Matias Timm

Date of Birth: 23rd of June 1978

Gaming Profile:
I began to play Call of Cthulhu, back in '93, in a building adjacent to a Lutheran Church (that's why Protestants rule and Catholics can only persecute... if you take this too seriously, please don't read on.) The game was everything I could ask for in a form of entertainment. I immediately loved RPG's. A month from my first gaming experience, I started running small CoC scenarios with (mostly) terrible results. Soon enough, I started to play (and hate) games like Paranoia and Stormbringer, never bringing myself to play (what I then considered) the loathsome AD&D. I focused on CoC for some time. It wasn't till 1994 that I found another fine RPG in the recently published Werewolf: the Apocalypse, 2nd edition. I didn't jump into running that one, though. It took me maybe five years and the Revised Edition to consider seriously running Werewolf Chronicles.

The only games I ran beside CoC were Cyberpunk 2020 and the occasional Pendragon campaign. By the late '90s, I had played (and started to love) each and every White Wolf game in existence, save Changeling the Dreaming (such a shame, because it's a nice game, but nobody cares much about it). At the millennium, I decided to diversify my storytelling "realms" and bought massive amounts of RPG books and stuff (over 100 dice, among other things) and ventured again into games I had forsaken (like the many times renamed Elric!/Stormbringer and Paranoia) still not being comfy about AD&D.

At the present, I'm trying to be able to storytell/GM every game I play, though this gets increasingly difficult, considering the economic collapse my country is facing at this time, making it difficult to purchase imported books (yes, you got it, this is a desperate, and loathsome act of asking for RPG charity, that is, send me those books you don't use anymore...). Now seriously, the new jewel of my crown is Exalted, a game that somehow rolled into one all the previous WW games, plus using the perfected Storyteller system. Long Live Exalted. By the way, some of my closest friends are trying to get me into the new D&D, but for now I haven't said yes... yet.

Top 10 RPG’s:
1) Exalted
This game is a strange blend indeed. The guys at White Wolf managed to mix everything they had published before, and create a game that is not only palatable, but also a masterpiece in itself. Few games I played have this versatility and feeling.

2) Call of Cthulhu
The first RPG I've ever played, and another masterpiece, though it has some flawed portions in the rule system - nothing that can't be fixed by home-rules, of course. This game is 'the' horror RPG, and it offers countless possibilities to play, though, to play "CoC proper," players should understand "Lovecraft logic" rather than the modern 21st Century one.

3) Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Werewolf, and its alternate settings (Wyld West and Dark Ages) are second only to Exalted in versatility. It is the most beautiful game I've ever played, dealing (I believe) with innocence and depravity as antagonists. I like its black-and-white outlook, which is so often resented by some players (if I hear it called "Captain Planet RPG" one more time, I'll flip into a frenzy). The developers have tried to tone this innocent mentality down, but, for me, it is one of the strengths of the game. Garou are not blind and stupid, they're innocent and pure.

4) Trinity
I was one of those who fell into the "Next year, the World of Darkness will take you to the stars" trap. But I didn't feel cheated by the game. I love sci-fi, and I love this games setting. I would have liked a few extra alien races, Star-Wars-Cantina-style, though. On the other hand, that might have wrecked the game. The games sisters, Aberrant and Adventure! are also great experiences, though as with a lot of games, the first one is still the best.

5) Mage: The Ascension
Mage, and its alternate setting (the Sorcerer's Crusade) is another great effort in versatility. Mages, though, by the act of being human, are somewhat less interesting than the proud Garou, in my opinion. Not that I resent being human, quite the contrary. What they lose to that front, they gain in endless Realms and dimensions (it's sorry all of that has been cut down in the Revised Edition, but... no-one puts a gun to my head and says "play by the meta-plot!"). Mage is a game of self-exploration, a game about what's great about being human. That's why I love this game! (This seems to contradict what I said earlier, but maybe I'm a contradictory person...)

6) Mummy: the Resurrection
Mage is a game about being human? Ditto to Mummy. The Amenti are the ultimate "goodies" in the World of Darkness. No evil hidden agendas. No disregard for human life. No hubris. Just pure plain old fighting for the right cause! I consider Mummy to be one of the most intriguing games to play, in the World of Darkness. Unluckily, I've only found one kindred spirit, and thus, I couldn't run any Mummy stories yet. If I do, no doubt this baby will climb up the charts.

