I thought the best place to start blogging might be an excerpt from the last couple pages of the book, Citadel of the Fallen. “What? Won’t that ruin the ending?” you ask. Rest assured, I wouldn’t do that to you. Unlike a lot of authors, I decided to place my Acknowledgments after the story. So, the excerpt is from there:
It’s surreal to look back on all the gaming marathons I’ve participated in over the years. Summer days that melted into summer nights. Rolling dice, mainlining sugar and nicotine in basements, dinner tables, or wherever we got together to play. I never would have conceived of, let alone written this book, if not for the patience and participation of so many of my gaming friends.
I remember the endless player versus player battles between Nico and Howard. (A.K.A. Boomer) Campaign after campaign, Boomer betrayed his friend, but every time, Nico escaped through one desperate die roll after another.
I remember Graig Canter’s Dice-Prison… an odd collection of plastic milk crates, where he exiled dice that failed to score acceptable numbers, until gravity, time and the general chaos of the basement allowed them to eventually fall to the bottom and escape to the precious freedom of the carpeted floor.
I remember Gary Canter setting his dice to graze out on the lawn, and more than one person blowing cig smoke over theirs to get them ready.
Over the years, the game took on a new significance in our lives. It was our way of keeping our group of friends together. The game became the anchor that tethered us to one another, occasionally calling us all back, once every few weeks, to spend an evening together. Rolling dice, arguing, cheering, drinking, and generally having fun.
As we followed different paths in life, people cycled in and out of the gaming group. Each campaign had a different cast of players, with different stories and different timelines, but we carried elements from each through to the next… adding history and life to what I hope will grow into a rich and nuanced fantasy world for all to experience.
Over the years, players moved away, most notably Matt Tetreault, Tracy Greiff and David Duewell. Tragically, others who played are no longer with us. We remember you often when we gather to play: Bill Keller, Chris Borgh, Gary Canter, and of course, Kelly Konkol. It’s bittersweet to come together and form a game after losing a loved one. The loss is poignant, but it also reminds us of the many blessings we still have.
More than a decade ago, we gathered in some West Allis bar to discuss the campaign that would eventually grow into this novel. We needed a necromancer for this story, and Jason Haupt accepted that responsibility, creating Malcolm. Few adventuring parties succeed without both a tank and a healer. David Hoover, and Martin Tierney assumed those respective roles, giving us Liam and Conner. (Some day, Martin, we’ll rope your brother, Joe, into one of these games. Until then, I appreciate his advice and encouragement.)
Graig Canter, and my late wife, Kelly, got more freedom in how they crafted their characters, giving us Eliana (although in the game, the character was Igglethorpe) and Attia. Nick Makarewicz joined the game later, providing the group with their wizard, Russ.
Many of my future blog posts will discuss table-top gaming and how the Roleplaying Game I created, and the campaigns I ran, shaped different aspects of my novels. While the what’s and how’s about gaming are all interesting and important to me, I thought this section of the Acknowledgments spoke to a much more important aspect of table-top gaming… the why.