About Us
A bit of text about Grimstone as a whole, how you were founded, and what you’re all about would be good to add here.
Board of Wizards
(Working Title. Open to feedback)
Margaret Alice
Margaret is a dancer, actor, choreographer, and director who is obsessed with storytelling in all its forms. She cut her teeth on TTRPGs with D&D 5th Edition while sheltering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was love at first roll! Creative collaboration feeds and heals her soul; there’s nothing better than “yes and”-ing with your friends. She also appreciates the way the fantasy worlds of role playing games are safe spaces to experience a wide range of emotions, and to work out dealing with them. It’s hard not to default to Odessa as her favorite character that she’s ever played, but Meg also has a soft spot for Seiche, an Earth Genasi druid who allows her to live out her Poison Ivy dreams! When she isn’t working on Grimstone Gaming, she enjoys reading, spending time with her husband and their pets, and crafting.
Michael Ray Williams
Michael began his love affair with TTRPGs many moons ago, around the age of 10. He was introduced to Dungeon & Dragons 1st Edition by a family friend.He played infrequently, but that didn’t lessen his love of the game and the avenues for storytelling it provided. As he got older, he played more games, exploring more systems and broadening his appreciation for TTRPGs as a legitimate format in which to tell captivating stories. The parallels between this form of “play” and his theatrical training only served to deepen his desire to learn and explore more.
Katie Bolaños
Like many children, Katie began playing make believe at a young age, starting with Power Rangers and Greek mythology. She decided to formalize this fantasizing by adding rules when she was in her junior year of high school, beginning with Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 (and sticking with that for an embarrassingly long amount of time). Over the years, Katie has played many characters, from a catfolk bard to a young Shadowrun navigator, but her favorite was a halfling bard named Seraphina Sweetwater who sadly, picked up an intellect devourer because she thought it was cute and became possessed, may she ever Rest in Peace. Not to worry though, because Dimitra is quickly climbing those ranks! What Katie loves most about tabletop RPGs is exactly that – how quickly you can become attached to a character, and the wild unexpected things that can happen to them, both fantastical and all too realistic. Art imitates life, and role-playing is no different!
When she isn’t rolling dice like a boss, Katie spends her time continuing make believe in reading too many books, cuddling her cats, performing in local community theater, and exploring the outdoors by climbing rocks and eating plants, not necessarily in that order.
James Downey
James is a man of many hats. Unfortunately, they would confine his magnificent coif so they go largely unworn. Despite a long history of loving video game RPGs and tabletop board games, James came to tabletop RPGs later in life. He is currently making up for lost time. His first Dungeons & Dragons character was a 5th Edition bard who valiantly tried to cast heat metal on every enemy despite none of them wearing any metal. Despite having played a little bit of everything, James’ favorite character is Vigo – his swashbuckling rogue/bard that he’s playing in Grimstone’s own Ascencia campaign. James is most excited about experimenting with new tabletop systems and the emergent storytelling that takes place at a great tabletop, physical or virtual.
When not rules lawyering, James can be found actual lawyering, cooking for his family, and trying to keep his dogs Watson and Webster from ingesting anything and everything,
Traveling Adventurers
Friends and Guests of the stream
Sean Lucier
Sean has been playing TTRPGs for almost 30 years, starting with first edition D&D with his dad and his friends around his dining room table. This first scenario exploring a haunted mansion led to many years of gaming of all sorts. The world building and storytelling is Sean’s favorite part; the fact that you don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen each time you sit down is incredibly exciting. His favorite character he ever played was his 2nd edition D&D Cavalier Eve Runebreaker as she had the most developed story of any of his characters. Sean lives in North Carolina with his wife, Katherine, and their son, Arthur. He is a professional musician and teacher and is incredibly thankful for the opportunity to play and create with his friends!
Sam Hawkins
Sam Hawkins is overjoyed to be involved with Grimstone Gaming! She joined her first D&D campaign in January 2021 after a “What D&D Class Are You?” post on Instagram led to her inadvertently creating her first character. Sam loves finding her characters through their interactions with the people and the world around them, as well as simply telling fun stories with creative, wonderful people.
Currently, her favorite D&D character she’s ever played is a lizardfolk cleric named Clarice– largely because she shares Sam’s love for coffee and provides an outlet for some wholesome chaos. Her favorite lesser-used spell in D&D is Water Walk, specifically after an instance where Clarice used it so the party could water ski behind a ship they chartered.
Sam is a 2015 alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) and is a proud dental hygienist. She is an actor, dancer, independent filmmaker, and self-professed dice goblin. Her love languages consist of office supplies, coffee, goose memes, crystals, bad puns, and reptiles. She appreciates Michael, Meg, James, and Katie for including her in the first Tabletop Turntable series, and looks forward to what’s next for Grimstone Gaming.