13 replies to this topic

[K'aeloree]

This thread is where the Staff of SHS can introduce themselves, tell you a bit about what they do here at SHS and how you can contact them. If you have any questions whatsoever, I'm sure they'd be happy for you to PM them!

And if anyone has some suggestions for any other information they'd like to see on this thread, PM me and I'll see what I can do.

Administrators:
K'aeloree
SConrad

Staff:
Amaurea
Ascension64
Bluenose
Cal Jones
Choo Choo
cmorgan
Jolyth
Jyzabyl
Kellen
khayman
leahnkain
NiGHTMARE
Orthodoxia
Rianess
Scipio
SeV
Shadowhawke
Sir Kalthorine
Tassadar88
Tempest
vilkacis

[K'aeloree]

My name is Liam (or K'aeloree/Kae), and I'm your friendly neighborhood Lead Administrator. I'm the one to come to if you have any major problems such as the board not functioning correctly, and along with SConrad, I run the overall website and forums. I am also available should you have any suggestions or ideas for Spellhold Studios, or need help with the Website.

Who am I? I'm a student living South Australia, and I spend most of my time co-ordinating these lovely forums here, writing and creating mods for Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal, and dabbling in the occasional bit of story writing. I've written several dramatic productions before and produced one, and I write/sing music - and quite often perform. I love roleplaying games, drama and music - no surprises there, I'm sure. I've been an Infinity Engine modder for several years now, and I'm currently working on several IE Projects including the Interaction Expansion Project and an as-of-yet unannounced BGII: SoA NPC. I have also completed an NPC for BGII: ToB, an arrogant monk called Iylos, who can be found here.

How did I come here? Well, originally I was a hosted modder here. SConrad, who was the owner and administrator of SHS at the time approached me about becoming administrator of the site and forums. After several days I accepted, have been here ever since.

We have a fantastic crew here, so please don't feel intimidated by them! If you have any questions, I'm sure any of them are absolutely happy to answer.

I love SHS because it is, quite honestly, the awesomest community ever. With the addition of the new Oblivion section, activity has seen an all-time high, and I can only see Spellhold becoming more and more interesting and active! We hope, in future, to host mods for all sorts of CRPG games, so if you're a modder and are looking for hosting, feel free to contact me!

I'll let the other Administrator, Coordinators and Moderators introduce themselves! Feel free to contact me via PM, email or MSN; I'm always happy to help out however I can!

[SConrad]

Hey everyone!

Name's Sebastian, but you'll see SConrad as my nickname, and probably the abbreviated "Seb" or "SC" here and there as well. I'm one of two Spellhold Studios Administrators (together with K'aeloree), and I'm usually the one doing most of the tech work around here, as well as keeping things running as smoothly as possible. More often than not, you can look at me as the "last resort" - if no one else is able to assist you, allow me to try!

I was born in Sweden, but moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in the United States in early 2007. I work professionally as a web developer, and spend most of my day in front of a computer - either with client work or with other fun stuff such as SHS. Other than that, I'm a big fan of movies and tv-shows (sometimes anime), as well as music, of course. I love writing, and I guess that "name one thing most people don't know about you" is that I dabble a bit (read: a lot) in poetry. I'm way too shy to post anything publically, though, so if you want to read, you'll have to ask!

I first arrived at the old Forgotten Wars (the predecessor of SHS) with the beginnings of my Khadion mod in hand, and liked the place so much that I remained longer than I originally intended. I was soon named a moderator, and after a short while was promoted to GM, and then finally to Admin.

In 2005, I assumed the site and subsequently founded Spellhold Studios - what you're looking at now. Due to a very hectic real life, I retired from my position in the late fall of 2006 and handed the community over to K'aeloree. A couple of months later when activity went through the roof, I was asked to come back and pitch in - which I was glad to do.

I still intend to finish Khadion at some point - it'll probably be my final project, making him my first and my last, so to speak...

And, loving SHS? What can I say - do I need a reason? Doesn't every parent love their child?

I'm always more than happy to hear from you - whoever you are, and whatever is on your mind. My MSN/YIM info is in my profile and the PM-link is never too far away...

