Robert started playing fantasy role-playing games, known as RPGs, in the mid-seventies. Some of the most popular games hit the market then, and Robert either played or was a game-master for many of them. One of Robert’s favorite activities was researching magic systems while devising ways magic would replace technology and then using it in his games. He also enjoyed merging different systems into a playable hybrid, in which he succeeded several times. He designed a realm over fifty years ago when he developed a game from scratch. The game did not survive, but his world continues today with his gaming and the setting for his novels.
During the fifty years of playing RPG games, Robert played and ran games in tournaments throughout the 70s and 80s. In the late 90s. When the average age of his gaming group was younger than his first character, he transitioned from playing in groups to computer games. Robert played fantasy games for nearly two decades before finding another group and remembering how he enjoyed playing table-top fantasy role-playing games. Robert looks at gaming more than a recreational pastime but also as research for his stories and world. Gaming for half a century gives Robert a library of ideas for his writings.
Robert graduated high school in the late 70s and started on his journey shortly after. He lived in several states and a foreign country with dozens of different jobs. After receiving an Associate degree in Washington in the mid-80s, Robert moved to Nevada and worked in a casino. By the early 90s, he was in his dream location, Alaska. Robert enjoyed the outdoors and could be found hiking, backpacking, or x-country skiing almost every weekend. While living in Alaska, he owned several businesses and had various jobs. When one of the businesses he worked for shut down, the state paid for him to go back to school, where he majored in computer science. Because the CS department lost its accreditation halfway through his senior year, Robert switched to Marketing and Management.
Robert left Alaska in 2002 and worked in a casino dealing cards. After chatting with a friend online for several months, they asked if he had ever considered teaching English in a foreign country. They sent him a link, and he slapped his resume and contact information on the site. He did it to humor them, not expecting any offers. He had a half-dozen offers to teach English in China in about a week. Sure, why not, he thought. Six months later, he was in China teaching English. Robert spent three years there, where he wrote Thesila Prophecy, based on a reoccurring dream, before returning to the states in 2010. Spending half a century traveling around this world and in different fantasy realms, Robert has a plethora of ideas and experiences to draw upon for his writings.
If you had told Robert in high school that he would teach English in China or be a published author, he would have asked, ” What are you smoking? And are you going share. But, he did teach English in China and is a published author.
Fun Facts You Did not Know About Me:
- 1. For several years, I was a hiking guide in Alaska.
- 2. I lived in a town with a population of 13 at over 8,700 feet in Wyoming
- 3. I visited nearly a dozen different cities while living in China.
- 4. In high school, I was the second-best shooter on the archery team.
- 5. I considered being a professional bowler after high school.