My friend, gaming sensei and poet extraordinaire (of at least the Maggi Republic) celebrates his birthday up there in brisk Wisconsin.
This birthday is very special for me because 2011 is the 20th anniversary of us meeting as co-workers at GDW. We became very good friends quickly but what I like the most about Lester is the inspiration he instilled in me about how it’s never too late to do some things you really wanna’ do.
Amendment: Why is Lester such a big deal though? After Doc left Milwaukee for Beaumont and I did the same for Bloomington-Normal, he accidentally filled the void left by Doc on being the wiser, older guy in my life. Like a cool uncle/cousin.
In the gaming realm he taught me rule number one with a group, “If they’re playing it and having a good time, they’re playing it correctly.” It was a corollary to my bias with RoleMaster when I joined GDW; D&D had become too clumsy, inconsistent and unrealistic (as if a Fantasy game ever could be credible). Some may accuse me of returning to my old mindset but I disagree, I’ve become a balance proponent which ruffles the feathers of powergamers with their characters from the Gauntlet videogame. However, I heeded his words since Lester has an impressive publishing resume: D&D, Dark Conspiracy, 2300 AD, MechWarrior, Amazing Engine, Traveller and numerous articles in Challenge and Dragon. He’ll let me know about any I forgot. His first love though is the Horror genre.
Outside gaming, Lester was an inspiration. Growing up, his family was comfortable yet didn’t have the means to help him further his education after high school. Even he was resigned to accept a future without a college degree. So Lester joined the work force, got married and became an Army reservist as a medic over the years. Two of his daughters were born during these years too. All the while, he remained an avid reader, gamer (board and role-playing) and did some writing on the side such as reviews. Eventually he found the financial means and courage to earn his Bachelor’s through Illinois State. Lester enjoyed university enough to continue on for his Masters. Meanwhile, he and his wife Jenny had two more daughters; Lester wrote a string of gaming books from the list I stated earlier; and (I think) he taught English 101 to freshman like many grad students get saddled with. Being an early twenty-something with his fancy schmancy undergrad, I used to believe that if you didn’t “get it together” before you were 25 with an education namely, you were screwed. Lester and Jenny were the Wonder Twins for what they achieved together! Therefore, when Somara discussed culinary school seven years ago, I backed the decision. I would like to get my Master’s one day, once I find a use for such a thing beyond keeping a frame company; what I studied and what I do don’t mess into something practical based upon the cost.
In the hybrid of gaming and the real world, Lester did me the biggest favor…he got me over my biggest objections to writing. We’ve discussed this off and on over the years. We agree that the American education system is currently flawed because it destroys all the joy in writing and reading. These critical skills are converted into tedious, painful chores. I remember how much I’d break into a sweat whenever a teacher said I’d have to turn in 1000-word paper (four pages). All my fellow Marquetters remember the 10-15 page whopper we had to do freshmen year in Donnelly’s Western Civilization course; I thought it was going to kill me! Back to the point though. When I joined GDW 20 years ago, I only planned on being a typesetter and informal IT guy keeping the Macs going. Proofreading was there; I figured I’d get by since we had editors. I had absolutely no interest in editing or developing let alone designing/writing. My grades from high school thru college were good and I received mostly As and Bs with my papers, I just didn’t perceive myself as a competent writer. Plus I hated it. I remember getting the verbal stinkeye from the Milwaukee Sentinel reporter who was surprised when I turned down a stringer opportunity; “Don’t complain to me when you don’t receive the extra money the others get for their pieces.” It wasn’t the dough, I wanted to avoid the humiliation of the editors having to rewrite my work into something worth a damn. Not so with Lester because when GDW had a four-page gap in its new magazine (this would be 2000 words), I stepped up thanks to his past encouragement. The deadline (less than two days) was scary but I took my best shot writing a short adventure for Stormbringer (a game based upon Michael Moorcock’s novels). Lester saw it, said it wasn’t perfect yet it was quite good and more importantly, I captured the spirit of the source material; he had read the books too. I had some setbacks (I never did anything quite so large again) and victories (Black Spine Mountain) afterwords but his sincere words eventually led to greater things: Picayune‘s incarnations as my constant practice and at work, I am usually one of the first to volunteer to write up training/instructional materials. It is amazing how many people get tense over such a thing.
Lastly, it hasn’t always been a one-way street. I’ve had some influence on him with music and he does own an iPod, a little nod to our ongoing Apple v. Everyone Else battles. Again, maybe he’ll grace my Comments section to let me know I haven’t always been the taker in our relationship.
If you know him, give him a buzz and wish him bon anniversaire! He is one of my personal heroes.