[Sir Kalthorine]

Hi,

Pete here - more commonly (in fact almost exclusively!) known as Sir Kalthorine. In fact, I have been Sir Kalthorine since waaaaaay back in 1998 when the Baldur?s Gate series hit the ground running, and even made such a nuisance of myself that Bioware saw fit to include a reference to me as a cameo in "Watcher's Keep" when they released "Throne of Bhaal". I also have to carry round the millstone of being the first person to release (VERY buggy) "multiple romance" scripts for BG2 back in the day... ah, the good old bad old days!

I was born in the UK back in 1968 and had a pretty "average" childhood for an only child. Sick of being average, I headed off at 18 to Birmingham University and spent the next 7 years avoiding the real world (studying Physics helped!). My aversion to the real world continued thereafter as I spent the next 10 years teaching in the UK and beyond (the last couple of years being in the BACK of beyond teaching in Kuwait). I enjoy Sci Fi and fantasy writing, TV and film (the cancelling of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" was a black day indeed), but I am also active in amateur dramatics (yup, Drama Queen!).

A bit like Seb, I first encountered SHS in its former Forgotten Wars incarnation with a mod in mind, "Chrysta" (link in my sig), fate played a hand to remove me to Internet-free pastures on two separate occasions, hence I have had two long periods of absence from the modding scene... the most recent one lasting 18 months! The way I have been welcomed back after each period of absence is testament to how smashingly lovely the board staff here really are.

Well, now I AM back in the SHS fold I am one of the floating all-seeing all-interfering do-gooders (or nuisances, depending on which end of the pitchfork you are on!) known as "Coordinators". I have responsibility for the site FAQ (currently under review) and as a voluntary first point of contact for anyone with problems or complaints - either about posts or individuals, or for pretty much anyone whose query is likely to start with "HEEEEEELP!!!!". Seriously, I see my primary job in global moderation across the forums as being to "keep the peace" and remind everyone that this is a great hobby but, after all, it is just a game so we should all play nice. I don't anger easily

And with that in mind, and stating as others have that my main reason for liking SHS is the wonderful bunch of people running and visiting the boards, I bid you farewell - and hope you are all enjoying your time here as much as I am!

[Jolyth]

Hey all, this is Trish, or Jolyth as I am more commonly called and I am one of the Coordinators wandering around the asylum maintaining order. I was born, raised and still live in New Orleans, Louisiana where I currently work as an investigator/progam analyst. I hold a degree in Earth and Environmental Science and am deeply involved with the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort that has been taking place since the disaster of August 2005. My primary areas of interest are aquatic and terrestrial invaders and restoration of the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands.

I originally joined both the Forgotten Wars forums in late 2003 in an effort to, believe it or not, find a way to defeat the black dragon in the elven city. I found I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the people and THEN I discovered all the mods and fan fiction. I decided to remain around, (actually I got lost and could not find my way out), and have posted my own fan fic, been learning how to code and pretty much helping out wherever I am able. I am currently working on a Solaufein Flirt Pack which will hopefully be released to the community once I get rid of all the bugs.

I definitely love SHS, and that is because the people here continuously make it an interesting place to be around.

I am always available to help anyone who finds themselves in need and if I cannot answer your questions pesonally, I can usually point you in the right direction, so please feel free to contact me at any time.

[Tempest]

Howdy, folks. I'm known as Tempest-long story about the name. Not a whole lot to say about my life, to be honest. I'm a native of southwestern Florida, and am currently a sophomore at Florida Gulf Coast University where I am majoring in civil engineering and thinking about going for a minor in computer programming or some such. I grew up in a town called Bradenton, and attend college within a few hours of there, though I live on-campus for the semester.

I first bumped into SHS in 2005, when I first discovered the Baldur's Gate modding community, and lurked for a while before registering. After that, I kept a pretty low profile around here until March, when I dove headlong into the modding community, and I've been around ever since. My very first mod, Darian, is nearing completion (*crosses fingers*), and I proved enough of a nuisance that I believe the staff decided to offer me a position as moderator, perhaps in the vain hope that responsibility might temper my spam in the Rec Room. I'm also fond of writing fanfic-a few of my Baldur's Gate stories are hosted here, and I've also written, but never posted anywhere, fanfic stories set in the Elder Scrolls, Wizardry, and Star Trek universes.

I enjoy the atmosphere here at SHS-it's lively and full of good people. I only joined the staff recently, and haven't been called upon to do much yet-I'd be the laughing stock of the forum if I condemned anyone else for drowning a perfectly good thread in a deluge of spam. I'm tasked with subduing the IE Modding Discussion here at SHS, and I'm happy to answer any questions about pretty much anything. I'm really not the most knowledgable person about any subject, save spamology, but if you've got a question, I'll give it a whack to the best of my abilities.

