Where are they now?- Jill "Dame Gil" Junkala

When asked about when she played Realms, Jill “Dame Gil” Junkala’s response was “The Realms was created in my living room. No joke. I had the honor of being friends with the two people who created the Realms: Shannon Slate and Siani Overstreet. Oh the stories I could tell you, of the months of discussions on game mechanics, the elements that were needed to produce a working system, and why they created the world they did. I played in The Realms from 1986 (1983 if you count the Lost Chest Adventures) through 2004.”

Additional information about her time and connection in game in her own words follows:

“IC Achievements:

• 2nd Knight of the Realms, given my knightly blow by His Highness Prince Robert II.
• Member of the legendary Bumble Bees, a group of mercenaries for hire. Leaders would get into bidding wars for our services at the Duke of Glenndale tournaments (the precursor to the QoH tourneys).
• I created the goddess Johanna Deere, the first of the Gods/Goddesses, in 1987 in honor of Joanne Slate (Shannon Slate’s mom) who fed about a hundred of us every time we had an event at the Slate farm.
• My first three squires are people you may have heard of – Steve Johnson, Steven Matulewicz, and Ray Roberts. Good people all.
• Funded what (Kathy Journey told me) later became The Cannonball Crew and charged them to “Do Good in The Realms”. The Cannonball Crew later created Chimeron.
• Was given the land of Fairhaven by Prince Robert II himself, and was charged with keeping the peace between the new lands of Chimeron and Fenmere.
• Founded the Knights of Fairhaven.
• Helped chase down and kill Prince Robert II. (It’s ok, he got better!) Actually it’s a good story, which might need writing down sometime…
• … and the list is getting a bit long, will save some tales for later. 

 Notable OCC contributions:
• Helped finish (and was an NPC for) Shannon’s famous dungeon crawl. Ask Swan, Neil, Wris, or someone from that time about the first and most epic dungeon crawl in Realms history.
• Made suggestions that influenced the shape of the Realms
• Promoted honor in The Realms
• Helped the “little guy” not get crushed by nations
• Protector of the Realms
• Someone who people could turn to for help
• Also Safety Marshal, Weapons Inspector (no you can’t put C-batteries in the tips of your arrows to make them fly better), Boff Instructor, Plot Assistant, Garb Maker, Make-sure-some-of-the-cool-stuff-gets-to-the-newbies Facilitator, Protector of the Newbies (people used to kill them to take their stuff [is that still done?]), general helper to put up tents, vehicle logistics person, water bearer, wasp spray fetcher, prop maker, eleventy hundred times an NPC…
• Finder of children, lost items, and passed-out people
• “Hey it’s a girl let’s get her… OWOWOWOWDEAD!”

• Someone who wasn’t into helping for a reward or recognition.

I’ve spent many hours entertaining folks by the fire, some of the stories are - 
• Shannon’s dungeon crawl
• The killing of Prince Bob
• Leading a group of newbies to win a tournament
• Nonna
• The reason why the Realms was created
• The night quest in the woods at the Slate farm”

She is currently living in Leominster, Mass. As many of us who are friends with her on facebook can attest, she is an animal lover sharing her home with three cats, two dogs, and three chickens.  Professionally she work as a Quality Assurance Manager. In her free time her hobbies include Micro farming, following the exploits of the goats at Feather and Scale Farm, and writing.

Jill has said she might be willing to write out some of the more popular tales if people are interested (I know I am), so if you are please mention it in the comments.