Introduce Yourself Here

[TheZebraShakes™]

Everyone on the boards, new and old, should take the time to get to know the community and write a little something about yourself in the process.


The Getting to know you thread is still out there, but as we have been sprucing up the boards as of late, it would be nice to start with a fresh thread.


I'll start, though I'm going to lift the majority of it from my old post and add on or make changes where necessary.

-----
-----
-----

I am the illegitimate child of a communist farm couple from China. Fortunately, I was t was rescued by a pair of hippies who grew me up right in the good old U S of A where I was raised on stories of heroism and revolution.

I spent my younger years training to be a classical pianist, but now my aspirations have shifted to accomplishing greater things such as seeing how long I can stay in bed without being forced by my own body to get up and pondering the existence of cotton candy.

I enjoy long walks in the park, expensive wines, and anything beginning with the letter S. Sometimes I try to see how long I can stand in a particular place without moving a muscle (8 hours 32 minutes and 10 seconds as a personal best)

I enjoy eating any and all things chicken, but refuse to swallow anything green. Sometimes I trip over those "WET FLOOR" signs, then I casually put them back as if nothing happened. I have a HUGE crush on TheUdjat, but if he ever finds out I might die (So don't tell him, OK). Lettuce makes me throw up, so when I tell the guys at the Mexican restaurants to leave it out, they give me a look like I have three heads and they bring it to me anyway, cause they ain't changing anything for anyone, not you, not even me.

I like scary movies, Stabbing Westward, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and when the mailman brings me my letters. Five years from now I hope to be living in a new state with the word New in it. I won't stop till I hit them all, but maybe not New Mexico, I don't really trust the old one that much.

I have a BA in anthropology and an MS in Library and Information Science. Not that I'm bragging, just looking for some help with paying off the student loans.

I started playing the D&D about 9 or 10 years ago out of pity because no one else would play with Lin no matter how much he pleaded and begged. I ended up liking it despite the nerdly following, and have been playing, albeit, not all that consistently, ever since.

I joined KMan's to play in the World's Largest Dungeon, my first game here, and now find myself playing in several other games and even DMing one as well. This is probably my favorite website as it's a great avenue to express my imagination and creativity that don't normally get a chance to shine through in my everyday life outside of the interweb.

I think I'd probably go insane without it.

Hope to hear from everyone soon.

[Deekin]

Ok, lets see what there is to know about me.

I'm a native Californian, a mix of almost every form of white in existance, but mostly Italian.

Since I am only 19, I don't have much of life story to tell yet. I grew up on the Central Coast of California, enjoying sun and beach.

I was an engineering student at UC Davis, but got kicked out B/C I failed repeatedly at higher math. I am now moving back home.

While livining on my own, I discovered a few things about myself.
1. I am a pack-rat. One I have something, I tend to hold onto it forever.
2. While I may suck at math, I am pretty good at fixing thing.
3. I fail at programing.
4. You can burn water.
5. I can't cook that well.
6. I am allergic to Alcohol.

Finding out the last one was fun.

I started playing D&D after playing neverwinter Nights, About the time they released 3.5, so I haven't been playing long.

I was invited to K Man's by Spiral, on the D20 Modern boards, to play in the now defunct Dark*Matter game. I found the thread.

[Yakumo]

Sure, a little about me.

I was born on Halloween, 1988. So I'm evil and Chinese people love to tell me that I was born in the year of the dragon.
Went to Catholic school from Kindergarten to 10th grade, at which time I transfered to a performing arts highschool where I practiced Visual arts (painting). yeah I don't know where painting fits into performing arts either.

I've played the violin for 12 non-consecutive years.
I live and go to college in the Bronx (not many colleges there so I'm sure you can guess where I'm at)
For the past 4 years I have wanted nothing more than to become an English teacher.
I have always been fascinated with language so I have decided to become an ESL teacher (english as a second language)

I have studied Spanish, Japanese, a little latin and the tiniest bit of french.
I'm in a 5 year program that when I graduate I'll have a masters in english and be a certified teacher.

I Love movies, all types, comedy horror, classics, foreign, action, kung fu, cult etc.
I played D&D, started in second edition when I was really young, and stopped playing a few months after 3rd edition came out because the game store closed up.

I joined K-man's to play in the Utatti Asfet, Call of Cthulhu campaign he DMed 3 or 4 years ago.

