.png "Monday - Seafall")
But as we were preparing for the next board game during my pre-birthday board game session, Tobie got a call with some very sad news. So before I get back into the full birthday swing of things, let's take a moment.
On Saturday, a good friend died. He had gone through a major medical procedure and had been in recovery for quite some time. He had just been released from the hospital, so the news was all the more unexpected. And even while we had steeled ourselves somewhat for the worst when he first went under the knife, it still hurts.
Adrian, in many ways, was a larger-than-life figure. He was a font of wisdom in different fields but was even quicker with a pun when you're least prepared for it. We shared a love for Star Trek, board games, and, of course, tabletop RPGs. He was a huge figure in our gaming lives and we did our best to stay in touch over the years and kept playing whenever possible.
He had a genuine love for the hobby that goes beyond being a casual source of entertainment. The way he'd talk about gaming was something else - it was as if he was talking about holy scripture or something. He was such an inspiration to many and he delighted in seeing how far the gaming hobby was progressing.
In between enduring his puns, I'd always poke at him to finish his own RPG writing. Like any other writer, he was never quite satisfied with what he had done and was continually tweaking and refining the system he had been working on. He'd share stories about how he was approaching things like how to play through Star Trek stories with his game system and so many other things. Tobie and I kept telling him to just put the game out there and share it with the world. Now I wonder if it will ever see the light of day.
Before the pandemic, we had embarked on playing a long-term board game campaign with him - this being Seafall. We'd meet him and his daughter once a month to sail the high seas and see where the game's story would take us. The game is good for about 15 sessions of play and we had logged about 13 game sessions in total. We never got to resume the game after the lockdowns were lifted as it was already easier to game mainly online versus in person. And now we're never going to see the end of that particular campaign.
He was also in two of our ongoing RPG campaigns that we had managed to continue playing online. We had paused the games because of his medical procedure and were just about to restart them while he was focusing on his recovery...so now it's all weird. I think we're going to do our best to continue the campaigns eventually as a way to honor the story we had crafted together. But it's going to be rough for sure. His absence is going to be felt with every adventure our characters end up going through.
Adrian loved many things and he loved wholeheartedly. He'd have the same expression of delight after I served him a cup of coffee as when we'd offer him a sugary treat. He celebrated every new TV show of interest and every new RPG system that he'd get his hands on.
We're all going to miss him because of a thousand different reasons because he was that sort of a man. He was many things to many people and everyone whose lives he has touched has come out all the better for it. And we're all going to feel his absence because he is a man worth missing. But I know we'll all do our best to think about the good times and remember all the great experiences we shared with him. It's all we can do as we do our best to cope and move forward with our lives.
Alas, dear Tybalt. We knew him well.
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