Memoirs of a Gentleman

Following in the footsteps fo the Sheikh, I have decided to add my bio to the site as well.

I was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland about a month before the troops went in, My early years were spent lying on my back in my gandparents' back garden, watching the helicopters buzz overhead and the odd plume of smoke rise from somewhere beyond the leylandii hedge while the university rugny team would practice in the nearby playing fields. Which probably explains a lot. However, my parents moved from Belfast to the sleepy sea-side town of Bangor, so I was spared the worst part of the 70s bombing campaigns, and instead had to spend my adolescence avoiding the local skinz who would sit in the sea-front shelters and drink special brew. For my part, I led a double life. By day, I attended the local grammar school and toed the line. By night (or usually dim afternoon), I prowled the streets in proto-grunge costume, lurked in the local library and hauinted the arcades on the sea-front, where I learned how to defeat Dragon's Lair. I also worked part-time for the local operatic group as a lighting technician (where I had my introduction to whiskey and poteen) and became a naval cadet in my school cadet force so I could spend my summer holidays sailing around the coast and exploring the islands of the North Down coast.My cadetship also paid for me to visit various Royal Navy bases in an attempt to get me to join up, but I took advantage of this to get free holidays in London at my uncle's.

My introduction to RPGs came in 1979 when myself and a couple of friends perusuaded our parents to give us money to answer a Games Workshop ad in a computer game magazine. In those days, we had to type in the games ourselves. Tell that to the youth of today and they won't believe you. Still, there were three of us and there were three games for the princely sum of £20: red box D&D, black book Traveller and the chanimail bikini version of RQ2. Being a fan of Doc Smith and Harry Harrison, I got the Traveller.

At my secondary school, I was one of the founders of the after-school RPG group, which managed to survive for two years before it broke up under a hail of rabid Presbyterianism. However, by that time I had branched out into the world of wargaming and was busy playing such things as Squad Leader, Recon, SFB and the original WHFB. We approached these games from a RPG point of view and had fun. Every game was part of a campaign, and every campaign was hard fought. And sometimes very surreal.

I left Northern Ireland to go to university in Liverpool about the time that the "Ulster Says No!" campaign got started. However, as we liked to say "The Man from Del Monte say yes!" At university I studied electrical engineering, but not as much as I studied gaming, girls and Guinness. I also learnt how to shoot a crossbow and make chainmail, but that's another story for another time. I met my wife, Sue, over a game of Block Mania in the Masonic lodge (the university gaming group had to meet somewhere), and I have been with her since then. We celebrated our 18th anniversary together in 2006, as well as our ivory wedding anniversary.

At university, I started on my games collection. I was a regular at the local games shop, and got to know the staff very well. My collection was something of a mixed blessing. Unlike some other students, I have something to show for my further education beyond a degree certificate. It also started me down the path I am now on. However, it did mean that I got some strange looks when being searched whilst boarding the Belfast-Liverpool ferry, and I only got a Richard (a third, that is). However, my time on the ferry back to my parents was rarely wasted, as I would spend the sleepless nights concocting new adventures for my players.

WhenI left university, I stayed in Liverpool and got a job in the slowly-declining British nuclear industry. After my apprenticeship, I was made redundant spent five years roaming the country as an atomic ronin, working on various nuclear projects and honing my skills as a Paranoia referee ... the two not being unconnected. During this time of wandering, I somehow managed to sire a lovely daughter (Rachael, who is now 11 years old). Eventually, I grew sick and clinically depressed as a result of the forced separation from my nascent family and got myself my second steady job (working for a paranoid UK defence contractor somewhere in Derby in the East Midlands) so I could be with them.

During this period, I did some freelance playtesting for RTG, helped start the Mekton Z Mailing List and joined the SFSFW. Currently I am a member of a Team 8 (a writers' collective), the editor of the SFSFW's magazine Ragnarok and have done freelance editing work for Cubicle 7 (I know it's just a place-holder atm) on their SLA Industries line. I have done some self-publishing in the past, but I am most proud of my cult kaiju wargame, "Trash Tokyo" (the 3rd edition of which is in progress). Occasionally, I play Go with my Go partner, Karen.