OT: So... Who am I gaming with?

It occurs to me that by now I have done a lot of gaming with people I know very little about. I am worried. Maybe some of you are dangerous internet predators. So let’s share a bit of not-too-personal information and get to know each other better.

I'll get the ball rolling.

My real first name is Vincent. I am 31 and I've been playing D&D since I was 13. I am fairly tall (6'4'') and not yet ridiculously out of shape thanks to a flagging but never collapsing discipline in working out. I was born in Montréal (Québec, Canada) and still live there. English is not my native language, which should explain the occasional bizarre turn of phrase but by and large I think I do our education system credit.

I work as a personal account manager at a bank (credit & investment). Do not let the words fool you; I am a far cry from a high rolling workaholic!

I played elite hockey in my youth and I'm a fan of the Habs (Montréal Canadiens). During the playoffs, expect my posting rate to suffer.

Beside RPGs, I like board games and videogames. I used to be an avid reader and am rediscovering the joy of books these days. I love television series; I feel right now they produce a higher quality of storytelling than movies. Dexter and Deadwood are two recent favorites.

Another hobby of mine is trying to write a book (mostly with the ambition of having it be excellent amateur fare on the net, but who knows). I completed a first 300 page draft that was decent and now I am procrastinating about rewriting it in a more dynamic fashion. Right now it’s about 70 page of an excellent start and as many pages of notes and disjointed scenes that are very entertaining but do not form anything resembling coherence. This lead me to a conclusion: Professional authors are awesome. All of them, even those who write awful stuff. They are able to finish what they start!

I also am an avid beer aficionado. I wouldn’t call myself a connoisseur just yet, but I am getting there. I appreciate a wide selection of beers. I especially like stout ales (and variants like Porter) and Weizen (wheat beers). I have a high tolerance for bitter beers like Indian Pale Ale and love to try experimental beers that toy with exotic ingredients like fruits, maple or various spices. I even enjoy the occasional Pilsener and other quality blond lagers. The only beers I’ll avoid are the bland ‘soda beers’ like Budweiser, Miller, Molson and their ilk. These are great mass market products but poor excuses for beers. Luckily, Quebec is one of the few genuine beer paradise in the world and quality beer is literally just around the corner.

All right, I think that’s a reasonable amount of personal but not compromising information about me. I’m sure you all feel much closer to me now.

Your turn.

I feel like I've known you for years now...

Hello. My name is Kris, I live in England and I'm 23. I've only been gaming for a year or so, and only play-by-post (mostly on Google Wave) but I'm DMing two games as well as playing in a few more I'm kind of obsessed with hybrid characters at the moment.

I'm also a fan of Dexter and similar shows (just getting into Boardwalk Empire and Six Feet Under at the moment) and I'm reading Dune for the first time, which is a little shaming. Every year I'm tempted by NaNoWriMo, and every year I don't do it. I work as a junior information analyst for the National Health Service (although I'm nothing to do with the death panels).

Nice to me you (all).

Derek. I'm a cop. 26... Not alot to tell really. I enjoy writing which is why I like the pbp part of d&d. Tabletop is more of a social gathering type of thing.

I am kind of at a loss on what to say for myself. I just figured I might as well throw out what I can tell...

Ryan (as most of you have seen via character review emails ), father of 3 (which I also think I've mentioned before ), accountant (manager) working at a large, public accounting firm. I'm 27, been playing D&D since I was 14, starting in 2e where my first PC was a half-elf ranger.

I alo am a fan of Dextyr, although I've only watched the first two seasons, and the new Walking Dead series is great (too bad only 1 more episode ). I guess like Mal/Vincent I'm a fan of non-traditional beers, which sometimes is a problem as I really struggle to drink any of the large national brands anymore.

Current Favourite:
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Oh, I like video games as well (RPG's of course ) having been introduced to D&D through Baldur's Gate II. Currently, I am now working on the next generation of D&D players (I'm watching the LoTR with my boys while they are playing with my large/huge D&D minis)

Nice idea Mal (or is it Vincent?)!

My name is Brian. 36 year old, married, four boys (I feel ya Ryan, I feel ya), full time job, part owner in same. (I usually post from work in between tasks).

I played DnD and ADnD when I was in junior high and high school, but then gave it up through college and professional school. My older brother (damn him!) got me started in the beginning. My younger brother (damn him!) got me started on posting.

I honestly don't have time to go to a table game, so besides two of those experiences, everything I've posted here and all of 4E is brand new to me. I don't have access to many books, so I try to utilize online resources but I still have a lot to learn.

I am enjoying the Walking Dead. I like Heroes when it was on, but I don't watch a lot of television besides that. Although I do watch the Apprentice and Survivor with my wife . I enjoy RTS video games the most, not really a fan of first person shooter games... That's all for now.

My name is John, and I'm a dangerous internet predator.
I like to kick small children, and lure puppies to clandestine meetings.

I'm a 28-year old water and wastewater engineer (technically EIT still) in sunny Phoenix. I was born in Scotland, to English parents, but have lived here since I was 18 months old, leaving me somewhat confused as to how to classify myself.

