What "big names" in the gaming industry have you met?

[Ghostwind]

My turn

Those I know very well (and I am sure that I've forgotten someone):
- Ed Greenwood
- Elaine Cunningham
- Anthony Valterra
- Jim Butler
- Tom Knauss
- Kevin Melka
- Darrin "Whisperfoot" Drader
- Kevin Ruesch
- R.A. Salvatore
- Jean Rabe
- Sam Witt
- Brannon "Ashy" Hollingsworth
- Phil Lacefield
- Wil Upchurch
- Mike Mearls
- Monte Cook
- Sue Cook
- Neal "Tensen" Levin
- Ed Stark
- Andy Collins
- JD Wiker
- Sean K Reynolds
- Rob Reed (Code Monkey Publishing)
- Matt Forbeck
- Margaret Weis
- Jamie & Renee Chambers
- Chris Coyle
- Hal Greenberg
- Doug Herring
- Bret Boyd
- Alex Fennell
- Michele Lyons
- Will Hindmarch (formerly with Atlas and now White Wolf's Lead Developer for World of Darkness)
- Ed Bourelle
- Jason Engle
- Jenny Bendel
- Spike Y. Jones
- Jason "Hellhound" Parent & Denise "Dextra" Robinson (and the "Gelflings")
- Henry Lopez (Paradigm)
- Eric Weiner (Paradigm)
- Stephen Chenault (Troll Lords)
- Jeremy McHugh
- Mark Jelfo (AEG)

Those I know fairly well:
- Chris Pramas
- Nicole Lindroos
- Rob Schwalb (Green Ronin)
- Steve Kenson
- Greg Benage (FFG)
- Steve Long (Hero)
- George Vasilakos (Eden)
- Mark MacKinnon (Guardians of Order)
- Ari "Mouseferatu" Marmell
- Gareth-Michael Skarka (he's hard to miss at a convention)
- James Bell (Fiery Dragon)
- Joseph Goodman
- Ryan Dancey
- Rick Loomis
- Andy Hopp
- John Danovich
- Inger Henning (Living Imagination)

Those whom I have met:
- Zeb Cook
- Dave Arneson
- Lou Zocchi
- Jonathan Tweet
- Robin Laws
- Joseph Carriker
- Bill Slavicsek
- Ken Hite
- James Wyatt
- Mark Clover
- Mark Plemmons
- Jolly Blackburn
- John Zinser (AEG)
- Maureen Yates (AEG)
- James Wallis
- Peter Adkinson
- Matt Wilson (Privateer)
- Shane Hensley
- Michelle Nephew (Atlas)
- August Hahn (and his lovely wife Cynthia)

Those whom I still want to formerly meet:
- Ben "Wulf" Durbin
- Skip Williams
- Jim Pinto
- Eric Cagle
- Eric Mona

(Maybe this year, I'll get the chance.)

 

[Pants]

Nobody.
Although my friend met one of the Bastion Press guys a couple of years ago.

 

[pogre]

Those whom I still want to formerly meet:
- Ben "Wulf" Durbin

Good Lord - you people are going to give Wulf a bigger head!

I've met an lot of industry folks - they really are fairly accessible. Go to the ENnies and you will trip over a bunch.

Frank Chadwick and Loren Miller used to run playtest sessions for games in Champaign all the time. I know most of the folks from the former GDW.

I ran a RPGA session for the entire crew of the U.S. White Dwarf magazine - really fun bunch!

Met Jervis Johnson and Rick Priestly a few years ago - traded Ancient War stories with them - Warhammer pays the bills, but these guys are military miniatures enthusiasts at heart.

 

[devilish]

Sean K Reynolds DM'ed for a game I was in at GenCon.

I sat with Monte and Sue Cook at the Ennies -- the picture on
their site where they are seated with their awards was taken
by me

-D

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I was Justin Achilli's Storyteller before he went to work for White Wolf.

I've hung out/been to dinner with...aw crap...I forget his name. At the time he was doing the art director (I think) gig at Pinnacle and then he went and did something similar for Steve Jackson Games. Curse my foul memory.

 

[Templetroll]

The very first game of D&D I ever played was with Robert West of the PrinceCon Rules "Robert West Curse System". My favorite event in his campaign was when the Duke of Avaranches ordered us to "...be discreet.." while on a mission and the Cursed scroll we encountered turned two of our fighters into giant cockroaches! We promptly loaded up the dragon treasure, and my dwarf (who had been stoned by deliberately looking into the eyes of a basilisk to better aim my Shield of Reflection) onto the backs of the cockroaches and marched into the capital. For some reason the Duke sent us very far away on our next mission.... we got to see the heat death of the universe because of one of the traps on that one!