Beyond that, I spend most of my time working on Darian and fanfic, and pillaging the Rec Room with a broad array of cooking, psionic powers, and weapons of mass destruction. And whatever Kellen may tell you, I don't bite. Much.

[Kellen]

Hello, I?m Kellen, though I?ve gone by many names over the years and forums. My real name is Sean, for those who care; conjure by it at your own risk. I don?t remember for sure how I first got here. A few years back I found it, and soon came upon mods. And though I vanished for a time, when we officially became Spellhold Studios, I resurfaced like a plague and refused to go away.

For the most part I keep track/take care of the Fanfic Challenge and NWN2(if you play/write it, go check it out, and virtual :hug:s if you do) sections of the board, though I can be found in several others as well. I?ve also been unearthed in the Midwest USA, (where I?m currently a Senior of Grace Academy (read I?m homeschooled)) but only by those with a lot of empty time on their hands (and stalkers).

My interests include (but do not exclude others) rping, writing, reading, random forum browsings, the Rec Room, high fantasy(particularly DnD, more specifically FR), real world and fantasy religion and philosophy (particularly the reactions of people to it), languages (have you tried conversing in Elven? Too much fun.), and various other little things.

Why do I love SHS? Well let?s check: rping, writing, reading random browsings, Rec Room, FR; check. Not to mention, friendly people, good game discussion, excellent people, cool art, nifty people, opportunities to learn more about things that interest me, and the coolest people who have similar interests.

[Shadowhawke]

Hey everyone. . I?m known as Shadowhawke, although I?ve also been known to respond to my real-life names of Erica and Kathryn. I live in Australia, and am currently struggling through the last death throes of the high school International Baccalaureate diploma, and as such, spend a lot less time on Spellhold than I?d like.

I stumbled across the old incarnation of Spellhold as the Forgotten Wars Projects, looking for an online place to call home after having been introduced to the wonders of Baldur?s Gate at eight years old by my erstwhile older brother. I lurked for a little while in the fanfiction section before finally deciding to post my own. From there, it?s been a slippery slope; I followed FWP to Spellhold, kept writing, and then somehow got invited to moderate Scribbles. Currently, aside from being a General Co-ordinator, I?m also in charge (in name) of the Wiki and of course, still making Scribbles on the Wall my base of exploits.

I think, at heart, that I?m still the eight year-old entranced by the concept of the Forgotten Realms. As such, SHS allows me to keep reinventing and exploring that world. Like others, I love the atmosphere here, as well as all of the great people? so I?m pretty sure that I?ll be around for a long while yet. So, if you have any questions about writing or you have something hidden on your hard drive and are unsure whether to post it or not? drop in to my inbox. The pain will only be passing? you should survive the process.

[cmorgan]

Hello - I am Stephen, better known as cmorgan. (No rum references, please, it is competely unrelated - I'm a Scotch drinker, m'self). I teach instrumental music, play with dogs, generally mess about on the computer (any computer), and am thinking of establishing the first-ever chapter of WeiDUholics Anonymous. Minus the Anonymous part, it seems...

For the most part, I follow berelinde around on the IE Help stuff, assisting where I can, and reading other folk's code to learn how to improve my own. I came late to the Forgotten Realms party, arriving via Tutu v4 with stopovers in BG2. For me, the true AD&D experience resided in a small set of pamphlets back in the '70's, and I have never truly left Greyhawk. The BG games opened a new immersive world for me, though, and continue to be a new and fun experience as folks in the IE community take on the task of making these games a richer and a more detailed experience.

So if you have coding challenges, see berelinde (I am joking, of course ) toss your troubles up for us all to see and assist in solving. Your stories are worth telling, and the best way to immerse your reader is through the interactive experience, allowing as many different platforms and people as possible to play your Infinity Engine mod. We can try to help you along that road!

-cmorgan

[Bluenose]

I?m Tim, known here as Bluenose. I?m a resident of the UK, more specifically the English Midlands. I graduated from Nottingham University in 1985 with a degree in Geological Sciences and have spent nearly the whole of the intervening time avoiding any jobs where I have anything to do with rocks. Currently I work in the library of an FE college.

