The Black Hand Society

	First Appearance : Game Jester #2 (May '96) Tales from the Vault (August '97 p49) Bio : Victor "Nitro" Fergueson became known as the Lord of Steam when he adapted the HackMaster rules to live-action play and began taking hand picked groups of players on late night forays into the labyrinth of steam tunnels beneath Ball State University. After 'Fergueson's Folly' made national headlines (Victor and his group were lost for 7 days prompting a massive rescue search), the steam tunnels were secured and dozens of entrances were sealed with concrete. There are severa contradicting accounts of what happened weeks later on the evening of January 5th, 1987 but it involved a satchel of C-4 high explosive, a miscalculation of the expected blast radius, and a medical evacuation of the Campus Administration Building which collapsed during an arrempt to breach the steam tunnels. The incident earned Victor the nickname "Nitro" and 5 years probation. Nitro has been president of the Black Hand Gaming Society for 8 years, taking over from Weird Fete.
	First Appearance : KoDT #1 (July '94 "Diminishing Returns") Bio : "Weird" Pete Ashton is the sole proprietor of a local gamestore called the Games Pit. He is proud of the fact that he was one of the co-designers of the classic role-playing game, Lynch Mob(TM). Pete loves to relate the story of how he was burned by his partners and lost "millions". Pete is always available for advice but oddly seems to be very bitter about the hobby he loves so much. He was a major stockholder in Hard 8 Enterprises but sold his shares mere days before HackMaster was released. Pete co-founded the Black Hand Gaming Society along with Nitro and served as president for the first four years of the club's existence. The backroom of Pete's shop serves as home table for the Society.
	First Appearance : KoDT #14 (December '97 p25 "Stevil Bitter Pulpit") KoDT #17 (March '98 p5 "Carry a Big Stick") Bio : Stevil has a day job administering customer warranty claims. For years he satisfied his gaming itch through freelance worlk for various gaming industry publications. However, his divorce a couple of years back freed up time for him to get back into real gaming. He met Gordon Sheckberry at work (prior to his unfortunate(?) accident) and 'Gordo' subsequently introduced him to the Blake Hands. He now commutes to Muncie every Friday night from his apartment in suburban Indianapolis.
	First Appearance : KoDT #17 (March '98 p5 "Carry a Big Stick") Bio : Gordon 'Gordo' Sheckberry graduated from Ball State with a Chemical Engineering degree in his back pocket. (Although never proven, it has long been suspected that he cooked up the batch of C-4 Nitro used to level the Administration Building). Gordo was involved in a bizarre industrial accident that seriously impaired his vision and resulted in the loss of ALL his body hair. He is famous for his bad toupee and coke bottle-lense glasses.The accident bestowed Gordo with the gift of tora lifetime disability allowing him to game almost daily with various groups around Delaware county. (Thus he is the envy of gamers everywhere.) Gordo has been a member of the Black Hands for four years.
	First Appearance : KoDT #11 (September '97 p7 "The Empty Chair") Bio : Newt was the only child of a career military couple. He spent his childhood either being dragged around the globe or tossed back and forth between various uncles and grandparents. Perhaps that's why Newt has trouble making friends and fitting in. He wet his feet in gaming by playing every play-bymail game he could trade down and earned a bit of notoriety by toppling the five year powergrip of the top player in the PBM game, Tribes of Angst and essentially shutting down the game.Later he was introduced to HackMaster through a MUD on the internet and embraced the game. After running through every Solo-Adventure published he set out on a quest to find a group to play with.Unfortunately he's finding it difficult to find a group who will tolerate his personality quirks. He have recently been accept by the Black Hand Gaming Society. Nitro have decide to put him under his wings.
	First Appearance : KoDT #9 ((only mention) July '97 p20) KoDT #23 ("The Unexpected Encounter") Bio : Jack "Flac Jack" Monty is well known in Muncie, Indiana as a consequence of his highly publicized 1994 trial People vs. Monty Jack was convicted of aggravated assault, endangering the public and a half dozen other charges as a result of his commando-style assault on a city bus armed with water balloom and several auto-fire equipped paintbal guns. Jack was playink a liveaction game of Urban Assassin and was attempting to take out several players who had sought refuge on a passing bus.The judge was not amused and sentenced Jack to six months confinement. The sentence was waived, however, on the condition that Jack enlist in the armed Forces. Jack joined the Army for a two year hitch. DoD cutbacks allowed him to end his tour early and return to Muncie to attend BSU on the GI Bill while completing his military obligation in the Indiana NationalGuard. He joined the Black Hands soon afterwards and earned a reputation for being a formidable player.
	First Appearance : KoDT #11 ((only mention) September '97 p17) KoDT #14 (December '97 "Weird Pete Bulletin Board") Bio : Squirrely was one of a dozen chimpanzees who were the subjects of a joint NSA-USAF project which operated in secrecy at the height of the Cold War. Selected after a rigorous screening process, the 'subjects' were taught a wide variety of skills of a covert military nature. His exceptional intelligence fast-tracked him even deeper into the shadows of secrecy. It is supected he, and a dozen other chimps, were trained to fly modified U2 long range reconnisance aircraft. [Wreckage of a U2 crash recently recovered in the Kravanh Mountains of Kampuchea lend credence to the theory. The remains of a chimpanzee inflight gear was discovered in the fuselage.] The details of the project, however, and Squirrely's involvement have never been fully disclosed. A freedom of information act search uncovered scant details of his military service save for a directive from President Nixon, commissioning "S.S.16~'234-561-003 into federal service" and "assigned to an undisclosed southeast Asian base to begin an "operational role in the conflict". Other than that, Squirrely disappears from the record for the next twenty years.With the collapse of the Soviet hegemony in 1989, the project lost funding and was forced to sell its test subjects at auction. Subject 234-56A-003 was purchased by a P. Ashton of Muncie, IN for the sum of $586. (The serial number is tattooed on an inner lobe of Squirrely's left ear. Although fluent in lip reading and sign language (English, Russian and Vietnamese), neither his owner nor anyone that frequents the Games Pit is aware of it or of his incredible background. Squirrely is content to live in his secluded retirement, working as Pete's assistant and enjoying an occasional burrito. Over the years, he's become an icon in the local gaming community - often mistaken for a monkey. He is employed by Pete doing odd jobs after hours, unloading product from the back of trucks, moping the floor, etc. Although apparently more intelligent than the average chimp, even to the casual viewer, he seems to be accident prone. (Once he accidentally got caught in the fanbelt of Pete's VW while changing the oil.) Unbeknownst to Pete, for years Squirrely had been eating lead figurines in a futile attempt to dislodge painful schrapnel from his small intestine. (His cage was within arm's length of the display racks.) This has resulted in the strange neurological disorder(s) that earned him his nickname and made him what he is today - an unbeaten, over-muscled, half-crazed, arm-wrestling, grudge-carrying, lunatic simian. Or so he will prefer to beperceived as...Weird Pete holds a yearly contest where people attempt to best Squirrely at arm wrestling. He really seems to enjoy the attention and is apparently proud of the fact that he remains unbeaten.