"Let no man read here who lives only in the world about him. To these leaves, let no man stoop to whom Yesterday is as a closed book with iron hasps, to whom Tomorrow is the unborn twin of Today. Here let no man seek the trend of reality." ~Robert E. Howard, Etchings in Ivory, 1928
Hello. I am GREG McKENZIE SMITH -- I am in my late 20s, and I live in Canberra, Australia.
I was born in Canberra and raised in Sydney. I was first introduced to fantasy gaming through a friend of mine who showed me a FIGHTING FANTASY novel. I was hooked. While studying at the University of New England I played AD&D, Shadowrun, STAR WARS (West End), and the Vampire and Werewolf games of WHITE WOLF's World of Darkness. I co-produced the EyeCon 2002 Gaming Convention and wrote the UN-Pleasentville modern d20 scenario.
I am one of the stalwart players in Jonathan's D&D 2.1x World of Mystery campaign featuring the SILVER KNOT and the HEIRS OF SKULLCRAIG. I run the city of ROCKPORT - "where the ocean meets the sky" - Headquarters of the Free Realms and site of the international bank: the Rockport Vault.
Rockport is ruled over by the swashbuckling half Steel-dragon LORD ROCK. HERE is a picture of Lord Rock drawn by James Versace, author of "Ouch my eye!", posing atop the skull of one of the 18 Bone Dragons he slew at the Battle of La Rochesse 1101 YAC.
With the campaign now focused on the adventures of the Heirs of Skull Craig, I have taken up playing one of the Heirs, specifically the young Epic Hero, Daykin Gundai. Daikin is a young swordsman, an ex slave-gladiator. Daikin has risen from that ignoble beginning to become the most feared warrior of the world of Mystery, and now wields the black rune-blade Orhpan and the Black Bow as he walks the path of an Eternal Champion.
"It is many years since I met the King. He was but a boy when first our paths crossed, and we did not know then that I would be his chronicler, and he my king. It was a time of bloodshed and darkness, of undead horror and high adventure... Let me tell you of the day Daikin Gundai cast down the Horror on the Cliffs, and lifted the Shadow of Fear..." -from the Scrolls of Salmoor
This is a pciture of Daikin Gundai fighting one of the saurian shapeshifters known as the Melters as drawn by James Versace, author of "Ouch my eye!".
The Others.I have some other characters within the vast World of Mystery. These are characters previously played and now populating the World of Mystery, but not regulalry played due to the campaign not focusing on them.
The Departed. This is a list of the characters of mine who have died. The pages lists who they were, what they did, what the world thought of them, and some of the skills, spells and items they used.
Gaming History.The World of Mystery campaign is not the first time I have slung dice around the table. This is a brief description of the other Role-Playing Games I have played and enjoyed over the last eight years.
The AD&D game (a.k.a. "The Draithe and Franjo Show") was set on the world of Greyhawk and involved from five to seven players at any one time. It was run over nine months. I played a mage called Franjo whose claim to fame was an extremely good press agent and a tasty trail stew. The game's magic for me lay in the camaraderie between the two characters Draithe and Franjo as they blundered into heroics through arrogance and out of danger through a complete faith in their - entirely justified - ability to bluff or tough out any situation. The challenge with Franjo came in using his low-powered spells to the best possible effect. I left the game with the firm opinion that a well-run low-level character will whip a vanilla higher level character. The stronger spirit will triumph.
The Shadowrun game was run over two years with from four to seven players. My characters included a ninja, a Fox-Shaman, and a Rat-shaman. The most infamous session happened when every character bar my Rat-shaman and the orc martial artist betrayed the group to a different enemy. The sheer detail the Shadowrun team threw into each and every mission was amazing - hours upon hours each and every week. Whether it was the game or the group, the Shadowrun games were fantastic mental gymnastics.
The Star Wars (West End) game was a very enjoyable romp with from seven to nine players (all fans) run both in Armidale and Sydney. The game was set in 'Classic Star Wars’ (between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) and featured rebel operatives battling for truth, justice, and freedom for all. I played a Jawa technician, a bright-eyed kid and then an armoured bounty-hunter. The most loved session involved a mail run to Boot Hill entitled "A Fistfull of Credits. . The fun with the Star Wars game was the sense of comraderie that came with the group. The good guys wore white hats and bad guys wore black hats, and it was a golden age.
The game is still run for some players in Sydney by the very dedicated and talented GM Steven Cavanagh. Steven has wrote up the tales from the gaming table. Those interested in these, or in any of Steven's many Star Wars and Star Wars gaming ideas can find them at Star Wars RPG Tales.
The Vampire game ran for eighteen months and featured from four to six rotating players. The game ended in its tabletop format when most of the players moved away. The game continues to this night in an email format, where the finance mogul Jason Stryker continues to build a better world. The fun from this game came in the matching of wits with the others players - friends for so long and now rivals. It was quite a lot of fun until it all spiralled out of control and our infighting caused our mutual defeats.
The Werewolf game ran for two years with a high character death-rate and player turnover. I played a loyal second-in-command of a warlike and political werewolf pack. The game drew to a close when the Storyteller fell ill and then moved to Canada. The game threatens to spring back to life, and hopefully will do so one day soon. The fun with the Werewolf game came with both the sense of family that came from being part of a pack, and the absolute crushing of all enemies.
