Your name: Nate Trier
Location: New Haven, CT
Age: 29
Sex: Male

Family: Wife, daughter and dog who all make me very happy.

Religion: Protestant Mystic? I believe in Jesus' teachings, the core of which was “don't think you're superior to anyone else” - so you can assume that puts me out of synch with a lot of the religious/politics mix that's going on in the US right now. I also think it's important not to confuse the word of God with the word of man, if you know what I mean.

Community service: I give to charity- I also have the spiritual obligation to give to
those who ask - no avoiding eye contact or pretending I don't have any change
on me. I know the popular perception of the homeless is that they're crazy or on
drugs, but 99% of them I've spoken to are lucid and normal - they've just fallen on
hard times. Having most people step over you and refuse to acknowledge
your existence must be brutal. And really, I think we can all say that at
one time or another we've only been a paycheck or two away from
being homeless.

Which of your accomplishments are you the most happy with? Well, my wonderful family. Also, my RPG music project - I've had a jones to do this since I was 13, so I'm glad I finally did it! This is the most concentrated effort I've put into something, and I'm really happy with the results.

What is your favorite word? Antepenultimate!

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I have an enormous Charlie Brown head that makes buying hats a nightmare. Labels that read “One size fits all” seem to be mocking me.

What was your favorite toy as a child? Star Wars, GI Joes, Playmobil and Adventure People - anything I could use to make epic sagas.

What makes you cry? People being kind to each other and family stuff. Now that I'm a father, any sort of heartstring-tugging family moment makes me choke up a little. I'm a huge sap now.

What is your favorite section of the newspaper? The comics and the editorial page. Mostly for the same reason - I like analyzing what the authors could have done better!

What are three things you can't live without? My family, music, and faith. What, you wanted “things?” Things are nothing man! The temporary relocation of bound molecules!

Tell us about your favorite RPG character that you've ever played. I have to say Smith the Redcap King, from a Changeling LARP down in Delaware: a redcap rudeboy trying to turn Delaware into his private kingdom. I played him for laughs most of the time, but every so often would perpetrate some cold-blooded intimidation or random acts of brutal
violence. So people laughed at my jokes but it was always this kind of
nervous laughter.

It was a lot of fun playing that kind of character, even though (or because?)
he's so far removed from who I try to be in my real life.

Robert's brother wouldn't let us play, so we went to a separate room and made our own D&D clone - “Endless Quest.”

It's funny in retrospect - we thought we were so clever, but at the time there must have been hundreds of other Midwesterners, most of them three to four times our age, all working lovingly on their own D&D clones!

What was your WORST RPG session like? Pick-up games with strangers never go well for me. My worst was a pick-up Werewolf game at a local comics store. I didn't know anything about the setting, and I guess no one wanted to give the goofy high-schooler a three-minute summary.

As it turned out, setting info didn't really matter, because within half an hour two of the characters began getting it on in Lupus and Hispo forms. The Storyteller (and boy do I use that term loosely) was REALLY into this, and he drew the scene out endlessly -- at the expense of the other players sitting around the table.

I suddenly “remembered” my strict 8:45 curfew and got the heck out of there.

Who is your all-time favorite person to game with? Everyone in my DE gaming groups! You know who you are.

Do you have anything gaming-related to plug? I'm glad you asked! My first collection of MP3s + NPCs, Habeus Corpsus, is available on RPGNow. It contains five characters for a modern-day horror setting and five mp3s of mood music tailored for gaming - there are no distracting lyrics or abrupt changes. Any of the characters can be used as NPCs or pre-generated characters. And you get a cool soundtrack!