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"Wait, you guys made that thing?"
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Yessir, that's where it all began.
On Becoming Helpful NPCs
Lifelong gamers Ryan and Thomas started Helpful NPCs in Grand Rapids, MI a few years back. It started with the idea for our first product, Character Case, and we've grown (ever so slightly) since then. We hope one day to be known far and wide across the tabletop gaming community as "those dudes we vaguely remember from that convention."
Thomas says:
I have Strong Opinions about our hobbies, many of which are exaggerated for comedic effect, a fair number of which are bombastically provocative, and a smattering of which are thoughtful.
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My gaming preferences are all over the place. My board games I prefer lightweight with easy setup, runtimes of around 30-45 minutes, but my RPGs vary. I want enough crunch to provide for mechanical complexity and longevity while not enough to bog down the game with a steep learning curve. My go-to system is Savage Worlds for that reason. When I GM, I lean toward lighter, and when I play, I tolerate crunchier.
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I started gaming in college with D&D 3.5e, and oh boy, do I have some thoughts on that glorious trainwreck. Rather than bore you immensely--at least, at this time--I'll turn the text over to Ryan so he can introduce himself.
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Ryan says:
I'm a Disney kid who grew into a grognard, I’ve spent the last couple of decades developing a deep love for cosmic horror, dastardly rogues, and my own strongly-worded, loudly-spoken opinions.
I cut my teeth on 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons way back in the 90s, though I didn’t really begin wasting my youth until third edition came out in the 2000s. Today, I like my games to be player-driven and lightly-crunchy. My current poison is either D&D 5e or Savage worlds, though I’m a man of variety. I like all sorts of boardgames, though I tend to favor worker-placement games or co-op games with light RPG elements.
As a content creator, my goal is to make gaming more accessible and more fun!