Your name: Anthony McCloud, or "Cordaen"
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 25
Sex: male

Family: Wife (Jessica), sons Liam (6) and Joey (2)

Pets: Ivy, my wife's baby Pug (8 weeks at the time of this writing)

Religion: is fun to study & debate

Political party/affiliation: Chocolate

Education: BS Comp Sci from Graceland University, numerous IT Certifications

What is the most frightening thing you've ever done? An old tuberculosis hospital, built in the late 1800s, and having been abandoned for over 30 years, was quite the temptation for us as young persons, what with tales of haunting & strange goings-on. I would say that visiting this old building was frightening not for its intrinsic appeal, but for the building's location. It was neighbored by a state correctional facility & the National Guard armory.
Access to the building meant crawling on belly through a mile of trees
along the prison's service road, being ever mindful of the streetlights &
guard patrols. The building has since been demolished.

Which of your accomplishments are you the most happy with?
Graduating college in 4 years while working full-time & providing for a wife
& child.

What is your favorite word? Flabbergasted.

How many languages do you speak? 3 - English, Eldanar, and Twoyearold Gibber

What is your favorite time of year, and why? Autumn, hands down. The vibrant colors, the scents in the air, there is nothing better than a cool, crisp October evening, beneath a full harvest moon singing raucous & bawdy songs with your friends & loved one around a blazing campfire.

What is your most prized physical possession? My lambskin, my family claymore, and heirlooms from now-deceased relatives.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I actually just changed it several weeks ago? I quit smoking! Now I'm a little discouraged about my weight; doing IT work for a living makes one a bit sedentary. I know it could be changed, if I would just do it.

Did you have any embarrassing nicknames as a kid? "Amphie." My poor cousin, at the tender age of 2, could not pronounce my name of Anthony, so it came out "Amphie." And, being that he's my elder, the name stuck as time went on.

What was your favorite toy as a child? I was that kid who enjoyed playing more with the box than the toy inside it. My favorite toys consisted of cardboard scraps, popsicle sticks, empty paper towel tubes, and various other household items. I made weapons & tools of all shape & size.

What makes you cry? Loss of loved ones, things of a sad nature.

What is your favorite section of the newspaper? The "funnies."

Do you have a useless talent that no one else that you know can do? I know how to play the mouth harp. (y'know that little metal thingey that you put up to your mouth & you pluck it & it goes "boing boing boing?" Yeah, that!)

What are three things you can't live without? I've become quite attached to my technology, so I'd say PDA, laptop, and MP3 player.

If you could be one superhero, which hero would you be? There was an X-Man (now deceased, I believe), named Morph. His power was very similar in nature to that of Mystique, in that he could morph his appearance into that of any person he saw. This, IMHO, would be the best (and most dangerous) power to have.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an astronaut! Fly high into space, and discover things no-one had ever discovered before! But then my career counselor said "look, you're a Missourian, scale it down a bit." So then I wanted to work in a shoe-shop. HA! No, really, I wanted to be a writer.

What is your favorite mode of transportation? Cars. RV, if I had one.

If you could pick any other time period to live in - including the future - which would it be, and why? 1900-1920s, flappers, zoot suits, speakeasys, Cthulian mythos, what's not to like?

Tell us about your favorite RPG character that you've ever played. Being a DM/Storyteller, I have the pleasure of playing many a great character. One of
my absolute favorites was during a (old) World of Darkness campaign, a
7th Generation Ravnos named Josiah. Josiah is of Romani heritage, having
been born into bondage during the mid 1600s, and brought into darkness at the
age of 23.

His back-story stretches the breadth of 22 pages (12pt. Arial, single-spaced),
and will not be brought much into this article. But I enjoy him because dealing
with him feels like dealing with the proverbial "devil." He is charming, suave,
and debonair in his 3-piece Armani, and hell-in-a-trenchcoat on his modified chopper.

What was your first RPG session like? I was 8 years old, and I was in my uncle?s care (parents went out of town, or something. I don?t recall). He took me to a local used-books store, where he would meet with friends & play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I watched for a little while, and was hooked. He brought me back the next week, and I rolled up my first character, LeThir the Devious, an Elven Thief. I believe it was a Darksun campaign, there were a lot of Thri-Kreens, and a lot of sandstorms.

What was your WORST RPG session like? I was an AST for a sanctioned WoD(Cam) LARP in KC back in '01, over 50 players in attendance. We were playing at a dry venue, but a group of players had ridden together, and brought several bottles of hard liquor in the trunk of their car. Periodically, one or two would go OOC and step outside. One or two then turned into 10-15. Now, you have to realize that this was a group of drunken 40-something rednecks who dress up like vampires on their Saturday night, not the most "socially-adept" bunch in the world. It was drama central! I was only 19 at the time, and the majority of the players & coordinators were under 25. It was the first time I had called the cops because the ADULTS were getting out of control. Pathetic.

Who is your all-time favorite person to game with? My wife, and my brother-in-law.

Do you have anything gaming-related to plug? If you're into PC gaming, I host an original module/persistent world for the Neverwinter Nights system called "A Ring of Power." Look under "Action" in Gamespy.

I also run a bi-weekly D&D 3.5 (custom world) game, with a WoD game on opposing weekends. If you're in the Northland of KC and interested, give me a shout!