Who the Hell is Erik Mona?

[RangerWickett]

Heh, that story reminds me of GenCon 2005. I'd been working as a publisher contact person for the ENnies, going around to different booths, and Friday afternoon at the Paizo booth I had a nice friendly chat with Erik Mona.

Later that evening, I'm heading to the actual awards ceremony, and I get in the elevator, and there's this guy standing beside me who looks familiar.

"Hey," I say, "I know it's a big con, but have we met?"

"Yes Ryan," he says. "I'm Erik Mona, from Paizo. We talked, oh, about four hours ago."

It was only up two stories, but that was a long elevator ride.

 

[Primal]

A very enjoyable read. Reminded me much I used to anjoy Erik's editorials in Dungeon.

So now Erik I'm wondering if that BBS post had anything to do you being chosen to work on FR's Faiths & Pantheons. "So Mona knows all about deities does he? Put him to work statting up all those FR gods for us then."

Very true -- that was one of the most enjoyable pieces I've read in a while!

I think you're confusing Erik with Eric Boyd, who did most of the writing for 'Faiths & Pantheons' (and I think he had already published a lot of the stuff online). It's the book we're using in every FR session, and I have to say it's been an invaluable player and DM aid for all these years; funnily enough, there's a [sort of] link between Erik and F&P, as Paizo's own 'Gods & Magic' actually rivals F&P in terms of usefulness and quality (even if you don't run Golarion, there are so many juicy, well-written details and ideas to mine that it's worth gold to any DM running D&D).

Oh, and I'll add one potential answer to Jonathan's question: Erik Mona is the guy who not only wrote great editorials for Dungeon -- he's also the guy who wrote the best adventure ever published in it (in my humble opinion, of course)!

 

[haakon1]

Good Times

To me, Erik, you've always been Greyhawk's biggest and best fan, second only to Gary himself. Roger Moore and Wolfgang Baur, they're definitely cool, but you're so wonderfully uber-knowledgeable, it's hard to imagine anyone holding a candle to you where Greyhawk is concerned.

I was so psyched when you became a pro -- you were the only person I'd ever heard of BEFORE you went big, back when you were on AOL's Greyhawk board. You were Iquander, right? Or am I remembering wrong -- heck, it was 10 years ago now.

And your stroll down memory lane answered something I'd forgotten -- why did I leave AOL Greyhawk? I assumed I must just have gotten old and busy around 1999. Apparently, it got shut down when TSR collapsed -- so it's not my fault after all. Yeah for me!

 

[Erik Mona]

I think you're confusing Erik with Eric Boyd, who did most of the writing for 'Faiths & Pantheons' (and I think he had already published a lot of the stuff online). It's the book we're using in every FR session, and I have to say it's been an invaluable player and DM aid for all these years; funnily enough, there's a [sort of] link between Erik and F&P, as Paizo's own 'Gods & Magic' actually rivals F&P in terms of usefulness and quality (even if you don't run Golarion, there are so many juicy, well-written details and ideas to mine that it's worth gold to any DM running D&D).

I can't get no respect, I swear. The link between Faiths & Pantheons and me is that I co-wrote the book with Eric Boyd!

Please don't make me feel that statting out 30+ gods of 65th level or so was done in vain! I can still feel the pain from that project!

--Erik

 

[Erik Mona]

I was so psyched when you became a pro -- you were the only person I'd ever heard of BEFORE you went big, back when you were on AOL's Greyhawk board. You were Iquander, right? Or am I remembering wrong -- heck, it was 10 years ago now.

Yeah, that was me. And actually, it was more like 13 years ago. I think the AOL area died in '95 or '96.

--Erik

 

[Mark]

It's a real treat to read a well crafted article in this era of messageboard "discussions" and garblogage proseurs. And, yes, I realize this steeps me in irony up to my eyeballs.


Congrats and keep up the good work!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I can't get no respect, I swear. The link between Faiths & Pantheons and me is that I co-wrote the book with Eric Boyd!

Please don't make me feel that statting out 30+ gods of 65th level or so was done in vain! I can still feel the pain from that project!

--Erik

The 2Ed book? I gots me 2 copies!

I think the better question, though, is "Who is Kaiser Söse?"

 

[Mouseferatu]

I think the better question, though, is "Who is Kaiser Söse?"

And where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

Great column, Erik. I see that you've chosen to represent the "professional" half of the equation.

 

[Sammael]

The 2Ed book? I gots me 2 copies!

I think the better question, though, is "Who is Kaiser Söse?"

Unfortunately, it's the 3e book. Which contains pages upon pages of... (sorry Erik) utterly pointless and useless deity stats.

Contrast with the 2nd edition trilogy, which contained avatar stats that generally took up one tiny paragraph (out of the 4-5 pages that were devoted to each deity).

BTW, great article! I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, I have a copy of that one too.