My interests are wide ranging, and include hiking, pot-holing, 5-a-side football, and birding. I also read a lot in a wide range of subjects. However, I spend more time and money on Pen-and-Paper RPGs, which I've been playing since they first appeared in the 1970s. I can claim to have played Dungeons and Dragons when using a D20 was an optional rule .

Computer RPGs first came to my attention when one of my gaming friends mentioned a game called Baldur?s Gate, which he claimed was pretty good, and which he said I should try. I enjoyed enough to buy the successor as soon as it came out. Chance brought me to this site when it was Forgotten Wars Studios, where I discovered that there were wonderful people who made this game even better by adding new fun content. I stayed around, mostly lurking, and answering a few queries when they hit areas of lore that I knew about. Eventually a suggestion came up of having a play-by-post game, and I volunteered to run one on the site.

Currently I?m the staff member for the Delusions of the Mind forum. There you can ask questions or express opinions on D&D and other RPGs, and also on movies in the fantasy genre or other genres that might interest people on the site. You?ll also find me posting on the NWN/NWN2 sections of the site, and I'm working rather slowly on an NWN2 mod which will be released some day (for given values of some day).

I like it here because of the people and because of the discussion. People are friendly and helpful, and things I'm interested in are the subject. What else could I want in a forum?

[khay]

I`ve put this off for far too long... <insert dramatic sigh here>

Well hello! I`m more of a filler in the staff list than anything else, cause my activity probably equals that of a snail on steroids during a marathon, but I do visit sometimes, I swears! I`m responsible for the graphical side of Spellhold Studios, which means website design, forum skins and various other similar things.

The basics: I live in Romania, the dark heart of Transylvania to be more precise. If anyone asks, yes, I live in an oversized castle, it`s constantly night here, my pets are bats and I sleep in a coffin. I`m half-Hungarian thanks to my dad and since Hungarians and Romanians have these silly and very childish bickerings between them, I guess I had my negative moments often enough to wish Transylvania was a single country, separate from both Romania and Hungary. And, uh, my real name is probably hard to remember, it`s István (english Steven/Stephen), but in these parts it`s regularly shortened to Isti (english Steve). Just use 'teh k-man' or something...

Been part of SHS ever since it`s been known as Forgotten Wars - I only joined because of the utterly pure genius of this but I`ve been interested in modding since waaaay before. I even made an (obscenely overpowered) item or two back in my day. That doesn`t mean I ever created anything publically, probably because I`m not a good writer or a programmer and most mods are either NPCs, quests or tweaks; I do have a "sekrit projekt" in works, though.

As for my interests, well that`s pretty straightforward, they`re kinda listed on my profile. I absolutely love fantasy, especially (yes, I know, the oh-so-clichéd) Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft. While I never really had the chance to play pen and paper D&D due to the fact nobody here really knows such a thing exists, I love reading the sourcebooks in my free time. Various other random facts: I`m quite the geek, I spend way too much in front of this crappy monitor; I prefer having the philosophy of not caring, also known in the censored version as I-don`t-give-a-rat`s-assism (and I aims to keep it that way); I prefer the PSP to the Nintendo DS for obvious reasons; I love chocolate way too much for my own good and actually this goes for food as well; I hope to move out to Sweden or maybe The Netherlands one day; I love the idea of world peace and believe that violence should stay in media, but I am also against censorship; if I get into a fight with someone, expect my anger to evaporate in a matter of minutes and I very much wish everyone thought this way; I love the English language and for some odd reason I`m yet to determine I`m learning French now; I love everything Firefly, Stargate, Star Trek (all post-Kirk), but not Star Wars; despite being transylvanian (or perhaps because of that), I`m fascinated with vampires and demonology; I love music (black/gothic/doom metal, gothic rock, pagan/celtic folk, medieval, ambient, dark ambient, electro-industrial, futurepop) and movies (horror, comedy, sci-fi, fantasy); I love web design (`tis my job as well) and fiddling around with Photoshop.

I hope I didn`t make it too long, I guess I got a little carried away.

Even if I don`t show it too much, I do love this place!

[Ascension64]

Hello all,

It has taken a while to introduce myself formally. I'm Ascension64. In the world, people refer to me as Raphael, or Raph, for short. I am a postgraduate student living in Australia and have recently started a degree in Medicine. My undergraduate degree was received with honours and in general had a medical science focus with an emphasis on scientific research.

