What Character Are You?
I've often wondered about the other Gamegrene addicts that float around here. Who are you guys? Where are you? What do you do when you aren't gaming? We did this once on another forum (metal related) and found out that three of us lived in the same city and so we started doing a radio show together.
I'll gladly go first.
My name is Scott, obviously. I'm 31 and live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'm a property manager for a chain of boutique hotels. I get to live in one of our buildings, so my place looks like something out of a fancy magazine...completely at odds with my past, where I spent 13 years living on a farm. It's kinda nice to game there though; makes me feel important while GMing. LOL. I used to be a sales and marketing manager with a cell phone company. Let me tell you this with certainty...if you want a purely negative experience, go work for a phone company!
I was a DJ for the better part of the last half of my life, but gave it up because I couldn't stand the people in "the scene". Raves suck. I realized one night that I was the oldest guy at the party, so I quit. I started doing a metal radio show soon after though; metal is my first love. I stopped doing the radio show though when I realized it was not cathartic anymore and had become self-destructive (death metal and beer for 6 hours can get to you after awhile).
My favorite food is bloody rare steak, my favorite drink is Guiness with a bourbon on the side, my favorite band is Slayer, and when I'm not gaming or hanging out with Tara (10 years last month!) and Hobbes (Hobbes is part leopard, so he takes what he wants when he wants it) I'm generally throwing myself down 60kmh+ hills on my racing skateboard. Last month I lost about a pound of flesh to some concrete when I took a spill on a patch of sand. I slid 6 feet at about 25mph with only my right arm touching the ground. The scar will live forever, but at least I have a great story to tell when people ask about it!
Perhaps one of the things about me that surprises people the most is that I'm also an ordained reverend. I don't generally talk about that though unless someone specifically asks; religion and politics aren't the best conversations to have with strangers.
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Well, I guess I'll go second.
For security purposes (you never know who's out and about on the net!), I won't give you my last name, but my first name is Dayne. I'm 19, making me one of the younger people on this website. I like to think it gives me a fresh perspective. I currently live in Ogden, Utah, and am working as a dishwasher at a retirement home while I go to college, where I am planning on double majoring in philosophy and english. I plan on being a writer and maybe someday going into movies and directing.
I have an extremely eclectic musical personality. I was raised on Broadway, Classical and religious music. In high school I discovered rock music and have been in love since. I also am a huge fan of movie soundtracks and am slowly expanding into folk music and classic rock. I like to think I can sing, and I have a guitar I tinker with every now and then but really have no idea how to play. It's difficult to say who my favorite band is - it seems to change with the month. I'm currently in love with 30 Seconds to Mars, Blue October, Breaking Benjamin, Crossfade, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Ra (prolly my favorite; excellent band), Seether, and Shinedown. My current favorite soundtrack is Dark Knight, though I can never forget classics like Braveheart, A Beautiful Mind, etc. I just love music. I'm known for freaking out co-workers when I put on my rock music cause I like to sing to it. It's especially funny with bands like Linkin Park, who are not easy to sing to (or scream to).
I like meat, but don't really have a favorite food, unless it's dark chocolate. Now I'm craving some. That stuff is sooo good. I don't really have a favorite drink either - craves come and go. I'm not the physical type, though I am involved in martial arts and have received a black belt in Hapkido, which I enjoy a lot, though I haven't been able to find a new instructor since I moved. I've never really hurt myself, either - I haven't broken one bone (yet). As of now I don't have a girlfriend (being rectified!), and I spend most of my time reading, watching movies/slash tv shows, and generally thinking about the things I read and watch. I mostly watch deep, powerful shows that have something to say. And then I debate with myself whether they're right or not.
I don't really know what surprises people the most about me. Probably that I'm majoring in philosophy, which most people think is really wierd. I love it, though. Hmmm, now I'll have to ask my friends what surprised them the most. Maybe I'll have a better answer later.
Should we talk about how gamegrene has influenced our life or something?
Third.
I'm British, male, 43 years of age. Started playing D&D in 1978 and played ever since aside from a hiatus of several years somewhere in the middle. I've dallied with other systems, mainly CoC, Runequest, GURPS, Traveller, others too numerous to mention, though I don't get a lot of time these days to do anything except my long-running D&D campaign.
