Game Design

I love the balancing of everything, and creating new ways to help characters have fun. Rules need to be clear, short and easy to understand.

Scott

Born the Second of 5 sons, I grew up in the San Frenando Valley, in Los Angeles. Loved it there. Now though, I live in Boise, Idaho. Here they have more than the two seasons of California, (Fire Season, and not Fire Season). So, I had to buy more than shorts and t-shirt. Jackets are expensive!

My gaming background

I played my first D&D game in the late 70s, starting with the Chain Mail, Swords, and Sorcery boxed sets. We played off and on for a few years until 1st edition came out. It was then, for the first time, I took my position behind the screen.

 

My first adventure still stands today, and my players, when they get the chance, love to investigate it and all its mysteries. This was back when my campaign world was a small island and a big dungeon. How things have changed!

 

Since those early days in the 1980s, I have been mastering games. I have played when I can, taking a break as needed and working with other dungeon masters to improve our craft both as game master and player. Over the years, I have made many friends and had some fantastic times.

 

I have written several books that are available at DriveThruRPG.com, in both print and pdf. I have written for D20zines, Magazine Rack, and GenIsys Games.

 

I love gaming it is a creative outlet; I love the world I created, and love to have the PCs mess it up. I enjoy the social interaction with my players, and making friends.

 

I enjoy testing things on my players to see if we can make things more fun. It is always a group effort, and sometimes we must promise never to try something again.

 

It is a work in progress. My campaign is 70% role-playing, sometimes more or less. My battles are hard. The role-playing can be harder. I have no fear of posing moral or social dilemmas for them. We love to watch the gears turn while characters comeup with something crazy to emerge with their head held high.

 

I want players to relate to the game world, to feel it and wonder, "What is in 'that dark forest?" It is an adventure. The adventures will not always come to you. If you want something, you will have to go find it. There is no red "?" above anyone's head.

 

I enjoy the in-character social politics as well as court intrigue.

 

GM EXPERIENCE

D&D (Every edition) 4th edition, I GMed for only a short time. The artwork was awesome. I have GMed Pathfinder, Fantasy Craft, SpyCraft (The best Modern system out there), Babylon 5, Amber the Diceless RPG, Cyberpunk, and Star Wars (D6 and D20), Cyberpunk GenIsys, and Intergalactic.

The upcoming GenIsys Fantasy book is coming out the first week in March 2024. The GenIsys Fantasy system is crunchy to allow extreme creative.

 

GAMES I HAVE PLAYED

All the above, as well as Stargate (D20), Champions, Palladium, Shadow Run 2nd edition, and Space Master by I.C.E. Also, I played a WWII RPG called "Behind Enemy Lines," we did not play that long, but it was fun.

 

EVOLUTION OF MY CAMPAIGN WORLD

It started as a small island. Back in those days, you did not need much above-ground scenery, but as things change, my campaign grew, it has had several name changes, and when things went electronic, I digitized my maps, so things changed again. I created my own pantheon, and even that changed as the players actually saved heaven once.

 

INTERESTS & HOBBIES

AI, robotics, sailing, scuba diving, walking the waterways around my home, electrification of the world, exponential medicine, geopolitics, and how demographics and other things affect these decisions.

 

FAVORITE MOVIES

Star Wars, all of them; Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Aliens, Highlander, most Submarine Movies. Back to the Future, Goonies, and many more.

 

FAVORITE TV SERIES

Babylon 5, How I met your Mother, Coupling, Big Bang Theory, Ted Lasso, La Femme Nikita (Peta Wilson), Stargate and SG Atlantis, Mandolorean, Andor, and Hogan's Heroes.

 

FAVORITE BOOKS

Magician Apprentice/Master, the whole series by Raymond Feist series. I loved several of the series by author David Eddings. What wonderful work. The Dresden Files, I like the Books of Swords series by Fred Saberhagen, the Shannara series by Terry Brooks, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. I got through about 10 books of the Dragonlance series by Hickman and Weis. I guess I have to add J.R.R. Tolkien (LoL these were the first fantasy books I read. Finally, Larry Niven's Dream Park. I loved the characters in that book.

 

FAVORITE WRITERS

Raymond Feist, David Eddings, Jim Butcher, and Fred Saberhagen.

 

FAVORITE GAMES

Spycraft 2.0, Intergalactic by GenIsys Games, GenIsys Fantasy, D&D 3.5, Babylon 5, and Amber Diceless RPG.