08.01
My name is Theodore Dudek. I am 17 years old and am currently in my freshman year of college.
Since I was 6 years old,I have been playing tabletop roleplaying games like D&D, GURPS, White Wolf games, etc. I have been running campaigns since I was in elementary school and I play everything from the newest games (waiting for Tenra Bansho RPG) to the oldest (I have played first edition D&D). I have DMed games for people much older than me (sometimes in their 30s!). Age and gender do not matter for me in terms of role-playing.
I am majoring in Theater, but my main goal is to get a job as a professional gamemaster/dungeon master and game designer. I would love to work at Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf, Paizo Publishing, Fantasy Flight Games, or to start my own company. What I would really like to do is to run roleplaying games for newbies and people who have never played roleplaying games before.
I have over 14 campaigns and over 500 gaming sessions under my belt (see resume). My GMing philosophy is that the GM’s word is absolute, but it is also the GM’s responsibility to craft an immersive and rewarding gaming experience for the players. I do this by (1) split-second improvisational storytelling and decision making; (2) expert challenge balance; (3) attending to the needs of each individual player without sacrificing the group; (4) a flair for the theatrical and (5) props, such as music, dry ice, lighting, miniatures, handouts, artwork, and costumes whenever possible. I have over 400 Dungeons & Dragons miniatures (although I don’t always play D&D with miniatures). I also believe in “confrontational escapism” and think that it is the duty of dungeon masters to address complicated social and political issues while aspiring to make their games the highest form of art.
I am VERY interested in meeting other gamers, please direct message me on twitter at theodudek! = D You can also download my full resume here. Please contact me if you want to be in a game in the L.A. area or are looking for a RPG sourcebook writer, editor or consultant!
Your website makes me happy. I have discovered Roleplaying in 1988 via the books of Steve Jackson, then writing my own books in that fashion, then Merp, Midgard, D&D, Rolemaster.. and 10 more or so. As I moved into the professional game industry, I was able to work on Games like Pool Of Radiance or Warlords Battlecry for the publisher, but Pen & Paper RPG is a little far away today for me. I am glad to see that there is a new generation that loves it as I did, great! I wish you the best of luck in your career. I am following on Twitter.
I should have said this sooner, but thank you ^^ I’m glad you like my blog, and I would love to hear more about your work in the industry if you have time sometime!
Theo,
The following may come across as patronizing, but assuredly that is not the intent. It is refreshing to find someone as young as yourself who writes so well, and displays such enthusiasm and experience in the hobby. Some of us “old fogeys” worry about youth in the hobby, and convince ourselves that the education system, X-boxes, and modern music have destroyed their minds. Your exceptional blog puts rest to these fears, and when we settle down to play cribbage with D&D minis on the porch of the Home, with blankets over our legs, we can be assured that the hobby will continue to flourish in the hands of folks like you.
Great site, Theo. If I hadn’t read your bio, I never would have known you were 17. You speak with the language and experience of a much older gamer.
I’ll definitely be following your blog closely.
[...] an imaginary person. I’m not the only one possibly tricked, either. These are both from the Ultimate GM page: Some of us “old fogeys” worry about youth in the hobby, and convince ourselves that the [...]
Theo, several of the games on your resume have been out of print since before you were born. How did you stumble across them? In a Convention? OnLine? I’d love to hear your stories, mostly because it’s been so long since I was first finding out about table top games.
Your resume says you graduated as the 2009 valedictorian of Glendale HS. What happened to Roza Petrosyan? Incidentally, if you’re going to fabricate things like that, you ought to do enough research to realize that a 4.0 GPA in 2009 is not particularly good – the GPA scale changed years ago thanks to the AP bonus points.
4.0 is my unweighted GPA. My weighted GPA is 4.5 but I was advised that unweighted GPAs are the standard for resumes in the game industry so that’s what I listed. Sadly Roza does not play RPGs as far as I know. /_\
[...] an imaginary person. I’m not the only one possibly tricked, either. These are both from the Ultimate GM page: Some of us “old fogeys” worry about youth in the hobby, and convince ourselves that the [...]
Hey Theo,
I’ve recently developed a tool called DM Toolkit for the iPhone / iPad. It acts as a campaign management tool that you can carry with you to develop characters and stories on the go. I was wondering if you would like a free copy for review on your blog? Please email me if you would, and I’d be happy to send you one.
Thanks!
Sorry for the long delay, I somehow missed your post. Sure, I would love to see the DM Toolkit! You can email me at theodudek@gmail.com!
Okay you people are too funny! HAHA. Roza P is my best friend and she and I both graduated from GHS in 2009, and yes, she was the valedictorian (4.47 GPA). What is a crummy 4.0 next to her? And I don’t remember a person like you graduating in our class. Haha, Roza was dying of laughter after we found this. Yeah, just to clear the air, she was the valedictorian, after working her ass off all throughout high school. It’s not fair for some stranger like you to claim that you were the valedictorian. Please refrain from flattering yourself with that fact. But hey, thanks guys for the amusing time she and I just had after we read this!! =)
“Working my ass off” is not how I would describe my experiences in high school, I mean I had enough time to do two complete D&D campaigns, playing 2-3 times a week, **and** graduate with a weighted 4.5 GPA. Maybe you are thinking of a different GHS.
I am talking about Glendale High School in Glendale, CA located at 1440 E Broadway St. You were not the valedictorian, I’m sorry.
That’s because he’s a figment of viral marketing:
http://critical-hits.com/2010/01/15/king-of-rpgs-king-of-viral-marketing/
Nice.
You mean Anna? o_0 Weird… I would have to do more research… her story seems to check out for me apart from the confusion in high schools. Embarrassingly I have been very busy lately writing up my new campaign setting, Neo-Pegana…
Thanks for any other great article. Where else may anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect manner of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am at the search for such information.
You are in reality a just right webmaster. The site loading speed is amazing. It seems that you’re doing any distinctive trick. Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you’ve performed a great activity on this topic!
Hey, Theo.
You gotta check out my show. I basically created it for you (though I didn’t know it at the time), and would love to hear your comments on it. It’s based on our v3.5 campaign, set in Forgotten Realms, but I changed just enough to avoid copyright troubles.
http://www.koldcast.tv/show/horde-busters
Hope you dig it.