I discovered D&D through a copy of the red box that I found lying around my house one day back in the 2nd grade or so. From there to 2nd ed through to 4th, with various sidetrips into an odd assortment of side games that I've played and read over the years. Other hobbies include origami and reading (particularly books on linguistics, theoretical physics, and trashy fantasy novels).

Mostly I drink Diet Coke, but water has been making a strong resurgance since I've been trying to cut back on caffeine.

Funny you should say that as I am in fact an internet predator.


....I kid, I kid. In reality I'm Paul, a 24 year old college student working on an A.S. in computer engineering. I'm mainly into computer/video games, and have never played any tabletop RPG before. I've always had a slight interest in trying it out, however, because although video games provide for fantastic adventures on their own, a freeform imagination-driven game is considerably more flexible in what can or can not happen.

Juan Manuel is my name, I'm from Bahia Blanca, Argentina. 25 (26 in february) I'm a phd student of biology, I specialize on shark ecology. I'm currently (as, right now) typing from the laboratory t the university. I do most of my posting from here, when the lead scientist goes home, heh.
I was introduced to D&D with Icewind Dale 1, back when I was 15. First tabel top game I played was Lords of the Rings. I the read the trilogy, hobbit, silmarillon...
I'm an avid science fiction/pulp fiction reader and gamer, and love strategy and rpg videogames, mostly pc ones.
I'm a handyman, or at least people say I am. I've built the vast mayority of my house's furniture, excepting the somiere or sprung bed base as worreference tells me it's typed in english. I'll travel to Canada on January to work at Carleton University for 5 months as part of a Canadian government scholarship.
I'm quite short for the upper hemisphere standards: 1,72 meters. So don't laugh at me when I get there, I'm at punch-reach of your balls.

Hmm, alright. My name is Michael, I'm in my early- to mid-twenties, and I'm very much an RPG junkie. I blame Bioware. My more "mainstream" hobbies include cooking and hiking. I can't stand the taste of alcohol, which is actually handy given my low tolerance for it. That's right, folks. I'm a cheap date.

Cheers,

I go by CaBaNa wherever I can get away with it, but my real name is Shawn.

Background; Born in Michigan, moved to Indiana at a young age, enjoyed playing NES until all hours of the morning and my cat Max.

Fast forward, cat ran away, and have since become allergic (to everything ). So now I've got a dog, an outdoor cat, and a skunk. Was two skunks, but one recently passed from cancer. The dog is a border collie, and thinks our fan is an evil being from an outer dimension sent to murder us all in our sleep. The skunk can't stink, as the scent glands have been removed, but if he goes without a bath for a little while, he'll smell like a wild animal. When startled or angry, he'll try and stink you, which translates to an awful nasty fart that dissipates after about 30 minutes or so.

I have a fiance, she's wonderful, smart, gorgeous, and knows most of you guys by pseudonym. There is a standing request, that should anything ever happen to me, she is to sign into enworld under my moniker and explain to everyone why I won't be back.

I work at a videogame shop, my main role is to help clueless moms find decent gifts. Secondary role is to talk specifics with the regulars about what they're playing at any given moment. It's a living, but not as sweet as when I worked at the winery. I both sold and made the wine, in between batches, there was time to hop on the computer and post here. Then they got busy, and "in between batches" became this mystical fantasy land that we reminisced about, so I quit. The place has since burned to the ground, no injuries. I'm sure they'll rebuild

Before those jobs, was an endless array of promotional work. Stuff like handing out snickers/pepsi/pizza/condoms, talking about the latest greatest grill/t.v./handheld device/company, and doing product demonstrations. One of my favorites was working GenCon Indy for Konami, teaching attendees how to play Blue Dragon and Yu-Gi-Oh, did that for 3 years in a row.

Full time student, majoring in media arts and science. I can't wait to grow up and become a video game designer, but I foresee much hard work between now and then, mostly on the "growing up" front Used to be a philosophy major, but my old school dropped the program entirely, and left me with few options outside of transfer. I'm glad it happened, but it was very frustrating at the time.

As for family, my parents are still together, and I have a little brother. By little I mean six foot something and stacked, just younger than me. I'm proud of him, he'll do well in business or whatever he sets for his goals. I remember the first time he pinned me during a fight, I was astonished, as well as about to get sick. Needless to say he jumped up very quickly, and luckily I kept myself from the embarrassment of vomiting due to the exertion. My parents are awesome, and I'm very happy to be born to them, hoping to pay them back for the everything one day.

I exercise for one reason, 1. The zombie hordes are coming, it's just a matter of when and where. Will your cardio be up to snuff? (Imagine me holding up one finger as I repeat 1. and pointing in a random direction, probably towards the horizon as I talk about the oncoming horde of zombies. It makes for a fun speech.)

When I do finally establish myself in the gaming industry, and get the chance to design my own game, I'd like to make something similar to "dungeons and dragons; heroes". Simultaneous co-operative role playing games make me very very happy, there are just too few of them. Not an MMORPG, max of an 8 person party or so, I'd like to keep the d&d feel. But that is for the distant future, I've got lots of other peoples games to work on first...

Thanks for reading.

@Mal Malenkirk , thanks for starting this thread, it's really entertaining/enjoyable getting to know everyone.