Community Leader Highlight – Brad: RPG Paragon
Level Up Games is the home for Georgia’s gamers. A huge part of crafting that welcoming home for people of all sorts is finding and supporting our community leaders, known as “Paragons.” Today, take a moment to meet one of our role-playing game Paragons, Brad, who is eager to get some dice in your hands whether you are completely new to tabletop gaming or a veteran!
He has an upcoming Dreams and Machines RPG demo event on August 18th at our Duluth location, where you can say “Hi!” in person and join in on the RPG fun waiting for you at Level Up Games.
Learn more about Brad, what RPGs mean to him, and details about his event below in his own words!
Some of Brad's RPG Collection
Hello, Level Up Games community members!
My name is Brad, and I’m honored to be one of the Paragons here for the store. While I spend a lot of time in the Duluth location, I’m lucky enough to be able to travel and spend time in both the Athens and Johns Creek locations as well. I’m easy to find, both in person and on the LUG Discord server!
If you find me on Discord, you’ll see that I’m listed as “Brad (RPG/Duluth),” and that’s mostly because while I was raised on a variety of game hobbies, tabletop RPGs really stuck with me. Well, to be perfectly honest, they’re more than “stuck” to me – they’re in the marrow of my very bones. I’ve been active in the gaming community for 35 years now, and I was even lucky enough to work for companies like White Wolf and Iron Crown Enterprises at one point! That brought about a lot of burnout, though, and I had to leave the industry and return to just the gaming side of things.
And frankly, folks, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
You see, I love our community. I love all gaming communities, mind you, but I love the RPG community the most. I have never made greater and more significant friendships before than within this tremendous circle of ours. These games allow us in our deeply mundane world to enter into flights of fancy. We can be fantasy heroes, defending our towns against invading forces on dark, draconic wings. In the blink of an eye, we can then be in the dystopian future, fighting against The Man trying to keep us down, running in the shadows against the megacorporations. After that, we’ll take to the skies ourselves, superheroes in the truest sense of the word, wearing capes and masks and saving the day with honor and justice.
There’s a game for everyone, I think, and this is how I approach meeting folks as a Paragon. I believe that for every person who says that they could never play an RPG – that they’re nervous about saying the wrong thing, etc. – there’s really an amazing roleplayer hidden away inside of them. I love to talk to people about their interests, musical tastes, films they appreciate, shows they watch. Because, nine times out of ten, I can smile and say, “You know they made a game for that, right?” Helping people find their niche, their people, true and creative friends, is the highlight of my day.
As for my RPG journey to this moment, it started like many others did in the mid-80s, and that was with Dungeons & Dragons. I’ve had the luxury of playing every single edition, from the original release to the current one we know today. But I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time wandering, too – checking out other games and other companies and other styles of play.
Some of my most favorite experiences have been with diceless (gasp!) systems where we literally sat around and talked our way through a narrative. That sort of thing – talking through a narrative – is very much like how I run my games today. I focus upon the players and their characters first and foremost, because they’re at the center of the stories, after all. For me, rules matter, but so does the Rule of Cool, and if there’s a more interesting way of doing it, I’m more than willing to work with a player to get them to smile and enjoy themselves.
So… what do you say? You’ve read everything this far.
How about you come out and game with me?
I’d love to see you at the table. I’ll keep a seat ready just for you. See you soon!
As for the Dreams and Machines event:
This game came out of nowhere and entirely blindsided me with how cool it is!
Dreams and Machines is one of Modiphius’ newest hits, and its dice system (usually 2d20) is both simple and elegant and readily supports the smooth generation of a character. The concept is that humanity has taken to the stars in order to set up a new human colony, but the sudden and self-inflicted apocalypse that takes place shook them to their very core. The feel of the game is very similar to that of the very popular video game, Horizon Zero Dawn. Machines threaten human life, and in the setting, they are called Wakers. They were defeated once, at great cost, but now they are coming back again, the deadly tools of a corrupt AI.
This session in particular will feature character generation as well as a full opening scenario. Players will be able to select from a card deck representing their character decisions, and in no time, a unique person is mapped out with that very same hand! The dice rolling encourages players to help each other through their journeys, too.
In this new world, no one should venture out alone! So what do you say, hero? Do you have what it takes to team up and stop the Wakers once and for all?
Level Up Games here again, we hope you can swing in for some RPG games with Brad! Even if you can’t make it out this weekend, always be on the lookout for more fun events with our Paragons. There is always someone in the Level Up Games community who would love to share their love of gaming with you! Good gaming to ya!
