I've got a new web site. Yippee! It's been a while since I've had a personal little corner in the world wide web, and I think I'm going to like it here. Nice and cozy.

So, what do I offer here, that hasn't been offered elsewhere in this wide world? Probably not much, just a little slice of my brain on a topic I'm pretty happy to share: games.

"What games do you play?"

I play a variety of board games. For a while it was Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne, and a number of others. Recently Splendor is one of my favorite "board" games (although it is all cards and poker chips, sans board).

But recently, after a 20-odd year hiatus from table top role-playing games, I've gotten back into them. What is that? Well, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is probably the best known of that genre, and a google will help you more definitively answer that question.

The only issue for me is that traditionally D&D is a bit more "crunchy" (i.e. mechanically and rules complex) than I was really looking for, especially since many of my players are close friends who aren't traditional role players and don't care to manage that much game minutia. Fortunately, many indie games abound, and although I first had a stint with the Savage Worlds system, I am now running a game using Dungeon World (which is very narrative-heavy and rules-light).

For the last 3 years I've been attending the local game convention here, Strategicon, which runs three times a year near the Los Angeles airport (LAX). I've played with many an amazing GM at the con, although I know that even that is a small bit of the greatness that permeates this hobby. That, combined with my religious listening to the Happy Jacks RPG podcast (and participation in the amazing HJRPG forum) has begun to codify some of my gaming tenants and preferences, but I'm always ready to blaspheme a bit.

"Why games? Aren't you sufficiently grown up now to <blah blah blah>?"

Sorry, I kind of tuned you out after "games". Games = Play = Fun = Learning = Life.

We've been playing games with our daughter now for a few years, and it is definitely the easiest way to enable learning of many different types, in my opinion and experience. And I'm sure I can wax philosophical about games some more, but there are plenty of resources out there in internet-land to answer this question for you.

So, without further ado, or introductions, here it is, my little corner of the virtual world.