Crumbling Keep is a group of friends who likes telling stories. More often than not, we like when our stories involve dice.
After telling each other stories for years, we wanted to share them with the world. This birthed the Isles of Samsarras Podcast, the home of our ongoing AD&D 2E game. We’ve all put a lot into the world and hope you enjoy it half as much as we do. There are modules and other stories in the works that take place in this land. To support them, click here.
James Crane can still remember his first dungeon, even if he doesn’t exactly remember how old he was. There was so much wonder when the party ran into a gelatinous cube. Being his first game, James didn’t know what it was or why there were a bunch of weapons floating in it. He’s still certain those swords inside were magic, but he didn’t risk the borrowed characters life to find out.
D&D is largely responsible for his current love of writing and stories of all mediums. He is the GM in Samsarras and has crafted pages upon pages of world history. Sometimes he thinks he lives as much in his created world as he does in the real one.
You can reach him at crane.james@ymail.com
Twenty five years ago a young Brad Kishbaugh met a young James in middle school. He was intrigued by the game James was playing, and a friendship grew from a common interest in 2 Edition AD&D. They both soon realized the similarity between role playing games and theater, and acting became a wonderful artistic outlet for Brad’s punk rock angst.
Years later, a brief military career put acting and games on ice. Though, throughout his experience Brad always felt like he was portraying a role rather than being authentic.
Fast forward about a decade, and Roll20 launches their virtual tabletop. An invitation from James brought role playing back into Brad’s life, and his love for storytelling has been reinvigorated.
You may contact him via email at RadBrad.Kish@gmail.com
When she first started visiting her Friendly Local Game Store, Emily Kamm looked at the RPG section with curiosity and a little hesitation. A collaborative game where the goal is to tell the best possible story? That seems perfect for an overly-imaginative kid who grew up to be a similarly-imaginative adult.
Her first introduction to the world of RPGs was through GM-less story games like Fiasco. But once she tried D&D for the first time with a group of coworkers, it was all over. She was hooked.
Emily loves to write detailed character backstories, work through tricky dungeon puzzles, and try to talk her way out of anything, even a confrontation with a dragon.
If he’s not crawling through a dungeon, Frank Bolin is probably playing drums or trying not to suck at League of Legends. He hasn’t been on the tabletop gaming scene for incredibly long, but his love for RPGs dates back to when Final Fantasy 6 was still called 3 and cartridges roamed the Earth. His first experience with tabletop action was with the futuristic sci-fi game Trinity from White Wolf around 8 or 9 years ago, with the illustrious James Crane as his original DM, no less (it was a handful of years before James showed him the ways of Thac0).
Ever since then, Frank has hardly missed a week, and he still isn’t sure what his favorite thing about tabletop gaming is: Could it be the Zelda-esque puzzle-busting? Is it those epic, no-dice dialogue scenes where you get to truly slip into character, or imagine a new city? Or is it narrating that perfect sword-stroke and watching it come to life?… Or maybe it’s all just an elaborate excuse to gather with his friends every week to have a beer and some good times?! Tune in and find out!
Or just ask him at frankbolin7711@gmail.com
