularly helped me find players (of course, I was 9 and the internet wasn't a thing yet). I was in a game recently where one player used skype to log in and play with us. It wasn't as good as if we were all using rolld20 or maptool (or the like), but it was technologically easy. It might be an option for you to try if you want to join a game some distance away. I don't know Seattle all that well, but conventions like "Dragonflight":http://www.dragonflight.org/#/ or others (listed "here":http://gameconventioncentral.com/usa/pacific-ak-ca-hi-or-wa/) might help you find willing GMs.
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm
Im 44, been gaming since I was... 12? went to a summer camp, which in the UK consists of a lot of time staying in doors waiting for the rain to stop, and was introduced to D&D over several rainy afternoons. The D&D red box was my gateway drug.
my longest campaign was probably "Dragon Warrior":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Warriors , which we quickly moved onto after D&D
my geek cred highlights are limited to a few RP articles written for "PTGPTB":http://ptgptb.org/issue-index.html#thematic and "Gnome Stew":http://www.gnomestew.com/ , along with being placed or winning a few RP competitions at con's intermittently down the years
I have had a long break from gaming until a couple of year ago, and its good to be "Back in the saddle":http://www.gnomestew.com/crock-pot/back-in-the-saddle-i-own-dice-older-than-you/
My longest campaign was a 10 year campaign with the home-brewed game. My players really enjoyed their characters (and my villains). It was great fun and I'm unsure if I'll ever be ever to recapture that particular magic again, but one can always hope.
I've had two articles published in the "Knights of the Dinner Table":http://www.kenzerco.com/index.php?cPath=22_23 comic/magazine. One was on DIY game screens and the other was on an economics table for your campaign.
I feel like my greatest accomplishment was introducing my wife to gaming. She absolutely loves it and I run scenarios with her all the time. I have two Dresden "side job" characters with her away from the main campaign and a side campaign away from the main on my Pathfinder group just so we can play on our own!.
--The Geek
Current Campaigns:
Shadows of the Rift : Homebrew Pathfinder Campaign (Campaign of the Month, September 2018)
The Dresden Files: Portland
Deadlands: Riders on the Storm
Velvet & Steel : 7th Sea 2nd Edition
- I am presently 30 years old, and I have been playing RPG games since the age of 5 (thanks to my brother and his high school friends at the time) with the Palladium Fantasy RPG 1E and some Rifts.
- I was an honorary member of the Platteville Gaming Association (PGA) in Platteville, WI while I was in Middle School and High School, I helped this group with organizing and running the yearly convention known as PlatteCon on the local campus.
- I have helped playtest a freeform RPG a friend of mine created called Freelance that was designed to be able to incorporate content from any gaming system in a Fantasy world.
- I am in the process of developing my own custom RPG that I intend to release and sell (at least in PDF form) from my own personal business website once it is finished and tested enough.
- I own quite a few different games and supplements for a number of lines including: Palladium Fantasy 1E/2E, Rifts, Deadlands, In Nomine, Vampire: The Masquerade 1E/2E/Revised/V20, Outbreak: Undead 1E, Call of Cthulhu, Dragon Age RPG, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, and more (the number of game systems I have played are well beyond this and hard for me to remember them all at this point).
- I have helped to fund different RPG games (video game and tabletop) such as Shadowrun Return, Wasteland 2, Dead State, Roll20, Outbreak: Undead Starter Kit, etc.
- I am an active member of multiple RPG communities and in some of those my sentiments actually carry enough weight to impact company decisions.
- I have become the core GM/ST/whatever for my troupe and as a result have not been able to play in a game in over 10 years.
- I have created a slew of resources that I have publicly released for a number of gaming systems, mixed with both Player and GM aids, props, etc.
- There are a few blog type deals I have done over my time regarding gaming, including still doing so on my current OP related campaigns.
- Over the years I have introduced something like 15 people to RPG games and watched them go from fresh to seasoned RP veterans over that time and seeing how it has made an impact on their individual lives and social habits (this includes my wife who now proclaims Vampire: The Masquerade as her favorite RPG system of all time).
