User:Malakai Joe/Randy Richards

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Randy Richards is a game designer and author of Dungeons & Dragons adventures and articles. His first published article, "Dark Magic in New Orleans," appeared in Dungeon issue #71 in 1998; his book, "Dreadmire" (ISBN 0977338339) a campaign setting for the d20 system, was published by Spellbinder Games in 2006.

Image:Randgary.jpg
Randy Richards & Gary Gygax, at Gen Con in 1998

Contents

[edit] Biography

Randy Richards was born January 9th, 1966. He originally hails from Chalmette, Louisiana, the location of the Battle of New Orleans. His family is from Cades Cove, before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was created. He currently lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he runs a photography business and writes for publications.

Randy Richards has been playing Dungeons and Dragons since the late 70s, but started in earnest in the early 80s. "In the 1980s," Randy says, "we had the Basic D&D boxed game in our Gifted & Talented class, and I used to play a Cajun halfling. The other kids loved it, especially the accent." Randy graduated from Chalmette High School in 1984, then from college in 1989, and moved to Tennessee.

Commenting on the decision to move, Randy says, "My family is from Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains. I just wanted to get closer to my roots - not to mention its gorgeous up there - so I moved to an area near Gatlinburg." The move proved to be beneficial for Randy's career in photography. "People know me for my writing," he says, "but they don't know my day job is photography (DanceBackwards.com). Olan Mills, which operates out of Chattanooga, hired me to work for them as a kids photographer, then a glamour photographer, and finally a church directory photographer."

After five years in Tennessee, Randy was transferred to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and started a family. "This is when I first got published. I wrote "Dark Magic in New Orleans" for Dungeon Magazine. After receiving scores of complimentary letters from people all over the world, I decided to start writing on a regular basis. With all my traveling with work there really wasn't time, but while driving I would make notes on anything available: cardboard boxes, gum wrappers, paper cups -- anything!"

In the late 90s Randy hosted a series of Gen Con events, one of which included the co-creators of D&D, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and other big names including Frank Mentzer, Lisa Stevens (now CEO of Paizo Publishing), and Anne Brown. "This got my name known in the industry, although at the time that wasn't my goal. I was just trying to have fun and spread the joy of gaming."

A few years passed before Randy got the idea to write a book. "My daughter was getting older, and I wanted to have more time for her, so I decided to start my own photography business. The icing on the cake is that I had more time available for writing. I would copy the scrap notes down when I got home, and as I was reading through them I realized they started to form a swamp theme. That's when I started writing Dreadmire.

There were some false starts and delays before Dreadmire came to print. "First I submitted it to Necromancer Games, but we had creative differences and parted ways. Later... I was contacted by Spellbinder Games. They gave me a lot of control over the project. After my other experiences that was very important to me."

[edit] Gaming Industry

Richards is also the former editor of the Greyhawk Grimoire, an online publication devoted to the World of Greyhawk campaign setting; and is the founder of the World of Greyhawk Fan Club, which once claimed to be "the largest Greyhawk fan organization in the world." The organization claimed among its members such luminaries as Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Rob Kuntz, Frank Mentzer, Len Lakofka and Jim Ward. In 1998 Randy sponsored the "Celebrity Greyhawk Dinner" and "Greyhawk Celebrity Panel Seminar." He has written numerous online fan-fiction adventures set in the Greyhawk campaign setting, including "Slerotin's Tunnel" and "Suel Imperium: Age of Glory".

The 'Greyhawk Celebrity Panel Seminar', at Gen Con Front Row: Frank Mentzer, Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson Back Row: Anne Brown, Randy Richards, Lisa Stevens
The 'Greyhawk Celebrity Panel Seminar', at Gen Con Front Row: Frank Mentzer, Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson Back Row: Anne Brown, Randy Richards, Lisa Stevens

Richards is active in the gaming industry, giving seminars and hosting panel discussions at conventions throughout the United States. Common topics of his seminars have included "How to Get Happily Published," "World of Greyhawk," "Dreadmire," and other gaming industry subjects. His latest projects include the book Katrina vs. St. Bernard Parish, a photograph tour of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Chalmette and other parts of St. Bernard Parish; and Dreadmire Adventures, an adventure-book expansion of the campaign setting he created.

In 2002 there was a dispute between Necromancer Games [1], who was scheduled to publish Dreadmire, and the author Randy Richards [2] over plagerized Grayhawk material. When the book was published several years later after a re-write, no IP violations were ever announced discovered.

In early 2006, Randy Richards was the subject of an interview[3] for Gloomwing Magazine, a gaming, art and short fiction periodical.

In mid 2007, Randy Richards bought into Spellbinder Games, a New Orleans, Louisiana based publishing company that produces game books. Before Richards bought the company they published "Dreadmire". Several other books have been announced on their website.

[edit] Guest Appearances

Randy Richards has been a paid guest at gaming and fantasy conventions across the U.S., including Dragon*Con[4] as a D&D author guest in 1998 and 2006; Gen Con[5] where is hosted panel discussions with Gary Gygax in 1998; Crescent City Con[6] as an Gaming Guest in 1998 and 2001; BabelCon[7] as an author guest in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (scheduled); ConCarolinas[8] as a Gaming Guest in 2006 and 2008 (scheduled); CoastCon[9] as a D&D Guest in 1998, 2000, and 2006, and was on their board of directors of CoastCon for 2007.

Randy Richards was removed from his CoastCon board position by vote of the governing committee members in 2006, per [10], to which he responded [11] - Richards was subsequently elected to the board of directors to the Science & Engineering Education Foundation, the organizers of BabelCon[12] in 2006, and re-elected in 2007 with public kudos [13].

[edit] TV Appearances & Community Activism

In April of 2008, Randy Richards was selected as "Business Person of the Month" by the Baton Rouge, Louisiana library system[14].

Randy Richards has appeared in one TV commercials[15] for Cox Cable, and in a local TV newscasts[16] in Baton Rouge and New Orleans for his tour after Katrina. He placed third in the Adult Landscape category of the LUMCON 2006 Bayous of Louisiana photography contest.[17] His Hurricane Katrina photographs are part of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's "Life in the Wake of Katrina" tour.[18][19] In addition, Randy Richards has appeared as the subject of two newspaper articles (“One Man's Quest for Science Education”, The Advocate, June, <http://www.2TheAdvocate.com> ) and (“Local Photographer on National Tour”, Times-Picayune, October, <http://www.Times-Picayune.com> ).

[edit] Published works

[edit] External links