[Japic]

Wow talk about outdated; that old thread is old school for sure Shakes. Lets get current, shall we?

Sup guys and gals, Japic here, one of the oldest surviving members of these boards. Not to say that I'm the oldest member (age), only a long standing one (playing here). In any event as time has passed, I've been aging and now find myself 28 verging on a mental breakdown from an overworked mind. I'm a Colorado native with an over active imagination and under developed sense of ambition; pictures are scarce because I enjoy dodging cameras.

My hobbies have changed somewhat over the years, but I still love to geek it out with all the old favorites.

D&D is a necessary part of my life, frankly without this release I'd have broken down a long time ago; the job is a killer I tell you. Daily doses of D&D keeps me sane, and my weekly group (of which KMan and BluSpecs are both a part of) I get to relax a little away from work.

Um, yah, books, I like books; fantasy related are a must. The Wii is awesome, and my favorite game is probably Super Smash Brothers Brawl followed up by any of the party games that get me and friednds up and involved. I hate the WiiFit because it says I'm obese. Well, I am, but it doesn't have to rub it in my face, right? The good news is that it's at KMans house, so it's easy to avoid.

The biggest change to my life since the last thread is the addition of a new car. My MINI Cooper is another thing that keeps me sane. I'm part of our local club an go on drives and such all the time, including an awesome trip to Colorado's Western slope this past weekend. It's nice to get on the open road and drive like a bat out of hell, eating up the miles (875 of them this past weekend). Travel is good too, just getting away from the grind of life for a while. We've seen more of the world in the past few years than we've seen before, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to keep on rolling.

I'm a pirate at heart and it shows in my home, life, car and still thriving renaissance addiction. No I'm no Jack Sparrow wanna-be, and yes I can say that since I went pirate before the movies were scripted. Heck, lets just not get me started on the modern take on pirates, that'd be best.

I'm focused on living my life while I've got it to live. I eat well (probably too well), laugh hard (not everyone has a sense of humor), and party when able (the whole concept changes as you get older). So that's what I'm doing. Working (too much) to pay the bills and have a life. Hooray!

Jun 18, 2008 11:13:55 GMT -5 K Man said:

[Come on Japic, Shakes post is actually fully of new goodness. Take the time to read it. ]

{Just for the record I was saying the old thread was old news, and it was time to update me. I'm not getting on shakes for anything I promise.}

[K Man]

[Come on Japic, Shakes post is actually fully of new goodness. Take the time to read it. ]

I love introduce yourself threads!

I also love role-playing.

I got into role-playing in middle school, in about 1992 or so. A good friend of mine, Bluspecs was the one that got me into the hobby and, after a lengthy "no satan worshipping" talk with my mom, I began to play on a regular basis. I would stay up until I was cursing the arrival of dawn and I was always trying to replace my blood with Mountain Dew and my liver with Suzy Q's.

I couldn't live that life forever, but I'll be damned if I discovered that playing D&D had no adverse side effects. I would play for hours on end and when I wasn't playing, I was designing dungeons and full campaigns and scenarios I wanted to see PCs in. I played and designed so much that it cost me opportunistic dates with the opposite sex, a series of fullfilling childhood adventures and a fully developed sense of morality....but I could stop at any time I wanted to, because it didn't have adverse side effects.

I just didn't.

So time progressed, as did versions of the game. About the time 3.5 was released, back in 2003, our table-top group had dwindled to a minimum. We played maybe once a month, and barely at that. Japic had mentioned this whole internet thing and how it could be used for something else beside porn...role-playing! He did some research and found the ProBoards service, and we decided to start something up. I created the board, he registered second and we searched for other players--some of which were from our own table-top group ironically enough.

Well, one story led to another and soon running the adventures on here became a whole new creature. Players continued to show up and become members, others began running games...the whole thing just exploded larger than I could have ever thought. My love of role-playing was finally getting fulfilled!

Today, I still run as many games as I can, and the community here as led to richer and more frequent gaming life at home too. You can say that KMan's saved my marriage to the home game. I find myself quoting rules from posters, bringing up situations we've had, and even telling stories to others despite the "you're maladjusted" look they give me. When I tell the story about the Ranger with the Web spell, my audience lights up everytime. I know it.

But I know I can quit at any time.

---

No, in all seriousness, I do love role-playing and I love the community here on the boards. This has become a major part of my life, even if others don't understand it fully or respect it.

