Welcome to the Grassy Gnoll, a blog focused on pen and paper role-playing games of all kinds.

About Me

For any readers who may not know me personally, my name is Keegan (at times also known as Tink, Tinkergoth and the Hef depending on who you’re talking to). I’ve been playing various roleplaying games since I was given my first copy of the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Players Handbook on my 12th birthday. Since then I’ve played with a number of different systems, both as a player and as a Game Master (or Story Teller, Guide, Dungeon Master, whatever you want to call it). The following are just a selection of the different systems I’ve used:

• Pathfinder – My main game. I’m currently running a weekly pirate themed game, and will be starting another soon
• Dungeons & Dragons – 2nd Edition, 3rd Edition and the 3.5 revision, as well as a brief foray into 4th Edition
• Shadowrun – 3rd and 4th Editions
• World of Darkness – I’ve played both Old and New World, and have messed around with most of the sub-games.
• Kult – I highly recommend this if people can find the rules for it. Unfortunately out of print at the moment.
• GURPS – The system for those who can’t decide if they want fantasy, sci-fi, superheroes, or even kung-fu rabbits
• Call of Cthulhu – both the original and the d20 versions

Apart from role-playing, my main interests are:

• Reading – Pretty much anything, though I do tend towards urban fantasy these days. I highly recommend Celia Friedman’s Coldfire trilogy, Kate Griffin’s Urban Magic series, and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. I also love all the obvious ones, like The Dresden Files, but I feel those three series in particular aren’t getting enough love
• Comics – My favourites are the more mature themed series, but I enjoy a wide variety of styles. Personal favourites are The Sandman, The Boys, Preacher, The Darkness and Atomic Robo.
• Music – I’ve got a pretty eclectic taste in music, I’ll listen to most things, though I tend towards metal and hard rock of all kinds. The only styles I outright dislike are cookie cutter pop, rap, hip hop, country and R&B, and even in there I have a few exceptions. I like to share my taste in music with people, so at the bottom of each of my updates is a little bit of info about what I was listening to while I wrote it.
• Movies & Television – I’ve got a pretty wide ranging collection of TV and movies from all kinds of genres. I love just having a few people around to watch some classic B-grade sci fi or a great action movie.
• Video Games – I play all kinds of video games, but surprise surprise, my favourite genre is the good ol’ RPG. My favourites in that regard are Final Fantasy VII and VIII, and Lost Odyssey
• Trying to take over the world – Hey, everybody needs a hobby of some kind.

Personality wise I’m a fairly friendly guy, if a little towards the shy side with people I’m not familiar with, and I’m always willing to lend a hand when someone needs it. I like to think I’ve got a pretty good sense of humour, though quite a few people don’t seem to get my jokes, and I’m told that my laugh is a little on the sinister side (apparently that’s what I get for having a laugh that’s halfway between a chuckle and a snigger). I was born and raised in the country, and have been living in the city for the last six years, working as an IT professional. I started out as a trainee and moved up through the ranks, leading to my current role as an IT Infrastructure Specialist.

About The Grassy Gnoll

I started The Grassy Gnoll as a way to get myself writing again. I used to write short stories and poetry on a regular basis, but since finishing studying and starting to work full time, I’ve not really had the energy or motivation for it. I finally decided that enough was enough, and I needed something to occupy my time, so The Grassy Gnoll was born. I figure it’s also a good chance to get working on my homebrew campaign setting Project Helleborus again. I had the entire world plotted out at one point, right down to family trees for the noble houses, but unfortunately lost six months worth of work when a hard drive died, and my backups weren’t as up to date as I thought.

Since I use so many different systems, I plan on providing content that is mostly system neutral, with the occasional update related to one or two specific games. Content will include, but not be limited to:

• Articles on building a campaign setting
• Advice and stories about running gaming groups, how to  choose a system, and what kind of game to run
• Opinions and reviews of various systems, source books and accessories
• Fiction written both by myself and players in my groups
• The occasional review or opinion on books, movies, television and comics that are somehow related to gaming

If there’s anything you want to ask me, or that you specifically want covered in one of my articles, then just let me know and I’ll do my best to oblige. I’m going to try and setup a Contact/Suggestions page to make it easier, but in the mean time, feel free to just leave comments on my updates as and when they appear.