The Roger Moore Connection

So, thanks to new father Steven Schend, an ancient evil has been unearthed. I am referring, of course, to the sanity-sharding horror that is "Jeff Grubb Day".

The short version of the tale is that someone tried to imitate me, saying that Jeff Grubb was a house name at TSR, and an editor (Hi, Anne!) thought it would be funny if everyone was Jeff Grubb, and as such passed out "Hi, My Name Is Jeff Grubb" name tags to the entire staff. On what turned out to be Steven Schend's first day of work.

My name tag read "Hi, My Name Is Roger Moore". But I never really explained the significance of that comment.

Here goes: Before the insanity of Jeff Grubb day, we had another case of identity-grabbing, involved long-standing and talented DRAGON editor Roger Moore. Um, make the Roger E. Moore to separate him from the Bond actor (though our Roger was much better looking).

Roger was invited to a convention on the West Coast as a guest. As such things happen, he was unable to attend, and sent his regrets. Life went on, and then we got a letter.

The letter was from a fan who claimed he had attended the convention, and was very concerned that Roger Moore could not attend. So concerned that he stepped into the breech, and for that weekend was an imitation Roger Moore on our behalf. Sat on panels, signed autographs, and provided information about upcoming TSR product. Furthermore, he wrote, he would be more than happy to continue to do so as our "West Coast Roger Moore", freeing the real Roger Moore to his editing duties.

Needless to say, the real Roger Moore (and the management of TSR) were not tempted by this offer. In fact, they were rather taken aback by Roger Moore imitators. The fan did not sign his name, but did provide his RPGA number, and we quickly tracked him down and sent him a note that impersonating TSR employees was really, really ,not apprecitated.

And that was why my name tag that fateful day, twenty years ago, read "Hi! My Name Is Roger Moore". While others will go for the fad of the week, I will stick with the classics.

And Roger? I think his name tag read "I am the Real Roger Moore. All others are spuds!".

More later,