In real life I'm a 29 year-old corporate manager/workerbee in a records management department for a nationwide homebuilder. I play video games like its going out of style, especially during the summer when I'm not chasing my BS Computer Information Science degree. I prefer action/stratgey RPGs, party games and anything with Super, Smash or Brothers in the title. Unlike Japic, I need the Wii fit to tell me I'm obese mostly because it's different than my mom telling me.

I'm a Colorado native and love to travel, especially when work pays for it. I have been to Mexico so often that I can't donate blood because they're afraid of what I've picked up there, but I still can't correctly order a meal at Burger King. I think cruising is the way to travel and fully recommend you take a cruise before you finish reading this post. I enjoy road trips as well and think we are always in such a hurry to fly somewhere that we miss the important things in life, like Carhenge. (Yeah, go google it).

I would rather watch movies than TVs shows because I hate cliff-hangers that last longer than 40 minutes and closure is important to me. I like Kung Fu movies, Sci Fi and Action, and movies where someone dies before the opening credits. A few TV shows do catch my attention; I can spout a quote from Family Guy for any occasion, even during a Kidney Dialysis treatment. I like shows on space, especially ones that make me feel really insignificant compared to the universe so that I can continue to spend money guilt free. If I had a seven billion year life-span, I'd actually have to start planning for retirement.

I like graphic design in my spare time. I'm trying to start a personal business out of it, making logos, websites, invitations and business cards. My site is www.kwkmediadesign.com if any are interested in looking at it or would like to direct some business my way. I would consider myself a moderately talented coder and I get the joke of why they call it C++.

As far as the IRS is concerned, I am single only for another 5 months. My wedding date is set for Halloween of 2008 and will be on top of Lookout Mountain here in Denver at a creepy, turn-of-the-century mansion. I'm decidedly a fall type person and am actually hoping for a light snollfall that night. I'd rather freeze than burn any day. My fiance has been my girlfriend for 5 years this July. We met on the internet and she no longer laughs when I say I downloaded my life mate from denversingles.com. She also has put the kibosh on using any lines from Star Wars in my vows.

My choice in music ranges from the obscure to the main stream. I'd like to tell Shakes that I was over Stabbing Westward in high school, but truth be told, you can find them on my iPod right now. I also enjoy a little Minnesota Rap (Atmosphere), some Crystal Method, techno/dance/industrial/house/whatever the F it's called when I get the chance and I even have some J-Pop for days when I'm feeling frisky and trying to prepare myself to ride in Japic's MINI Cooper.

I'm casually shopping for my next car, but everyone looks at me stupid when I pick up a red-colored rod asking if it's the bike from Tron.

...

Man that would be sweet.

In short, my name is Kyle and I signed up here to play.

[Wicksy]

Well, i'm 28, i come from a small town on the border of Essex and suffolk. I'm a chemist.....i was at uni for 8 years doing an MChem and PhD. I got inot roleplaying via spiral. We used to play warhammer with friends then i finally got invited to play AD&D by spiral some 12 years ago while we were at school. I loved it and have played ever since. I got into K Mans after spiral joined the World's Largest Dungeon. I joined soon after and ended up joining WLD after he dropped out and that was it.

My other vices are guitars and building valve amps....that pretty much it i think.

[VemuKhaham]

Okay, I'm next. I guess I might as well start with my name, instead of end with it: I am called Joost van den Oever (pronounce: Y-ow-st), I believe I am already 21 years old, but I often have to recount the years since 1987 to actually convince myself that I am 20+. I certainly don't act like it, I hope.

I've lived in a small village called Haps, in the Netherlands, for all my life, but now, since January, I live on my own in Nijmegen, a reasonably sized city, with a university where I study History. I am in my second year now. Everything's going well enough, but my main weakness is that I read as slow as a blind man with no fingers, so that is probably the reason why I never seem to be able to keep up without spending double the time others do. That is also the reason why I can't join more games here than three at max, and running one.

Cause God knows I want to run and play more games. Not that I tell him that as I don't pray, but if there is a God he'd better know it if he is anywhere near as good at reading our minds as they say he is. That said, I began roleplaying in the latter days of D&D 3.0, and bought the books when the new edition 3.5 came out. It was then that we started playing fully, once a week or so. That was five years ago. Today I don't have a tabletop game anymore. We stopped a year ago or so, cause everyone's always too busy. You guys and gals are my last resort, my last link to roleplaying. I thank you every day for it. I even pray to Kman's sometimes.

