I think a lot about video games. One of my main purposes for this blog is to have a place where I can lay out critiques and thoughts on games. I want to discuss them in a way beyond the like/dislike conversations that you usually get amongst a group of friends (not that I don't love those too).

Often this will come out as a short essay. Sometimes it'll be a kind of review (though I don't think I'll be assigning points, stars, or buckets or whatever).

I tend to lag behind the big new releases, especially on console, so I won't be your source for breaking news. Mostly I'll be talking about games I've played as opposed to speculation on unreleased ones. I'd love to say that I'm not going to get swept up into the fervor around the latest trailer or Kickstarter for game X, but I'd hate to disappoint everyone. Occasionally I'll get hyped enough about an upcoming game to post about it here.

I imagine working in the games industry has influenced my view of games quite a bit. I started in out-sourced QA in 2006, continued on as a QA team lead at EA Montreal, and then started as a Writer/Narrative Designer (depends how fancy I want to sound) at Disney Interactive in 2013. I still feel like I'm just a fan, especially when I'm discussing them as I hope to here, but if I sound like some industry shill at some point, you can blame it on me being on the other side of the fence :)

Of all the different interests I'll be talking about on the blog, this is the one that is the hardest to introduce. Most people don't know what it is, but a lot of the readers of a gaming blog will. I'm going to err on the side of caution for now.

I'm tempted to launch into a history lesson on where Dungeons & Dragons came from and where it is now. Maybe even a discussion of all the things that fall under the umbrella of "tabletop role-playing game". But those are probably all posts on their own. I'll jump right to the big points and let you pick it up as we go.

For the uninitiated, tabletop RPGs are co-operative games where you play through a story in the role of a fictional character. There are rules that determine how challenges are overcome and how the world reacts to the characters. You also can't win or lose. If you threw improv theatre together with an in-depth board game, you might get the right idea.

If you're already familiar with all that, then you probably think RPGs are great. There are very few people I know that have actually played an RPG and don't enjoy it. The spontaneous creation of story mixed with exciting adventures and codified character building certainly sucked me in early. It may have also had something to do with my dad teaching me to play when I was young and impressionable. Either way, I was hooked from a young age and have been playing these games off and on since then.

I'll be posting my thoughts on new RPGs that come out, lessons learned from my own games, and maybe some home-brew creations as well. Plus, I'll point the way to some of the great RPG sites and podcasts that are out there. I tend to like learning new systems and I'm not one to dig in and choose an absolute favourite. I will say that the FATE System from Evil Hat has been a front-runner for a little while though.