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| Photo by Angela Gray |
How long have you been playing?
I started going to WPI fight practices and events in the Fall of 2010, so I have been playing for a little over four years now. My first event was "Beyond the Hag and Hungry Goblin," the first Book of Moons event at the Citadel, and it was epic. I was dead a lot, didn't understand much of what was going on, and Rel taught me Light as my first spell and signed off on my napkin-spellbook. Good times.
How has the game changed since you've been playing?
Well, the game itself really hasn't changed that much in my short time here. There have been a few changes to the spell system and other parts of the rules, of course, but what has changed the most about the game for me is the way I see it. Each year I meet more people in the community, and now that I'm out of college I have more time to help with or play at events. I'm gradually getting a better understanding of how our game works, where it came from, and how much time and effort people put into it to create the environment for everyone else to be able to enjoy.
Who have you learned the most from?
This is sort of an insane question for me to try to answer; I've been extremely fortunate in having the opportunity to learn very many things from so many people. If I have to narrow it down, though, I'd have to say that I've learned the most from the SMAS family, from this year's group of newbies all the way up to the wonderful alums who have been helping out with practices and workshops before and after my time at WPI. They've taught me how to be a better friend, leader, role model, and person. They have helped me find my shortcomings, and let me help some of them find their own strengths. The lessons I have learned and continue to learn from my time with SMAS will stick with me wherever life takes me.
What was your best moment IC?
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| Photo by Jesse Gifford |
The twelve of us had made it far through the traps and locks and creatures guarding what Cooke stored within, but we still had a long way to go. Most of us were dead; to my knowledge only Monique and I were left alive, with the exception of Atticus, who was incorporeal. I don't recall what we were fighting in that room, but one of the things had me cornered on a balcony while another was advancing to attack Monique among the bodies of our friends in the courtyard below. As I backed away from my attacker, my mind raced, trying to think of a way out of this. I was coming up blank. My magic missiles were cast earlier in the fight, and all I had left was Guidance, my dagger, with which to best the monsters.
It hit me, with a sense of hopelessness and shame, that we were about to fail. We were the twelve who had been selected to restore the Crown, and the honor of our nation and ourselves, after being humiliated by Tenebrous in our own Court. With the memory of that evening came the rage that had burned within me while I watched from above my regenerating body as Tenebrous lifted the crown off my King's head and banished himself to safety. There was no way I could let such an insult stand. I looked the monster striding toward me in the eye, and it stopped in its tracks.
After that, I remember a few seconds of excruciating pain and unbridled fury. The pain quickly subsided, but my anger did not. I destroyed the creature in front of me, joined Monique, and together we quickly dispatched the rest of our foes. After the fight, my mind started to calm, and I realized that my arms had become black wings, and I could no longer speak. Instead, a strange warble came out of my...beak? My body had transformed into that of an enormous bird, and as I glanced around I saw that the majority of our foes lay folded and collapsed at impossible angles, one of them missing its head. My friends, as they were healed, looked around wide-eyed at the carnage left in my wings' wake.
As we quickly came to understand what I had done, and as I discovered what I was apparently capable of, I'll admit that I was as terrified as my friends were impressed. Looking back, that moment was transformative for me in more ways than one, and I am proud to know that I made a difference in the success of that expedition.
What was your best moment as a[n] NPC/EH/Player?
I really love NPCing, both because I get to help make the game fun for the PCs and because it's nice to mix it up with the variety of roles. Getting to run around as a rowdy goblin with friends is a blast. My favorite moment, however, was at KoEF Questing a while back when I was NPCing the Watch of Lacunae quest and *ahem*...certain individuals... repeatedly disregarded warnings from Pater Yule not to set the watch exceedingly late in the War against Bedlam. The warning was supposed to be the result for PCs who chose to go to that time, with the assumption that they would take the advice. However, since those certain individuals tried it three times, there was a little improvisation that resulted in me getting to run those individuals down as a bois in the black tide they unleashed upon the event as they ran in terror back to the tavern. It was a fun combination of getting to really sprint all-out, and seeing shock and fear in the eyes of some people who don't exhibit that sort of thing very often.
What would you like to see changed or developed more in game?
I would like to see the lines between groups of players get blurred. For a lot of people, those lines don't really exist to any significant extent, but we do sort ourselves into spellcasters and fighters, we all have our own reasons for playing the game, and there are so many different aspects of it which each of us enjoy the most. What I'm saying, I think, is that I would like to see more respect for one another, even if we don't understand or agree on certain subjects. In my experience our community does this very well on typical sources of vitriol from real life, like politics and religion. Those opinions don't diminish any individual as a player, and more importantly as a person. I'd like to see that same sort of respect extended, at least OOC, throughout the various aspects of the game as well.
What advice would you give new players?
Well, there is a lot of advice that I already give to new players who are open to it, but I think the best bit of wisdom I could offer would be simply to talk with people, as much as you can. The Realms is one of the most diverse and accepting groups of people I have ever encountered, and the best thing you can do as someone just joining is to make new friends and discover that for yourself.
What do you love most about the game?
Just about everyone answers this question with "the community," and I think a big enabling factor for our community is the wide breadth of interests and niches our game has with low barriers to entry. People in our game sew, cook, craft, fight, problem solve, write, read, learn, draw, design, lead, follow, volunteer, all while playing the same game. That creates a fantastic common ground, and that is what I love the most about our game.
Who would you like to see the next interview be with?
I would like to see interviews with Jerry Pearce, Dave Hayden, Angie Gray, Steve Yazinka, Zach Senchuk, Paul Tilton, Jay Bonci, Zack Reynolds, Alex Newbold, and Aaron Metzger. I'm pretty sure none of them have done one yet.