1. What do you do outside of the game? What would you like to be doing? (Work, school, projects, etc.)
I work for John Hancock, as a Business Analyst. Which sounds like corporate nonsense, and it is. Luckily I enjoy the people I work with, and I get to work on a huge variety of projects, so it stays interesting!
2. What hobbies do you enjoy other than LARP?
Honestly it feels like my favorite hobby is collecting hobbies. I like video games, audiobooks, learning basically anything, 3d printing, boardgames, TTRPGs, disc golf, watercolors, Battletech, Warhammer, a smattering of MTG, woodwork, I just picked up a camera for photography, gardening, our homestead... Oh jeez I don't think I've ever tried to list them before.
3. Favorite meal, dessert, and drink?
Man, what an impossible ask because cooking is one of my hobbies I didn't list above! I'm gonna have to go in sub categories Meals: I love Japanese cuisine, but everyone loves Sushi, so I'll say Japanese Curry. (If you haven't tried it, you absolutely should). But I also make sourdough, and a grilled cheese with tomato soup on my own bread is pretty simple but tough to beat. Drinks: I've been really into mint Sharbat lately (sort of like a shrub), a nice cold beer never hurts, and lets go bourbon for favorite liquor. Dessert: I'm much more of a savory boy, but there are these chocolate covered sea salt caramel frozen yogurt bars by Yasso that are perfect
4. If you could go on vacation anywhere, where would it be? Would you bring anyone?
Wife, duh. But I think I'm obligated to say that 😜. We've got a dream vacation to Japan coming up in October, so, that's definitely high up there. If the stars align (or one of us wins the lottery) I would absolutely love for Ashenmark to take a group trip to New Zealand.
We're slowly building a homestead, and I look forward to the years where we produce a significant portion of our own food. We've got bees (dammit I forgot beekeeping in the hobbies list), a garden with a lot of tomatoes, potatoes, and beans, started keeping meat chickens, meat rabbits. Very fun stuff, and Brooke has been an incredible farm wife.
6. Favorite outfit other than garb?
T-shirt, sweatshirt, shorts, and flipflops. I've been collecting merino wool tees when I can find them, that is a MAGICAL fiber, man.
7. Do you have any professional or personal skills you’d be willing to talk about?
I try not to monetize my hobbies, but I love creating custom miniatures on Titancraft (similar to Heroforge). So if you want a DnD or Realms mini, you let me know and I can do it for a probably pretty modest price.
8. What drew you to the realms, and what keeps you there?
Being a nerdy 14 year old drew me in. I've basically grown up in the game, and now a lot of the faces who have been around long enough are family to me. I love a lot of the aspects of the game, but 100% most important is the community.
9. Favorite movies/shows/books?
Oh God, thank you for asking. I have been trying to get everyone I know to read the First Law books by Joe Abercrombie. Please read them so we can talk about how they're the best gritty fantasy books ever written.
10. If you happened upon 3 wishes, what would they be? (Wishing for more wishes doesn’t seem to work...)
1. $500,000 a year, adjusted for inflation so I can focus on my plethora of hobbies, travel as much as I want, but not have so much money that it becomes a problem. 2. Our pets live exactly as long as we do in good health. 3. No more fucking cancer. Fuck cancer.
11. Who would you like to see interviewed next?
Dan Diamond
12. Anything else you’d like to add?
If you'd like to do one of these interviews, send Dani Lacasse (lilpotatogem on Discord) a message to let her know!
