Dave Watkins

8/18/2020 - A sad and heavy air lies over the House like a curse today.
The monsters within the House are all still.
The entities silent.

I sit gloomily behind my desk in the writing room. I look out the window and see how the clouds are even darker than usual. The rain heavy and cold. Even the thunder seems sullen and subdued today.

I received news this morning that Dave Watkins, a devoted Beyond the Supernatural™(BTS) fan and friend of both the Host and the House of BTS, passed on yesterday. As of this writing I don’t know the cause, only that it was sudden and unexpected. He passed on far too young.

I was fortunate to be able to hang out and game with Dave in person at the various Palladium Books Open House events over the years. We also kept in touch online regularly, talking about Beyond the Supernatural™ and various paranormal related subjects. Dave was one of the earliest fans of my BTS articles in the Rifter® sourcebooks, as well as one of the most outspoken about them.
I fondly recall how much he LOVED the Brawling Joe (from The Rifter #57 and now the Creature Feature sourcebook for BTS) and using them in his Beyond the Supernatural™ adventures.

Dave has been part of the House of BTS (and was one of the first house guests) since its humble beginnings. In fact, I would say he laid one of the cornerstones of the House. It was Dave who was kind and generous enough to send me an a copy of his excel version of the BTS character sheets from pages 218-219 of the BTS-2 book.
Every pregenerated character, non-player character and character available to download in the House has Dave to thank for it as I don’t think I would've created, designed and posted them on anything else but a dedicated and familiar looking Beyond the Supernatural™ character sheet.

Dave and I attended each other’s Beyond the Supernatural™ adventures whenever we could at the Open House events. Dave had a love of unusual and mystifying subjects in his adventures, and I enjoyed his ideas and adventures. His adventures involved monsters, secret doors, strange magics, empty crossroads, headless mules, ancient ruins, bigfoot/Sasquatch, secret labs behind secret doors that led to a secret basement, aliens, demons, and ghosts & entities... especially ghosts and entities. Dave really enjoyed ghost stories.

Dave was also one of the most gifted Psychic Sensitive player’s I've ever known.
On multiple occasions he fearlessly played what I consider to be one of the hardest types of psychic player characters to play, and he excelled at it! Dave’s playing style added an extra charm and insight to one of my pregenerated player characters (Sakura) which led me to rewriting her to resemble/reflect more of his envisioning of her character and personality.

My personal favorite memory of Dave was at the last Open House event. Dave was running a Beyond the Supernatural™ adventure but unfortunately his table was between two other tables with far louder and more boisterous GM’s and players. Being a soft-spoken man, Dave’s voice - and therefore his adventure - was being drowned out.
I was at the writer’s table area during his adventure, and Dave came over to talk to me during a break.

As he was telling me about what was happening at his table, I realized that I was the only person in the writer’s area at the time; the other writers likely out to eat or attending their own adventures. So, I invited him to collect his players & materials and bring them over to my table to finish his adventure in a far quieter atmosphere. I got to listen in and watch him finish his adventure with his charismatic style of GM’ing. He had a kind smile that was always brightest when he was the Game Master.

I am missing him already, and I always will.

Until we meet again, rest in peace dear brother.

- The Host of the House of BTS

P.S.: I'd like to thank Madman Mike for giving me permission to post a few of his pictures, reflecting Dave in his best element. Notice that the covers/artwork Dave had used in his GM screen included BTS related material, including some of my Rifter® articles.

Update 2/4/21: Since posting Dave's memorial back in August, I've reconnected with mutual friends of his (like Mike, Lloyd and Nicole) and have been introduced to other friends and family of his (like Tamara, Cathy and Patty). Dave was blessed to have and know people who loved him deeply; a sign of his personal character as Dave was an easy guy to love.

After meeting and while getting to know them all, his family graciously asked me if I wanted any of Dave's items, gaming related in particular.
I was humbled and honored to be asked and I specifically asked for his copy of BTS-2 if possible. They all went above & beyond and were more than generous.

Some of his items sent to me includes an eclectic selection of Dave's RPG dice, a Cthuhlu-inspired dice pouch, and (as requested) Dave's personal copy of the Beyond the Supernatural™, 2nd Edition book, as well as his personal copy of the first edition Beyond the Supernatural™ book. I know for certain that they were his books as Dave asked me to sign them at one of the Open House events years ago. I was reluctant as I didn't write in either book, but he insisted, saying “I consider you to be just as much of a writer of Beyond the Supernatural as Kevin.”

Since receiving both his books, I've highlighted, tagged and notated the both of them and have been using them in place of my original books. My original books have both been showing their age for some time now, so it was time to place them both in the honored and retired RPG book section of my library.
Patty also sent me a pair of book plates which I've since placed inside his books (see the image below).

In short, Dave will always with me in spirit, and involved with every writing project, Game Master session or Beyond the Supernatural adventure that I'm involved in. I'm honored to possess and use his BTS books and I thank everyone involved who helped them find their way to the House.
I will cherish them, always.

I was also sent all of his BTS gm/playing materials, which was quite a bit to go through to be honest. Various copies of character sheets, NPC's, Non-Player Characters and notes for the various adventures he'd written and game mastered over the years. I've been going over and organizing the materials in my spare time, and in time I plan to add copies of his characters, pregens, NPC's and the like to the House for downloading.

In time I also plan to put together an adventure based on his notes and second-hand accounts of a particular. adventure he'd designed (titled Family Roots), which will include the maps he commissioned from Madman Mike. Once this adventure is ready, I'll add it to the House for downloading as well.

Dave's spirit will always be a part of the House of BTS, just as it has been since the beginning, and I'm grateful and honored to have his presence, his imagination and his inspiration with me in all my future endeavours that go beyond the supernatural.

-The Host of the House of BTS