Nice to meet you ...
Moderators: dorpond, trevor, Azhrei
- Mathemagician
- Dragon
- Posts: 666
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 2:27 pm
I'm hoping that I have occasion to be more active on these boards, so maybe a short introduction is in order.
Young for these boards (never thought I'd get to type THAT again!), I've my BS in Computer Science and a BS in Mathematics, and a MA in Mathematics. Currently, I'm working on my PhD in Mathematics, but I've not gotten very far (passed the first set of quals, but my dept has 2 sets, oof, then I'll be able to declare my thesis topic which is going to be in the popular field of neuroscience). As a graduate student, my life can be summed up as "I do math for food and shelter."
In my spare time, I play some video games, and on the weekends I play a sport called Dek Hockey, which is like roller hockey, but without skates. We just run around I've been roleplaying for as long as I can remember, and even had an embarassing stint as a LARPer Recently, I convinced my old college friends to get an online D&D session going, and MapTool made that a reality, so I want to help out in anyway I can. So here I am
Young for these boards (never thought I'd get to type THAT again!), I've my BS in Computer Science and a BS in Mathematics, and a MA in Mathematics. Currently, I'm working on my PhD in Mathematics, but I've not gotten very far (passed the first set of quals, but my dept has 2 sets, oof, then I'll be able to declare my thesis topic which is going to be in the popular field of neuroscience). As a graduate student, my life can be summed up as "I do math for food and shelter."
In my spare time, I play some video games, and on the weekends I play a sport called Dek Hockey, which is like roller hockey, but without skates. We just run around I've been roleplaying for as long as I can remember, and even had an embarassing stint as a LARPer Recently, I convinced my old college friends to get an online D&D session going, and MapTool made that a reality, so I want to help out in anyway I can. So here I am
Mikey
I do know how I missed this thread! Let's see I think I own the title for being the most southern representative of these here great United States residing in Ft.Lauderdale Fl. 9I've got Tampa beat, I used to live in Tampa for a while.)
Just like therest of you I have a fantastic wife that leaves me alone to play my "fags and ferries". At least she leaves me alone. Been playing since early 80's form d&d basic all t he way up to now. Huge strategy game buff so I own a ton of board games. Big jock as well still play and coach soccer, football, and my mew obsession paintball, (scenario ball not that tourney junk!)
Found MT by accident through Snickles site by way of Battlegrounds. Had a regular member move to Tennessee and needed a way to keep him involved. He went to WOW and well, I went to MT.
Great software, great developer and team, and great forums! I visit every day as I work on a computer.
Well, that's Mikey!
Just like therest of you I have a fantastic wife that leaves me alone to play my "fags and ferries". At least she leaves me alone. Been playing since early 80's form d&d basic all t he way up to now. Huge strategy game buff so I own a ton of board games. Big jock as well still play and coach soccer, football, and my mew obsession paintball, (scenario ball not that tourney junk!)
Found MT by accident through Snickles site by way of Battlegrounds. Had a regular member move to Tennessee and needed a way to keep him involved. He went to WOW and well, I went to MT.
Great software, great developer and team, and great forums! I visit every day as I work on a computer.
Well, that's Mikey!
I'm from the UK - Sussex to be as precise as I can be bothered to be.
I'm into as much extreme stuff as I can get my hands on. I'm a black belt in karate, I surf, snowboard, play rugby, mountain bike and generally will have a crack at any thing which gets the adrenalin flowing.
I'm also a total geek. I play D&D, work in a programming job (mostly C++ but also some Fortran, C and Java), and am really into any electronic gadgets I can get my hands on.
Been playing D&D since I was about 8 - I'm now 38. Still playing at the table top and am looking to use MapTool to enhance my face to face games.
I got lead here by Dorpond from the DMGenie boards and have actually decided to stop using it in favour of Init Tool which handles initiatives better. I don't really need all the complexity of DMGenie - although it is an excellent product I have to say.
Cheers!
