Hello, I'm Michael Shorten, aka Chgowiz, and I'm one of the guys here kicking off Three-Headed Monster Games. I'm a full-time Dad, Grandfather, ex-amateur stock car racer, professional IT guy by day and RPG gamer in the evening. In my ever-decreasing spare time, I do a lot of writing for my blog "Old Guy RPG". I've been published in Fight On! and Knockspell magazines. I've also authored some original edition D&D gaming aids and accessories as well as working for Examiner.com as the Chicago Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)/RPG columnist. I'm also the co-creator of the 2009 One Page Dungeon Contest.
In Spring 2009, it seemed like the world was on fire and everyone wanted to write new content for their favorite fantasy RPG - especially those of us who like playing the original or older versions of D&D. Two new magazines were reaching critical mass, several new rulesets had been released and there was a vibrancy in the air that hadn't been felt in awhile. That was when Dave (Sham) of the blog Sham's Grog 'n Blog, Mike (Amityville Mike) of the blog The Society for the Torch, Pole and Rope and I got the bright idea to rub our brain cells together and see what we could come up with to ride this wave.
Dave and I had already collaborated in late 2008 on a project called the "One Page Dungeon" key. Dave had been looking for a way to produce dungeon maps and levels in a simple, succinct format and I helped put together a simple Word template to do just that. The philosophy that we had towards the "one pagers" sparked the imagination of quite a few amateur writers, including Mike who started producing the "Stonehell" dungeon series. Together, we put together a few dungeons and materials.
We decided that the way we had worked - collaborating, advising, critiquing, commenting and supporting each other with our talents really worked well. We debated on the best way we could open up those talents to each other - not to try and limit each other or somehow be co-employees, but rather collaborate on our own unique projects while getting help from other enthusiastic authors. Mike's punk rock attitude, Dave's thoughtful critique and my own obsessive nature to "git-er-done!" resulted in what you see today: the Three-Header Monster Games co-op.
Where are we going? Well, we're kinda like those adventurers we play in our games - we're carefully poking down the corridor, with a 10 foot pole in hand, carefully mapping with our eye on the goal - to help each other make some really awesome materials that we'd like to share with the world. We hope you enjoy the journey along with us... and if you're so inclined, perhaps you'd like to help out too!
Showing posts with label minibio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minibio. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Man Named Mike
My name is Michael Curtis and I’m one of the heads that make up Three-Headed Monster Games. I spend most of my day-lit hours toiling over old maps, aged letters, and arcane manuscripts in my profession as an archivist. Once the sun goes down, I find myself doing same thing as a writer, designer, and gamer. I’m better known on the web as Amityville Mike, the owner and sole proprietor of the blog, The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope, from which I explore my return to the hobby of role-playing after a long sabbatical. In addition to blogging about this hobby of ours, I’m a semi-regular contributor to the fanzines, Fight On! and Knockspell, served as one of the judges of the One Page Dungeon Contest, work on my own homebrewed megadungeon, and now help chart the course of Three-Headed Monster Games. My first professional role-playing game book, The Dungeon Alphabet, will be published in September 2009 by Goodman Games.
I’m one of gaming’s prodigal sons, having left the hobby during my college years when the distractions and responsibilities of real life became too complex to easily allow time for role-playing. The hobby and the industry that supports it were undergoing a change during that time as well, and I had grown uninterested in what was being produced. I might still be wandering out there in the wilderness had it not been for my discovery of the gaming movement now commonly referred to as the Old School Renaissance. Once I saw what was going on with the OSR, I realized that I had found my tribe again and jumped back into the hobby with an enthusiasm I hadn’t felt in many years.
After my return, I had the pleasure of getting to know David Bowman and Michael Shorten. Our early collaborations on the One Page Dungeon idea proved that we worked well together, and it wasn’t long before we were bouncing ideas off of one another when working on other projects. It was from this successful collaboration that the idea for Three-Headed Monster Games was formed. Our work was vastly improved by being able to reach out to others for assistance, guidance, and creative criticism. We were certain that other beginning writers, designers, and artists could benefit from a similar network of collaborators. Three-Headed Monster Games was created to serve as a banner under which a network could form.
We’re just starting along on our journey, but we’ve already got some good things coming in the near future. It is our hope that others will join us on our trip and help the Three-Headed Monster Games network of “gamers helping gamers” grow. As the old adage says, “Two heads are better than one,” and Three-Headed Monster Games plans to go one step better to help other starting game writers, designers, and artists create quality work for the benefit of Old School gamers everywhere. Won’t you join us?
I’m one of gaming’s prodigal sons, having left the hobby during my college years when the distractions and responsibilities of real life became too complex to easily allow time for role-playing. The hobby and the industry that supports it were undergoing a change during that time as well, and I had grown uninterested in what was being produced. I might still be wandering out there in the wilderness had it not been for my discovery of the gaming movement now commonly referred to as the Old School Renaissance. Once I saw what was going on with the OSR, I realized that I had found my tribe again and jumped back into the hobby with an enthusiasm I hadn’t felt in many years.
