I turned another year older a few days ago. My employer MCG is kind enough to suggest we take our birthdays off, so that's exactly what I did. It was a super-chill day. I got caught up on some reading (almost finished with The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, playing Fallout 76 (started a fresh character), and come evening, enjoying Batgirl's wonderful company and the delicious meal she cooked.
In other news, I'll be appearing on Peter Adkison's "50 Years of D&D" series on Gen Con TV (streamed on Twitch) on May 25th, featuring Dungeons & Dragons second edition (2E). (EDIT: Here's a link to the discussion and game on YouTube.)
Peter asked what was the first thing that drew me to 2E. Well, the first thing that captured my imagination was about four or so years into the release was the Planescape box set cover art and graphic design, featuring the entrance to a magnificent fantasy city in Robh Ruppel's dreamy artistic style.
At the time, I knew nothing about Planescape other than it was 2E D&D, the perfectly evocative name "Planescape," and the aforementioned cover. Except, I also knew that I wanted desperately to go wherever Planescape was.
In a way, I got my wish, because it wasn't more than a year later that TSR hired me to work on D&D in 1995.
Long story short, I've been working in RPGs and writing fantasy and sci-fi novels ever since.
(Including my latest Patreon novel I've been plugging away at for the last several months, with my patron's help. My patrons get to see first chapter drafts, like this one I just published where Minerva, who—in an earlier chapter drop—encountered a three-headed manifestation of her greatest mistake in the land of dreams, seeks answers.)
