Oleg

My old friend and kindred spirit passed in his sleep last night. He was a private person who did not gladly join social media and did not care to share his life with the world in general. Though he was well versed in all matters scientific and technical, he did not care for Facebook or Twitter and prefered to see computers as personal tools for his own personal ends. He would rather go mushroom hunting in the forests than play an online game. He built gaming models as I did, and tents and Viking clothing. He was (as you can see above) a Viking reenactor, and also an avid enthusiast of several other historical periods. He was extremely intelligent, perhaps the most intelligent man I have ever met, but he was also sympathetic, and cared deeply for his friends.

As partners in various projects, we developed our own games and rules (he did the rules and sometimes I helped). We spent a good decade gaming almost every week, and Oleg usually played the key characters in my campaign games. He played Misteline in Takshendal and he helped me develop the ideas in Rocketman. He ran his own campaigns too, one in particular called 'Sheev'dra', ran for about thirty years and we two must have spent thousands of hours laughing and joking on Skype and playing games with each other.

We had mutual friends, some of whom played with us on a regular basis, others we saw less often. He is survived by his wife Tracey and their two sons, Andre and Peter. All of us are in shock and dismay at Oleg's death. I can hardly believe he is gone. I loved him as a brother and valued his friendship above all others. I know I will never find some one whose company I so enjoyed, whose mind I so admired and whose regard I was so proud to accept.

I still love him as a brother, even though I shall never see him again, nor hear the sound of his voice.


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