Rest easy, Andy

My friend Andy Mathews died yesterday.

Maybe I'm being presumptuous in claiming friendship with someone I never met in person, whose voice I never heard, but I considered Andy a friend, someone I'd known online for years, gamed with, exchanged e-mails and books with, joked with.

Andy was a talented designer who worked for Hero Games, someone who enjoyed gaming and superheroes and storytelling and a good number of things I consider important. He was kind and generous. I think he got a kick out of me naming a very minor character in my book after him, and he was very supportive of my writing.

I didn't know much about Andy's life outside of the narrow window of gaming that I shared with him. I only found out about his death today, and didn't even know until now that he had a blog. I read a couple of entries this afternoon and found myself missing and appreciating him even more.

My deep sympathies go to Andy's widow and his two sons, as well as his other family and friends.

You can read a little more about Andy on the Hero Games boards here and here, and some of his friends at Lost Coast Gaming are making tributes on that site. I found an obituary for him here.

I'll really miss you, Andy. I always figured I'd get to meet you in person at a convention one of these days and was really, really looking forward to that. I'm sorry that I won't get that chance.