| In the summer of 1978, 14-year-old Mike Mitchell spent about $9.99 of his hard-earned allowance on the colorful boxed set of Dungeons & Dragons™, "The Original Adult Fantasy Role-Playing Game for 3 or More Players." He promptly coerced his younger sister and brother into rolling up characters and setting off In Search of the Unknown, which was the module included with the boxed set. Whereas his siblings thought it was kind of fun, Mike (who was known by "Michael" way back then) was hooked. Over the course of the years to come, D&D -- and all its various editions, knock-offs, and the other RPGs that soon came after -- became an important part of his recreation and social life. A graduate of the Class of 1982 from Mineola High School in Mineola, Texas, Mike continued with school, jobs, marriage, divorce, and all the other stuff that comes with life, just like it does to everyone else. Fortunately for him, however, he discovered his vocation way back in those early teen years: writing, creating art, and publishing it all for the world to see.
Throughout his teens and mid-20s, Mike was active in the sci-fi and comics fandom publishing movement. During that time, he published more than 50 fanzines (including 15 issues of the Collectors Club Newsletter). He studied Journalism in high school and majored in it at college. He alternated school with work experience in newspapers, advertising, commercial graphics, technical writing, and owned his own typesetting and design company in El Paso, Texas.
He holds the following degrees from the following colleges and universities:
- Associate of Arts -- Journalism (1984))
Tyler Junior College, Tyler Texas
- Bachelor of Arts -- Communication (1992)
University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Texas
- Master of Arts -- Professional Writing (1996)
University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Texas
Mike dropped in and out of gaming during college, but never lost interest in it. Whenever he found a good group, he'd join them for some short campaigns until they would all drift apart again. Then he met Mike Murphy. But that's a story told elsewhere (read Mike and Mike).
As Mike was finishing his Bachelor's degree, a little fad began to sweep the world: The Internet. Since most of his work had been in designing and disseminating information, he was thrilled at the instant access and incredible opportunities this new media presented. He began working in Web design and then quickly migrated into the heady world of software development. After completing his Master's Degree, he moved to Houston, Texas, and embarked in the lucrative and creatively rewarding career as a developer of Web-enabled applications.
There, beneath the humid South Texas sky, he fell in love and married Donna Adams, who tacked a hyphen and his last name to hers. Together, they live in wedded bliss with two dogs and one cat.
Then, in 1999, the Best Man from his wedding called and made things a bit more hectic.
"Murphy had been talking about doing a miniatures game set in the Wild West for a long time. When he finally sent me the first draft of the rules in March 1999, I realized he was serious about it," Mitchell said.
Although it took a while to get things moving, an Oct. 2000 trip to Murphy's home in Las Vegas, Nevada, proved the crystallizing point for the entire operation. They created a company, divided the work, had meetings, began planning, and set schedule and a goal: together, they would become Hawgleg Publishing, and that company would make Gutshot™ into a reality.
"My wife has commented several times about how excited I am about this, and she's right. I think this is a good game and I'm really looking forward to getting it out there," Mitchell said. "It's a lot of work, but it's going to be worth it."
Contact Mike Mitchell at: mmitchell@hawgleg.com
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