Your name: Andrew Gould/Arthwollipot
Location: Canberra, Australia
Age: 38
Sex: M

Family: Complex – I am part of a family of four adults, two children and one adult offspring of one of the four (from a previous marriage).

Pets: Where to start? Two dogs, two rats, a turtle, a llama, two alpacas, a horse...

What is the most frightening thing you've ever done? Jumped off a relatively small cliff.

Which of your accomplishments are you the most happy with? Learning how to sword fight.

What is your favorite word? “Trousers.”

How many languages do you speak? Just the one,
although I did four years of Latin and two of Japanese in school.

What is your most prized physical possession? My sword.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Smoke and drink less.

What was your favorite toy as a child? World Book Encyclopaedia.

What makes you cry? Realisation of my inadequacies.

What are three things you can't live without? Computer, sword and close friends.

If you could have one superpower, which power would you pick? Shapeshifting.

What did you want to be when you grew up? It varied. I never wanted to be an IT Support Technician.

What is your favorite mode of transportation? My Toyota Prius.

If you could pick any other time period to live in - including the future - which would it be, and why? I’d love to continue to live from now into the far future. It would be fascinating to see how society changes over millennia.

What is one thing that you regret that you would go back and change if you could? Don’t start smoking.

What is the one thing you want to do before you die? Go to Iceland.

You've just purchased a small island off the coast of any continent of your choosing, and you are preparing to start your own country there. What does your flag look like? Black, with a white annulus.

Tell us about your favorite RPG character that you've ever played. There have been two. Morgan Blackhand was a Warrior Mage in a Rolemaster campaign. He once
deliberately had himself thrown into prison because he knew that there was
a treasure map hidden somewhere inside. Once in the cell, he used a spell to
enhance his sense of smell to search for the odour of old parchment.

The other character was Athrak – in a science fiction game using the Hero
system, which unfortunately did not last more than a couple of sessions. I
used the D&D Hero Builder’s Guidebook to create a background for him (with
some liberal interpretations, of course). He was born on a multigenerational
colony ship, where the operation of the ship had devolved to become religious ritual.

Currently I am in a Cyberpunk game with a Solo character named Big Dog. He turned to religion after being forced to waste a gang of drug addicts who saw him on a covert mission. No dramatically noteworthy things yet, but give it time...

What are your favorite RPGs? D&D (3rd Edition), Rolemaster, Metascape, Jorune.

What was your first RPG session like? Oh, now you’re going back. My first D&D session was with my brother as DM. It was using the old Blue-Book D&D (before even the Basic edition came out) with the module that came with it – I think it was called “Into the Unknown” or something like that.

What was your WORST RPG session like? I haven’t had any really bad gaming experiences – just games that didn’t work out.

Do you have anything gaming-related to plug? Check the Metascape game system at www.mentalwinds.com