A Fairly Muddled Statement of Purpose

     I've been wanting to start a blog for a while, now. The only problem was/is that I have this anxiety that I have nothing worthwhile to say. Fear of failure is my greatest weakness, and is the bastard that has prevented me from doing any serious or consistent writing on, well, anything. That could be said to be my first purpose: to write. Write to write. To get out there and actually put something to "paper" and train myself to leak my thoughts out of my ears and into my fingers and splatter it all over the blank canvas of the moment. Cue the training montage from...anything, really.

     As to the actual nature of the blog, I had discussed the idea of using this as a free writing exercise, but figured that alone would be dreadfully boring. Or, at least, incomprehensible. Perhaps I should mix in my interests. Of course, in a free writing exercise, wouldn't my interests come through, anyway.

     I've been a gamer for sixteen years, starting with AD&D 2nd edition. My earliest gaming memory is sitting at the rear of Mr. Wolf's science class, my pasty compatriots crowding my desk. Hidden within, my Monster Manual dangles halfway out onto my lap, turned to the "Dragon, Copper" entry. The beast had just "appeared" to the players, who now had to kill it. Cause that's how that works, right?

     From there, RIFTS. RIFTS rocked as a teenage boy. Kitchen sink, over the top, guns guns guns, MEGADAMAGE. It was like playing a gory Saturday Morning Cartoon produced by Michael Bay. Outgrew that.

     Warhammer came and comes and goes. Money, money, money. The RPG is a delightful mess.

     Zooming through the years, I spent a good deal of time running and playing in various different games. Mostly D&D in the myriad campaign settings that TSR had out back in the day.

     Call of Cthulhu introduced me to HP Lovecraft (and the pulps in general), not the other way around.

     Later teenage years and angst lead to White Wolf games (of course). Good times, weird people, bleak horribleness.

     Then college part 1, then madness, then adrift, then back.  Then The Comic Book Shop.

     The world itself reopened to me. Wargames, Exalted, Deadlands, Savage Worlds, superhero role playing games, on and on. Halcyon days of a military melting pot filled with new ideas, new fondnesses, new games, new roots. I'll try damn near anything at least once. Give me a table and some good folks, good times should ensue.

     Now, here I am in Texas at UT Dallas, forming new contacts and preparing to play new games. That's another purpose: Talk about the evolution of my gaming experience in this grand quasi-new Texas adventure.