We’ve all had strong influences at one time or another. For Gaming, most of my life was spent playing with friends and family who either came into the game around the same time as I had, or on their own had come into gaming generally around the same time or much later. As a result, I usually had as much or more experience than those with whom I played. That was until I moved across the country to a completely new city where I knew no one and had no established gaming group.
Related Articles
I hoped I could find some fellow gamers through the BBS community (the precursor to the internet), and I did, but even before that could happen I needed a phone line and who should install it but a fellow Gamer. He noticed all my gaming books and invited me to join his game. I was thrilled to join in, but a little intimidated since he was over ten years my senior. I hadn’t ever gamed with anyone that much older before and not only that, he’d been gaming much longer than me. A game master far more experienced. Cool!
I Learned a lot from Mark Sim, and played at his table for years (my longest period of being a player in RPGs!). Although we both eventually moved to new cities, I still call him one of my best friends. He was a groomsman at my wedding and we still play together from time to time.
Playing in his games, I learned not to play it safe, to take risks, but also to be smart. He’s a bit of a killer GM, so if you did something stupid, you paid for it. I remember one time we were in some Ravenloft horror adventure and were pissing around searching each room, fighting over treasure and stuff and the undead master marshalled all his forces, surrounded us and killed us all in one glorious TPK – which we totally deserved!
Mark also has a military background, so I also learned to develop combat tactical planning in games, to think on my feet and remember the clock is always ticking – we had to keep moving in dangerous situations or suffer the consequences, but at the same time, if we foolishly rushed into danger, we’d pay for it too.
Mark was an amazing mentor and I am thankful for everything I learned from him.
