Characters/GM
From Westaven
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[edit] HELLO and WELCOME!
My name is Don--aka, "Pyrandon." I am a Michigan native & resident, in my mid-thirties, married with two children, and I earn my living teaching literature and language to rural high school students.
[edit] MY GAMING HISTORY
I began gaming around 1979, while in 6th grade, playing Dungeons & Dragons from that sweet cardboard box (You know the one: TSR's monochromatic blue with that poorly drawn dragon roaring on the cover.) I moved on to AD&D in middle school, then continuing to GM in high school with my perma-PC (Todd, who currently plays Yule in the Westaven Campaign). Soon I dropped the "sword & sorcery dungeon crawls" in favor of a lower key, non-magical style, and as D&D was actually a poorly designed system for this "realistic" type of play, around 1984 I switched to "The Fantasy Trip" --which evolved into GURPS. Only occasionally did I play GURPS in my early college years--always with Todd, who was my roomie.
I completely quit roleplaying when I was 19 or so (c.1989) due to college & shifting interests, and never even thought about returning to it in the hustle & bustle of a career, marriage, and babies. I even gave away my musty box of RPG stuff to the neighbor kid, thinking my gaming days were over.
[edit] ORIGINS OF THE WESTAVEN CAMPAIGN
But then, in the summer of 2005, on a whim I bought the 4th edition GURPS books to relive the "good ole days" with Todd while he was visiting Michigan from his home in Tacoma, WA. (We also dragged along a new friend, Chris,w ho now plays Eaidig). It was to be a single-shot, one-night event only.
On that night not much happened in the game: characters were created, a fistfight broke out (between PCs & NPCs, that is!), and an NPC merchant named Shimtalk offered money to apprehend some Bandits... and that was all. Not a very highfalutin adventure by any means. But outside the world of the game a lot happened! Chris, Todd, & I ended at 3:30am having had the best time we'd had in eons! We vowed to find a way to keep playing even after Todd flew home.
After a short Internet search I stumbled upon OpenRPG, a free program that would allow all of us to play on-line in spite of the continent between us. Just to see who'd respond I posted an add for "players wanted" on the OpenRPG Forums, and somehow we lucked out by snagging our amazing player & computer guru Tyran, plus a couple others, and off we went on September 22, 2005!
The rest is history. History in the making, that is!
I am having a great time GMing Westaven--especially for all the great people I have met through it and for the creativity I get to spew! I hope we keep it up for years to come!
Feel free to email me at djembeck@invisaink.net
[edit] FOR FURTHER READING
You may wish to read my Note to All Players for a bit of nitty-gritty about my gaming style & philosophy.