There might be some other things that I could throw onto that list, but to be perfectly honest I have not really paid too much attention to my own geek cred over the years, it is just a part of who I am as a person at this point. I feel like I probably fall somewhere in the average geek cred range of those who utilize OP services, even more so having looked over some of these posts here in the thread.
--
Alex
"Dragon Age: Requiem":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/
I had never heard of "The Fantastinomicon":https://the-fantastinomicon.obsidianportal.com/ prior to your post here. An online repository that is well organized sounds like a fantastic idea.
GM of Rise of the Durnskald: Wrath of the Fallen Goddess - February 2016 CotM
GM of Core: The Ashes of Alcarna - April 2020 CotM
GM of Stream of Kairos
Need CSS Help? It may be covered here: Abersade's CSS Hub
- I am 53 years old
- Started gaming in the fall of 1979 w/ D&D
- Ended up gaming and GMing with some awesome folks throughout college
- Had a huge library of science fiction and fantasy novels (had because I gave most of them away due to space issues)
- Huge collection of DVDs - science fiction, fantasy, superhero, westerns, and period piece epics (Spartacus; Zulu; Great Escape; Ben Hur; etc)
- Software developer (many years)
- Wrote a program to help GMs manage combat when using the Hero Game System (and now selling)
- Play guitar; a whole different kind of nerd behavior
- Do photography
- Married a woman with a BS in Biomedical engineering (she is a pastor now - funny how things work out)
- Raised two nerdy kids
- Dad was a rocket scientist (no joke - he built rockets for the USAF in the late 50's & 60's) and later got a PhD in some kind physics
- Use to read a ton of comic books as resource material for my superhero games
Campaigns:
- "Valdorian Age - Rising Power on the Frontier":https://valdorian-age-rising-power-on-the-frontier.obsidianportal.com/ - is probably the best epic game I have ever run. It last 3 years and we played probably 70% of the Sundays in those three years.
- "Nyonia - Pauci Fortis":https://nyonia-pauci-fortis.obsidianportal.com/ is a different kind of game. More of a sandbox and one that requires the players to do more driving. They are all getting the hang of that.
I've always gone with the crowd - if the crowd calls themselves nerds, I'm a nerd; if the crowd calls themselves geeks - I'm a geek. Nerds are still considered to be smart whereas geeks are now considered to have one or more passions that exceed socially accepted boundaries. So if you're into hand-coding your own webside using variant redpath textile coding and CSS2, you're an ascendant nerd - but if a new gaming system makes you squee - you're a geek. :D
I'm a big fan of Gnome Stew @NikMak; thanks for the other link. That's going to be week-ends of reading enjoyment.
@pencilneckgeek - welcome from one red box veteran to another. That's so cool! I remember the economics article really well (it use to be clipped to the inside of my GM binder).
@alex_redeye - when you say "fund various RPGs" do you mean kickstarters or is there something else out there in the great wide internet that I should be looking at?
--
ketherian
"Signs & Portends":http://swtwc.obsidianportal.com
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm
—
ketherian
"Signs & Portends":https://swtwc.obsidianportal.com
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm
--
Alex
"Dragon Age: Requiem":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/
-bort
"Morwindl":https://morwindl.obsidianportal.com - first and only campaign I've DM'd (first experience with CSS).
"Tales of...":https://talesof.obsidianportal.com - campaign I'm helping a friend design the layout for.
Campaign of the Year - 2018
- I'm 36 years old, and have been playing pen and paper RPGs since the 4th grade.
- I've run dozens of games and played in dozens more, from one-shots to campaigns in many systems.
- My longest run as a player is 6 years and counting, in a meat-space Exalted game that went digital.
- My longest run as a GM is two and a half years and counting, also in Exalted.
- At my peak, I was simultaneously part of two online and four meatspace games that ran weakly.
- I've attended cons sporadically over the years, starting with Pacificon when I was in middle school.
- I love my gaming hobby and have written reams of custom game content and home brew over the years.
