Once upon a time, I decided to try my hand at illustration Star Wars RPG characters online. I had a GeoCities site names Template Facades. I advertised my free services on Webrings and such (remember Webrings?) and one of my earliest replies was this young Canadian from Nova Scotia barely out of his teens, named Shane.
We bonded over all things gaming, and even more important, all thing geeky. From Star Wars and Star Trek to games, comics and toys, we talked about everything, even when we were both on opposite sides of the planet. And we talked and discussed and made dumb jokes. We talked about Wok With Yan. We talked about each others’ family. Our high notes and low notes.
Shane passed away today due to complications from cancer. It hurts to type the previous sentence.
He was a friend who’s always there. He was a brother in every sense of the word. There’s a Shane-shaped hole in my life that will be there till the day I die. I wish we could have met face-to-face and rolled dice together, laughing and dad-joking ourselves through scenarios.
Shane and Hisham – Star Wars GMs (click to expand)
20 years plus change is a good run for an online friendship. I only wish we had at least 20 more years. I love you, Shane, and I will miss you tremendously.
I am not sure I ever crossed paths with Shane. Reading some of his previous posts and what people have said, he sounds like a great person that made the hobby better by just being part of it. Sorry to hear the news, Hish.
Thanks, Sean. I appreciate it. I’m sure Shane’d have appreciated it too.