Raiko
Raiko
🖼️ 32 images Surveyor
I've mostly been more of a lurker than a regular contributor to these forums, but I'm trying to get back into mapping and posting here much more often - and I have been around for a long time! - so I thought I'd join in with the introduction posts and maybe encourage a few more of the less prolific posters to do the same.
My real name is Gary. My forum name Raiko was originally the name of a hitman in my old Shadowrun campaign - and was taken from the name of a semi-mythical Samurai hero from Japanese folklore. I've used either Raiko or RaikoSR4 as a username on numerous RPG related forums.
I'm 49 years old and I live in Chorley, a market town in Lancashire, England at the edge of the Pennines. The views from my house aren't as beautiful as some of the forum members have, but there are some nice hill walks and also nice protected woodlands around the local valley, which are literally two minutes walk from my house. ?
I have a large family , my oldest daughter has been back from university for the last year and has just started training as a teacher, my youngest daughter is on my shoulders in the photo (she a few months older now, but still likes shoulder rides).
I work as a software engineer at BAE Systems on the Eurofighter Typhoon; I've worked for BAE since leaving school in 1987, joining as an electrical/electronic apprentice. Since my apprenticeship I've worked on the Tornado, Hawk, Nimrod MRA4 and Typhoon projects, firstly as an avionics systems engineer, then as a software engineer.
Like quite a few others on here, I've owned Campaign Cartographer since the original MS-Dos disk version, which I think I saw advertised in Dungeon magazine.
I dabbled with mapping using that original version, but I don't remember having usable maps for my games. Nonetheless I persevered and bought all the CC2 tools on CD-Rom.
Then I found Ralf's Jhendor.de website - I can't remember exactly how the Profantasy website was at that time, and I think it was before Ralf joined Profantasy professionally, but I certainly found Ralf's maps via this site. Anyway the amazing maps of Jhendor showed me what could be done with CC2 and so I shamelessly copied Ralf's mapping style to create a map for my D&D campaign set in Games Workshop's Warhammer Old World - I finally had my first usable Campaign Cartographer map!
The file probably still exists on an old hard drive in the attic, but I don't have a copy that I have easy access to anymore. However I did print out a laminate a copy, spread across nine sheets of A4, I've still got that first printed map, so I photographed it and posted it here. I do want to recover the original file sometime if I can, as I think it would turn out nice converted to a newer CC3+ style.
The core of my tabletop RPG group is me and my best friends from high school, so we've been playing together for nearly 40 years.
As well as playing tabletop RPGs with friends and family, and going for walks in the woods, I enjoy reading - my current favourites being Joe Abercrombie's Grim-dark fantasy novels and James Corey's The Expanse sci-fi series.
Online, as well as posting here, I'm currently running the definitive Call of Cthulhu campaign Masks of Nyarlathotep as a play-by-post game on the callofcthulhu.org.uk forums and I also race starships as a founder member of the Buckyball Racing Club in the space combat MMO Elite: Dangerous. My forum avatar was originally for the Elite: Dangerous forums.
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Comments
I worked for BAE Systems once for about 6 weeks as a temp on the reception desk at our local office! LOL!
A far cry from what you get up to though ;)
Thanks for sharing your story :D
Lots of interesting background there. That aerospace experience sounds like a lot of fun.
Kind of interesting that you ran D&D in the Warhammer Universe. I love the universe, but I've preferred to use the Warhammer Roleplay system for that setting, perhaps as much as anything to have a break from AD&D, and I really like exploring systems.
Never tried joining the Buckyball races myself. I am more of an explorer than a racer.
What a VERY interesting person you are. I love the photo of you and your lovely daughter.
Thank you! I was a little nervous posting about myself, as everyone else seemed to have done so much more then me! ?
@Monsen, we've used the Warhammer setting a few times for fantasy games, using WFRP, D&D/AD&D and GURPS. Prior to that particular game, we'd played The Enemy Within campaign (up to the end of Power Behind the Throne) using the 1st Edition of WFRP so we just fancied some more traditional heroic fantasy adventuring, where your characters are in danger, but you know they're not going to get their arm hacked off OR slowly die from an infected wound. We actually incorporated the classic AD&D module I6 Ravenloft into that Warhammer/D&D game, I had all of Strahd's infamous haunted castle mapped in DD2 and printed as individual rooms and corridors - with custom CA2 card miniatures for all the PCs, NPCs, monsters and statues. Those files are probably all on the same dusty hard drive as my Warhammer map.
I only have a small set of RPG bookshelves these days, but the newest edition of WFRP is on there (including first instalment the new edition of The Enemy Within) right alongside Pathfinder and the latest reboot of Ravenloft.
Most of the Buckyball racers are explorers as well (or at least space tourists). My favourite events are the ones that involve racing between some of the games more interesting locations, and I've done our A* Challenge three times, racing to the galactic core - then I "explored my way home."
The original Elite was a favourite of me and my friends at high school, so for all it's flaws Elite: Dangerous is a game I'd been hoping to play for decades. ?
Didn't own the original Elite, so I haven't played it much, just a few hours with a friend. But I spent countless hours in Elite 2 (Well, not as many as I've spent in E:D). Feel free to look me up in game, I am Cmdr Remy Monsen there. I am usually a bit on and off, playing in periods.
WFRP 1st ed was actually the first RPG I ever played, but we didn't end up playing much with the guy owning it, and soon ended up buying AD&D 2nd ed ourselves which has been my groups main game since.