1) Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.
Well lets see. My name is Douglas and in a (rather large) nutshell, I grew up in Orange County, California, graduated from High School (Laguna Hills HS – Class of ’90) and moved up to Los Angeles for college.

Over the next 10 years, I received two degrees from USC (B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, M.S. in Astronautics), one degree from MSU (B.S. in Astrophysics), and one degree from Pepperdine (M.S. in Technology Management from the Executive MBA Program). During a 7 year marriage (’96-’03), had two children Alex (6) and Anna (4) who are worth more than life itself to me. =^)

I started working at the Jet Propulsion Lab in 1997 as a Software Engineer, which I was completely unprepared for. But I learned through trial by fire and wrote the Command Software for the Shuttle RADAR Topography Mission (SRTM) which was used to command the Payload on STS-99. Three years later found myself talking to Astronauts on-board the Shuttle down in Houston. I was incredibly lucky to have that opportunity straight out of school. Since then, I have worked on different space missions in various capacities including, Odyssey, Deep Impact, and most recently with Cassini where I am basically one of the pilots for this bus-sized spaceship that is currently orbiting Saturn and its moons.

2) How did you first hear about True Dungeon?
The first time I heard about True Dungeon, I was at GenCon So Cal 2004 with some friends and noticed that there was this “Live” D&D event. The concept sounded so cool but my friends thought it would be too “LARP”-like and proceeded to make fun of it mercilessly. But I convinced them to give it a try and in the end, we all LOVED it! It was such a unique experience. Three of the four people in the group have played every year since.

3) What is your current involvement with True Dungeon, and how did you get there?
Let’s see. Current involvement, aside from being a Part-time volunteer at the event, I also collect and compile trades for the True Dungeon Token Price Guide. From time to time, I offer feedback, suggestions, tweaks on dungeon layout, mechanics and rooms. For new token print runs, I also suggest changes, ideas for the new tokens, changes to existing tokens, or recommendations on token removal. And periodically I also give input on the business end of things, price points, cost cutting measures, new potential sources of revenue, that sort of thing. I also help to develop rules for new events like True Arena.

4) What is your fondest True Dungeon memory?
There are so many. I think one of the best was So Cal (’04) where one of the guys in our group (the Fighter) was grabbed by the Giant Spider. We looked around and noticed he was gone. Definitely created the sensation that there were evil forces at work here and none of us was safe. The moving wall room at Indy (’05?) was also very cool as the thief scrambled to pick the lock before we were all crushed to death! Running True Arena the first year was a blast as well. And of course running with Team TOKN is always fun.

5) Why do you think True Dungeon has been so successful? Will it last?
Well, I certainly HOPE it is successful and will last. But to do that, we need to always continue to grow and improve not just with the game play but also on the business end of things through carefully made decisions. We need to leverage the strengths of True Dungeon and invest in those things that give the greatest “bang-for-the-buck”. A successful True Dungeon will require constant in flux of new players which will hopefully translate into new volunteers who are passionate about helping TD grow. And then nurturing those relationships to help volunteer retention will be critical. It is possible. My greatest concern though is that something will happen that will be out of True Dungeons control such as rising event fees from GenCon.

6) If you had the power to instantly make one change to True Dungeon, what would it be and why?
Eliminate the production costs? Seriously though, in my mind, True Dungeon should be as immersive as possible. That is the key to an incredible experience. In the far future, I see True Dungeon having almost a “virtual reality” feel with full automation in rooms. No more DMs, where bonuses, saving throws, to-hit/damage rolls, and HPs are computed and updated automatically via a wireless network. Further down that path, I could see a True Dungeon with visors where players would see virtual projections of everything from creatures to flames on the wall. Think Dream Park. =^)

7) What do you see in True Dungeon's future?
This is sort of related to question 5. Honestly, I don’t know. There seem to be other forces at work that might help or hinder True Dungeon in the future. Either way though, I see a rough road ahead both with cost limitations, issues with the volunteer base, and player circulation. But despite those challenges, it is certainly doable. At some point, I think True Dungeon may need to change on a fundamental level. The question is how smoothly will that transition be and will we be able to survive it.

8) What are your non-gaming-related interests?
Photography, cooking, listening to music of all kinds, astronomy, philosophy, travel, writing, basketball, football, skiing, movies, wine tasting, oil painting, coffee, museums, hiking, and science fiction.