I’m Rob - founder of The Games Initiative and general all round gaming nerd. I’ve been fascinated with games and gaming in it’s various guises all of my life, and I feel immensely excited that I now have the opportunity to organise and run the games that I love as a career.

I have been fascinated with the fantasy genre ever since my mother first read me the Lord of the Rings as a young child. I grew up devouring any fantasy/sci-fi series I could get my hands on, and found a natural home in collecting miniatures and war gaming. I often wonder why it took me so long to play tabletop roleplaying games. In fact it was only thanks to a chance click on the top twitch stream while I was browsing one day, that introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons. From then on I was hooked, and you could say I’m now making up for lost time…

I have over eight years of experience planning and running various tabletop roleplaying games, and a lifetime of being a board and video game enthusiast. I also follow many traditional sports and esports; mostly in the few quiet minutes when I’m not trying to keep up with my two year old.

I’ve previously worked as a:

• Ski instructor (if you can lead a group of five year olds down a mountain, then leading an adventuring party in DnD is easy)

• Teaching assistant in challenging educational environments (holding the interest of teenagers in order to teach them maths is great training for sceptical corporate team members)

• Catastrophe Risk Modeller in the insurance industry (nope, that one is only really useful for working out how much to charge someone for hurricane insurance)

The Games Initiative brings my lifetime of passion for games, all the different skills they teach and enjoyment they bring, to a wider audience. Either for people who have always wanted to try tabletop roleplaying games, or for those who are just looking for something fun to do with their colleagues. After all, who doesn’t want to experience taking down a dragon, before looting their treasure at least once in their lives?

Currently reading - Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey

Currently playing (video games) - Baldurs Gate 3, Dota 2

Currently playing (board games) - Frosthaven

Currently playing (TTRPGs) - Lost Mines of Phandelver, Esper Genesis, Dungeons of Drakkenheim, Odyssey of the Dragonlords

Currently watching - Traitors NZ, Masterchef

Currently listening to - Critical role campaign 3