After my return, I had the pleasure of getting to know David Bowman and Michael Shorten. Our early collaborations on the One Page Dungeon idea proved that we worked well together, and it wasn’t long before we were bouncing ideas off of one another when working on other projects. It was from this successful collaboration that the idea for Three-Headed Monster Games was formed. Our work was vastly improved by being able to reach out to others for assistance, guidance, and creative criticism. We were certain that other beginning writers, designers, and artists could benefit from a similar network of collaborators. Three-Headed Monster Games was created to serve as a banner under which a network could form.
We’re just starting along on our journey, but we’ve already got some good things coming in the near future. It is our hope that others will join us on our trip and help the Three-Headed Monster Games network of “gamers helping gamers” grow. As the old adage says, “Two heads are better than one,” and Three-Headed Monster Games plans to go one step better to help other starting game writers, designers, and artists create quality work for the benefit of Old School gamers everywhere. Won’t you join us?
Sham's Sordid Details
Welcome to Three-Headed Monster Games. I’m David Bowman, better known as Sham in some parts. ‘Round here I’m a member of the trio of bloggers who banded together to form this gaming cooperative. You can learn all about this little venture by reading our Mission Statement, and our DIY Philosophy. Suffice to say that it’s really cool stuff, and way better than anything ever done on the internet that involves three bloggers, two time zones and one guy not named Mike.
That’s right; the other two much more frightening visages of Three-Headed infamy are Michael Shorten, aka Chgowiz, and Michael Curtis, aka Amityville Mike. So what was it that roused this fearsome six-eyed monstrosity from its lair in the nether reaches of gaming?
Nearly three decades after taking up this hobby, I found myself thinking I was an endangered species in a role-playing world that had passed me by. That was until 2007, when I stumbled across a website that changed everything. I was not alone! There were entire communities out there of others who had not yet given up the torch of olden ways, and I became part of a growing community of online brethren; fans of the various editions of the game as published by TSR.
Along the way I rediscovered the original 1974 edition which inspired me to begin a web log about the subject on Leap Day, 2008 called Sham’s Grog ‘n Blog. Since that time I’ve contributed to the Open Game Table Anthology, Fight On! magazine, and Knockspell magazine, all the while witnessing a renaissance of sorts take shape not from the sidelines but as an active participant. Last year I won the Summer Adventure Contest with Spawning Grounds of the Crab-men (FO! issue 3), which included Frank Mentzer and Jim Ward as judges, and this year I was the one doing the judging, helping out a six man panel pick from 112 entries in the first One Page Dungeon Contest.
During this time I had the pleasure to meet the two Mikes who eventually conspired to drag me here, kicking and screaming, to join in on their sordid activities at Three-Headed Monster Games. As Sham I’m the self-styled Grognard and unapologetic Dungeonista. As Dave I’m just your average happily married man and Father of two who happens to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about dice, traps and hordes of spear-toting Goblins.
Looking back at my 30 year long pursuit of this grand game, I can confidently say that I find myself once again experiencing the rarified air of those first, formative days; a time without expectations and genres, governed only by imagination and creativity. No longer do I feel like an endangered species, and I have my fellow gaming brethren, including my friends Mike and Mike, to thank for that.
That’s right; the other two much more frightening visages of Three-Headed infamy are Michael Shorten, aka Chgowiz, and Michael Curtis, aka Amityville Mike. So what was it that roused this fearsome six-eyed monstrosity from its lair in the nether reaches of gaming?
Nearly three decades after taking up this hobby, I found myself thinking I was an endangered species in a role-playing world that had passed me by. That was until 2007, when I stumbled across a website that changed everything. I was not alone! There were entire communities out there of others who had not yet given up the torch of olden ways, and I became part of a growing community of online brethren; fans of the various editions of the game as published by TSR.
Along the way I rediscovered the original 1974 edition which inspired me to begin a web log about the subject on Leap Day, 2008 called Sham’s Grog ‘n Blog. Since that time I’ve contributed to the Open Game Table Anthology, Fight On! magazine, and Knockspell magazine, all the while witnessing a renaissance of sorts take shape not from the sidelines but as an active participant. Last year I won the Summer Adventure Contest with Spawning Grounds of the Crab-men (FO! issue 3), which included Frank Mentzer and Jim Ward as judges, and this year I was the one doing the judging, helping out a six man panel pick from 112 entries in the first One Page Dungeon Contest.
During this time I had the pleasure to meet the two Mikes who eventually conspired to drag me here, kicking and screaming, to join in on their sordid activities at Three-Headed Monster Games. As Sham I’m the self-styled Grognard and unapologetic Dungeonista. As Dave I’m just your average happily married man and Father of two who happens to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about dice, traps and hordes of spear-toting Goblins.
Looking back at my 30 year long pursuit of this grand game, I can confidently say that I find myself once again experiencing the rarified air of those first, formative days; a time without expectations and genres, governed only by imagination and creativity. No longer do I feel like an endangered species, and I have my fellow gaming brethren, including my friends Mike and Mike, to thank for that.
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