About Me

About Me

I played my first game in September 1981. By my 5th game I was the DM (right before the Fiend Folio was released). I was in the U.S. Army at the time, working as a draftsman. I spent the next four years honing my skill with 2nd edition D&D. When I left the Army, I returned to college and joined the local gaming group. I helped to run D&D modules at conventions and I have run my own dungeons at conventions (twice for D&D and once for the game Top Secret). I have played in a convention game as well, and helped other DMs when they were the head DM.

I am disabled with Fibromyalgia that I got while serving with the US. Army during Desert Storm. I never went into combat so I don't consider myself to be a hero, merely a veteran. I suffer from depression, chronic pain and insomnia. At least it gives me time to work on my game since I am unable to work. Luckily, I have a 100% disability rating from the Veteran's Administration.

I dropped out of the D&D scene when 3rd edition came out. I was mad that Wizards of the Coast had taken all my extensive knowledge of D&D and made it obsolete overnight. I had also had close to $1,000 worth of books where were rendered obsolete. I took about 10 years off before finally getting back into D&D. I did well with 3.5 and ran two campaigns, before switching to Pathfinder. I have been doing a lot of playing recently and have played under a couple of DMs. I enjoy it more when I DM, but I learn more when I play. I get to know what the players feel and things that I like or don't like that the oher DM does.

I didn't like 4th edition very much and didn't bother learning the rules in any depth. I found Pathfinder to be better developed. I have reviewed the material for Starfinder and 5th Edition, but I would rather play Pathfinder. In my opinion Starfinder is Paizo’s attempt at Pathfinder 2.0; the rules are different enough to make it a separate game and so Golarion was removed from the Golarion star system and from the Starfinder game. I generally prefer a science fiction game, but most people seem to prefer fantasy.

I am using the world of Golarion and plan on making extensive use of d20pfsrd. Currently, the only 3rd Party material I am allowing are the Psionic system produced by Dreamscarred Press. Please check the standard texts that I will be using. The short answer is if it has been produced by Paizo I will allow it, all other material is probably a "no."

I learned Pathfinder soon after it came out. I played under an excellent DM who taught me a lot of things. I took the time off, from being a DM, to update my site to Pathfinder standards. This website is possible due to the Open Gaming license, as long as I don't charge anything for doing it and acknowledge that Wizards of the Coast and Paizo are the creators of the original content, and no infringement of their license is meant by publishing their data on this site.

I have no problem with players new to the game. I had to learn D&D and later Pathfinder and realize that learning all the rules can be as hard as taking a college level course. I have patience and am willing to train new players.

I can also be found on the Pathfinder GMs forum on Facebook under the name Daniel Joseph Mello.