And so it ends.

If there is one thing in common with the endings of all of my campaigns, whether it was a Total Party Kill from an unexpectedly hard encounter or things went swimmingly to plan right up until the end, I always feel like there’s something I could have improved upon and made that campaign better.

With the changing of the guard at the site I’ve decided that it’s time for me to retire from the Stew as a regular contributor. While I have full faith in John’s captaining of the S.S. Gnomie – I know he’ll do an awesome job and heck, he already has! – and I wish him and the now and future gnomies all of the success we’ve had in the past and more. I simply don’t have the time or energy to keep up with them anymore.

I’ll always be grateful for the doors that Gnome Stew opened up for me and the camaraderie I’ve had with my other gnomes. Martin deserves special mention here, as it was his gaming blog Treasure Tables that got me hooked as a rabid reader and sparked our correspondences that led to him asking me to help him start his next brainchild, Gnome Stew. Thank you for everything, Martin. It’s been a lot of fun!

We’ve had a lot of excitement over the years, writing books, winning awards, and running con seminars just to name a few, and I’ll sorely miss it in the future. I’ll certainly miss my regular interactions with Ang, Don, John (both of you!), Martin, Matt, Phil, Scott, and Troy Troy, and Bob (hmm…I feel like I’m missing somebody; hopefully the editor will fix that…FIXED! LOL). And while they’ve left before me I’d still like to make a shout out to Adam, Kurt, and Patrick. I’ll miss you all!

I’ll still be around, of course, both as a fan of the Stew and an occasional contributor. As with the ending of an RPG campaign I still feel like there are things that I’ve wanted to write about in GS articles that I just never got around to doing and John has graciously left the door open for me to contribute when the opportunity arises – I’ll just be that crazy old gnome on the porch rocking chair that occasionally babbles something interesting!

But before I take off my pointy hat and shuffle off into the sunset, I just wanted to take an opportunity here to personally thank all of you who have been reading my articles over the last eight <gasp!> years, especially those who’ve taken the time to comment or chatted with me at a con. I’ve really appreciated it (even when the comments weren’t so positive!) and I know that in reading and internalizing those comments you’ve all helped me to become a better Game Master.

Thank you all for everything and game on!