My name is Gary, and I'm a freelance game designer and writer. I've had a strong interest in role-playing-games since middle school, and I've been writing game-related material for the past seven or eight years. I live in southern California with my wife, Amy, our son, Stephen, and our three cats, CJ, Hastur, and Merlin. By day, I work as an inventory buyer for an orthodontic manufacturer. When I'm not writing or working, I play games, participate in American Civil War reenacting, and spend as much time as I can with my family.

Gaming has been very important to me for many years; more than half of my life, in fact. For much of that time, I've been a moderator of one stripe or another (Game Master, Dungeon Master, whatever moniker suits your fancy). I enjoy telling stories and involving my players in them. I find that it is a creative outlet like few others, one which allows me to share my own passion for story-telling with my friends.

I cut my teeth on paramilitary-themed RPGs, including Palladium's Revised Recon and Timeline Ltd's The Morrow Project. I played a good deal of AD&D (mostly 2nd Edition), too. The first games that I played as a game master utilized TSR's Top Secret/S.I. rules set. I eventually became a big fan of West End Games' Star Wars role-playing game, and fell deeply in love with R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk. Much of my early design efforts were spent modifying, tweaking, and enhancing those rules systems. Thus, my interest in game design was born.

I mentioned that I am an American Civil War re-enactor. My impression is that of a Union corporal in I Company of the Second United States Cavalry Regiment. An "impression," in re-enactor parlance, is the character (or role) that you portray. An impression can involve everything from your persona's personal history, the clothing and accouterments that he wears, and the weapons and equipment that he uses. I've been reenacting since late 2001, and have participated in countless battles and skirmishes.