About Us
Andy (aka Khole Silvermane)
I discovered roleplaying at the ripe old age of 12 (1986) after being introduced by an older friend to the Dungeons & Dragons basic set. I was instantly hooked. We had many, many, many wonderful adventures. I remember the revelation of purchasing my first Rolemaster set (Character Law & Campaign Law, Arms Law & Claw Law & Spell Law) and immediately fell in love with the more advanced system giving such a plethora or options and unique character development choices. Spell Law blew my mind as to the scope and potential of magic in a roleplaying setting.
Over time as both DM and Player, seeing the character development of both myself and others, I could see how magic might be used to fully develop a realistic, deep world filled with realistic, deep characters and storylines. I tried to understand how many aspects of our games came to be… ie Liches, Conjurers, Chimeras, Griffons etc. Eventually I started developing my own magic system which became Magica Arcanum.
Jays (aka Miklos the Black)
I was introduced to roleplaying by Andy in 1986. We were both instantly hooked. As a kid growing up kind of bored with the real world, the ability to create fantastical new places and play in them with sword and magic was mind blowing. After buying the 1st Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Set in 1987 I finally felt that I had arrived home. I purchased pretty much everything Forgotten Realms related for the next 10 years.
I was the primary Dungeon Master for our roleplaying group throughout High School and still to this day run 90% of our games. I love creating engaging adventures, challenging conundrums and interesting items and NPCs for my players to interact with. I have created more than twenty of my own modules and even my own game world – The Arcane Realms. I have three novels I’m currently working on and several comics for Andy’s “Magica Arcanum” game system.
I currently run a gaming group called The Company of the Blessed Steel which includes Andy and my three sons amongst it’s PCs.
Our Vision & Mission
We began playing with just the two of us before branching out and eventually, by the end of high school, forming a gaming group of eight ongoing players. We mostly played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (now known as 2nd edition D&D). We played other systems like GURP, Middle Earth, Rolemaster, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Star Trek, James Bond, Call of Cthulhu and even invented our own system (Weird Wars).
We delved into tabletop miniature games including Dungeons & Dragons Battlesystem, Ancient Warfare, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40K (and even dabbled in Napoleonics). We still have all the books (check out our Bibliotheca). We spent school holidays moulding our own miniatures as Australia in the 1980s had a distinct lack of access to commercially produced fantasy miniatures. We spent many a day hunting down printers’ metal to make our deformed skeletons and goblins which came alive in our imaginations on the battlefield.
Since High School we have started families and pursued careers but never lost our love for RPGs. We have continued to work on our own creative material and decided that we wanted to share it with the world. With the current high level of interest in Roleplaying games we felt it was time to bring our vision and our ideas to the fore. Andy’s main focus is his “Magica Arcanum’ system and Jays’ main focus is on his fiction writing and “The Arcane Realms” game world. We assist each other both with ideas and quality review for our respective projects as well as sharing a love for creating, playtesting and selling great modules, game accessories and roleplaying tools for our fellow gamers.