The Players

When I moved to the area in the early 90’s, I was anything but a gamer.  Sure, I had an NES with 3 cartridges (Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, Super C and Metal Gear) but with only one controller I wasn’t much for multiplayer.  But then I met the crew that I would one day come to call the Bad Batch.

It all started with West End Games’ Star Wars: The Role Playing Game – a game that we all still treasure today.  My mother – who was sternly against Role Playing Games – unknowingly bought it for me at a little book store when we were moving down.  I thought it was a “choose your own adventure” book when I picked it up.  Boy were we surprised!  So it got squirreled away until middle school when I met the first of the Batch, Leg Up, in Math class.  He introduced me to Drip Dry and – a few years later – The Fez and Caesarmoo.  (Caesarmoo would later introduce me to my wife).

So after a SW:RPG(WEG) campaign involving a sabotaged batch of Republic clones they became the Bad Batch.

• Drop Anchor / Thirdwaller – The host of Thirdwalling.  I’m in my 30’s, married with a house and a dog and a real, honest-to-God career that has nothing to do with games.  Like many gamers, I used to think I would one day become a writer – and I somewhat accomplished a realistic version of that in my career doing technical writing and knowledge base management supporting a global safety and healthcare software company.
  Characters: Game Master for Trials of Everrun, Jeremiah Asher the cowardly sword bearer for Dresden Files: St. Louis.
• The Ginger – My wife.  Also in her 30’s, married with a house and a dog and a real, honest-to-God career with a healthcare management company as a software analyst.  She’s the only woman in the group and the only one who gets a pass on looking at cat pictures during game.  Not because she’s my wife, but because she’ll just do it anyway so it’s easier to let her.
  Characters: Kadarin the naive human archer in Trials of Everrun, Emma White the vengeful White Court Virgin in Dresden Files: St. Louis.
• Leg Up – The Philosopher. After bumming around Asia teaching English and Kung-Fu for a few years, then teaching Chinese at a private institution in California for a few years, he is back in our neck of the woods.  He is working on a graduate degree in educational gaming at a very prestigious school and try as I might to come up with something ridiculous about him, the truth (listed here) is far, far weirder.  Leg Up is the only man at the table without a rich, luxurious and masculine beard – which is to say he’s one of two women at the table.
  Characters: Brân Myffinhadau (Bran Muffinhammer) the stern, gruff dwarven berzerker / baker in Trials of Everrun and Aristotles the socially-awkward scholar in Dresden.
• Drip Dry – My often co-conspirator when it comes to games.  To my mind, it all started with Leg Up and Drip Dry in our middle-school math class, Leg Up and I cheating off Double D to make more time for creating characters and running games.  Big D’s married with a (step-)daughter and works as  an electrical engineer for a company that specializes in the same.  He’s also the biggest nerd of the group and I consider that high praise.
  Characters: Roxas the Arbitor, would-be paladin of Raxxas The Traveler in Trials of Everrun, Game Master in Dresden: St. Louis.
• The Fez – He chose the name and, you know what?  That’s no excuse. I’m so sorry.  The man my wife calls my “hetero-sexual life-partner” has been gaming since he was a kid and even has a degree in game design from a well-known technical institute. He works as a graphics designer and – hold on to your hearts, ladies – he’s single!  His favorite part of the game is making new characters, so Drip Dry and I really have to keep an eye on him or he’ll throw himself on a grenade (or some other suitable explosive device) to get the opportunity.
  Characters: Jerrede Faekin, the Elf Ranger with a hearty disdain for humans and dwarves (whom he insists are at war with trees – and losing) and Amelia Blackwell, the grieving revenant in Dresden: St. Louis.

Supporting Roles – Not players, but deserving honorable mention.

• Caesarmoo – Married with a son, he introduced me to my wife, and has often been the one to drag me kicking and screaming back to writing, gaming or otherwise nerding over the 12+ years I’ve known him.  This blog was his idea so if you see him, give him a hard time about it.
• Wicker Man – Dear friend and fellow rouser of rabble, the Wicker Man was a long time player before he moved out to America’s Heartland for love and livestock (not together, you perverts!) As technology improves and Google Hangouts become a more meaningful thing, he may start making appearances in our games again.  He is the reason that The Ginger’s characters are no longer permitted to have explosives and stealth rolls are capped at 6D in all of my D6 games.  Watch as he blends with the Geo Metro.
• Expletive Deleted – Leg Up’s significantly better half.  She shows up at the game table from time to time to help us pick on Leg Up and run the occasional NPC.  While she doesn’t have much in the way of RPG experience, she’s an accomplished theatrical set and scenery director who brings a great creativity to the table.  She’s also an amateur photographer, so you’ll see her photographs on the site from time to time.  They’ll be distinguishable from Drop Anchor’s because they’re actually good.
• Da Ogre – The primary DM/GM at our favorite game shop, he runs our Pathfinder Society games.  Look for future collaboration between the Thirdwalling team and Da Ogre in the near future!

The names in this article were changed to protect the innocent… that have kept up with their payments.  Failure to be fully extorted will result in revealing your name.  Paypal, people.  Paypal.