The Story of Trolls 1

The Arc of Time is not a simple thing and its manifold threads become jumbled, twisted, coiled back one upon the other and in all things lost and confusing. Such is the way of things. Somewhere there is a universal truth, but no one much cares about it.

Way back when in 1999 an idea that had been germinating for years came to life. While perched at table on the closed in back porch of Chris Harris's rent house Mac and Steve, while waiting for all the players to show up, decided to start a game company. At first it was the expansion of a zine Mac and Chris had done, the Seeker; turning that into a magazine. But the potential wasn't there, so it turned to more momentous things.

The idea had been floating around for some time; tossed about now and again it never seemed to take hold. Circumstances being what they were, such ideas remained on the edge of the Maelstrom. But in those early summer days it seemed a reality. Jobs, lives, all of it lined up and the two had enough time on hand to give it a go.

The annual trip to Dragoncon was expensive, and getting more so. Why not shift focus to the north! To Gencon and try to turn the convention trip into a fun and possible money making business venture?

Previous game publishing experience. None. Previous publishing experience? Only the one page Seeker, a zine in the age of zines that saw only one issue, distributed at Dragoncon by hand. Assets? Only a few adventures written and the prodigious, if scattered, notes of a campaign setting.

As the idea took root the rest of the gamers showed up . . . Mark Sandy, Todd Gray, Charlie Sifford . . . and the evenings game began.

But the real game was only just starting.

Image of Dragon Con 1998. The circle is the crowd surrounding us as we hand out the Seeker . . . or rather the crowd as we imagined it to be. ;)

Image from here.