Hi Jon,

Yeah, I remember you and D&D at the Caer Comwydd in the Shire Gwentayrian (OK I never saw it written down …Gwen-tar-i-an). I was not a member of SCA but my sister was later.

Actually in addition to Lovecraft, Tom was a great fan of Clark Ashton Smith. You can see the influence in his games and D&D modules. He introduced me to Smith. I did not realize that until I started reading CAS about 20 years later. When Night Shade Books started publishing the complete works a few years ago I bought two sets on the prepublication rate. I so wanted those stories published again because my own collection of paperbacks was old and incomplete.

I didn’t know about Tom singing for his supper at the Red Radish. Working at the “Garment District” did not pay much. Incidently, that whole block has been demolished and it in the process of “gentrification” (= probably another Starburnts. Captain Brady’s is no more.).

“He did a painting once in the style of Pictman-ghouls swarming a subway station. ” – Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s Model”! I’d love to see it and others might too. How about posting a pix of it.

“He was a very easy going peaceful guy, but I think he would want me to warn everyone: under no circumstances did you want to wake him up.” True…he kept a dagger in easy reach above his bed.

I remember crashing at his apartment during Gencon80 . We got in about 2am. He had told us the door would be unlocked. There was no lock. Tom had kicked the door in some time ago when he had forgotten his keys. He said that if he could do that, then the lock was worthless and he had a dagger handy.

Were you there when we did the quest for the dwarfish crown? We wound up in this cavern with five entrances. We heard this “shout” and Tom said “You’ve forgotten your classic Tolkien battles” and I replied “Oh SHIT….the battle of the five armies.” I got “Rommel’s lost panzer division” to join us ( Hey D&D is a fantasy game after all. A few months later we were on a quest to find batteries for a force ax- better than a light saber). . Cliff (=Iskandar Alexandar) ‘ orc character did not do so well with the Orcs. He turned traitor and payed the penalty for losing. Well that was fun.

Thanks for sharing that, Jon. I always appreciate a chance to think about an old friend again.

Tom was incredibly intelligent, well read, and very accomplished. I remember seeing a picture of him performing at the Kent State University Folk Festival in the late 70s. Ralph’s description of Tom brings tears to my eyes. That was Tom-especially the hat! After three years in graduate school I had enough of that, came back to Akron and stayed with my parents. The next spring I was in the Akron Public Library and I saw the “Hat” atop a tall individual going up the escalator. It could be only one person. He was living in Akron too after leaving TSR. I remember him showing me his early sketches for what would become “Lords of Creation.” Tom had a wry sense of humor. I’ve never played but I love reading occasionally the LOC module “OmegAkron”- like Chrissie Hynde, “My City Was Gone” and Tom’s vision of it gone still keeps me, a native of Akron, laughing at times.

I remember Ralph as the GM for our awesome Boothill adventures. His 54mm towns were incredible to play with. I think we enjoyed setting them up as much as playing with them….toys are sometimes truly wasted on children and can only be appreciated by adults! I remember when Tom’s character “Crazy Luke” got his from “Bo” my character. Earlier Tom’s character, “Crazy Luke”, killed a man in the middle of town in front of everybody and Tom’s response when Ralph confronted him was “Injuns did it”. Ralph made some comment to the effect “Tom NOBODY is gonna believe that..you gotta make [something nearly impossible] for your saving throw..Crazy Luke is gonna get it this time…” Ralph rolled the dice to see if anybody believed that “Injuns did it” and as I recall the roll was 00-what was needed and Ralph just shook his head and muttered “he always does this…I don’t know how he does this…the craziest most outlandish story and he always gets away with it.” Rather than a lynching party the towns people got together and left the town to find the “Injuns that done it.” Gaming with Tom was always lively.

Tom was incredibly intelligent, well read, and very accomplished. I remember seeing a picture of him performing at the Kent State University Folk Festival in the late 70s. Ralph’s description of Tom brings tears to my eyes. That was Tom-especially the hat! After three years in graduate school I had enough of that, came back to Akron and stayed with my parents. The next spring I was in the Akron Public Library and I saw the “Hat” atop a tall individual going up the escalator. It could be only one person. He was living in Akron too after leaving TSR. I remember him showing me his early sketches for what would become “Lords of Creation.” Tom had a wry sense of humor. I’ve never played but I love reading occasionally the LOC module “OmegAkron”- like Chrissie Hynde, “My City Was Gone” and Tom’s vision of it gone still keeps me, a native of Akron, laughing at times.

I remember Ralph as the GM for our awesome Boothill adventures. His 54mm towns were incredible to play with. I think we enjoyed setting them up as much as playing with them….toys are sometimes truly wasted on children and can only be appreciated by adults! I remember when Tom’s character “Crazy Luke” got his from “Bo” my character. Earlier Tom’s character, “Crazy Luke”, killed a man in the middle of town in front of everybody and Tom’s response when Ralph confronted him was “Injuns did it”. Ralph made some comment to the effect “Tom NOBODY is gonna believe that..you gotta make [something nearly impossible] for your saving throw..Crazy Luke is gonna get it this time…” Ralph rolled the dice to see if anybody believed that “Injuns did it” and as I recall the roll was 00-what was needed and Ralph just shook his head and muttered “he always does this…I don’t know how he does this…the craziest most outlandish story and he always gets away with it.” Rather than a lynching party the towns people got together and left the town to find the “Injuns that done it.” Gaming with Tom was always lively.