Read My Back Story!
Dear gaming friend,
I'm Dan. Also known as RPG Van Winkle. I work in my dungeon.. er.. basement just North of scenic Burlington, Vermont. Occasionally I have a random encounter with the creatures that inhabit my lair... my wife and two teenagers.
My D&D bonafides go back to the 1980s in a small Western Pennsylvania town – not so different from Hawkins in Stranger Things. Fortunately, I did not have to take on a live Demogorgan in my school days. Although, sometimes it felt like it!
D&D was sus back then. Satanic Panic and all that...
That did not stop me from having all the "first edition" Advanced D&D books and a Crown Royal bag loaded with dice. When I found myself in an closed room interrogation with school administration about whether my soul was now the property of satan, I doubled down and started signing my name with an arcane circle. They loved my hippie, activist family so much... but I digress.
Several decades after drifting away from D&D, the temptation of playing with my younger kids drew me back to the multiverse. Unsatisfied with their lack of commitment, I put together an IRL group of young strangers, 20s and 30s, and ran a year-plus Homebrew campaign. It was pretty epic. Handmade terrain, special magic items with fancy cards, incredible props... what a blast!
But, of all the changes over the four subsequent editions of D&D, I was most surprised to learn that it's still WAY TOO FREAKIN' HARD to be a Dungeon Master!
The amount of advice online is overwhelming, yet the availability of quality tools is somewhere between murky and non-existent. So, I embarked on a solemn quest to make a difference for Dungeon Masters everywhere.
These products are for you. I bring you my childhood passion blended with the culmination of a lifetime of experience in creative business ventures. This is truly a labor of love, I am very much living the dream, and I bequeath you my deepest appreciation for checking it out.
See you at the tavern,
~Dan (aka RPG Van Winlke)