Very working class origins, which leaves some people incredulous. My dad was a coal miner (as was his father and his father before him, etc). Mum spent most of her working life as shop assistant, factory worker, cleaner or care assistant. Like the Monty Python sketch, 'We 'ad it tough when I were a lad'. Seriously, most of my kiddie clothes were bought from a rag-and-bone merchant in our street. Rag-and-bone merchants were the next step down the ladder from second-hand shops. They don't even exist nowadays, the poor are all far too brand-conscious now.
I was always interested in science as a kid so I studied Physics with Subsidiary Mathematics at University. If I'd actually done some work I would probably have gotten a good grade, too. My middling degree result didn't open any doors for me in the world of science, so I sort of veered off into I.T. instead which seemed an exciting thing to be getting into at the time. After a few years working for a shadowy government department called the Intervention Board doing things I couldn't possibly tell you about (because I'd have to kill you - oh, OK, actually because you'd die of boredom), I went back to Uni and did a Masters degree in Computer Science.
After that I somehow wound up working for a training outfit, I was supposed to be employed as a network systems officer but the tuition staff turnover was horrendous and so I got sent downstairs to teach classes supposedly as temporary cover. I was too good at it and they kept me down there. Many of the students were long-term unemployed or school dropouts. It wasn't all bad, most of the students respected me and I made a genuine difference to some people's lives (according to them), which was gratifying. But after a while it became stifling for me, personally.
I managed to jump ship to a company that manufactured marine electronics, who took me on as I.T. manager. That was a baptism of fire. I.T. in a manufacturing environment is a whole other level of difficulty compared to systems that deal purely with intangibles. Our company was of modest size but very good at what it did - For example, we exported our products to Japan. Think about it, we're talking selling marine electronics to the Japanese here. We also made kit for the armed forces and the Lifeboats (these are the guys who go out and rescue people in rough seas, I don't know what you call them in the U.S./Canada, the Coastguard maybe?).
Years went by, during which time there were many changes and new challenges, I was promoted, got bigger budgets and responsibilities and things were on the up-and-up, then the company got sold and changed hands several times. Successive waves of new ownership all tinkered with something that wasn't broken to try to improve profitability and ended up making things worse, at least that's how it looked from where I was. The company started getting into a vicious downwards spiral of cost-cutting and finally it was decided to centralise the production of several manufacturing units to Mexico which meant closing our factory (a manouevre that, for various reasons, didn't turn out as profitable as they'd hoped, but that's by-the-by). I stuck around until the bitter end to oversee the transfer and closure of our I.T. systems, for which I was given a fairly generous settlement.
At the same time as I was starting to wind things down at work, family tragedy struck, twice, nay three times. My stepdad suddenly died of a heart attack aged 48. Then soon after, my newly-widowed mum was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (which is an untreatable terminal illness in all but a few cases, most notably Stephen Hawking). We (as in my wife, daughter and I) moved in with her to take care of her - we wanted her to spend her last days in her own home. She died last year in June aged 59 after putting up a tremendous fight aginst impossible odds. Just before she went, her last surviving older relative passed away also - an aunt, though she was well into her 70's.
What with the settlement from work and the inheritance, and since I was already debt-free before all that, I decided I could afford to take a break from work and focus on sorting myself out, physically and mentally. I'd had some health issues of my own to deal with (now thankfully resolved), on top of a great deal of work-related stress and the emotional strain of losing my mum and stepdad, and the last thing I needed was to have to get to grips with a new job. Especially not an I.T. management job. Truthfully, at this point in time I never want to look at another server/comms rack and know that I'm responsible for the damn thing for as long as I live.
So, I am currently a student again. I'm studying two courses concurrently - a Masters in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing, and a Certificate in Web Applications Development. One is at a regular University, the other is an online/correspondence course. My aim - to switch tracks into something more scientific and return to what I originally wanted to do when I was young. I may, if finances allow, do a Doctorate after I complete the Masters. Whether that will be full or part-time I don't know. I'm thinking about maybe something to do with plasma physics.
Both courses are going well, in fact if I can be forgiven a touch of immodesty I would say the Masters is going spectacularly well (90%+ in everything I've done so far). I'm actually doing some work this time, you see.
