Your Game Master
The Game Master, otherwise known as Dungeon Master (DM), for this program will be Max Lerner, an environmental scientist by trade but additionally a major Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) enthusiast in his off hours. Through his nearly 2 decades of primary work developing greenspaces, he’s had ample experience creating ecosystems, speaking publicly, and teaching groups of all ages and backgrounds. He began his adventure playing D&D over 20 years ago and now utilizes many of the shared skills in his primary work to contribute to and lead countless games with multiple groups of all backgrounds and experience levels.
Max continually polishes his training through RPG Research, a 501(c)3 non-profit research and human services charitable organization studying the effects of all role-playing game formats and their potential to improve lives around the world, to further his capacity to host enjoyable and impactful experiences for the public. He utilizes this training to regularly coordinate charity D&D fundraiser games and has presented in several conferences on the benefits of socializing through gaming.
As the world adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic, Max noticed how many people began utilizing games to connect with people, release stress, socialize, and process changes in their lives. This sparked his imagination and inspired him to expand his formerly recreational practice into a professional capacity.
Max coordinates creative projects to help demonstrate the impact and enjoyability of such modern therapeutic approaches and warmly welcomes anyone interested in joining this experience. He looks forward to any opportunity to share his practice with any communities interested in working together to explore the art and healing potential of collaborative storytelling.
Max also highly recommends you check out his other initiative, GROW Externships (Green Revitalization Outreach Workforce), if you know anyone who has any interest in developing a career in sustainability, ecology, environmental science, or related fields!
PLAN Party Members
Percy & Jerone Hsu - Creative Services
Brothers Percy and Jerone provide various ad hoc creative services including: design, illustration, branding, content creation, and strategy. They are listed here together (although they are totally separate people) because this project is something they are doing together as a team! Here’s their most recent team portfolio.
Adela Lee - Advisor
Adela works to support peers, families, and communities through her work with South Bay Project Resource and other mental wellness initiatives. She brings decades of nonprofit management experience and provided the essential wisdom and seed resources that made this program a possibility. She supports PLAN Gaming in an advisory capacity.
Craig Spaeth - Founder, SendingStone
Craig Spaeth is a digital product engineer and designer with experience leading teams at startups. SendingStone is Craig's side project born from the need to play D&D with his friends remotely during the pandemic and being dissatisfied with the tools available. As a main gig Craig currently does engineering at Cityblock Health. In the past Craig has lead engineering teams and product launches at Octave Health and Artsy, did freelancing for liquor/publishing brands, creatives, and startups, had some side hustles building and monetizing MMORPGS and real-estate websites, made 2D & 3D video games, created open source frameworks, and spoke at some conferences and meetups.