7) Wraith: The Oblivion
Sadly, this one qualifies as "dead game" for us, in more than one sense, pun intended. Another beautiful WWGS game, this is another to explore human nature. It could be said Wraiths are the only true completely natural WoD denizens. They're ordinary people who have died! There's nothing special about them. It's a nightmare of a game. This one drills into your emotions and can leave bruises if you aren't careful. You haven't tasted true role-playing if you haven't played Wraith. I also love its alternate setting (the Great War) which falls into CoC territory...

8) Hunter: The Reckoning
This game disappointed a lot of people (including myself, at the beginning), because of the powers the Imbued wielded. How the heck were they "not" monsters? But that became the beauty of the game. Normal-level persons; your neighbour, my teacher, that beat cop by the traffic lights, having mysterious powers granted by unknown powers. This combination made it, in my humble opinion, if not WWGS' only horror game, the most horror-aspected. Next to CoC, it's my favourite horror game.

9) 7th Sea
Since I started playing Mage: the Sorcerers' Crusade, I developed an appetite for swashbuckling. Soon, I found out about a game whose core was that genre, and I had to play it. I was somehow let down when I found out that not only not most, but even absolutely none, of the games dealt with piracy, but I loved the system (which I knew from L5R). Some bizarre mechanics I had to fix, but it became a nice game. It's the game to play when you are in an "adventurous" mood.

10) Pendragon
Did I say "adventurous"? This is a game of adventurous knights. Based on the epics of the terribly famous King Arthur, this game brings you into a gentler era. Pendragon is not a historic game. The period in which it is set is not "realistic". It strives to mix all the essentials of the Arthurian legends, including the gentleness of the knights. A change of pace, and a very different game. To play it, though, it is vital to understand the Arthurian epics and not to act like a random-thrill-seeker out of a D&D table.

Other Games of Note:
Cyberpunk 2020, a classic, with the best and most realistic combat system I've ever seen. Vampire: the Dark Ages (or Dark Ages: Vampire, or whatever), I've played the old one, and didn't yet check out the Revised one. Beats the modern nights any day... or night. The Legend of the Five Rings. Nothing can be said about this game that hasn't been said yet. Excellent (yet almost bereft of versatility, like its "western" cousin, Pendragon). Mean Streets, the pdf game. Who doesn't love the noir genre? Every other non-d20 White Wolf game, 'nuff said.

Other Stuff:
I love writing short stories, and I'm strongly considering writing a novel. I like the RPGs because of the creative outlet they are (some people resent my calling RPGs *art*, that is, a form of art that combines acting and literature). I like listening to music a lot. In the past I was a narrow-minded metalhead, but in the present, I enjoy the magic feelings other styles can offer (electronic music rules!). My favourite band, The Gathering, combines both styles with a perfection only fit to the Exalted beings they are. Recently, I developed a taste for what a friend of mine calls a "Dinosaur Band", Blue Öyster Cult.

Favourite Films:
Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive), Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Fight Club, Braveheart, the old Star Wars trilogy, Rose Red (mini-series), Payback, The Mummy, and a lot of others that I'm sure will spring to mind as soon as this is up on the net.

Favourite Books:
Moving Pictures, by Terry Pratchett (plus most Discworld novels I've read so far); Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (also most of his stories, regardless of their lame titles); everything by Edgar Allan Poe; various Horror antologies; I am Legend, by Richard Matheson; The Dumas Club, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, everything by Julio Cortázar, At the Mountains of Madness, by Howard Phillips Lovecraft; The Dune Saga, by Frank Herbert, especially God Emperor of Dune; The Terror, by Arthur Machen (and probably everything else that great guy wrote); Sandman, by Neil Gaiman; Aquí Vivieron and Misteriosa Buenos Aires, by Manuel "Manucho" Mujica Láinez (don't know if there's a translation to English, but there should be); everything by Jules Verne, Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton; Tintin, by Hergé (Georges Remi); Lucky Luke, by Goscinny & Morris; Astérix, by Goscinny & Uderzo; also all stories by Ambrose Bierce (gotta love that guys cynical style); The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights, by John Steinbeck (but please, no mice nor men!); The Kalevala, edited by Dr. Elias Lönnrot; Momo, by Michael Ende (and some other novels by him, too, I should't forget my German heritage completely); and a whole lot of other books. It's hard for me to pick a favourite - better to name all that come to mind!