Basically, all my hobbies are linked. They revolve around history and fantasy, and the blend between them. I study History and play D&D, but I also love historical and fantasy fiction. I travel to see all the old things in the world, though the wild beauty of mother nature also pulls me away from the flat, overcrowded country that I live in. Places I've visited recently have been Istanbul, Northern Italy, Prague and more. I intend to go to London in August, and perhaps Marakesh, or Egypt, next year. Besides that, I love to do amateur fantasy/historical writing and drawing and such, and if I had the chance I'd be making my own Lord of the Rings movie, it would certainly be a hobby of mine. However, I am realistic enough to know that I can't draw very well and my writing is never dedicated enough to actually get anywhere with it. But that doesn't mean I can't like doing it.

What else? Hmm, music. By now I wouldn't surprise you when I say I like classical music and soundtracks most, do I? But I also like other kinds of music, pretty much no one type dominates there. Resently, I've even begun to play Country music on my pc. For someone not from the US, I think that says something. Certainly I'm the only one liking it that I know. Right now I'm listening to Sigur Ros, a band from Iceland with really good atmospheric music.

Movies: best ever is La Vita e Bella, second best is Dances with Wolves, third best is Legends of the Fall. All of them are set in historical settings. Fourth best is Lord of the Rings. Need I say more?

Oh, and the best video game ever is Baldur's Gate II; Shadows of Amn.

I rest my case.

PS: I hate cars. They should be forbidden. Everyone demands that I put down a mountain of money to start taking lessons for driving, but I don't. People look at me oddly when they find out I can't discern a Mercedes from a Volkswagen. I am against social expectations. I have a bike. It's healthy, cheap, clean and flexible. If I want to go far, I go by train, or plane.

[TheZebraShakes™]

I live and go to college in the Bronx

That's funny. Me and Lin live in Yonkers, right next door. And just got a parking ticket in the Bronx the other day for $160

[Yakumo]

That'll learn you to try to park in the bronx. Where were you going? The Little Italy on Author Ave.? (The only place I can imagine beign worthwhile outside of the zoo and gardens.)

[spiral]

You can call me Spiral, but in real life my name is Scott. I live and work in Cambridge, UK. I'm a Software Engineer by trade, I work in the video game industry. I am 28 at time of writing.

I first played AD&D 2nd Ed. around thirteen years ago. Proper TSR days, who incidentally had their offices about a mile down the road from here as I sit typing at my work desk.

I joined K-Man's to play in the World's Largest Dungeon, I've been here ever since, pending a number of breaks to go and live in the wilds, which is something I am often wont to do, though less as I get older.

In my free time I do quite a lot of reading and fishing. I am also studying for a BSc. in Mathematics. My first degree was in Computer Science. If you're motivated, studying by night is a lot cheaper. I'm still paying for my first degree!

With the maths, occasional bouts of speculative fiction writing, fishing trips, and all my friends getting older and moving away, I don't get much time for role-playing at the tabletop anymore, so K-Man's is a good fix. It's such a friendly, creative place. I don't know of anywhere quite like it on the internet. I feel like I really know some of the people here, which is saying alot for the super!-web.

I play 2nd Ed. twice a week at work on a lunchtime, and am about to start running Dragon Mountain here on K-Man's, which will be the third game I've run (Of Masks and Men, Dark Matter).

I enjoy swapping parcels and postcards with friends from abroad, so if you'd like a card from sunny Cambridge, PM me with your address and I'll send a greeting.

I have two pet rats and live in a small cottage with my girlfriend of ten years.

My morning weekday routine is: get up, eat breakfast, wash, out the door (30 mins tops). Cycle down the fields, over the river, through the country park, to the Science Park where I work. Bash code for eight hours. Cycle home. Insert as appropriate Calculus/Writing/Jogging/Reading/Pub.

Weekends are a free for all, there's just no telling. =)

Oh! I've never had a good car in my life, and I HATE them!! =)

See you around!

[at]

I don't remember when friends started calling me AT, some time in the distant past before internet forums and highscore tables with space for more than three letters.

I work in the same office as Spiral, currently as a designer, previously as a programmer, artist, tester, whatever is needed project to project.

