Vale Peter Lyons, my dear friend since Uni, who recently passed away from cancer. We spent many hours together playing RPGs and board games together, attending Swancon and other conventions, and talking until the late hours about everything from books, games, sf, movies & TV series, computers and open source, to politics and life. Always cheerful with a wry wit, he never had a bad word to say about anyone, and I could always rely on him to be there. I miss him greatly.
In a lifetime of games there are many anecdotes and stories to tell, but one stands out, from his long-running Ars Magica campaign. The party had somehow trespassed into the forest, and offended the fae elves, who put us on trial for our lives. The trial was to be a contest of "telling lies" (stories). First we, the players, told a grand fantasy of dragons and magic. Then Peter, playing the fae council, responded with a tale of their own, of an "evil and despicable party of thieves, who hate everything about elves, and deliberately invaded the forest just to cause trouble" .. at this point, one of the players, deep into character, could not resist shouting out "THAT'S THE BIGGEST LIE I'VE EVER HEARD!!". At this point they realised what they had done, but too late, the trial was over (and we were handed many cruel and inventive punishments by the elves, another story). This anecdote stands out in my memory as Peter had so much fun with the whole scene, and his wit, humour, and creativity shone through.