Craig

### Relatives

Maddie (sister), Craig's father *(mentioned only)*, Craig's mother *(mentioned only)*

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

**Craig** was part of Juniper Smith's *Dungeons & Dragons* group. He would often show up to the games late, without explanation, but was still very invested in them, noticing plot holes and coming up with clever plans. He acted as Dungeon Master for the group on more than one occasion, and had a habit of revealing everything the players missed at the end of his dungeons - which, in Juniper's opinion, detracted from those sessions. He really liked the *Star Wars* Expanded Universe. Once he got his high school diploma, he planned to join the Army.

He was just three years older than Maddie - his sister - and fiercely protective of her, despite often speaking of her in annoyance. His father wasn't really a part of his life, and he didn't often speak of his mother - except to call her a "raging bitch".

>
> “Wait,” said Reimer to Craig. “Let me see your sheet, how’d you get bingo?”
>
>
> “There and there,” said Craig. “Arthur and Tiff have a long disagreement on gender, sex, -- see, I made them different things, just for you -- race, or socioeconomics. And the other one was ‘session goes for 30 minutes without even tangentially engaging with gameplay’.”
>
>
> “I tried,” I said.
>
>
> “Yeah, I marked that,” said Craig with a grin.
>
>
>
> —Chapter 47: "At Arm's Length"
>

## Biography

When Tom once bemoaned the lack of famous people that shared his name, Craig used Google to prove him wrong.
Twenty Questions

Craig suggested that the city of Barren Jewel was able to survive in the desert through use of the "Create Food and Water" spell. Whys and Wherefores

He arrived late to the party's confrontation with Count Gordner. As usual, no explanation was offered. Siege

In a campaign set in London, Craig, Reimer, Arthur and Tom planned to use a pair of linked portals to shine sunlight onto Dracula. Rocket Man

Tom, Arthur, Craig, and Reimer once struggled to stay in character when working out the loot they planned to get in return for defeating a cult. Weik Handum

When Tiff was new to the group, and didn't know the group's history, Craig told her that new campaigns with her would eventually outnumber the ones she'd missed out on. Friendship is Magic

While trying to solve a difficult puzzle with the rest of the group, Tom tried to convince Juniper to let him roll against his character's 22 INT to get the solution. Craig declared that - having seen his performance as a classmate - Juniper had no more than 15 INT, and should realistically be no match for Tom's gnome. In Which Juniper Stares At His Character Sheet

One of Craig's characters was killed by a daji. Craig cared about it enough to consider waiting for his dead body to be raised from the dead, instead of just replacing it with a new character. Don't Split the Party

Craig speculated with the rest of the party on how the unicorn's powers worked. Strategic Reserves

During one session where Maddie joined the group, Craig told her off for talking out of turn. Keep Magic Weird

Craig assembled bingo cards poking fun at events that would happen every gaming session, such as Juniper attempting to get the game back on track or Arthur baiting others into arguments. He soon got a bingo, and decided that the second version of the cards would be more difficult. At Arm's Length

Craig was present during an argument over which member of the party would speak to an NPC on behalf of the rest, but tried his best not to participate in it. Animus

As "Berberous", Craig and Arthur experimented with Parsmont's magic. He soon came up with a plan to bus people in and use their votes to gain power, The Long Night and tried to defend it when Juniper pointed out that the NPCs had probably attempted similar schemes in the past. In Mutual Congress

With a little help from a ghost sound spell cast by Raven (Maddie's character), Miaun (Craig's character), tried to sneak away from the party to kill some guards. Tiff and Arthur weren't happy with this, and tried to convince Raven not to cast the spell, but their characters - Atticus and Titon - were ultimately unable to interfere. The Great Train Robbery

Craig was unimpressed with the introduction to Juniper's Halloween game - one that would see the party face Shia LaBeouf at Craig's cabin. Name of the Beast

He didn't see the big deal with DMPCs. Ever Onward

During a discussion about what counted as a chair for the purposes of a spell, Craig stated that Juniper's favourite word was "egregious" (at least, according to his bingo sheets) and that a hot dog is "totally a sandwich". Piece of Mind

After a long period where the party wasn't getting much loot after adventures, Craig suggested that maybe Juniper just forgot. Monty Haul

After finding out that Juniper had been dating Maddie behind his back, Craig showed up early to a D&D session to confront him. Angry and unsatisfied with Juniper's reaction, Craig left his games forever. Juniper killed Craig's character with poisonous gas, as a way of explaining his absence.Maddie

## References

1. ↑ Craig was often put in charge of Maddie, even though he was only three years older than her.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"
2. ↑ Craig would show up later in the night, without explanation, like he often did.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 23: "Siege"
3. ↑ I mean, I also didn’t give a crap about the square-cube law, but it was one of those things that you needed to think about when designing creatures, because someone like Craig or Reimer would start questioning how a fly as large as a house was able to generate lift, and “it’s magic” only worked as an explanation a limited number of times before people started thinking that you didn’t know what you were talking about.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 45: "Keep Magic Weird"
4. ↑ “Step one, steal a cannon,” said Craig. “Step two, point it straight up. Step three, fire one half the portal instead of a cannonball.”
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 25: "Rocket Man"
5. ↑ “Do you remember Craig DMing?” asked the Dungeon Master. He waved his hand. “I know you do, that was rhetorical. When you finished with a dungeon, he was always so eager to share all the loot that you’d missed, all the secrets that you hadn’t made the checks for, and for diplomacy it was even worse, because he’d want to explain all the ways that the conversation could have gone, but didn’t. It took a lot away from the experience.”
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 79: "Rule Zero"
6. ↑ I refused to use the actual Star Wars setting because there were a lot of things I didn’t like about the worldbuilding, and also because Craig was really into the expanded universe and I didn’t want to be called out on mistakes.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 105: "Notes"
7. ↑ Reimer, Tom, and Craig were the only three people who really talked to me anymore, and of them, Reimer hated me, Tom was so earnest it grated on me, and Craig was more or less checked out, ready to go join the Army once he had his high school diploma.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"
8. ↑ Craig was often put in charge of Maddie, even though he was only three years older than her.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"
9. ↑ “Bullshit,” said Craig. He stood up from his chair. “Fucking bullshit, and you know it. You know that I fucking talk to her, right? Because she’s my goddamn sister? She came home crying and, just, fucking why would you put her through that? What in the hell was your end game?”
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"
10. ↑ The most that was ever said about this by anyone I knew was when Reimer made a comment about no one talking about “the two elephants in the room” when she went to go use the bathroom, which got Craig more pissed off than I’d ever seen him. He made it pretty clear that his sister was off-limits for those kinds of comments, and while Reimer protested that he was just making a joke, it was the last time anyone so much as joked about her.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"
11. ↑ Craig’s attitude toward her seemed to be that he would tolerate her so long as she stayed in the background, and I didn’t ever see a lot of pushback from her on that. Craig only spoke of her in annoyance, but for the most part, he didn’t speak of her at all.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"
12. ↑ Their home life wasn’t great. Their father had been out of the picture since around the time Maddie was born, and their mother went through a string of boyfriends, but none that lasted long. Craig didn’t talk about his mom much, except to say that she was a ‘raging bitch’.
—*Worth the Candle* Chapter 121: "Maddie"