Like most of us, I started off playing Dungeons and Dragons when I was 12. I played Basic D&D, while all my friends played Advanced. We learned to compromise, but I still can't tell the difference between AC 9 and AC 10. In those days, D&D was all about killing monsters and finding treasure. I had a lot of fun learning the rules and rolling the dice. But we didn't do much characterisation.A few years later, I started playing Shadowrun. I found the genre much more exciting. As before, I had a lot of fun learning the rules and rolling the dice. But Shadowrun is about much more than just killing street samurai and finding nuyen. The game had a lot of style and even its own slang, which allowed us to characterise much more. This almost became more fun than rolling dice. Instead of our games getting bogged down in arguments about the rules, they were getting bogged down in snappy character interactions.
In 1996 I moved to Canberra, and found out what role playing was really about. It started by playing Shadowrun with a new group of friends who cared much more about the characters than the rules. At first it was difficult to work with this, but I grew accustomed to it and found it much more fun. Soon enough I was trying my luck in systemless games and freeforms. What I particularly liked about these sorts of games was that I didn't have to buy rule books and learn them. I've never liked the commercial side of role playing.
My first convention was SAGA 96. I had a lot of fun and met lots of interesting people. I didn't win any prizes, but did some performances that I am proud of. I've learned that the performances that you are proud of and the performances that you get prizes for don't always coincide. Since then I've attended many conventions, in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. I've played many different games and won a reasonable collection of prizes. I've made lots of interesting friends. Conventions are a great time for meeting new people and having new experiences, both in game and out.
It wasn't until Cancon 98 that I first tried my hand at GMing. It was a favour to Tony Guyot, who needed someone to GM his module "The Samurai's Tears" when he was double booked. Up until this time, I had only ever GMed D&D and Shadowrun. I knew that GMing such a character based game would be quite different. I found that I was good enough at being a GM, although my style was totally incompatible to Tony's.
My first game, "The Last Protest", started coming together at about the same time. Tony asked me to contribute something to Housecon. He had asked me last year, but I hadn't come up with anything. This year, I had some ideas so I got to work. Over the next three months, the ideas came into my mind while I was in the shower or riding my bike to work. Gradually they found their way onto my computer. But still I had to work hard to get it finished in time for Housecon. I got a lot of good comments from the people who played it, and I felt encouraged to submit it to Necronomicon. I was very happy when it was accepted. "The Last Protest" also played at Radcon, and was well received there.
In my almost three years of role playing, I have seen good games and bad games. I have developed some strong opinions about what makes a good role playing game. My favourite games are set not too far away from the real world, or else in genres that we know so very well, like Star Trek, Star Wars or Babylon 5. I like games that can teach the players about themselves or something important in the world. I prefer diceless and systemless games. I don't like gimmicks, I don't like style over content, and I don't like games where the player's choices have no effect on the outcome. Not everyone shares my views, but I have tried to make my game an example of them. I've tried to write something that I would enjoy playing. I hope that other people enjoy my game and get something out of it.
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