Randy started with the D&D Red Box back around 83’-84’ with no regular group until meeting Mark’s brother in High School in 1986. The summer of 86’, Mark interviewed Randy to be a gaming friend, and they have been playing almost weekly since. There have been many members who have been a part of the group over the years, but Mark and Randy have been in it the whole time.
In the beginning it was all AD&D, but soon Randy and friends branched out into many other games from TSR, Palladium, Steve Jackson, West End Games, etc. Taking a deep dive into the World of Darkness during the 90’s, but coming back to the fantasy roots in the 2000’s.
Through it all Randy has been a world builder, creator, and idea man. He has for many years loved to write his stories like they were a published module. Up until now, he has never moved beyond his own personal enjoyment of writing, but times they are a changin’
Outside of gaming, Randy has worked for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for 29 years, promoting as high as Captain. However, these days, as retirement looms he enjoys being a Sergeant in a quiet post. Randy is married to a wonderful and supportive woman, Dawn, has two children, Asher and Zach, two step-children, Alex and Chris, and a great cat Yondu.
Mark was first introduced to role-playing games when he received the Moldvay Basic D&D boxed set as a gift. He was 10 or 11 at the time and was utterly taken with the artwork, particularly the Erol Otus cover. At the time, he had one friend who was only sort of interested in gaming. The lack of players did not deter his interest in the game, and he soon started collecting any and all games he could get his hands on. Eventually, he convinced his younger brother to play with him, and together they began playing games such as D&D, Boot Hill, Top Secret, and Star Frontiers. Mark expanded his gaming experience and circle of friends and in high school he found a group of nerds that shared his love of TTRPGs. He continues to game with these same friends today. In fact, several of them decided to put their collective knowledge of role-playing games and formed the company you’re reading about today.
Aside from gaming, Mark is an avid fan of movies, reading, and martial arts. He is a fountain of trivial movie knowledge and often speaks in movie quotes. He’s been interested in and has studied martial arts since the age of nine. He has instructed students in Tae-kwon-do, Jeet Kune Do, and Filipino Martial Arts. He has also been a Defensive Tactics instructor for the State of Wisconsin for the past 27 years.
Mark lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Laurie, their son, Seth, and their Aussie, Kora. He has worked for the State of Wisconsin for nearly 3 decades and is looking forward to retiring soon and becoming a full-time game designer.
My entry to the world of TTRPG’s happened when my mom gave me the D&D Basic Set for Christmas when I was 9 and from then until senior year of high school, gaming was my girlfriend: if I wasn’t doing homework or swapping comic books, I was scribbling a new dungeon (or flying mage tower) into my pad of graph paper, or writing its accompanying tale. I found an ongoing gaming group in high school (several of whom constitute the Wayward Studios Dark Council), and we explored worlds unconquered until I started dating my first serious girlfriend senior year…and, well, the inevitable happened. I’d take the occasional peek back into the gaming world now and then, and continued to play computer RPG’s throughout, but the Saturday night basement hangouts became a fond memory.
Then, I watched that first episode of Stranger Things–you know, the one where the kids take down Demogorgon with a fireball? And I knew it was time. I reached out to a couple of the guys from that basement gaming group of the 80’s to see if they wanted to roll some dice–only to find they’d never stopped. I was invited back to the Table (still in a basement, but man, had the trappings improved over the decades!), and the rest is history. I’ve been playing once or twice a week since, and got my son and his crowd into the hobby, running them through Curse of Strahd every Saturday of their senior year.
And now, I find myself living the dream of that 9-y/o kid so many years ago: me and my buds get to write our own hair-raising adventures and publish them for your enjoyment. Life really doesn’t get much better than this!
From Out of Gnollwhere Playtest
