A little about me and why I started Dark Tree Publishing.  I started playing Dungeons and Dragons at eleven years old when I was gifted the original Basic D&D “Red Box”.  You know, the box cover with classic art by Erol Otis with the wizard and the fighter battling what we all assumed was a green dragon in a dungeon in the water.  Little did I know at the time that the Basic edition would trigger an on again, off again love and fascination with role playing games (RPGs) in general, and Dungeons and Dragons in particular.  I have played the game through the Basic and Expert sets, gamed extensively with the 1st edition advanced rules, slogged through 2nd edition, left the game for a few years, lovingly got heavily involved in 3e and 3.5e with maybe the most fun gaming group that I’ve ever had the pleasure of gaming with, skipped 4th edition, and have now returned rather late to 5th edition.

In the intervening years since I stopped playing Dungeons and Dragons between 3.5 and 5th edition, I missed out on many of the changes in the game, not the least of which is the ability to now game online with people from anywhere in the world.  Additionally, the ability for nearly anyone to potentially publish material, start a website, or engage through social media with the broader RPG community is truly amazing.  It is a far cry from the pen and paper RPG world that I grew up with.  For some additional context, think about the kids in “Stranger Things” playing Dungeons and Dragons, rolling real, not virtual, polyhedral dice, and always thinking that the Demogorgon was just around the corner.  That was me!  What a gift a person’s imagination truly is!

I truly love RPGs and the way that the players and the DM collaboratively create heroes, adventures, campaigns and entire worlds.  At the heart of RPGs is the interactions that occur around the gaming table, whether that table is in person or on a virtual platform.  Sometimes the stories that are created last in the minds of the players and the DM for years later to the extent that when old gaming friends get together, they still tell stories of “do you remember when?” and the laughs start all over again.  I hope that I’m able to contribute in some small way to the community going forward with the material that I hope to publish.

If you see me on some of the other sites that exist that support the RPG community, you may see me as “Methos”, and if you have comments to share with me, please do so, or just say “hello”!

Doug