At different GenCon's I was working a booth (MPG-Net) and met Dave Arneson and Richard Garfield. That was cool since they were interested in what we were doing (online games). I was properly in fan-boy awe and they were nice enough to deal with that politely while we talked. Got a chance to meet Lisa Stevens, Mark Rein.Hagen, Mike Stackpole, some other White Wolf folks at various parties; those were always fun. At that job I worked with Ben Shih, who was Morpheus at Kesmai (Island of Kesmai) before coming to work for us. I've also had the pleasure to work with and be trained by Jessica Mulligan who has worked on some of the best online games done.

My boss, Jim Hettinger, was a fan of Larry Elmore (I got the set of prints with the one of the shaman with the flaming arrows over his head and my boss had the original painting *sigh*) and I ended up having a nice conversation with Larry when I found out he went to the same college as my wife (Western Kentucky U.).

I got an autographed Lone Wolf book from Joe Dever for my wife which she was delighted with.

One of the members of the Temple Trolls, my first gaming group, is John Mina, who is a published author and avid LARPer. Helluva nice guy and dedicated roleplayer. He held a LARP event at his home where I was able to game with William Forschten, author of the Lost Regiment series, at least one Magic: the Gathering novel and several books with Newt Gingrich (who never seemed to show up at a gaming event I attended! :\ ). Bill is a great person to play with and he has the stunning capacity to incite rebellion amongst the populace of any game we're playing.

The Temple Troll group name originated at a convention run by the Wilmark Dynasty in Newark, DE. Lee McCormick and John Corradin developed Melanda game system and ran some of the most entertaining adventures I've ever had the delight to be in. They currently own and operate the Days of Knights VFLGS in Newark. It was always worth the trip from Philly.

I first met and gamed with Ken Rolston there. The best thing to do when gaming with him is to make certain he has a character capable of chewing scenery. His undead mafioso was simply brilliant! I also got to playtest a scenario he wrote about a boar hunt at a GenCon; folks who were there would remember me as the barbarian willing to convert by the sword every tribe he knew, including his own people, because "...they were just a bunch of heathens!" My other memorable line from that one came when a female warrior succeeded in killing the boar. I strode over, acknowledged her prowess and then used my dagger to pop the thing's eye out and crush it under my heel. They all looked confused and I explained, "LIke the Good Father says, 'if swine eye offends thee, pluck it out!'" For some reason no one was willing to try to explain to me my misinterpretation of Scripture. It was a blast.

oh, yeah, Rel, here on the board is published and has magnificently organized the NC GameDays. He runs excellent adventures and has the BEST treasure (REAL PIE! ) of any game I've ever played in!

 

[MEG Hal]

I met Eric Noah---nuff said

Everyone I have met in this industry and from these boards has been nice and friendly to me, some I know more than others... this is a big + for me about this industry.

I have met a lot of people and thanks to those who consider me "famous".

 

[Bloodsparrow]

I know, and used to game with, a number of people who worked for PEG back in the day.

I took a workshop on Game Design where one of the instructors was Richard Garfield (of M:TG fame).

I once had dinner with Daniel Greenburg, who created the Malk Clanbook for V:TM.

... I think that's it.

 

[Zander]

Among N. Americans:
- Ed Greenwood (A)
- Margaret Weis (A)
- Jonathan Tweet (A)
- Chris Pramas
- Aaron Rosenberg (A)
- Ann Dupuis (A)
- John Nephew (A)
- Rick Loomis (A)

Among Britons/Europeans:
- John Kovalic (A)
- Steve Jackson (A)
- Ian Livingstone (A)
- James Wallis
- Matthew Sprange
- Alex Fennell
- Phil Masters
- Marcus L. Rowland (A)
- Ian Sturrock
- Sasha Bilton
- Chris Achilleos (A)
- Upper_Krust (soon to have an RPG book published)

(A) indicates that I also got them to autograph some of their work for me. Ed Greenwood deserves a special mention because not only did he autograph some stuff, he also penned in the corrections!

 

[Theron]

I've met quite a few. Including artists, here's who I can think of:

Aaron Allston
Mike Stackpole
Ken St. Andre
Steve Peterson
George McDonald
Ray Greer
Bruce Harlick
Mark Williams (RIP)
Shane Hensley
Steve Kenson
Spike Jones
Chris Pramas
Gareth Michael Skarka
Elissa Carey
Michelle Lyons
Steve Jackson
Anthony Haring
Denis Loubet
Richard Garriott
The guys from Troll Lord, whose names escape me
Larry Elmore
Patrick Kapera
Rob Vaux
Ree Soesbee
Jack Norris
Adam Bank
Steve Long
Darren Watts
Rich Ranallo
Scott Leaton
Stephanie Folse
David Nalle