...there was no Jeffrey Quinn, then in September of 1974 he was born. Midway through March of 1975, Jeff was adopted by his current family.
| Your Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score | ||
| Category | Your Score | Average |
| Hacklust | 16.98% Slew entire Asgardian Pantheon with one hand while blindfolded | 52.3% |
| Sensitive Roleplaying | 5.06% There is no player. There is only.... Zuul. | 51.1% |
| GM Experience | 0% Worldbuilder, storyteller... Master. | 66.9% |
| Systems Knowledge | 55.23% Guardian of the out-of-print game | 89% |
| Livin' La Vida Dorka | 2.3% Gaming is my life | 60.3% |
| You are 19.01% pure Average Score: 66.6% | ||
The young lad grew up in the wilds known as Upstate New York in the United States. He was like many typical kids, playing baseball and football. However, from a very early age, Jeff exhibited a thirst and desire for mythologies of all types. By the age of 5, Jeff had begun to read The Iliad and The Odyssey. At age 6, Jeff played in his first Dungeons & Dragons (basic edition) game.
He was at Cub Scouts when he first heard the roll of those polyhedron dice. Keep on the Borderlands was the first glimpse Jeff had ever had into the fantastic world of roleplaying. He rolled up a thief, named Pixel, and went off to pound the streets of the fantasy RPG world.
Jeff found that he had a natural knack for RPGs, where his friends exhibited a more affluent knowledge of car engines or baseball. He floated from game to game until his earliest years in high school. At that time he discovered Forgotten Realms.
Jeff began running games the summer before his 11th birthday, and has been running games ever since. While in high school, between his sporting events and school-related activities, he designed numerous campaign maps and scenarios which would later become the foundation for the 2 1/2 year long "Origins of Magic" campaign, set in the Forgotten Realms.
It was during this time when Jeff created the Black Knights Gamers' Guild (named for his school mascot). Every week he ran his long games, and learned new RPG systems. The first systems he discovered were Marvel Super Heroes and Gamma World. He continued running games through his teens and into college, normally for his few die-hard RPG addicted friends. But, like all kids, when college came, most of the friends went their separate ways.
Everyone has a story about how it all starts, Jeff is no different:
While sitting in the cafeteria, between classes, of his community college Jeff had the 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook open, creating a character for his ever increasing game world. His dice clattered across the table, forcing the studying students nearby to look up at the unusual noise.
Jeff sat alone, waiting for his some of his friends to show up and discuss what party they were going to that night. At that moment, a hairy male human entered across the cafeteria, a faded blue and grey Jan Sport hiker's backpack slung across his shoulder. He looked like one of "those guys" with the faded jean jacket from a by-gone decade, wiry thin, a thin streak of a moustache, and eyes that glowed behind his wire-framed glasses.
The time that progressed from the moment of this young male's entrance and the time he passed by the table Jeff was sitting at, only 60 feet away, seemed to stretch into an eternity of Matrix-style slow motion. Neither gentlemen truly noted the other at this point, but their memories are clear and crisp over the event. The foot falls of student echo in the morass of time. Jeff, meanwhile, gets a weird itch in his back and reaches far behind him to scratch it and get a good healthy stretch in.
Jeff's back cracked loudly as the vertebrae compressed and then separated again, causing the other male to direct his attention towards the offending noise that intruded on his own lucidity. The male, quickly took in Jeff and the contents of the table. Thoughts of classes flew from the 20-something male when he spied the holy grail of RPGs, AD&D. His course stopped, and time resumed its normal flow as the young man, Darcy by name, looked at Jeff and broke the silence.
"That the PHB?"
"Yes it is."
"Rolling up a character for a game?"
"No, just making a few NPCs for my campaign."
"Ever play Battle Lords?"
"No."
"Wanna come to my car and I'll teach you how?"
This story may seem to be anti-climatic. As Jeff and Darcy learned more about each, other they learned that this chance meeting of Game Masters was not entirely accidental. Some call on the powers of coincidence, other subscribe to the faith of fate, which ever of these cosmic forces brought these two people together, it was meant to be.
Darcy came from Vermont, was born on the same day that Jeff was born, but one year later. They were the same height, weight, and played a great deal of the same games. That was over 7 years ago. They still play games to this day.
The story that has been since then has been filled with more games and systems than even Jeff can remember. However, many notable things have occurred since then:
Susie was a god-send to Jeff. She had the appearance of a fallen angel, wings ripped asunder for her evil disposition. She was not a gamer, but had gamer friends and was brought to numerous sessions. As was the standing rule for the gaming group then, non-gamers could watch once, but after that they needed to play (after all, roleplaying is not a spectator sport).
Jeff and Susie quickly left their old lives of dating behind and discovered that they were mated on a more ethereal plane. On October 24, 1998 they were married in front of more than 150 attendees (more than 1/3 of those were gamers). Soon after the marital bliss began, Jeff and Susie were blessed with their son, Alexander Philip Quinn. Again fate had seen that things would be strange.
Alexander was born in September 1999, on Jeff's 25th birthday, almost at the exact time Jeff was born (only off by a 1/2 hour). He was, and still is, a wonderful boy, intelligent, and creative (don't worry, no fatherhood stories coming). His favorite things are stories about knights, gods, and the eternal struggle of good over evil ("Lord of the Rings" is his favorite bed time series).
In February 2001, Jeff and Susie were blessed again with their daughter, Mackenzie Rae Quinn. Unlike her brother, Mackenzie is quiet and likes to snuggle, preferring a good hug over a story.
Jeff found something missing in his life. With children in the house, his RPG time suffered. He would gladly spend every waking moment with his children and wife instead of running a game. He decided to branch out into the internet and seek games he could play that wouldn't disturb his family. He discovered WebRPG (by RPG Host). He played numerous games there, and ran a few of his own as well.
It was during this time that he was invited to run a few games at the first CyberCon Online Game Expo and Convention. He not only ran an event (and became their RPGA Coordinator), he won the coveted "Best GM of the Con." He also met CEO Hal Greenberg and Project Director Warren "Magestrike" Bailey of the (at the time) little known Thunderhead Games. Warren was quoted at the time saying to Hal, "I think we should offer this guy some sort of deal Hal. He's really good."
The time since then have been a whirlwind of events. Jeff still works with Thunderhead Games and has also branched out to write for other companies.
Jeff later went on to win "Best GM of the Con" again at CyberCon II.