3. How did you get involved with KublaCon and how long have you been here?
As I mentioned above, I had been with ManaFest from the beginning, so when ManaFest merged with GameCon five years ago, I just followed along. So, KublaCon for five years, always as LARP Coordinator.
4. What motivates you and what rewards to you get out of being involved with KublaCon?
This is a volunteer position – so clearly it’s not the money. Seriously, I’ve always taken pride in the intensive energy and dedication of our staff and volunteers. We work our butts off, true, but even more than that we LOVE what we do.
I can’t help but feel a strong sense of pride in all of our work, and the results that our customers see when they attend KublaCon. The gaming community would survive perfectly well without us, but I firmly believe that the support we give that community makes it far better than it would be otherwise.
5. What is your earliest gaming or game convention memory?
My earliest connection with gaming was a D&D game I played in during my freshman year in High School. That was 1978. At the time, it took my mind off the fact that I was attending an all-boys Catholic school, but I found that I loved the gaming itself, too.
My first convention was a DunDraCon, c. 1982. I remember playing a lot of games, and reveling in the whole geekiness of it all, but not much else. After that, I missed three years (during my time in the Marines), but I didn’t miss out on gaming. I just never stopped
We can't be sure... but this "might" be another picture of David.
Vampires are very elusive when having their pictures taken.
6. What is your favorite gaming or game convention memory?
Disclaimer: This is not a cop-out! I swear, there are just far too many terrific, exciting, evocative, hi-larious memories in my 27 years in the hobby.
7. What is your least favorite gaming or game convention memory?
This one I can answer, and pretty much all of my gaming friends can attest to my very strong reaction to this incident. There was a situation during a Vampire LARP some 8 years ago where a character was destroyed by beheading (by the actions of my own character). The player in question was known to be a cheater, taking every advantage to “win” (an irrelevant concept in RPing). The GM desperately wanted it known that he does not play favorites, and would overcompensate for problem players by giving them their way more often than not. In this case, he re-interpreted the rules … TWICE … to cause this character to survive.
I take a lesson from this about fairness: Fairness is only achieved when all subjects are actually treated equally, NOT when operating to make some of them appear more equal.
8. Give us a top 3 list of your favorite games and tell us your least favorite game. (and give us a brief reason for your best/worst choices)?
1) Ars Magica: A beautiful aesthetic that combines history and mythical role-playing, and a mechanical system for magic that hasn’t been beaten yet. I’d really love to see a one-shot of the game done as a LARP.
2) Vampire LARP: It’s not a great game, the way it’s often played. It really isn’t… HOWEVER, the setting works very well for ongoing LARPs. It allows for good reasoning for characters to get together on a regular basis.
3) Time’s Up: Thinking, high-speed memory game! Good stuff!
Least Fav: Changeling – Maybe it’s just that I know too much about traditional stories about faeries, but the way this game was done offends me. I realize this makes me a pretentious boob, but hey, I’m a LARPer. ;)
9. Where do you currently play games and what do you play when you are there?
Mostly in Berkeley, and I play D&D, AD&D 1st Edition!, Ars Magica, Amber, Champions (and Hero System fantasy), VtES, poker, Vampire LARP, various board games, City of Heroes and other computer games, and just about anything else that comes up..
10. If you want to tell all of the KublaCon attendee’s one thing, what would it be?
This is a no-brainer, and others have answered the same way, but it’s no less true: Just have fun. Especially when you’re at KublaCon, but in the rest of your lives, too. What is the purpose to a life made uncomfortable or mundane by a complete lack of undiluted happiness?
