| Personal File of Col. Travis C. Masters |
| My name is Travis C. Masters. I am 30 years old and I was born here in San Diego, CA in the east county. I have lived all over the country including Arkansas, Oregon, Arizona and Washington State. For whatever reason, I sitll keep coming home to SD. I work at a major hospital here in San Diego, and I wouldn't think of leaving it (Unless of course I win the lottery or a better offer was made *grins*). Since my divorce, my brother, Josh, and I live together in Lakeside, CA in a really small two bedroom apartment that I hope to move out of in the near future as well. I guess thats about it on the personal side, but keep reading if you have mind to. I have been gaming since I was 10. I started with Dungeons & Dragons while in a group home in Arizona. It was only offered in the summertime, but since that very first gaming session, I was hooked. I had never had any previous gaming experience before that, so you can imagine what it was like to suddenly play a mage with a group you barely knew and find out that you had a talent for it. It was exhilerating. I loved the fact that you could escape into a whole new world and be whatever you wanted to be. It was the best high I ever felt at that time. Its the one experience I will never forget. After I left the group home at 10 1/2, I went home to Flagstaff, AZ. The experience was still with me. I spent every penny of my allowance on used D&D books, and dice. I designed my own maps on graph paper and often found myself daydreaming of the D&D world and my characters. I spent so much time on the game that my school work suffered and my mother thought I was "In my own little world" all the time. I was, truth be told. It was a world that I had created and felt comfortable in. Who wouldn't prefer a world like that to the "real" world that you had to trudge through as a 10 year old?! Two years later found me in yet another group home (Guess I had a problem with authority and spent too much time by myself). This time in Mt. Vernon, WA. Ok, now here is where I really came into my own in RPG gaming. I am 13 years old now. I new enough about playing the system and manipulating people that I could, basically, do anything I wanted and was left alone with my own little group of friends for the most part. I managed to get a couple hours a day to myself, which usually found me across the river at a small coffee shop sipping my Cafe Mocha and flipping through the latest editions of the used D&D books that I would buy from the penny book store. These days are my favorite by far. A lazy day of reading, sipping coffee, and enjoying the cobblestone street atmosphere of a very small town in the middle of an overcast afternoon. During this time, I came across a new game called Top Secret. Oh man, I took to that game like a fish to water. I never really realized that there were so many different games and genres out there. I loved it. A whole new world of Role-Playing openned up to me. Ok, now try to imagine what its like to find out that there are more than ONE RPG out there. Man, I just about had a heart attack. I scrambled to get a hold of every game I came across. Soon, I had spent hundreds of dollars and amassed a HUGE collection of gaming books that I violently protected from the other kids. I think I got into more fights over those books, than I ever did over a girl. *grins* Needless to say, I came into my own in regards to gaming at this time. When I finally moved back home to the San Juan Islands in WA, my stepfather was not at all pleased with my collection. It was at this time that the 60 Minutes show ignorantly denounced Dungeons and Dragons as a brainwashing mechanism for our fragile youth. They attributed the deaths of a few kids who took the game way too far, to D&D. They never took into account that these kids were suffering from severe mental and emotional issues during their crimes. Hell, more people were killed by the SAME types of kids after these kids read the BIBLE than any D&D material at that time. Regardless of any facts or protest of mine, my stepfather (a devout Christian Science Follower), decided that my books were the devils inspirations and literally burned my entire collection. I was devistated. I cried harder than I ever did for a dead family member for weeks. I still get misty thinking about it. My Role-Playing was then limited to "Choose your own Adventure" books, as that was all I could keep in my collection of reading that he allowed anywhere close to an RPG book. I withdrew into myself and secretly began writing my own RPG (Which I am still working on to this day). It got so bad that I spent less and less time with friends, until finally, I was spending weeks by myself writing and avoiding my stepfather. After my stepfather had an accident with a table saw (No, I had nothing to do with that), he became addicted to painkillers. My mother finally had enough of his addiction and moodswings that we moved back to San Diego, in my sophmore year of Highschool. I was finally free to rebuild my collection of RPG books and game once again. At Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, CA, I finally started to make friends and find more people like myself. Thats where I met David Shelton, David Buck, Mike Black, Sai, Tracy Castle, Andrew Westphall, Andrew Rogers, and a score of others that shared my enjoyment of RPG's of all types. Throughout highschool, my military enlistment, my college days, and now, I have continued to collect and play Role Playing Games. My favorites have included almost all of the Palladium RPG lines, FASA's Shadow Run, Gamma World, TSR's D&D (1st and 2nd editions), Role-Master, White Wolf's Vampire, the Masquerade, Werewolf, the Apocolypes, and sooo many others. I have trades, bought, and sold so many game books that I have since lost count, but my enthusiasm has never wavered in all these years. Today, I still work a day job, I still work on my own RPG, and I still try to make time for a gaming group from time to time. All in all, I am happy, and I trully enjoy the thrill of a great gaming session with a great group of folks of all ages, and a great Game Master or two! In parting, I say, enjoy what you love, no matter what others may think of it. As long as its not hurting anyone, I see no problem with it at all. I still hope to be actively involved in RPG's when I am 60! With that said, I wish all of you the very best that life has to offer. May the lights blessing be upon you all. Merry Meet, Merry Part, Merry Meet again. An it harm none, do as thou wilt. - Travis C. Masters |
| By popular demand, a little about the webmaster of Rifts Wolf Pack Mercenary Corps. |
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