Blakey
I'm into as much extreme stuff as I can get my hands on. I'm a black belt in karate, I surf, snowboard, play rugby, mountain bike and generally will have a crack at any thing which gets the adrenalin flowing.
I'm also a total geek. I play D&D, work in a programming job (mostly C++ but also some Fortran, C and Java), and am really into any electronic gadgets I can get my hands on.
Been playing D&D since I was about 8 - I'm now 38. Still playing at the table top and am looking to use MapTool to enhance my face to face games.
I got lead here by Dorpond from the DMGenie boards and have actually decided to stop using it in favour of Init Tool which handles initiatives better. I don't really need all the complexity of DMGenie - although it is an excellent product I have to say.
Cheers!
Blakey
The guy in the green hat.
- Full Bleed
- Demigod
- Posts: 4736
- Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: FL
Re: Mikey
Nope, got you beat.mikey wrote:Let's see I think I own the title for being the most southern representative of these here great United States residing in Ft.Lauderdale Fl. (I've got Tampa beat, I used to live in Tampa for a while.)
Ft. Lauderdale: 26° 4' N
Honolulu, HI: 21° 20' N
Course, I'll admit, there is a little difference between the Pacific "South" and the Continental "South"...
What?
Man I am ashamed to say, but I would have lost money on that bet. I never knew Hawaii is lower then Ft.Lauderdale. Hopefully I am not the only one, well then, the crown is yours, as I stand corrected.
Mikey
Mikey
Missed this thread the first time too...
I'm 40, a MD in an emergency department in Paris (that's Paris, France) and have 4 children of 9, 5,4 and 1 month. I've been playing D&D since 1980 (at that time, the whole French D&D community was centered around a 1 km square I was lucky to be in the center of).
I've been drawn to maptool through the DM genie forum and Dorpond about 2 weeks after I bought Kloogewerk licences for about $100...
Since my D&D group is slowly but surely dwindling due to relocation but I can't seem to find players of about my age (in France, games are for kids), Maptool is my last hope.
And Trevor, my wife loves you too since she says that now that I've found an electronical way to play D&D, I can stop spending hundreds of euros on minis (I've been trying the "it's for the kids" approach but should have spent more picks on that diplomacy skill...)
I'm 40, a MD in an emergency department in Paris (that's Paris, France) and have 4 children of 9, 5,4 and 1 month. I've been playing D&D since 1980 (at that time, the whole French D&D community was centered around a 1 km square I was lucky to be in the center of).
I've been drawn to maptool through the DM genie forum and Dorpond about 2 weeks after I bought Kloogewerk licences for about $100...
Since my D&D group is slowly but surely dwindling due to relocation but I can't seem to find players of about my age (in France, games are for kids), Maptool is my last hope.
And Trevor, my wife loves you too since she says that now that I've found an electronical way to play D&D, I can stop spending hundreds of euros on minis (I've been trying the "it's for the kids" approach but should have spent more picks on that diplomacy skill...)
I am a senior Web developer for a large software company (though oddly I work out of their tech support call center, not their development location).
I am divorced - it was my decision as the relationship was abusive, but after the divorce, my ex wife did everything she could to make my life hell.
I have two children, 6 and 4. I love them more than anything.
For 18 months now, I have not seen them as I was accused of some very not-nice things and only last month got all the charges dismissed. And now, I am waiting on a slow court system to reestablish my time with them (little as it was to start with).
They are the lights of my life and I can say with utmost confidence that I will be truly happy only when I can see them again.
Sorry to post so darkly but they are ever the focus and lights of my life. I look forward to having their light in my life once again.
Everything else that I do or am is trivial in comparison.
I am divorced - it was my decision as the relationship was abusive, but after the divorce, my ex wife did everything she could to make my life hell.
I have two children, 6 and 4. I love them more than anything.
For 18 months now, I have not seen them as I was accused of some very not-nice things and only last month got all the charges dismissed. And now, I am waiting on a slow court system to reestablish my time with them (little as it was to start with).
They are the lights of my life and I can say with utmost confidence that I will be truly happy only when I can see them again.
