Juan
Rodriguez is a contributing writer, editor, and lead networker for the Tales of
Vinlar. Born and raised in the LES (Lower East Side of Manhattan). You can call
him a “New Yorican”. Juan’s first
encounter with Sci-Fi/Fantasy, was watching “The Neverending Story”. He later
was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons as a teen, by his best friend, Jimmy
Martinez. Juan has played games such as Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Ravenloft,
Grey Hawk, Buck Rogers, Marvel Super Heroes, Boot Hill, & Robotech. Till this
day, Juan considers himself to be an Dungeon Master apprentice of Jimmy
Martinez.
For a while,
Juan believed he could create his own stories, using Forgotten Realms lore, and
borrowing bits and pieces of modules, and stories. One of his favorite modules
is “Doom of Daggerdale” (Module of 2nd Ed. Forgotten Realms), which
he continues to write stories and games for his friends, and his daughter.
(Visit – Tales of Daggerdale)
He gave up D&D
to study for the Priesthood. He later left the vocation to pursue Married Life.
For years, some of Juan’s friends would talk about his short stories of “Daggerdale”,
which sparked up in him a love for the game. Juan picked up pencil and paper to
continue his D&D stories.
At times,
Juan would run into conflicts with Catholic friends or circles who heard about
him playing Dungeons & Dragons. He found himself defending the reason for
playing these games. “One does not simply abandon imagination for God, when God
Himself gave this gift to us.” The critics would not stop Juan from writing or
playing, so he set out to create an apologetics, a defense for playing Dungeons
& Dragons.
A few years
passed - Juan put down the pencil, paper, and dice. He believed that family and
work came first. He continued collecting
old Forgotten Realm stories of 1st and 2nd Edition,
fascinated by the heroes and stories.
One day,
Sharod Ford visited Juan to discuss an idea for creating a story within the
Grand Realms - a fantasy game created by
their mutual friend, Adrian Garcia – another great Dungeon Master in the Lower
East Side. Juan was not interested. Sharod continued his invitation for about
two years, and finally, Juan submitted and joined the project – Tales of Vinlar
was born.
Juan was the Pastoral Associate at Queen of Angels Church in Sunnyside New York, then later became director of Faith Formation of St Patrick's in Bay Ridge, and is
happily married to Bertha. Both are raising a young Dungeon Master.