Hi there. I'm Ontological Zombie, and I stumbled across this site a short time ago. After reading the forums and a few articles, I decided to join up and get in on the good.
I've been gaming since 1989. I still remember my first character - a wizard named Sparky Spelljammer. The character was run through the adventure that came with the red box set of basic dnd. As far as I can remember, I survived.
Since then I've done a lot more GMing than playing. I stuck with DnD for awhile, but as soon as I discovered other systems branched out. GURPS, Rifts, Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia, Champions... later I got into the various World of Darkness games, preferring Wraith, Mage, and Hunter. A few years ago I was heavily into L5R, Feng Shui, and Unknown Armies. These days I've been playing Gumshoe, Nemesis, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and Reign.
As time's gone by, my general GMing style has gone through a lot of changes. When I was younger, I'd meticulously plan out every aspect of the game world before the campaign, top to bottom. I'd scope out weather patterns based on mountain placement (themselves based on plate tectonics), scope the advancement of civilizations that died out millenia before the game began, and work out fully functional eco-systems. I'd never use a tenth of it, but the act of creation itself was fun.
Later, I'd honed my ability to improv to such a degree that all I needed for a full session was a half page of scribbled notes. I tend to waver between the two extremes, but usually find a happy medium.
These days, I live far from my old gaming groups and play most of my games online, play-by-post. I've got a play by post gaming blog that I haven't touched in months (sadly).
My other hobbies include writing Interactive Fiction, web development, hobbyist programming, writing, blogging, urban exploration, and whatever else I can use to distract myself.
