The Draw #15: Randy Wolfmeyer

A running series for the TAPAS blog. I wrote down names on little slips of paper, the names of everyone currently in the TAPAS Facebook group and Discord server, 41 people altogether, and will be drawing one name every so often to write about them and their history with the group.

Let's see... like a few others, I think the first time I met Randy Wolfmeyer was on Is He Dead?, having become acquainted with his wife Gretchen in the previous production I was in, She Loves Me.

From there, I think the time he properly joined TAPAS was in discussion of the construction of the TAPAS roleplaying game, thoughts catalogued in the many blog posts you can find in the latter half of 2020, trying to piece together the world and system. I wasn't interested at first in using his system, figuring ta the time that it would use the 5th Edition Open Game License, but I eventually changed my mind and wanted to do something new.

Randy's system is derived from Mistrunner, a system he assisted in creating some time ago, and from there we've shared thoughts on its basic design intent, which led me to name the system, or at least the multiverse of fantasy stories I've been working on, AE:GIS - an "adaptive engine" for "gaming, interactivity, and simulation". One of the pillars was storytelling, not interactivity, but, you know, this way it spells something. There are other indie RPGs called Aegis, more than one, hence the stylization.

Somewhere amid the RPG talk, Randy played Uncle Gary in Better Yet? and afterward became the voice of Lambert in Irregular Fantasy! - he certainly knows the gaming material IRF is based on, and apparently he even read Irregular Webcomic! back in the day.

All the while, he's hard at work in the local theatre community, providing not only performances - like Lefou in Beauty and the Beast - but doing a lot of effects work, from the magical rose in that show, to Smaug in The Hobbit, building and operating an amazing massive puppet. Per my own request, I got to operate the mouth while I performed the dialogue; I figured that'd make for the best performance all around, if I was doing the voice and the mouth, and indeed Randy got a lot of compliments that whoever was operating the mouth in time to the dialogue knew what they were doing. It was me! And after the show, he kept the puppet intact a little while longer to use as a Halloween decoration.

In conclusion... I'm really unsure about TAPAS's future, but I do hope there's more Lambert and more gaming/world development.

The Draw #14: Jessie Crockett

A running series for the TAPAS blog. I wrote down names on little slips of paper, the names of everyone currently in the TAPAS Facebook group and Discord server, 41 people altogether, and will be drawing one name every so often to write about them and their history with the group.

Jessie Crockett's entry into the group is a favorite story. It was early to mid 2020 when I opened up auditions for the main characters of Keys & Kingdoms: The Choices. That was a dark time, of course, and I didn't get many auditions. But at the last possible minute, Jessie submitted an audition for Cristela, the character whose vibe had been the hardest to nail down, and, well, completely nailed it!

And, oh, about two years later we finally assembled the whole cast to record the pilot. Got the job done! And Jessie did it while taking care of her kids and their school functions and dealing with her own health - very much has my respect and admiration.

I hate to cut to my own angst at the end of each of these, but I do regret not having really achieved these projects yet. I've pondered giving up a lot over the past year or so. But I'm going to make them happen.

The Draw #13: Aaron Joseph Schmitt

A running series for the TAPAS blog. I wrote down names on little slips of paper, the names of everyone currently in the TAPAS Facebook group and Discord server, 41 people altogether, and will be drawing one name every so often to write about them and their history with the group.

Agh, okay, I'm really, really trying to make these more regular. It's another big one here, AJ Schmitt.

We met in 2018, in a production of Mark Twain's Is He Dead? - I auditioned for that show very last-minute, having found myself without anything else to do. We both had fun in the audition doing all the funny accents the show required; eventually he was cast as the German guy, and me as the Chicagoan guy.

It was fortuitous that we happened to be there and meet, because it was Aaron who enabled the creation of the first TAPAS project, recording sound sets of the Irregular Webcomic! characters. Not only did he have a little homemade sound booth in his place, but he had just the right personality to play Dwalin, one character I hadn't figured out how to cast.

We recorded those characters, got a few guests into his booth, and I had to leave Quincy before the project was entirely finished, but I worked to come back, eventually doing so in late 2020, having by this point been inspired to create an entire Irregular Webcomic! adaptation. After creating Better Yet?, we got Aaron into the studio to be Dwalin again.

And... I don't remember how it happened, but at some point me and Aaron and Mason became an inseparable trio, meeting up multiple times every week, usually to talk about TAPAS stuff but sometimes just to hang out and be supportive. Kind of all we've been doing for a few years now. Ahh... I'm determined to do a few more of these but I fear it may just depress me. I feel like TAPAS has died and I'm letting all these people down.