Michael Hecker

Fascinated by the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons cartoon he watched as a child, Mike started gaming around age 11 with a handful of dice pulled from his family’s board games, lined index cards for character sheets, and a borrowed copy of the original Dungeons & Dragons Red Box.

In the years since, he has both run and played in countless role playing games, but his favorites are Shadowrun, Legend of the Five Rings, and D&D. Currently, he is running a game of Pathfinder Second Edition and playing in a Castles & Crusades story, and is hoping to play some Shadowrun, L5R, and Starfinder when his schedule allows.

In addition to pen and paper RPGs, Mike also enjoys assembling and painting miniatures, and even gets them on the table for the occasional game. His first painting project was the original Heroquest, and with a handful of Testors model paints from Trumbull Camera and Hobby and a grand vision, he spent hours in his parents’ basement adding some color to the orcs, goblins, and heroes. He still owns some of the figures, and uses them as a reminder of all the enjoyment he’s had with gaming.

Currently, Mike has been focusing on Marvel Crisis Protocol and Age of Sigmar, though his pile of shame in his painting room at home also includes models for Warhammer 40K, Infinity, Warmachine, Hordes, and countless D&D miniatures from Reaper and WizKids.

Mike also works as a middle school Reading and English teacher at one of the local schools, and has worked there for the past few years. He loves working with his students, and forces them to read The Hobbit each year because they need to put down their phones and experience some adventure, in his opinion. Along with his teaching duties, Mike acts as the English Festival coordinator for his school, and has attended the Festival ever since he was in 7th grade himself. He greatly enjoys his time in the classroom, and looks forward to each day teaching about writing and discussing literature.