I began my obsession with gaming when introduced to the original white-boxed D&D set (before it was labeled "The Original White-Boxed Set") when I was 12. Well, okay, maybe it began earlier, when I was introduced to D-Day and other Avalon Hill and SPI games; or maybe even earlier, when playing Dogfight and 1863 and other plastic-pieced mass-market war games. Or maybe the roots of my obsession date all the way back to when the doctor dropped me on my head. Who knows? Certainly an infancy spent screaming with colic prepared me well for the professional tortures that lay ahead.

I explored roleplaying, war-gaming, and occasional miniatures-gaming until the fateful day the first print run of Paranoia made its appearance and found its way into my hands at a con at Texas A&M.

Paranoia. Mmmmmm.

After buying the game, I tormented my masochistic friends through adventure after adventure. As the body count increased and the level of humor plummeted, they began to pester me to submit the adventures I created. The pestering turned into badgering, and then into harassment. Eventually I submitted an adventure just to get some peace. No joke.

Lo and behold: it was accepted. Alpha Complexities, in fact, was chosen as the first adventure for Paranoia: 2nd Edition. Quite an honor.

Thereafter I spent my time in the freelance trenches writing for Paranoia (including the novel Title Deleted for Security Reasons), Cyberpunk, Castle Falkenstein, Necroscope, Ralph Bakshi's Wizards, Cybergeneration, Men in Black and Shatterzone, as well as working on Mekton, Ghostbusters International, and other games. I am perhaps best known for being the psychotic voice of Rache Bartmoss. After numerous failed nominations, I finally won a GAMA award for "Six-Guns and Sorcery."

Then the Magic TCG made its appearance. It failed to catch my interest but its success led to the Netrunner TCG, which was my first project with Wizards of the Coast. As the official unofficial onsite R. Talsorian Games rep, I got to know several people within WotC, most of whom no longer work here. My discreet inquiry into getting a job at WotC was met with cool, even cold, indifference. I was apparently not good enough.

Fine. Be that way.

Then, at Gen Con '96, I discovered the Legend of the Five Rings TCG and fell in love. I schmoozed a set of Emerald Edition decks and a bunch of boosters (schmoozing is one of the primary skills of a freelancer) and taught all of my friends. Since Five Rings Publishing Group had an office near my home, I approached them for freelance work.

In stark contrast to WotC, Ryan Dancey of FRPG hired me in the blink of an eye. This, I thought was cool. Working for a small, elite, lean, mean, dark-horse company trying to beat WotC at their own game.

I started on April 1. And they then told me about the impending buyout. Amazing coincidence, huh?

After starting out as staff editor, I was thrust into the brand-management track ("Quick! Swim!" Splooosh!). After working with the Dune, Rage, and Star Trek Dice games, I progressed to the Doomtown TCG and now the L5R TCG. I have also earned the title "Master of Fire" for my ability to hoop up the masses at conventions. If you meet me at a show and I can't speak audibly, you know why. Oh, I love my job.

I've submitted a whole batch of cards for the L5R and Doomtown TCGs and worked on the Ceremony of the Samurai and Way of the Unicorn modules for the L5R RPG. Andy Heckt and I are working on an adventure series for the game, as well.

I am married to an absolute godsend of a woman who won't let me shave my head ever again, and we own a food-obsessed cat. Throughout my life, I have had chewed-up bread spit in my ear, kept a heron in my bathtub, visited the little town of Bolme, Norway, eaten an entire watermelon with my bare hands, and fallen down more stairs than I care to count. I am blessed with a cool job working with some of the finest people I have ever known.

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