Cup of Head

Introducing Steve...

My name is Steve Hargrave. I am a native Texan and an RPG'er with limited exposure to much more than the games I like. My friend Will introduced me to his online group and it turns out that the people out there gaming are more likable and like me than I thought. I intend to post on this blog from time to time and anyone who wants to read my opinion should know a little about where it is coming from.

So here are three facts about me and three facts about how I view RPG's that might help as a background to any of my future comments.

1) I am a Christian. My dad was a pastor and now is a hospital chaplain. I followed in his footsteps in so much as I have a Biblical Studies degree and intended to become an Ethics professor before my real life interrupted my graduate studies. As such, I tend to be conservative in my opinions and views and I value the virtues.

2) I am a part-time professional Improv comic in Dallas. Not the terrible kind, but the funny and good kind. You'll just have to trust me on that.

3) I own a youth sports organization (High School aged Girls Volleyball) and compete at the highest levels of the sport. I got into this after I finished my own collegiate athletic career. So I tend to be the perfect blend of jock and nerd.

As for RPG's:

1) I prefer the G to the RP. I get enough acting in my Improv and I came to the hobby for the gaming part of it. It just so happens that the fantasy, cyber punk, and super hero genres (and all of their tangent lines of drama) appeal to me greatly as well. But it is the tactics, the rules, and the strategy of being those characters and succeeding that appeals to me. If I win, I want to have overcome the odds with a mix of creative role playing, lucky dice rolling, and brilliant within the rules strategy. If I lose, I want to be able to tell where I went wrong.

2) This hobby is more about the people you are with than the game you are playing. Sure a perfect world has both, but I'd rather play a bad game design with people I like than play the perfect game with a bunch of annoying ass hats.

3) The genre is the least important of the most important things about gaming. No matter how good the people and the game, if the genre isn't interesting to me I'd more likely end up playing chess or a video game in one of my favorite genres. You have to have context to keep my attention.

Other than that, I hope you will share in the discussion when I choose to chime in. I am ever grateful to the CoH group for letting me invade their games and I hope to keep doing so.