- I also abhor repetitive work, and have coded up a number of gaming aids and tools to avoid it.
- I'm a voracious reader of both science fiction and fantasy, as well as mythology and other subjects.
- I'm a professional video game designer, and my specialty is game systems and economies.
- I've worked on Warhammer Online, Wolfenstein, Darksiders II, Star Citizen, and several other games.
- My education is in graphic design, and I started my career as an artist making 3d models.
- I'm a self-taught coder and familiar with a half dozen different programming languages.
I like your idea of trying to resuscitate some Forum Activity and, quite frankly, after reading through the posts with entries from Ketherian, NikMak, Pencilneckgeek, AlexRedeye, Bortas and Chainsaw XIV, I have to say it is one of the most illuminating and pleasant posts I have seen on these boards for quite some time. I am not the most TECH-SAVVY dude and the Forums have got consistently more and more TECH oriented as time has gone by. I appreciate the need for it and have really got some great advice and some expert help from Tabs like the VANGUARD ASSISTANCE and Chainsaws's Tips, but I have really missed being able to chat about stuff. SO, BRAVO, UselessTriviaMan!!!!!!!
I am 52 and started out as a student in 1982 with my first DnD RED BOX. It took me a couple of tries working it out with fellow student friends and I loved it but still struggled until I heard through the Grapevine that there were a group of dudes playing ADVANCED DnD. I made contact and loved it totally. Some of those people are still my best friends today, even although they are living in different countries.
In my first year, I designed a seven level MINES OF MORIA adventure and we played mammoth sessions over whole weekends.
After some intense DnD1 gaming I had a few years off to concentrate on my earlier life love of music (writing and performing), but then came back with a vengeance for second edition and created my first world - Shimring! We had some great games in them days, mainly Sunday day/night sessions, sometimes FULLY intoxicated! LOL!
About 15 years ago, I moved back to my birthtown of Glasgow and started playing regularly at a club. I got fully into DnD 3.5 and played a variety of games, both GMing and playing.
I have played continuously since then, sometimes as much as three games a week.
About 5 years ago, I found Obisidian Portal and started designing my first full campaign in years, using DnD Campaigns Books (Return to Demonweb Pits and Return to Greyhawk) and adding it to my own campaign sections to create the multiplanar campaign that became SHIMRING.
A couple of years ago, I moved into PATHFINDER and found Wolfgang Baur's MIDGARD and have been consitently working on my new campaign, Mysteria.
When I am in full swing I get up on weekends at 6am and work till I need a nap on Saturdays and Sundays. I listen to Radio Rivendell while I work and just love creating things that can be brought to life during adventures, which we now play once a week.
Thanks for this thread!
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
I have to say, when I started this thread I really didn't expect to find myself in such illustrious company. Y''all have some _wayy_ impressive histories.
Ptolus, City by the Spire - 2016 Campaign of the Year
"Please pay attention very carefully, because this is the truest thing a stranger will ever say to you: In the face of such hopelessness as our eventual, unavoidable death, there is little sense in not at least TRYING to accomplish all your wildest dreams in life." - - Kevin Smith
~Mae
CotM Selection Committee
I really find it is the ideal background station when I am in Dungeon creation mode and hope you get as much out of it as I have.
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
Usually if I'm in a game-prep mood I'll put on my Alestorm Pandora channel (Pirate-themed heavy metal? Hell yeah!!), but this is definitely getting added into the rotation.
Ptolus, City by the Spire - 2016 Campaign of the Year
"Please pay attention very carefully, because this is the truest thing a stranger will ever say to you: In the face of such hopelessness as our eventual, unavoidable death, there is little sense in not at least TRYING to accomplish all your wildest dreams in life." - - Kevin Smith
*designing second sandbox campaign world, making 3d terrain and 2.5 dungeon tile and props for the entire campaign, after shoveling out $250 at hobby lobby a couple months ago.
*have shelves of books, adventures, maps, binders, and notes.
*wife currently building a trophy mount for the head of a dragon to hang in our dungeon room we built in the basement
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member