I came to Spellhold Studios when it was previously the Forgotten Wars Studios, but had an interest in modding ever since the properous days of TeamBG. Dabbling with a small part of the original BP-BGT-NeJ installation in late 2004 involved me into a much larger project converting the Baldur's Gate Trilogy part of that monster modification into a WeiDU-based and more modification-friendly format, referred to as BGT-WeiDU. My initiation could be considered one of a trial by fire, but since then, there has been much progress and I have worked on ways to make various modifications cross-compatible with Baldur's Gate I, Baldur's Gate Tutu, and Baldur's Gate Trilogy. While the work on BGT-WeiDU and cross-platform compatibility is still progressing, I am currently investigating better ways of handling mega-modification installations involving large numbers of modifications and trying out a few new content modifications as well.

My general interests fluctuate a lot. These days I enjoy playing the piano, singing, listening to people talk, learning vocabulary, playing video games, programming, and abstract problems.

While I am quite busy with things, I endeavour to answer any questions or queries about anything that I might be able to help you with. I take care of the Mega Modification forums and post the Infinity Engine Modding Digest every fortnight.

SHS is a fantastic community to be a part of for its congeniality, and while in some cases affability may be in short supply, it is great to participate in constructive dialogue where we can understand the concerns of users and try our best to offer conciliatory and fulfilling solutions to poignant issues.

[Choo Choo]

Hi there. I'm Choo Choo here, but most people who know me just call me Jojo. I'm sixteen years old and I live in Sweden. I'm in my first year of secondary school, society-culture program, in the hopes of becoming a teacher one day.

I joined SHS a little over a year ago, looking for mods - and boy, did I find them. I also fell in love with the community and decided to stay, so here I am, I guess.

IRL, I enjoy acting, reading, playing the piano and photographing. And games, of course.

I don't know what else there is to say about me, really. I have an unhealthy obsession with shoes and am very fond of sushi.

In any case, if there is anything I can help you with, just send me a PM and I'll do my best to sort it out.

[Scipio]

Can all the members read this? Does that mean I have to tell the truth about myself and stop claiming direct descendancy from the legendary Shaka, first king of the united Zulu nation? Do I have to say I call myself Scipio here because I love ancient Roman history and Scipio Africanus was a heroic if brutal African connection with Rome? Can I no longer mutter that Scipio is someone else who is the spitting image of Brad Pitt? Blast!

My name is Christopher. I live with my wife, Lynn, and a variable number of cats (currently nine) in the small town of Eshowe, the 19th century capital of British colonial Zululand. Our closest neighbours are a troop of vervet monkeys who visit from the indigenous Dlinza Forest, part of which forms the western boundary of our garden. As I may have mentioned elsewhere at some time, the Dlinza Forest is described as a coastal scarp forest because (a) it is on a coastal escarpment and (b) it's got a lot of trees in it.

I was a journalist, editor and pubisher for most of my adult life, not having held down many salaried jobs when I was a child. My most notorious claim to infamy is that I once edited Scope, the South African equivalent of Playboy magazine, in the days when Playboy was the epitome of filth and degradation in this country. I have remained filthy and, remarkably, biodegradable.

For the last ten years I have been running my own, one-man business. It began mainly as a website design business but it has metamorphosed into more of a graphic design and editorial service. I bought Baldur's Gate the year I started my business and acquired BG2 and ToB only two years ago.

SHS drew my attention when I Googled "BG2 expansions" or something and came upon this website and its wonderful forums peopled by amazingly intelligent and stunningly good-looking humanoids who produce the best thing that's happened in computer gaming since BG -- namely, all those lovely mods. I joined SHS early this year and wangled my way onto the staff a couple of months ago so that I could nag other staff members about any number of minor, petty things. To keep me quiet some of the time they made me a moderator of Quayle's Circus. They didn't make me a chocolate cake.

My main hobbies of the last forty years have included quantum physics and cosmology (after completing a university physics course that long ago); military science and history; and spiders. My favourite fiction is Sci Fi, my favourite movies have to star Renée Zellweger or Naomi Watts even if the movies are rubbish, and my favourite listening pleasure is either German classical of the Romantic era or classic rock of the Led Zep / Iron Maiden / Jethro Tull / Pink Floyd / The Who kind ("Granddad Rock").

I have a sneaking suspicion that my Lynn knows about my illicit affair with a certain wingless Avariel even though I am much too young for her. Aerie is 127 in human years.