A Saint of Gaming

An anniversary that will haunt me forever has come and gone, but the memory of its significance remains. I’m not talking about some world-shattering event, but rather the passing of a member of our gaming group.

I met Deb Turner when I started working for ComputerLand in 1990. She was the fiery accountant who always had words of advice to give, the ever-watchful guard dog of the corporate books. Any time we wanted to order in new products for a customer, get that cool new PC for a sales model, or anything else that required cash, Deb would be there giving her advice—whether we really wanted to hear it or not. She was the perfect balance for my managerial style.

Shortly after I started working at ComputerLand, Deb started to express an interest in this “gaming” thing that we did every week. Not long after that, she created her first character: Meagan Fireform, priest of the god of war. She brought her best friend Deneen into the game as well, and both of them added a whole new level of insight, wit, and wisdom into the game.

But for someone who was such a firecracker at work, Deb was shy in her roleplaying. She started off by just running around and playing the role of healer and trying to turn undead. I say trying because her turning rolls were so bad that I changed the belief system of the god. “Turning’s too good for undead!” became the new battlecry. Now, priests of Banis, god of war, can’t turn undead.

I searched around for a while for something to get Deb more… motivated… to play a battle-happy cleric of the god of war. Soon after, Meagan Fireform found Goldrazor, a sentient weapon that symbolized the god’s faith in her. Its intelligence was a danger, however, in that it could take over its possessor and charge them headlong into combat. That only happened once, however.

From then onward, frontline fighters would get out of the way. Deb would have Meagan charge forward brandishing Goldrazor, slicing undead and enemy alike. She’d still heal the party from time to time, but only life-threatening injuries received her ministrations during the battle. Making others wait for healing also led to her being teased “the Bearded one,” since Banis was also the god of the dwarves.

Deb went on to play Meagan Fireform to 30th level, and she became a saint of Banis for her dedication and battle prowess. When she retired Meagan (shortly before I took the job with TSR in 1994), there were tears in her eyes. She loved her character, sending me a long list of things Meagan planned to do in retirement (since on the world of Bastion, retirement is used like the word ‘vacation.’) 

Deb continued to play D&D after I left, eventually finding a husband among the group of gamers that gathered each week. Soon thereafter, she had a child. Deb and her husband, Jon, soon began showing up and volunteering at Gen Con. I’d see them 2-3 times each year, between Gen Con and visits back to my home town.

Deb’s death was sudden, and caught everyone off guard. After a brief illness that everyone thought was the flu, Deb died of a pulmonary embolism on Oct. 2nd, 2000 at the age of 36.

I flew back and our gaming group once again came together, but this time to help each other cope with the grief. We laughed and we cried; we shared old memories from the Golden Age. And when I walked up to look upon Deb’s face for the last time, I gently lifted up her hand and placed Meagan Fireform’s character sheet under her arm. 

We had a wake at the gravesite, each of us toasting to Deb and Meagan in turn. We poured her a glass of champagne as well, sitting it on top of the coffin. We took a long, hard look at each other, commenting aloud how much better our lives were as a result of knowing each other. We shared stories of Deb and had a toast to the Bearded Saint. 

So, the next time you get together to game, spend a few moments and look across the table at the friends you’ve made. And the next time your group encounters some bearded dwarves, or your cleric fails her turning check, make a toast to the Bearded Saint. 

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