I'm also a born-again health and fitness freak. I had scaled back my historical re-enactment activity in recent years and stopped wearing the armour. Oh, I hadn't mentioned that yet, had I? I'm a member of a re-enactment society specialising in late dark ages/early medieval re-enactment (think lots of chainmail). Anyway, I'd turned into a bit of a lard-arse so I'm busy putting that right with lots of gym and yoga. Just recently I've taken up Kung Fu and Kickboxing (if I hadn't been working hard in the gym for several months prior I would probably have collapsed in the first session of Kickboxing!). When the re-enactment training season starts again later this year I'm planning on hauling on the old mailshirt once more. After a few much-needed repairs. I'll probably start with the short mailshirt (byrnie) before working back up to the full-on suit.
Family - I'm married to a lovely Korean lady. She came here to study English, and, well......you can guess the rest. This is our 13th year together. We have a 5-year-old daughter (going on 15).
I'm vegetarian (since around 1983), though I do eat fish occasionally, so not really vegetarian, more of a very fussy eater really.
Music - my first love is that genre that you would probably call 'classic rock' - i.e. rock and metal from the late 60's through to the early 80's. But really I enjoy any music from any era that is made with talent, integrity, artistry, dedication or genuine enthusiasm and emotion. Rock, Pop, Punk, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Classical, Electronica, Chamber Music, Avant-Garde, you name it. What I don't like is 'music' that has been manufactured as an audiovisual product by people with marketing rather than artistic sensibilities. I also don't like anything that adheres too tightly to a specific formula (which instantly disqualifies an awful lot of contemporary stuff, sad to say). Though I reserve the right to dance very badly to absolutely any old crap when I'm drunk.
Literature - I don't even know where to begin here. I'll recommend a couple of great books I've read recently - "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Suzanna Clarke and "Lanark" by Alasdair Gray. I have a great fondness for Moorcock. (Hmmm, that sounds a bit dodgy if you say it out loud). Lovecraft, Howard, Tolkien - check. C.S Lewis, and the great unsung hero of children's literature Alan Garner (runs rings round Harry Potter). Ursula Le Guin (ditto). I generally love golden age sci-fi and sword-and-sorcery. I haven't read a single book based on the D&D universe - that's a bit too book-of-the-film-of-the-book for me.
My computer gaming is negligible, I don't really watch TV, and I'm forever behind on my film catch-up. I'm a DM. 'Nuff said.
Okay, why not? Even though I'm more of an occasional-wander-through-er than an "addict" as such.
I'll let my name stand as "Dfaran," which is not what is written on my birth certificate, but any wizard knows better than to give out their true name. I'm 20 years old and currently a sophomore at Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, Oklahoma*. My major is one of the most popular ones there is: Undecided. It's probably going to become Computer Science eventually, though. I started roleplaying in 5th grade when my uncles got me the 2nd edition D&D box set for Christmas, which was all of half a year before 3rd edition came out, so I'm probably one of the youngest gamers there is who knew what a THAC0 was when they'd just started playing.
When not roleplaying, I can be found reading science fiction and fantasy, writing science fiction and fantasy, taking bold first steps into the world of Java programming, and stabbing peoples' backs in Team Fortress 2. Mostly, though, I just waste time on the internet, something that I deeply regret. Or would, if I weren't too busy wasting time on the internet.
I listen to early progressive rock, most notably Jethro Tull and Yes. That's Close to the Edge era Yes, not Owner of a Lonely Heart Yes. Owner of a Lonely Heart is a song that drives painful nails** deep into the center of my own heart, since I know what they used to sound like before they started making songs like that. I also listen to filk and video game soundtracks. As fas as literature goes, there's a topic around here where we made book reccomendations to each other that I wrote a pretty long post in, so you can go find that if you really care. Douglas Adams, however, deserves special mention for being possibly my favorite person in all of history.
I think that just about covers it.
*Well, at least it shares a border with Oklahoma. Barely.
**As opposed to the non-painful kind of nails.
With you there, Dfaran. You can't fault a nice bit of 'Tull or Yes. Sadly I've never seen Yes live, but I did see 'Tull in '86 and they were one of the best live acts I've ever seen. I wasn't even that much into them at the time, I saw them as part of a festival line-up. I was planning on sitting out at the back of the festival grounds during their performance but the opening strains of 'Locomotive Breath' literally dragged me up on my feet and got me heading for the front of the stage. Or as near as I could get. Their live show had a much harder edge than their studio recordings.
Interestingly enough I was recently convinced into dragging out my gear and DJing an all ages show in a very small town this Saturday. The poor kids are in no way prepeared for the amount of bass I'm going to point in their direction.