This is about me, the real human behind the Rian Kael persona.
I'm a nerd from way back—first with astronomy, then Star Trek, then a host of other topics that all fit nicely under the heading "nerdy." The first book I ever read was the Golden Guide to Stars, and it primed my pump for imaginative awe and wonder out there in the galaxy.
My dad passed pretty early, so one of my friends' dads took me on as an occasional second son and unknowingly set a course in my life forever by building and painting a model for me—the TOS Enterprise. The model was a work of art, almost too wondrous and delicate to touch. But of course I touched it often, almost immediately snapping the deflector dish antenna pin off and learning a lesson about delicate things. This model became a touchstone, itself an object of wonder and inspiration. As a young kid I admired the craftsmanship and care he'd put into it, but I also imagined the people working and living inside, hurtling through space.
I started watching the show, and although I'd later explore new worlds with Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, Battle of the Planets and Battle Beyond the Stars, Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise kept that first place of honor in my imagination for a long while—until one night camping deep in the woods as a new scout, I was invited into a senior scout's tent where they'd gathered playing the most amazing game. No board or tokens, no rules in sight, just the most bizarre-looking dice I'd ever seen and their imaginations guiding the way.
I was hooked pretty quick, and for a long while Dungeons & Dragons moved into that top spot for imaginative fun in my head.
Growing up in the upper Midwest, I spent a lot of time building bases for figures and toy ships, reading and running RPG adventures, drawing simulated cockpits and control panels, and ranging far on my bike or deep in the rec room imagining adventures in the final frontier.
I got older. My palette grew with the times. Picard, Sisko, Archer, Janeway, Lorca, Burnham, and Pike. Shadowrun, In Nomine, Traveller, Daggerheart. Games at the kitchen table and in the basement, at conventions, and later online. I had a pretty active Traveller blog for a while and published some pieces. I dabbled in various incarnations of Star Trek RPGs, but it was Star Trek Adventures where it really came home for me.
Which brings us to now. It's a toss-up who my favorite Starfleet captain is (Sisko? Pike? Picard very close behind), but my favorite era is the Picard era—my favorite Trek expressed as a resolve to be our better selves, to again explore with optimism in our hearts. I find so much to really enjoy about the stories of the Bajorans. I respect how their threads evolved Star Trek and enjoy reading snippets about them at any level of canon when I can find them.
I'm an occasional player and often GM. I'm pretty rules-light and mostly about the story. I prefer to run games that are less about rolling dice and more about getting into the heads of the characters, and I strongly believe if the game session sucks it's probably the GM's fault for not reading something correctly or being a little too checked-out.
By day I'm a loving husband, UX pro, onebag traveler, community-based AI fluency advocate, lover of big dogs, fine scotch, algebraic semiotics, and mass transit with character.
I'm a compassionate progressive. I'm fine with mask mandates during a pandemic, personal pronouns, woke culture, DEI, and actual democracy. If any of this doesn't resonate with you, I invite you to seek entertainment elsewhere.
