First Night Out

In a dingy one bedroom apartment in 2004, I sat in the small galley kitchen under a low hanging light, fully enraptured by my father’s tales of adventure and camaraderie that came from the table his friends would play D&D at. For months afterwards I would pretend I was a great warrior, cunning rouge, or brilliant wizard finding the most creative and out of pocket solutions to the goofiest problems my ten-year-old mind could muster. Eventually bringing my friends in on the games and long before I understood that D&D was supposed to have rules I found myself running collaborative world building games for my friends. In the 20 years since then I have expanded and honed my knowledge of games and TTRPGs through practice, study, and determination. While at university I studied Game Design and experimented with many different systems and ideas including Starfinder, World of Darkness, and Traveller. So deep did my love of playing pretend run that while I was going through school I even worked at my local live theater. Between learning lightning and sound design, improv skills, and experiencing a wide array of plot twists and turns that only the stage can portray, my time spent in theater allowed my love of storytelling to explode. When all this creative energy had to be released I ended up publishing my own TTRPG: Elsewhere High. Clearly my love for TTRPGs could not be contained. Rarely have I had a week go without playing some version of D&D since 2013, and while that remains my area of expertise I love playing Shadowrun as well. Settings that would make Aldous Huxley’s skin crawl have always held a certain fascination to me; they allow the easiest expressions of the classic Golden Rule: have fun! Crunchy rule heavy systems are great for giving guidelines, but those guidelines never get in the way of cool and stylish action. To that end I always encourage my players to bring their own ideas to my table. Homebrewed rules and ideas are exciting and add some spice to any adventure. After decades of playing TTRPGs and a formal education in game design I have developed a superb sense of game balance and even if I am presented with something that seems unbalanced, I will happily work with players to tweak ideas until they are both fun and fair. No matter if you’re an old vet looking for someone to run a classic adventure or a new player trying to create their first character, my table is open and ready to begin!