Started with an rpg group around 16 years ago that I met through the tabletop game club, playing an old warhammer-style rpg and eventually moving into 2nd edition.
I've since played a whole range of games on and off with friends, often disjointed things so it's nice to get back into something regular here and at work.

Before working in the industry I did a lot of indie programming and 3d art/animation, but most of my hobbies died along with my free time getting to and from work on public transport. I still try to keep up with some of the old indie dev community though, and i've got a stack of half-finished projects that can't quite seem to drag me away from solitaire.

I can play the piano (kind of).
I have a terrible memory for names and formulas but for some reason I know roughly how thick the iron plates of a suit of 14 century japanese armour would be.
I have a brand new computer on my desk that I barely touch, instead using a conked out thing from my uni days that I need to turn on with a screwdriver.
I don't like driving but it cuts my commute time down from 2-3 hours to 40 minutes, each way.
I know how to get higher than the maximum score in windows solitaire.
I'm top of the local blood bowl league table on goal difference, with an average of 2.6 opponent fatalities per match ;D
I sometimes watch some american sport, notably nfl. This comes from my uni days when the athalon I was using would overheat and die during daylight hours. Lived as a vampire for about two months, and the nfl was the only thing on tv.

... this post seems suitably long now

[K Man]

Boo-Yah for the NFL at!

But what the hell is a blood-bowl league?

[Lin]

Lin's Nerdy List That Thinks You Care What He Thinks About If Things Are Cool and Not Cool

Best Roleplaying Game: Feng Shui
Best Eurostyle Game: Maharaja
Best Ameritrash Game: Blood Bowl
Best Computer Game: Starcraft
Best Arcade Game: Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Best Card Game: Bridge
Best Proprietary Card Game: Cutthroat Caverns
Best Dish: Tamarind Duck
Best Soda: Surge
Best Movie: Casablanca
Best Book: Invisible Man
Best Moment In Sports: Jordan's Flu Game

Worst Roleplaying Game: Tristat
Worst Eurostyle Game: Goa
Worst Ameritrash Game: Zombies!!!
Worst Computer Game: Big Rigs
Worst Arcade Game: Primal Rage
Worst Card Game: War
Worst Proprietary Card Game: Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot
Worst Dish: Olive Pizza
Worst Soda: Red Surge
Worst Movie: K-Pax
Worst Book: A Seperate Peace
Worst Moment in Sports: Joe Theisman's leg

[Lin]

Jun 19, 2008 10:33:59 GMT -5 K Man said:

Boo-Yah for the NFL at!

But what the hell is a blood-bowl league?

Blood Bowl is an awesome minatures game about fantasy races kicking the crap out of each other in a bloody game of football/rugby.

I was 5-1 with my lizard men one year, ready to play the only other 5-1 team in the league, my friend's 5-1 halflings (wtf?) in the final game of the season when the league got canceled because the guy who owned the board left college.

[at]

Jun 19, 2008 10:37:30 GMT -5 Lin said:

I was 5-1 with my lizard men one year, ready to play the only other 5-1 team in the league, my friend's 5-1 halflings (wtf?)

I'm also lizard men, saurus heavy. My last game of bloodbowl against halflings was a bloodbath (4 halflings didn't make it, 3 more were out for a game). My opponent ran out of reserves before he decided to stop trying to fight with his treeman and start trying to score, at which point he didn't have the manpower. Had to spend half the game fouling his treemen to keep them down though.

My favourite game however was the closely contested league opener against the undead. After a hours of drawn out scoreless grinding in the 1st half, the entire 2nd half consisted of a riot, a 2 turn breakout scoring run by my team to lead, and then another riot to end the game - took about 10 minutes.

[Lin]

Awesome. I love the game, but haven't played in years. I just remember hating wood elves. Every season, without fail, they would beat me in a crucial game or injure my best player. Usually both.

[spiral]

Anybody here on Facebook? Add me, we'll start a guild. =) My real name is Scott Wakeling, that may actually help you find me. =)

Oh, and anybody still on MySpace, like, get with the times, Facebook FTW!!

[Wicksy]

I thought Facebook was for the socially inept that were afraid of real people and real life? ;D

[spiral]

You're not on it so apparently not!

[Wizard]

Hi, my name is Dan, and I:

-do not live in Korea anymore
-have a regular lunch hour every day
-know this to be the case every weekday until late August.


As such, I will be here at least until the fall.

And it is good to be back.