May must be 'newbie month' at RPGG. I think Paul and I both are a little overwhelmed with this honor.

My RPG background is sadly very limited. I've been a wannabe RPGer my whole life! I grew up loving the Tolkien books, Edgar Rice Burroughs, etc. Great adventure stories were my passion. I knew a few people who played D&D in the 80's but I never got the chance to play. In 6th grade, I did get to 'watch' briefly my buddy's older brother and his friends. In that session, someone opened a drawer and found a 'flaming sword.' I thought that was the coolest beans ever.

In junior high, I actually bought the Star Trek: The Role Playing Game (FASA), read the whole thing but just didn't 'get' it. Did you notice they never really tell you how to be a player or how to be a GM? I only did one small one-on-one combat with a buddy: Captian Kirk against a Gorn of course! (sidenote: I love that the youtube video of this fight is captioned "Worst Fight Scene Ever")

The truth is, most of my RPGing has been CRPG, which is fun, but a poor substitute for the 'real' thing. I started with Adventure on the Atari 2600 in 4th grade! I played Ultima IV on my Atari 800XL in 1985 as a freshman in high school. LOVED it!! But couldn't finish it. I had no idea what to do with bells and candles and whatever. I just wiped out all the pirates at the 'end game' island and had to leave it behind. It closed a big chapter in my life that I still have fond memories of. I do remember losing the "Stone of Justice" for something bad I did and going into a complete panic followed by utter despair.

Anyway, Knights of the Old Republic, Morrowind, Fallout, Baldur's Gate series, etc were my favorite computer games. But as I hit my late 30's, I got sick of the isolation of video games (unless you are playing LAN shooters like the original Day of Defeat, best computer game EVER!).

A good friend introduced me to Axis & Allies in the mid-2000’s which awakened a renewed interest in board games. I had grown up in a board game playing family. I found BGG in early 2009 and EUREKA, my hobby-life was reborn. For a year or so, I just used the geek to inform my game purchases. I now have a small but mostly excellent collection. In 2010, I really found the BGG community, not just the game database. This truly is the best place on the internet.

But the RPG itch kept growing. When the Mountains of Madness was offered, I jumped all over it and had a blast. I titled my session: There and Not Back Again. But it was still me adventuring alone! So when the Newbie initiative was offered this year, I jumped ALL OVER IT. I pestered poor Sam (lorddillon) about his Hackmaster noob game for weeks and almost missed getting in! I was kind of a pushy butthead about it after missing the last slot in the sign up thread, but he very graciously took me in. I'm Drift, a farting and not too bright fighter.

I am a chit chat junkie and so it made a lot of sense that now that I was dabbling on this side of the geek, I should poke my nose into The Tavern. My first dorky thread was My Character needs a drink.... That was only on February 9th 2012!

But the reception in the Tavern was amazing. I found new friends and old, (like Barad, Leonie, Sarge). Leonie especially was very encouraging to me because of her journey into RPG made me realize I could take the plunge into real RPGs (I know her from the 'old' Feel the Love Thread).

I also signed up for Lance's (UndeadViking) Myntaros campaign and am playing a naive and rash (and sometimes annoying) cleric named Hud. I also volunteered to make a wiki for the campgain and bought Hero Lab to keep track of character sheets.

But Paul (batcut) and I really hit it off in the Hackmaster PbF and I knew where all of this was leading. Being a player is one thing, but isn't the top of the pyramid being the man behind the screen!? I started reading the RPGG forums and reading the GM Questions of the day. There is such a great wealth of information on this site!! I gave myself a quick crash course in GMing via the forums.

I then made the plunge and started a Pathfinder adventure Pbf called Retribution. I asked Paul to be in it and lucked out to get three more OUTSTANDING players. They have been patient with a noob GM, are smart, hilarious and REGULAR posters! How lucky can I get?!

I have been married 20 years(!) And have 2 daughters (19 and 17) and a son (14). Last month, I GM'd my first F2F session! I have started the The Dawn of Defiance Campaign with my kids (Star Wars (Saga)). They LOVE it! They keep nagging me to keep going but we're super busy!

This is a crazy time for me. I have lived in China teaching English for two years. We move out and get on a plane June 9th to return to California where I will join my dad in his commercial real estate appraisal business. But I couldn't pass up this opportunity.

So thank you Paul and thank you RPGG. I love this place, this community, the people and FUN to be had here!!

And finally: Characters Played and GM Experience

That's it for now. "I'll be back!"

Better believe it - I think Terence hit me with 3 lots. But then you should be used to it, having to deal with Daerwen.

Okay some easy questions
When we finally get together, what will we do?

When that's done what game shall we play?

Enjoy your week!

Hoopy congratulations, enjoy your week

Regards

Gnome

Congratulations for this award Wysire. I really think you deserve it like all your predecessors. It's got nothing to do with it being "premature" or anything like that.
And on top of that, congratulations for bringing your kids to RPG with Star Wars (Saga)!

So here are my questions now:

Role player or dice-pool roller?

Is there any game you're absolutely dying for either playing or GMing at the moment?

Light side or dark side of the Force?

Congratulations Wysire!!!


Some questions:

What is your favourite role playing game?
What are your favourite dice?
What is your favourite book?
And film?
Chose one: Sword, Axe or bow?
A genre you have never tried and you would like to?



Enjoy your week

Have a beer, good conversation and a good meal?

I'll let you pick one, I like learning somebody else's favorite. And then maybe cribbage over another beer?

Thanks Paul!

Congratulations!

No questions from me - just remember that I went light on you when we get back to the game.