Appearance and Costume Resources

I am male, 5'8", about 190lbs, muscular build. Blue eyes, hair of indeterminate brownish/reddish/blond color. I am in good physical shape due to martial-arts training. I have a moustache but no beard. There is nothing particularly remarkable about my appearance except a slight limp (congenital cerebral palsy which I cover pretty well).

I have a reasonably well-stocked costume closet, including everything from an impressive wizard's outfit through quasi-military khakis, a white lab coat, 17th-century cavalier's garb, frock coat, topper & sword cane suitable for a 19th-century boulevardier, and an authentically styled Roman senatorial toga.

My wife is an accomplished costumer and not averse to outfitting me elaborately for a good role.

Roleplaying Experience

My previous roleplaying experience is extensive (I have been playing LARPs regularly since 1983). Characters I have played have included:

Dr. John Myriad (mad scientist) in Rekon 1B

The Blue Adept (wizard) in Double Exposure I

The Orange Adept in Double Exposure II

Ervik T'Kirth (Atlantean sorcerer) in Paths to the Future II

Hisham ibn-Sindbad (the Black Wazir) in Arabian Nights

Dr. Umberto Porenta-Vasquez (mad scientist) in Cocabanana

Jordan Marche (an incompetent shaman) in Dark Continent

Dr. Winslow Roo (mad scientist) in Rekon-2

Korin "The Brain" Teuton (mutant mad scientist) in Ace of Spades

Korin Teuton (again) in Tales From The Floating Vagabond I

Bo Ling Shu (ninja) is For A Few Wu More

Basil Kalligas (Byzantine bureaucrat) in Golden_Horn

Nikolai Zaleshoff (KGB assassin) in Casablanca .

. Ingolf (Court Arch-Mage) in Valoroth .

. Jorik Arnulfson (scientist/spy) in Epigene

Duke Henri de Rohan (Huguenot faction leader) in The King's Musketeers

Keric Kilvarn (wizard/stormwarden) in R.S.V.P

Algernon Hawthorne (Martian spy) in Terror on the Thames .

. Marvin the Martian (toon) in Tales from the Floating Vagabond IV

Decimus Junius Brutus Alvinius (Roman general) in Pax Romana

Dr. John Holstein (nuclear physicist) in Murder Mystery Weekend

Dr. John Myriad (again) in Rekon + 10

Cyrano de Bergerac (poet, inventor, swordsman) in King's Musketeers II

Dr. Leoplod Shones (eccentric physicist) in The Precipice Club

Dr. Richard Heartwright (yet another...) in Revenge of the Mad Scientists

Harold Shea (the Compleat Enchanter) in TFV III

Alexandre Dumas fils (writer, vampire-slayer) in Sic Semper Tyrannis

The Great Giberti (stage magician) in Paddlewheel .

. Thomas the Rhymer (bard and minstrel) in When The Wind Blows

Prospero (from "The Tempest") in Shakespeare's Lost Play

Henry Halleck (Union general) in All Quiet On The Potomac .

. H. G. Wells in 1897: Queen Victoria's Jubilee .

. Wally Ferris (ex-WW1 aviator) in The Four Aces .

. Percy Bullock (adept of the Golden Dawn) in Golden Aeon

Egil Skallagrimsson (viking badass) in Drink Deep and Drink Deeper .

and . Lucien Volare (revolutionary agitator) in Torch of Freedom

I've played enough characters that there are one or two I've forgotten the names of, including a slug psychologist in Starlight Rendezvous , and a random Dragonlord in Dragon II.

Preferred Character Types

I consider myself a skilled and veteran player suitable for major and even leading roles — in fact my success tends to be directly proportional to my degree of involvement in major plot lines. `Spear-carrier' roles make me feel cramped and unhappy and I usually flub them. This is not exactly because I have ham tendencies (though I do) it's that I don't find small roles much of a challenge any more.

The pattern in most of the characters I have played best and enjoyed most is that they are all types who get their leverage from intelligence and puzzle-solving ability — high-level scientist or sorcerer types. One of them, `The Brain', made me the runner-up for the `Best Player' award in the first Ace Of Spades game at Balticon (and achieved all his character goals in his second appearance at the Floating Vagabond ). Another (Dr. John Myriad) saved the planet Earth twice — once in Rekon-1B (my first game) and again in Rekon+10, a decade later.

In the last decade, however, I have been doing more in the way of pure dramatic roleplaying. My Cyrano de Bergerac in King's Musketeers II barely met a single one of his goals, but was much praised during and after the game for sheer melodramatic intensity (not to mention being showered with style points by the Cruel Hoax referees, not an easy crowd to impress).

My preference is to play a `Good' or `Neutral' character, but I would play a villain if necessary to get a stronger part. Usually I'd rather play an independent than a faction follower or even leader. When intriguing, I do a lot of win-win negotiating and often find myself in a pivot or power-broker position between several factions (I do have some `schemer' tendencies, though I usually prefer not to play pure schemer characters). My playing style is also marked by the fact that I almost never lie to anyone, preferring to find ways to make the truth serve my ends (by misdirection, if necessary).

Many game forms oppose `character acting' against `strategic success'. For me, the two aren't separable. All my `winning' characters have been intensely character-acted; conversely, when I've been handed a character that I couldn't method-act my way into I've generally crashed and burned. Give me a character that fits and a little rope and I'll generate as much drama as you could ask for.

Skills and Interests Relevant to Live-Action Gaming

I have an extensive knowledge base in the sciences and history.

I have a lot of experience at table gaming (military simulations, combinatorial games, etc.) and play them with some skill. If your game has a real military simulation in it, you want me as one of the generals, and it would be unwise to put me on any side you want to lose.

I have good public-speaking skills and can hold an audience.

I am a fairly able poet and can extemporize in any one of several genres at short notice, including but not limited to: ballad, limerick, haiku, and alliterative heroic meter.

I am very good at word puzzles (incomplete word recognition, crosswords, cryptograms, anagrams, that sort of thing).

I play flute, guitar, and hand drums.

I hold the rank of 1st Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and am a student of aikido; accordingly I have considerable skill in hand-to-hand and weapons techniques, including sword and nunchaku, and am a good shot with a pistol. While the skills are not directly relevant in-game, the background does make me more convincing at playing warrior/assassin/spy-type characters.

I am an expert computer programmer and Internet technologist.

Further Information

If you are looking at paper, it was generated from a WWW page. You can find my home page at http://www.catb.org/~esr/.