Gaming Memories Meeting Nigel D.Finley & GenCon's Past

There was once upon a time when I used to follow role playing game writers like some folks follow veteran sports players. The guy I followed went by the name Nigel D. Findley. He was one of the most excellent science fiction & fantasy writers I got the privilage of meeting back at a GenCon back in the early Nineties. The night  I met Mr.Finley was blur of beer, bravo, & memory at this point. Let me give you a bit of background on Mr.Finley from the wiki entry;"Nigel Findley was born in Venezuela, in 1959.^[1] Findley was raised in Spain, Nigeria, the United States, and England before his family settled in Vancouver in 1969.^[1]

He got his start as a role-playing game author in the mid 1980s during his business career. By 1990 he had become a full-time writer, and had authored or coauthored over one hundred books, including twelve novels, before his death.^[1] He wrote for most game companies in the industry, including TSR, but is perhaps best known for his game products and fiction for FASA's Shadowrun game.^[1] Findley's adventure The Universal Brotherhood (1990) for Shadowrun was well received.^[2] He got his start writing for Dungeons & Dragons, and won a 1992 Origins Award for GURPS Illuminati.^[3] In 1994 he was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame."  

But we spoke about a few things that night, his design contributions in Greyhawk Adventures & his upcoming plans for Greyspace.  By the time I had met Mr.Finley he was well established  & entrenched in the rpg industry. Nigel D.Finley was a brilliant, creative, & excentric genius in many respects. I only got to speak with the man for fifteen minutes total but I got a pretty good grasp of him.  He was beyond literate in every sense of the word. There are some folks that you meet who have a light about them.  Nigel D. Findley was that guy. 


He told me to buy something called the Primal Order 'Pawns The Opening Move' after he had helped with working on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Tome of Magic. So this would have been about 1991 GenCon? About ten minutes of throbbing music & lights a crowd of designers & writers had taken him off of my hands.


Had I known what I know now I would have tagged along with those folks to the bar instead of going on to my next late night event. He died of a heart attack in '95 of a heart attack. He was thirty five years old. Had he lived I know he probably would have changed the face of table top role playing & science fiction.  Most of my rpg collection including the signed Tome of Magic for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition burnt in an apartment fire in the 90's.
The first two books that I required were The Tome of Magic & The Primal Order:Pawns The Opening Move by Nigel D. Finley.



This blog post is for Grodog who wanted some background on my meeting with Mr. Finley. He was taken from us way too soon & has never been forgotten. I still love that Primal Order: Pawns The Opening Move cover.