I am extremely sorry to inform everyone that GameMaster Skhorne has passed away.  He truly loved being a GameMaster for GemStone IV and playing Platinum.  Elanthia will be a little dimmer without him. Our condolences to his friends and family.

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Wyrom, PM

He will be sorely missed by many, including myself, in Plat. He truly cared about Plat. Can't say enough good things about him.

I'm sorry to hear this, and please add my name to the list of those wishing well to his family.

Rest in peace Skhorne.

Arianiss Winterfox, Player of

Just a great dude and a great GM who loved plat with all his heart. Terrible. Damn ,that just sucks. RIP buddy.

He will be missed. He was always a positive guy and really connected with the platinum community.

As I gaze over the horizon, the wind tugs at my cloak and whispers, "Adventure" in my ear.

A squeaky halfling nearby asks, "Why you playing with orcs heads and troll rearends?!"

Skhorne spent most of us time in Platinum, but you probably interacted with him at some point without knowing it. He wasn't big on advertising himself. I knew him a little bit, so I want to share what I know.

As a GameMaster, he was incredibly generous, patient, and player-dedicated. He always wanted the players to have fun and enjoy the game and what he was doing. He was the person who would bend over backwards for almost any request if he could make it happen (and sometimes when he wasn't supposed to!). He loved the game, he loved the players. He was the type of GM who would randomly inhabit a wandering NPC and cause some trouble in TSC or around town, just for laughs. He went out of his way to include everyone. Nobody was ever left out at a Skhorne event. It's telling that nobody has a bad word to say about him; the GMs he worked with and the Hosts he trained have nothing but warm memories. And it's not because he recently died; it's because of how he lived.

I live in Houston and he lives in Katy, a suburb of Houston. Us chatting about Houston stuff was the catalyst for a friendship. It didn't get super deep, but I got to know him some and he got to know me some. He had little in the way of family and he couldn't get around much, so Gemstone was his primary contact with the outside world. Whether or not he was in the game, he was in contact with us. It could be joking, chatting, or just discussing some ideas or memories of his. He was one of the cornerstones of the Platinum community because of his kindness and inclusiveness. He was personally responsible for several players trying Platinum. When he invited someone to try it, he reached out to players he trusted to help them feel welcome. It was important to him. He had a lot of physical challenges and his health had started to go south in the last few months. But he would never complain and he wouldn't even talk too much about it, other than in a matter-of-fact way describing what he had planned for the day. This limited his ability to be in game, but he still devoted all the energy he could to making things happen when he could. He had this incredible ability to take all his problems in stride and wouldn't let them get him down. Even when life dealt him another crappy hand, he remained optimistic. Gemstone wasn't just a game for him but something he could rely on for a little bit of sunshine in the storm. And we rallied to help him whenever we could, whether it was raising some money or helping him look for a place to live that could accommodate his needs.

We made plans to get together. We couldn't quite line up plans, and then COVID hit. I think perhaps he was a little shy or embarrassed. We talked about when the pandemic ended, but that's not going to happen now. It makes me sad. He didn't have the best fortune in life, physically or circumstantially. But he had us and we had him. We knew he had that if nothing else, and we are all grateful for having known him. He will be missed.

Award-winning™ Gemstone IV® roleplayer

Thank you for those words Vicimer :)

Cylnthia and Vicmer and Allay'all, what you said was beautiful, thank you.

Soliere's sad inner hooligan :(..