I came to hold the position of vice-president of Guardians of Order because Mark C. MacKinnon and I began the company together in 1997. It started out as more of a "hobby," I suppose. After watching scads of the anime series, Ranma 1/2, Mark wanted to write an RPG system in which players could play any anime character in any genre. My role began as moral supporter and soon extended into writing and researching the North American translation of Sailor Moon after we were granted the license to do the RPG and Resource Book. Mark and I laugh about how we didn't have a scanner back then so we would use the scanner in the chemistry department at the University of Guelph after hours (Mark was finishing his masters degree in chemistry at that time).

The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book became more popular than we could ever have imagined, and when we acquired the laser discs that had the original Japanese series, we realized just how much more there was to the show than what was presented in North America. Mark and I also discovered that I had a knack for writing character bios (largely due to my training and education in the social sciences) and this, coupled with the stunning amount of information on Sailor Moon, found me in the role of line producer for this license.

My days are usually filled with Sailor Moon - researching and watching Sailor Moon (both the North American translation and the original Japanese series) and writing material for the RPG line. Most people believe that Mark is the expert on the topic of Sailor Moon, and this was true when the RPG was first released, but now I hold that title. If one were to visit our office, you might hear Mark calling out, "Karen, what were the items that Wicked Lady's Luna Ball changed into?" or some other request for obscure information regarding the show. I also hold the position of editing our books from the perspective of the non-gamer. I do role-play but I am not a hard-core gamer and do not know all of the "lingo" that is associated with this pastime. Thus, I point out anything written in "gamespeak" that is impossible to understand unless one has been gaming since he/she was two. We want our products to be accessible and understandable to a large range of people and many of these people have never role-played in their life, much less know what a d20 is.

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