Well...I finally joined the forums, and horrible news hit me like a slap in the face....
My unsolicited and completely true Eulogy to Terry Kevin Amthor:
I met Terry many years ago. I was much younger, but so was he. I was a fan boy before there were fan boys.... Meeting him meant more to me than when I met Dave Arneson, or Gary Gygax, or even Marc Miller.(I love Traveler almost as well) I am a fan of all those legends. Terry though, he was more. Probably because I fell particularly in love with Shadow World.
Since that time I have been playing or running Shadow World games since the 1st edition...Geeze....30+/- years ago, and played and GM'ed, writing entire campaigns in Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Cyberspace, DarkSpace, and MERP games for longer. I never did do HARP, and I skipped GURPS. I had my crits! My fumbles! My Althans and my Tolkien inspired Elves....Heck, I even played in the Hero System for a while, Champions was great, So was Shadowrun, but I could replicate it in I.C.E. products, so I always came back to Rolemaster, and ultimately to Shadow World....time and time again.
My groups have stormed the Dragon Lord's keep, and died to Lorgalis (or joined him to thwart Ondoval!). They have conquered new realms on continents in Shadow World not yet detailed, but always sailed back to Emer or Jaiman.
TKA was/is a legend to those of us who have lived in his imagination for so long. I have entire volumes of materials I have written on my own through the years, and so many of them are based on the marvelous world of Kulthea.
Terry gifted us that fantasy. Sure I bought every new edition of any Shadow World title as it came out. I stayed with the Second Edition of Rolemaster, and Space Master, but I was eager for the vision of a new Shadow World title, or a remaster, or a new edition.
I was eager to alter my own game world based on his updates. It was crazy. It was fun. It is a passion. Damn, I will miss that. Through all this, it felt like I knew him much more than a random chance meeting at a 'Con so long ago.
When I worked with DHS/FEMA and was deployed to the very heart of a disaster, when finally I would lay my head down after working 20+ hours a day in Hurricane Katrina for instance, I would pull out my dog eared copy of the Master Atlas, and Jaiman and read/plot in them. Those two along with the Emer Addendum were always in my backpack. More than fifty deployments to as many disasters over the years. In my sleeping bag or in a hotel, I would read. I would imagine, hell I even dreamed.
I was a Loremaster with six fingers and violet eyes. I was in my world. My own Shadow World, inspired by Terry's dreams and visions. I did that from the beginning of my career, until I retired. It was and is a part of my life, a part which my wife will never fully understand, but she shakes her head and puts up with me and with Terry's volumes of books.... She is good like that...
To say I am, and have been a fan would be an understatement. I have had three wives, but I have only had one real RPG passion, and Terry, and the rest of you with I.C.E. made that possible. For me though, Terry was the king...
Rest in Peace Terry. I will carry on your dream for my own groups, and in my own dreams.. While I was never fortunate enough to call you my friend in life, you were always an inspiration.
You will be missed.