Robert W. Thomson banner

Robert W. Thomson

he/him

5.0

(10)

Timezone

America/denver

Language

English

Identity

LGBTQ+
Queer
Disabled
Neurodivergent
Published Writer
Game Designer

About Robert W. Thomson

Robert Thomson was a co-founder and publisher of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, a Great Falls, MT-based roleplaying game publisher, from March 2009 to January 2013. Robert co-owned the company with his wife, Connie Thomson. In early 2013, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming was acquired by Purple Duck Games. In 2012, Robert became president of the newly formed Great Falls Gaming Rendezvous, a gaming-focused con in Great Falls, Montana, which debuted successfully in October 2012. The last GFGR was held in 2021. COVID, unfortunately, was the con's downfall. Robert's experience in the RPG industry includes writing/game design/development/editing for 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, Purple Duck Games, Expeditious Retreat Press, Third Eye Games, Fantastic Gallery, Optimystical Studios, AAW Games, Green Ronin Publishing, and ProgCore Fantasy. Robert also worked briefly as a website coordinator for the now-defunct Valar Project and also as a website editor for legendary fantasy artist Larry Elmore. Robert authored the academic historical paper, "'This Wicked Family': A Biography of the Deschamps Family of Fort Union - Their Feuds, Fights, and Violent Demise" for the Winter 2004 issue (Vol.54, No.4) of Montana: The Magazine of Western History. He has also appeared in a number of documentary films, including Lewis and Clark Pathways (2002, Prairie Public Television), Fort Buford: Splendid Isolation (2003, Prairie Public Television), Facing the Storm: Story of the American Bison (2012, High Plains Films/ITVS/Montana PBS), and The Orphan Girl (2014, Chisel Industries). Robert was also a mine safety coordinator and one of several museum liaisons for Dead 7 (2016, The Asylum/Kaotic Productions) when they shot scenes at the World Museum of Mining. In addition to games, Robert loves sci-fi/fantasy literature and film, comic books, photography, model trains and railfanning, and political and social reform activism. Robert and Connie live in Butte, MT with their cats, Jonesy and Spot.

At a glance

3 years on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Storytelling, Inclusive, Creativity

$5 per session

Featured Prompts

My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be

1. Star Wars D6 by West End Games. My favorite system of all time. 2. A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying by Green Ronin Publishing. My second favorite system of all time. 3. D&D 5e. D&D is my first love and 5e is the most playable edition of the game.

My favorite shows/movies are

(TV Shows) 1. Andor 2. Daredevil: Born Again 3. Breaking Bad 4. M.A.S.H. 5. Monarch (Movies) 1. Star Wars (all of them, even the bad ones) 2. The MCU (all of them, even the bad ones) 3. The Middle-earth Saga (Yes, even the 3 Hobbit films) 4. Willow 5. Star Trek (all of them, even the bad ones)

When I'm not running games I'm...

Thinking about games. Working on notes and ideas for my games. Playing video games (PS5 and PC).

How Robert W. Thomson runs games

I love deep roleplaying, but I also enjoy combat. I sometimes do voices but I am far from a professional voice actor. Just some guy that occasionally makes a character sound like Foghorn Leghorn or Meatwad. Once playing, I will almost always refer to you by your character's name, not your real name, unless requested otherwise. I am a part of the LGBTQIA community and have some Native blood and I run safe games for Queer folks and POC.

Featured Prompts

If my games were Movies they'd be directed by...

Peter Jackson. Or maybe Eric Idle.

Rules are...

meant to be bent. Not broken. But bent. I do believe in the Rule of Cool and I try to make sure fun takes precedence over rules.

Robert W. Thomson's ideal table

My ideal table are all friends. They know each other and respect each other. Their political beliefs are similar and not diametrically opposed. The players respect me and I respect them. Everyone is queer-friendly and basically not Nazis.

Featured Prompts

I think metagaming...

ruins the game for everyone.

My table is not the place for...

Anti-trans, anti-queer, anti-BIPOC, anti-immigrant, or misogynistic people. Period.

Robert W. Thomson's Preferences

Systems

Dungeons & Dragons 5e
Pathfinder 2e
Pathfinder 1e
Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e
Homebrew Game
A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying
Alien: The Roleplaying Game
Star Wars D6
The D6 System
Star Wars: Saga Edition
Dungeons & Dragons 0e
Dungeons & Dragons B/X
Star Wars 5e
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2e
Adventures in Middle-earth
Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game
d20 OGL
Terminator RPG
Middle-earth Role Playing - MERP

Game Mechanics

Game style

Roleplay Heavy

Rule of Cool (RoC)

Play By Post

Sandbox / Open World

Hexcrawl / Exploration

Social