A sorcerer of Draconic bloodline. A human commoner raised to be a humble and courageous fighter. A dwarf cleric devoted to his gods and trained to harness the Weave. A rogue halfling and former soldier who can work a crowd and think like a thief.

These are the adventurers that join me as we explore the Sword Coast. Our journey will take us through the Neverwinter Woods, the Sword Mountains, and treasure-filled ruins where nightmares are born. While the Player Characters (“PCs”) are characters with deep rooted beliefs and unique backgrounds, the people that play them are my close friends and I wanted to take a few moments to brag about them.

  • Anthonon Sansco (Human / Sourcerer / Draconic Bloodline): Anthonon is played by my friend Anthony. The “Anthonon” PC is played by my friend Anthony. My family moved to a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, when I was 3 and our families met shortly after. Anthony is a high school language arts teacher and has received several awards for his commitment to the arts and education.

  • Bhreac Deargbeerd (Human / Fighter / Folk Hero): Referred to only by his family name in the Forgotten Realms, “Deargbeerd”, is played by Bryan. Bryan was one of my best hires at EY and is still employed there as a Senior Manager in EY’s Transaction Advisory Services. Bryan has an amazing loft in downtown Los Angeles, has a super cute dog (“Gracie”), he has been into table-top gaming for years, and recently we’ve cooked some incredibly decadent meals together, e.g., king crab covered potato gratin served next to slow roasted baby back ribs!!!

  • Gremdar of Frostbeard (Dwarf / Cleric / Life Domain): “Gremdar” is played by my old roommate, ex-EY employee, and close friend, Kevin. Kevin is a finance and operations professional and avid hiker / skier who quit his job about a year ago to live life, smell the roses, and figure out his next phase in life. He’s doing independent financial modeling, consulting, and is in the process of scaling his video production company. Having done the same in 2017 (i.e., quitting a solid job without one), I am confident that Kevin’s clarity and focus will bring even more success for him.

  • Sylvio Colino (Lightfoot Halfling / Rogue / Stealthy): Wanting to get an edge on larger enemy creatures, “Sylvio” is played by Gabe. Gabe and I met at Georgia Tech in the early 2000s and we reconnected in 2015 when he moved to Los Angeles and I was working in DTLA for KPMG. Gabe is an accomplished pricing and analytics professional in the mobile gaming space and has had the privilege of working for some of the most well-known mobile gaming developers including Activision Blizzard, Scopely, and Niantic.

  • The Dungeon Master: As DM, I (“Jav”) play the role of Non-Player Characters (NPCs), monsters and creatures, and narrator. I am a data scientist and financial modeler who uses the R programming language for data manipulation, automation, and strategic insights through machine learning and artificial intelligence. I love to cook and travel, I enjoy building websites using R and the blogdown framework (it’s so easy!), and I love to learn new things.