Sorry to post so darkly but they are ever the focus and lights of my life. I look forward to having their light in my life once again.
Everything else that I do or am is trivial in comparison.
Fight the good fight!
Not dark at all. I have two children and my world would also be hell if I could not see them everyday! We may be geeks but we are also human beings.
Good luck,
Mikey
Good luck,
Mikey
What was going on in January that we missed so many people on this thread?
I'm Chris, a 33 year old pastor, husband and father (20 month old girl) who, in a previous life, was the art director for a hard-working print / web design agency. I've also worked as a mailman, a janitor, a guitar salesman, a biofeedback device tech, a bootleg t-shirt printer, a teacher, a professional studio musician, and stay-at-home dad. And I've loved every job.
My experience with gaming started with D&D in '82 when my mother sat me down and made me watch some propaganda about how satanic it was, which sent me straight to the local game / bookstore to buy some minis, a Traveler boxed set, MERP (which was OK because it was Tolkein, and he was a Christian... heh) and several random TSR adventures. I ended up introducing more or less everyone in my grade to D&D.
I played a little in the 90s, but I wasn't ever able to make it to the games due to other commitments - namely girls. Like most people, CRPGs took the place of P&P gaming for about 15 years until I was looking for information on decent whiteboard software and ran into that Slashdot article about people using virtual whiteboards for gaming. I ended up intrigued by the idea and started playing with a bunch of VTTs, first settling on GameTable and then finding out about MapTool. At this point I could see the potential, but I needed a little more to get into the idea of running a regular game again.
I'd lost all of my books (I've moved A LOT) and so I torrented one of those "Complete 3.5e / d20!" collections (which I've since replaced with purchased books, PDFs and the SRD) and began falling in love with the game all over again.
Anyhow - long story even longer... I talked to a bunch of my friends from college whose parents all had the same "D&D is EVIL" talk (I went to a small Christian university) and got them interested. We've been playing weekly for about 8 months now. At first we played because it was a little ironic... now we play because we're hooked.
My favorite part of this whole experience is how I've been able to keep in touch and play with some of the people I first discovered D&D with in the 80s - no matter where they are. Thanks MapTool!
I'm Chris, a 33 year old pastor, husband and father (20 month old girl) who, in a previous life, was the art director for a hard-working print / web design agency. I've also worked as a mailman, a janitor, a guitar salesman, a biofeedback device tech, a bootleg t-shirt printer, a teacher, a professional studio musician, and stay-at-home dad. And I've loved every job.
My experience with gaming started with D&D in '82 when my mother sat me down and made me watch some propaganda about how satanic it was, which sent me straight to the local game / bookstore to buy some minis, a Traveler boxed set, MERP (which was OK because it was Tolkein, and he was a Christian... heh) and several random TSR adventures. I ended up introducing more or less everyone in my grade to D&D.
I played a little in the 90s, but I wasn't ever able to make it to the games due to other commitments - namely girls. Like most people, CRPGs took the place of P&P gaming for about 15 years until I was looking for information on decent whiteboard software and ran into that Slashdot article about people using virtual whiteboards for gaming. I ended up intrigued by the idea and started playing with a bunch of VTTs, first settling on GameTable and then finding out about MapTool. At this point I could see the potential, but I needed a little more to get into the idea of running a regular game again.
I'd lost all of my books (I've moved A LOT) and so I torrented one of those "Complete 3.5e / d20!" collections (which I've since replaced with purchased books, PDFs and the SRD) and began falling in love with the game all over again.
Anyhow - long story even longer... I talked to a bunch of my friends from college whose parents all had the same "D&D is EVIL" talk (I went to a small Christian university) and got them interested. We've been playing weekly for about 8 months now. At first we played because it was a little ironic... now we play because we're hooked.
My favorite part of this whole experience is how I've been able to keep in touch and play with some of the people I first discovered D&D with in the 80s - no matter where they are. Thanks MapTool!
