Bio

Paul A. DeStefano: A Work In Progress

Round 1 - My first Gaming Experiences:

Call me Ishmael.

OK, if you call me that, I probably won’t answer, because that’s where Moby Dick starts, not my bio.

My bio kind of starts at Christmas, 1976. I was a science fiction fan and loved Heinlein, so my brother Joe gets me The Starship Troopers board game by Avalon Hill.  

Next year, my mom saw I loved these crazy complex games and buys me one she heard about. Dungeons And Dragons.  In 1977 basic D&D didn’t even come with dice, you had to mail order them. There really weren’t lots of places like game stores or places that had these insane dice.

Round 2 - Into The Industry:

After a few thousand hours of role playing games and seven or eight hundred board games in the collection… I wrote reviews at BoardGameGeek.com.  Some of the reviews were written in fantasy style or in strange voices. This gets some noticed by industry insiders.

Adiken Games, creators of Nin-Gonost, hired me as a fiction writer. Then I am asked to rewrite their rules into a new edition. Nin-Gonost is nominated for best Miniatures Rules at Origins. It loses.

I then publish some small press games and get asked to help on things by WizKids, Hasbro and others.

I started working on licensed Lord Of The Rings and Star Trek products. I made so much money at this job, I was able to buy a whole pizza.

And that pizza is meant to be shared around a table of gamers, immersed in other worlds of cardboard and plastic, places from which imagination is emergent.

Round 3 - The Tainted Dragon Inn:

I am compelled by the very Gods themselves to write some more. A lot more. OK, maybe I just have a habit I can’t stop. I have several novels I’ve written in a pile and stacks of game mechanics that just never fit anywhere. Time to let some people see this.

All sorts of projects come together. I was invited to shape the lore of the world of Oathsworn by Shadowborne Games. This was a way to form an IP, not just work for one. That initial Kickstarter project gets over 11,000 backers and almost $2,000,000.

And a personal passion project comes into focus: The Emergent Campaign. A series of novels dealing with a Roleplaying Group and their personal entanglements, where the emotions of a game and the real world get confused. It reads as parallel storylines in the fantasy world of Dareth and the real world of the players and their personal lives.

The Tainted Dragon Inn is a chain of taverns in that fantasy world of Dareth, and this site is the location available for you to visit in the real world and find the latest gossip.

Or, if you visit my house, my game room has voice commands to change the lighting colors and soundscapes, including flickering torches for the times spent in various caves and dungeons. That’s the closest I can get to bringing The Tainted Dragon Inn to our world. For now.

Things planned for Round 4:

5 or more books in The Emergent Campaign.

The Emergent Deck game accessory and other supplements for gaming.

The Emergent Campaign Evolving Adventure Card Game.

Whatever the future of Oathsworn holds.

Two Tickets.

Telepathos.

Quick Facts:

Favorite writers: Harlan Ellison. Michael Moorcock. Robert Heinlein. Tad Williams.

Also worth noting: Jack Vance, Piers Anthony, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Clive Barker, Douglas Adams.

Favorite Book: Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.

Home: Long Island, New York.

Things I also like: Blacksmithing, drumming, cooking, running, animals, nature, Star Wars and Marvel franchises.

Things that keep me grounded: Gravity.

Favorite PC Games: X-Com, Fallout, Diablo.

Favorite Board Games: Crokinole, 7 Wonders Duel, Defenders Of The Realm, Lords Of Waterdeep, Warhammer Underworlds.

Favorite sports: Handball, bocce.

Favorite Movie: Highlander. (Just Highlander, because, you know, there can be only one.)

Favorite foods: Chili cheeseburger, all things Indian and Mexican, oysters and sushi. OK, I like a lot of food.