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Your name:
Cameron Hays
Location: Denver,
CO
Age: Late 20s
Sex: Male
Pets:
Two cats: Kafka and Asimov
Religion:
Apathist (like an agnostic, but not really caring)
Political
party/affiliation: Liberal-leaning
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Education:
Never graduated from high school or completed the GED, but was accepted
into Lewis & Clark College as a sophomore transfer student and
graduated with a BA in Ethnomusicology. Returned to art school in
Seattle for training in audio production and graphic design, but never
finished due to the collapse of the dot com economy. Currently
attending the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center for
a Colorado teaching license (secondary education: social studies) and a
Masters degree in Educational Psychology.
Hobbies/Activities:
I'm an accomplished musician. As a bass player, I've worked with former
members of a number of early nineties grunge luminaries, and once
played in the backing band for DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill. I have put
out two full-length albums of original music, and have contributed
tracks to a number of compilation albums. As a recording engineer and
keyboardist/synth programmer, I have recorded, mixed and remixed lots
of other people's music.
I also helped establish
the Adventure Education Company in Boulder, CO, which is a summer camp
program for kids between the ages of 7 and 15. The basis of the camp is
a large live action fantasy roleplaying game with each week of the
summer being a different story arc. The camp has been in business since
1998 and just gets bigger every year.
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What is
your favorite way to spend a weekend? It's not very
interesting, but I
love to sleep late on the weekends. Then I like to get up for a few
hours, read
a book and then take a nap. Maybe I don't get enough sleep on weekdays.
What is
the most frightening thing you've ever done? When I was
18,
I went to Sri Lanka as a research assistant. The war there was heating
up
and I had some unnerving experiences involving bombs. At one point, I
was
arrested in a small village by a military unit who thought I was an
arms dealer.
It took most of the day to find an English-speaker and explain who I
was.
Traditionally, interrogation by the Sri Lankan military tends to
involve broken limbs,
so I was terrified the entire time.
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Which of your accomplishments are
you the most happy with? It's not easy to get into
college without a high school diploma or GED. It was a long process
that I don't recommend to anyone, but I'm very pleased that I was able
to get where I wanted to be. I'm sure I'll be very pleased with myself
when I finish my Masters degree as well.
What is
your favorite time of year, and why? I love autumn.
Unlike other people, its not the colors that gets me, it's the smells.
Around late September, people start lighting up wood-burning stoves and
the smell of dead leaves creates a stunning nostalgia for Halloween as
a kid.
If you
could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
After having spent my entire life as a very athletic skinny person, I
began to realize at age 29 that my metabolism was changing and that I'd
have to actually start being careful what I ate. I want my old
metabolism back. Also, I'd be pretty happy to get rid of the affective
disorder I've had since I was 11.
What was
your favorite toy as a child? I had a stuffed badger
named "Badger." Badger was the stoic kind of huggable badger, not the
"rip your face off" angry badger.
Do you
have a useless talent that no one else that you know can do?
I can wiggle my eyebrows independently. On a good day, I can do the
same with my ears.
If you
could pick any other time period to live in, which would it be, and why?
Honestly, I think I should've been born in the mid-1960s in London. I
feel like I missed one of the most vibrant musical revolutions (not so
much the punk thing, but what happened immediately afterwards) by being
too young.
What is
one thing that you regret that you would go back and change if you
could?
Right after college, I married a woman who turned out to be a con
artist and identity thief. As a result, my finances were set back by 10
years. 5+ years later, I'm still dealing with the aftermath, although I
recently learned that she was finally incarcerated. If I had one thing
to do over again, it would definitely be remaining single.
What is
the one thing you want to do before you die? I have
recurring dreams of architecture, so I'd like to purchase some land in
an isolated wilderness area and build my own house. I imagine I'd have
to do a fair amount of studying before I could design something
structurally sound, but I think it would be worth it.
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Tell us about your favorite RPG
character that you've ever played.
I usually end up running roleplaying games rather than participating as
a
player, but I did get to play a rotting ghost of an alcoholic birthday
party
clown in a Wraith game for a while. His name was Chuckles and his inner
struggle with anxiety actually made him the perfect haunter, since he
gained
strength from empathizing with the fear he instilled in others. When my
brother joined as the ghost of a dead lounge singer offed by the mob,
we
made a great team of "bio-exorcists."
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What are
your favorite RPGs? I've played a lot of RPGs, but there
have been a few that I've gotten really into. I've played a lot of Shadowrun,
and was really into the White Wolf games when they were first
introduced (of those, Wraith holds a special
place in my heart).
What was
your first RPG session like? I was first introduced to
RPGs when I was in first grade by my neighbor's older brother, who ran
several sessions of D&D for us. I played
a cleric (although I had only the faintest idea what that entailed). I
thought the entire concept was amazing, and began to draw lots of
pictures of dragons, knights and monsters, as well as maps of
trap-filled catacombs. I didn't actually start playing RPGs in earnest
for another 4 years, however.
What was
your WORST RPG session like? Games where there is a big
disconnect between everyone's preconceptions are always frustrating. I
seem to recall having read Christopher Moore's great book
"Blood-sucking Freaks" and wanting to do a Vampire game where the
characters were all slackers who had to hold down jobs at convenience
stores and warehouses to pay for their unlifestyle. Sort of Clerks with
fangs. Instead, everyone showed up with overwrought Anne Rice
characters or 400 year old European nobility who wanted to be involved
in the machinations of the global vampire conspiracy. There's just no
way to tell someone modeled on Lord Byron that he needs to clean the
slurpee machine.
Who is
your all-time favorite person to game with? I've been
really lucky to find great groups to game with. I was very distraught
to leave my great group in Seattle behind. That said, I've found that
my current group is game for all of my weird ideas. So Dr. James West
and Shawn Gustafson, hats off to you.
Do you
have anything gaming-related to plug? If you live in
Colorado and have kids (or know someone who does), please check out the
Adventure Education Company at http://www.adventureeducation.org.
Finally, Shawn Gustafson
and I are actually writing a quirky crime drama RPG right now. We'd be
interested in meeting anyone interested in helping with the project,
specifically dark noir-style artists. We had talked about reviving the
Gamelords Theives' Guild setting as a possible
spin-off of our main game, but we've had difficulty tracking down the
owner of the intellectual property. If anyone knows Tadashi Ehara,
please have him get in touch with us.
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