Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

JoshuaMabry

bowlofspinach

Aug 26, 2022 3:52 pm

JoshuaMabry

In an attempt to get to know the community and other users on GP better, we want to allow a different member each week to step into the spotlight.
You can find more information here.

About me:

Name:	Joshua
Joined:	November, 2016
Age:	45
Personal Pronouns:	he/him
Location:	San Antonio TX

I stumbled upon Dungeons and Dragons at the age of eight when I encountered some kids playing it at summer camp. Convinced my United Methodist pastor father to buy me the 2nd Red Box and I've been hooked ever since. Over the years I've played every iteration of D&D, GURPS, TMNT and other strangeness, Rifts, several DC superhero games, the original West End D6 Star Wars, Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, the first two editions of Exalted, FUDGE, Fate, and numerous others. D&D and Fate are my mainstays, the first being the easiest to find players for, the second being my favorite system.
I used to be into video games and comics, but the last decade of fatherhood has seen me change priorities, so those have fallen to the wayside. I still consider myself a geek, and all my entertainment choices (movies, TV shows, the few books I read) reflect that. I'm proud to say my ten year old son and I have a Fate game we play weekly, with his six year old sister constantly begging to be included.
I'm originally from Southern California, but my wife and I moved to Texas when we decided we wanted to someday buy a house.
I'm the son of a preacher man, and married to the daughter of a retired Air Force Chaplain, but haven't been to church in years.
I consider myself a decent cook, although my kids don't like it when I experiment.

Ask Me Anything.

This AMA will run until 02 September 2022.

witchdoctor

Aug 26, 2022 9:14 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Have you found that you enjoy face to face gaming or PbP more? Why?

JoshuaMabry

Aug 26, 2022 9:24 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

witchdoctor says:

Have you found that you enjoy face to face gaming or PbP more? Why?

I enjoy them both equally. I like the more relaxed pace of PbP, as well as the ability to be more descriptive and detailed with the storytelling. I like the social aspect of face to face gaming, as well as the challenge of thinking on your feet and dealing with time constraints.

Amberthegirlgeekgamer87 Inactive for 10 months

Aug 26, 2022 9:56 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

What is your favorite dnd class/subclass to play?

JoshuaMabry

Aug 26, 2022 10:00 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Amberthegirlgeekgamer87 says:

What is your favorite dnd class/subclass to play?

In a pinch I always go with a dwarf cleric.

TrustyJustin

Aug 27, 2022 4:21 am

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

What are your favorite dishes to cook?

Len

Aug 27, 2022 5:41 am

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Your story mirrors my own in a lot of ways, Joshua! What's your best Dad hack? Are you playing RPGs or other nerd games with your kids?

JoshuaMabry

Aug 27, 2022 11:59 am

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

TrustyJustin says:

What are your favorite dishes to cook?

I love to cook steak. It's been a while, but I make a good mushroom risotto. I also love to improvise soups.

JoshuaMabry

Aug 27, 2022 12:04 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Len says:

Your story mirrors my own in a lot of ways, Joshua! What's your best Dad hack? Are you playing RPGs or other nerd games with your kids?

I don't have any good Dad hacks. Wish I did. My ten year old son and I play Fate regularly, with my six year old daughter joining us until I lose her attention. I'm hoping that changes as she gets older.

Aironfabio

Aug 27, 2022 1:07 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Can you talk a bit about your own (or someone else's you know) experience about the intersection of reglious intitution and rpgs in the "before-internet" times?
As someone from a very secular background who found out about RPGs in the mid-2000s, I'd love to know how much is exagerated about the witch hunts and "demonic rulebooks" you hear online.

JoshuaMabry

Aug 27, 2022 1:34 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Aironfabio says:

Can you talk a bit about your own (or someone else's you know) experience about the intersection of reglious intitution and rpgs in the "before-internet" times?
As someone from a very secular background who found out about RPGs in the mid-2000s, I'd love to know how much is exagerated about the witch hunts and "demonic rulebooks" you hear online.

Being a fan of D&D in the 80s was a strange experience. It was both cool and not cool at the same time, depending on who you asked. I mentioned my father's a United Methodist pastor. He's also got a doctorate from a prestigious theological university. He never had a problem with my playing D&D. He always understood that in the end it's just a game. He never had problems with video games or comic books or fantasy and sci-fi movies and television either. And he's a big fan of the rock and roll of his time. So in some ways I was sheltered from the religious animosity about RPGs because he was also my spiritual teacher. But I definitely heard about it. I didn't talk about my hobbies with mst of the adults at my church, who were in some ways less tolerant than my father, who was also their pastor. It's strange to think about. And there were friends and other people I knew who were forbidden from playing D&D, because of the Satanic Panic. In some ways it was very much like what you hear and read about now. The movie Mazes and Mirrors was very loosely based on a real story that didn't have the same ending, and there were news articles and tv stories about how D&D was connected to devil worship. I imagine it was like being a rock and roll fan in the fifties. As I said though, I was somewhat sheltered from it, and the fact that my dad was a pastor actually made D&D more acceptable to my friends parents as well.

I feel like I didn't answer your question very well.

Harrigan

Aug 28, 2022 2:14 am

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Fate! Hell yeah, learnin' your son up right!

JoshuaMabry

Aug 28, 2022 6:02 pm

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Harrigan, we've played D&D too, but he comes up with these wild character concepts. I got tired of trying to shoehorn them in to 5e, and switched to Fate, which I prefer anyway.

Phil_Ozzy_Fer

Aug 29, 2022 12:32 am

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

As a gamer and a parent myself, I'd like to ask how was the transition from one place to another on your gaming? Was it a challenge to re-establish gaming once you moved from California to Texas?

JoshuaMabry

Aug 29, 2022 1:03 am

Ask Me Anything: JoshuaMabry

Phil_Ozzy_Fer says:

As a gamer and a parent myself, I'd like to ask how was the transition from one place to another on your gaming? Was it a challenge to re-establish gaming once you moved from California to Texas?

Oh my gosh yes! We lived here for nine years before I made the time to find an in person gaming group. There were a number of factors that contributed to that though. At first I let being a new parent take up my time, and then it was being a parent of two. It was in those years I discovered pbp and Gamersplane, which allowed me to continue to play with friends in California. By the time I finally set aside time for gaming again, COVID struck. It wasn't until last year that I finally found a regular gaming group. When I finally decided to go for it it wasn't hard though. I found a local game store and posted that I was looking for a group on their Facebook page. I'm sure it helped that I wanted to DM. Only took me a couple weeks to find what's become my current regular group. We meet every other Saturday.

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