Re: Mikey
Heh - other than the locals and the fact that some folks tend to be more "out" in the islands, I'd say it's surprisingly similar. A huge chunk of my family (including my mom) live out on Kauai and I'm always struck by how much it reminds me of some of the gulf towns I traveled through when I was younger. Very similar vibe.Full Bleed wrote:Course, I'll admit, there is a little difference between the Pacific "South" and the Continental "South"...
I'm Aaron, 32 years old. I work in tech support for the West Australian Fisheries Department, which is ironic as I can't stand fish
I've been playing D&D for about 20 years. I think in inches, feet and miles better than centemeters, meters and kilometers as a result, which makes people scratch their heads.
Been married, been divorced, no kids yet, and I've just built a house with my girlfriend - soon to be wife, as soon as I propose
she's awesome and has no problems with me having 'geek nights'. she's really into amature theatre (ie. 3-4 nights a week plus weekends during a show), so it works out well.
I decided about 6 months ago that I wanted a long term hobby/project to work on, and I decided on building a full D&D table, with PC's, projectors, inbuilt screens for comms, and other such things for about 8 players and a DM, which brought me here. As soon as I saw Maptool it became THE software I'm going to use. I have a few plans for the table and such, but I'm waiting on my shed (I wasn't allowed to have one until the paving was done ) to be built before I can actually start working on the table.
I've been playing D&D for about 20 years. I think in inches, feet and miles better than centemeters, meters and kilometers as a result, which makes people scratch their heads.
Been married, been divorced, no kids yet, and I've just built a house with my girlfriend - soon to be wife, as soon as I propose
she's awesome and has no problems with me having 'geek nights'. she's really into amature theatre (ie. 3-4 nights a week plus weekends during a show), so it works out well.
I decided about 6 months ago that I wanted a long term hobby/project to work on, and I decided on building a full D&D table, with PC's, projectors, inbuilt screens for comms, and other such things for about 8 players and a DM, which brought me here. As soon as I saw Maptool it became THE software I'm going to use. I have a few plans for the table and such, but I'm waiting on my shed (I wasn't allowed to have one until the paving was done ) to be built before I can actually start working on the table.
I'm relatively new to DMing, I used to play D&D a bit in 2E as a player, but our GM was very freeform on our end and liked to handle the rolls and character management so as a result I didn't learn as many rules as I had wished.
Recently I decided I wanted to run a campaign with some friends online who hadn't played in forever. Eberron didn't really do much for me initially (that's since changed) and FR seemed like all the big thing had happened and you were small fries. Turning to a favored world, Dark Sun, I picked up the rules from athas.org, purchased the original books from rpgnow and got going - while adding whole cities, villains, and many tweaks along the way to make it very much my own. We used openrpg for much of that, but found MapTool and am in love.
For about 10 years I've been running a PBEM and more recently Web-based(PHP!) turn-based WW2 country strategy game of my design called Conquest where each player takes macro control of a country. That's really been my gaming love with 6 iterations, several of which lasting almost a year of bi-weekly turns. We've also had two Greek spin-offs, a galactic spin off that ran into technical problems and got postponed. I've also been an avid miniatures fan so I really hope to use MapTool in these other ways and games and will continue to bug trevor about ideas to make this possible!
Recently I decided I wanted to run a campaign with some friends online who hadn't played in forever. Eberron didn't really do much for me initially (that's since changed) and FR seemed like all the big thing had happened and you were small fries. Turning to a favored world, Dark Sun, I picked up the rules from athas.org, purchased the original books from rpgnow and got going - while adding whole cities, villains, and many tweaks along the way to make it very much my own. We used openrpg for much of that, but found MapTool and am in love.
For about 10 years I've been running a PBEM and more recently Web-based(PHP!) turn-based WW2 country strategy game of my design called Conquest where each player takes macro control of a country. That's really been my gaming love with 6 iterations, several of which lasting almost a year of bi-weekly turns. We've also had two Greek spin-offs, a galactic spin off that ran into technical problems and got postponed. I've also been an avid miniatures fan so I really hope to use MapTool in these other ways and games and will continue to bug trevor about ideas to make this possible!