Jump to content

Rest in Peace, Aaron Allston


Balabanto

Recommended Posts

Today, Aaron Allston passed away. One of the greatest of our game has shuffled off this mortal coil and moved to the next world.

 

What Aaron did for our game and for gaming in general can't be underestimated. He showed us what long term Champions campaigns looked like for the first time, and made us believe in heroes. We'll never forget Strike Force, or his Star Wars novels, or Doc Sidhe. I only met Aaron briefly, but he was always encouraging and smart. Personally, I will never forget one of his most brilliant Dungeons and Dragons essays in the Complete Priests Handbook for 2nd Edition D+D. "What if the Priest character is scum?"

 

We all dreamed of a Strike Force reboot. We all dreamed of another Doc Sidhe novel. I don't think there's a single one of us who plays Champions who doesn't know who he is or what he did for our game.

 

He was one of the lions of the industry. It's rare that you reach the level beyond gamer fame where everyone knows your name. Aaron wasn't just good. He was legendary.

 

Thank you for everything, Aaron. When I get to where you are, let's play some Champions.

 

 

Michael Satran

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RIP, Aaron.

 

I have two copies of Strike Force and one of Lands of Mystery (which I now shall never be able to have autographed). I would gladly give them up to have Mr. Allston back, able to continue doing what he did so well.

 

I think I'm going to reread Strike Force this weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many years ago, when I was but a lad of fifteen or so, I was involved in a reply by post newsletter with him. The old-timey snail-mail version of a blog I guess you'd call it.

 

He was a great guy, always willing to give good advice. One of the people who prompted me to want to be a writer, though I never followed up on that dream in any serious way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I first became aware of him from his Champions work - The Blood being the first one I remember by name. His Hero work was fantastic with both Strike Force and Lands of Mystery being incredible to read. Then I looked over some of my older D&D stuff, and saw him all over the BEMCI stuff - Especially Karamekios and Hollow World. Read Doc Sidhe and Sidhe Devil, then was overjoyed at seeing him doing Star Wars. The Wraiths are still my favorite Star Wars books out there.

Right after Strike Force came out, I got his number and called him - his number wasn't unlisted. He took half an hour out of his day to talk to an overeager fan that called him out of nowhere.

And incredible talent, and an amazing man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Longtime Hero gamers such as myself have a special relationship with Aaron Allston, even though I never had the pleasure and privilege of meeting him. He was one of the main contributors to this game from its earliest days, who led the way to greater understanding of roleplaying, GMing, and campaigning. He expanded the scope of the Hero System, and added crucial elements to the Champions Universe. He helped pioneer pulp- and martial-arts gaming through Hero, and showed us all how to write great RPG supplements, not to mention edit great RPG magazines. Hero Games wouldn't look the same today without his brilliant input. Of course other RPGs, and the world of fiction novels, were touched by his brilliance as well; but we were among the first ones to have him, and I like to think, shaped his sensibilities as much as he shaped ours.

 

And despite his protests to the contrary, Aaron Allston was and always will be the Champions Guru.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've not yet read any of his Star Wars novels. I'm going to have to hunt them down now. It's on my to-do list now.

 

I'd say what Liaden did, but he said it all better than me. He was a huge influence in my gaming life. His name on a book was a guarantee it was going to be good. And that guarantee never ever failed.

 

I just want to add... I was a huge fan of his Doc SIdhe books. And I always hoped he'd get around to writing a 3rd one.

 

Now it'll never be.

 

DAMNIT.

 

Multiple fandoms have lost a friend, a guru, and a mentor.

 

I'm feeling just gutpunched over this. I met Aaron a couple of times at Dallas cons and he was incredibly gracious.

 

His wit was incredible. His puns were ATROCIOUS (And thus, awesome).

 

He was the Hoopiest of Froods.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...