It has been several months since I have posted anything here on RPG Musings. I have been taking a self-imposed hiatus from blogging so that I can accomplish a couple of things in my life that have brick-wall deadlines. I always had the intention of coming back and picking up RPG blogging again, with a goal of doing that in January 2017.
Something happened this week that has brought me back to this website. Unfortunately it is not a fun or happy event that has spurred me into writing this post. My friend Randall Walker passed away suddenly on Friday morning, October 21, 2016. He was taken from us much too soon.
Randy, a.k.a. deadorcs, a.k.a. iDad, a.k.a my brother from another mother, a.k.a. RAMDU… played so many roles in many of the lives of my online RPG friends. It is amazing how some people just become woven into your existence as if they were always there, and always will be. Randy was that way. He had such a good spirit, a kind heart, and a ton of wisdom. He was the kind of person who admitted his mistakes and then used them to give advice to others without judgement.
Randy was iDad to a lot of the D&D players that sprang up and somehow created a cohesive community on twitter in the early days of 4th edition. For several people in our group he was a father figure that they never had. He was not an iDad to me – I was lucky enough to have a great dad already, so Randy took the position of “brother who becomes your best friend as adults” – not an easy acronym BWBYBFAA – so maybe he was my iBrother? Yeah, my iBrother.
When my dad passed away, suddenly and after a short illness, very similar to Randy, actually, I went to help my mom take care of the millions of things that have to be taken care of when events like these touch our lives. On twitter and in private conversations, Randy helped me make it through those dark days – we didn’t talk often or for hours at a time, but in the brief conversations we had, he was able to settle my thoughts and emotions and get me through one more day of pain. It is impossible to thank a person for that. Just saying thank you feels hollow. I resolved to give Randy one of the 30 year old bottles of Jim Beam my Dad had left in the garage and to take him and his family out for a steak dinner the next time I was in their home state.
I never got to deliver that bottle. Randy left us too early. My dad left us too early too – perhaps the two of them are sitting down together right now in heaven, having a drink and eating a steak, and trading stories about their awesome wives, children, and grandchildren. Yes, that must be what they are doing. Rest in Peace, my Brother. And say hello to my dad for me.
-If you would like to help Randy’a fantastic wife, Anna – the group’s iMom – with medical and funeral expenses, please go here to donate: Walker GoFundMe
-Here is a link to the recently posted short obituary for Randall Walker
As a sort of memorial for Randy on RPG Musings, I have posted all of the episodes of the podcast that I hosted with him – The DM’s Roundtable. If you would like to listen to the dulcette tones of deadorcs you can find those episodes here: DMR Podcast Memorial Page
Go hug someone you love.
~DMSamuel