Monday : Smite

Smite grew up gaming when… D&D was Basic, then Expert, then Advanced… when board games were daylong Avalon-Hill affairs like Civilization and Diplomacy, with some MB Axis & Allies thrown in for good measure… and when CCGs were nothing whatsoever. He’s kept up on each new wave along the way but now mostly prefers Euro-style board games and a dash of WOTC D&D 3.5. He’s run gaming clubs, put on cons, still goes to the occasional con, occasionally plays computer games, and even less occasionally writes them. Even though he keeps up on all kinds of gamer culture, he’s just a bit too jaded to be a really good fan-boy. What he does try to do more than anything else is to keep an eye out for that elusive spark of a creative game that transports you to a whole ‘nuther place and time, just as surely as if you were that wide-eyed twleve-year-old kid all over again.

Tuesday : Rhelik

Gaming has always been a part of Rhelik’s life. From playing board games and cards with his family throughout his childhood to D&D in middle school to an adult life of more gaming than one should be allowed to do. Rhelik has spent time working for a small RPG company, owning his own game store, running and playing in various D&D games (many at the same time), an obsession with board game, and a miniature habbit he just can’t kick. His gaming addiction does not end with just our small part of the pie, he dabbles with video games (mostly sim games), loves to play younger-focused games with his kids, and has trouble walking away from a game of poker. Currently Rhelik participates with games in some manner 3-4 nights a week always greatful for the most understanding non-gaming spouse in existence. He has two children, with the oldest at 8 well into his own path of becoming a gamer.

Wednesday : MetalJim

MetalJim will soon celebrate his silver anniversary as a gamer. Starting off with a basic D&D box set in 1981, he has spent more time running games than actually playing them. In college, he was the weekly director of gaming for a prestigious campus gaming club. During these years he wrote a number of convention modules for D&D and Shadowrun. In 1993, MetalJim began serving a lengthy sentence in a maximum security graduate school for crimes of passion involving the humanities. During these years, he became involved with an obscure “diceless” RPG called Theatrix. MetalJim considers it a badge of honor that he can run a game in any setting you can imagine — Star Wars, World WarII, modern day demon hunters — and he has crafted over a dozen worlds of his own. More recently, MetalJim took up with a new gang of gamers and has been steadily acquiring Euro-style boardgames (more than 50 so far). Embarking on new adventures, MetalJim will soon be taking the South by storm, heading down the highway with an Iron Maiden album blaring from the stereo.

Thursday : KarasDjun

KarasDjun started playing D&D with the Moldvay/Cook 1980 Basic Set and never looked back. What other game could vary so much each time you play? His love affair with D&D and role-playing has continued strong up to recent years. Despite all the changes to the game over the years he still feels that D&D is the perfect game system. He also enjoys super-hero and science-fiction roleplaying, various boardgames, and some card games. His background includes heavy doses of science fiction and comic book reading, a love of ancient history and geography, and a solid foundation in all the natural sciences. Current woes with the new D&D 3.5 system have triggered a “rant response” that occasionally gets the better of him.

Friday : Random

Random got the D&D Box set for Christmas when he was 8 years old. It was back before they called it Basic. Fed by a steady diet of Choose Your Own Adventure and Conan books it became an obsession. Soon enough Random moved on to AD&D and other RPGs. Top Secret, Star Ace, Star Frontiers, Traveler, and Gamma World were all tried. High school brought Car Wars, Battletech, and Talisman. Christopher Stasheff, Robert Asprin, Alan Dean Foster, Michael Moorcock,, Weis & Hickman, as well as a 20 dollar a week comic book habit fueled the passion for the fantastic. Video games were incorporated as soon as they became available. The original pong box, the Atari2600, Colecovision, Vic20, and Apple II+, were just the beginning. MERP, Runequest, Marvel Super Heroes, Shadowrun, Amber, Vampire, all came and went over the years, as well as a myriad of board and war games. Random was also in early on in the great Collectable Card Rush of the early Magic years. Dragon Dice, Star Trek, Star Wars, Galactic Empires, Jyhad, Netrunner, Shadowfist, Hockey One on One Challenge, and Pirates were all invested in. Nowadays Random spends his time with D&D 3.5, various german boardgames, Maplestory, the occasional card game (M:tG or poker), and reading all the works of Neil Gaiman and Neal Stephenson.

Webmaster : Mystagogue

Mystagogue remembers hiding his Dungeons & Dragons books from his mother knowing she would throw them away if they were found (once she did… it was ugly). Over the years, he’s never strayed far from role-playing endeavors and has followed the D&D brand all the way from Basic to 3.5. After a brief period of CCG insanity, D&D remains the preferred method to keep his Sunday nights fun. Mystagogue frequently loses at board games and while he’s waiting for the next con session to begin, he’s working on his gaming world. He’s co-written a computer game with SMitE but for some reason doesn’t enjoy playing computer games as much as he wishes he would enjoy them. Instead, he finds himself creating maps, artwork, web apps, and gaming aids to help satisfy his gaming addiction. Mystagogue has three little gamers now but still finds time to work on his passion.