03-09-2010, 09:49 AM
Rafael Wrote:First of all, would you like to present yourself to our readers, Jeff?
I am not sure everyone of the occasional lurkers might know who you are.
And those explanations are AMAZING.
I'm fascinated that people find all of this amazing; I sort of assumed that folks knew this, and I sort of take it for granted that people know this stuff. So, ask away, and I'll tell you what I can.
By way of introduction, I got started in Twin Cities gaming in 1975, and first met Dave Arneson at the University of Minnesota wargame club. I was introduced to Phil Barker based on my ability to paint miniatures very quickly and accurately, and became a regular out at Phil's Tekumel sessions; I'd sit at the end of the table and paint figures for him, and ask questions as we travelled around Tekumel. I was one of the founders, along with Jim Danielson and Rick Bjugen, of the original Thursday Night Group of Phil's Tekumel players, and gamed with Phil for something like 12 years. I also served him as a sort of major-domo and personal secretary, and was hired by Dave Arneson to be his 'Tekumel guy' at Adventure Games; Dave referred to us Tekumel folks as "the Tekumel boat people", because we'd be able to do things with next to nothing in the way of resources to promote and enjoy Tekumel. Dave also used to use me as his personal henchman in various business dealings like the TSR stockholders' meetings; I got sent into action because the guys at Adventure Games called me the "perfect hussar". we'd flog the Tekumel stuff dave was publishing at conventions for him, and were pretty successful at it.
I still do miniatures; the Aethervox Gamers' collection of Tekumel figures, of which I'm the Curator and Chief Paint Slave, runs around 5,000 miniatures. We also used to do a lot of Tekumel costumes, which are also in the Aethervox collections, and you can see these at both my blog and in the 'Der Speigel Online' article on Prof. Barker and Tekumel. There's even a picture of me and the Aethervoxes, too.
Does this help?