Remembering Ranalin

These types of posts are never a happy endeavor, so it is with profound sadness that I must announce that Chuck "Ranalin" Turner passed away on December 26.

Those of us who knew and loved him had been worried because we had not heard from him since the holidays and we confirmed today the sad news of his passing.

Chuck has been a fixture here on this site and in the community for many years; I know him best from the Overwatch community where I met him in 2016. Since then, we have played many games (video, roleplaying and otherwise) together. I got to know Chuck gradually over time and losing him will be a gradual exercise in grief. Many of you were lucky to have known him much longer and so I appreciate the deeper grief you must feel; I am so sorry. In our memories of him let us be warmed by remembrance of his humble generosity, singular good tastes in all manner of media, playfulness and sportsmanship, and dedication to this community.

Chuck wasn't perfect and I can respect GWJers whose memories of him are complicated (as many family relationships are), but one thing that speaks to the power of this community is how it cultivates the goodness of its members and so I cherish the memories of Chuck where that shone through and hold that in my heart as the memory of him. We love our own and we loved Chuck. We will miss him.

I have to give thanks to the members of our Overwatch family who tenaciously and courageously searched for information to bring us this news, knowing the likely outcome. You have done the final kindness you can for Chuck and one to us as well. Thank you.

I encourage you all to add your memories, photos, anecdotes, memes, and anything that reminds you of him. Let us celebrate the ways he enriched our lives and venerate the best parts of him here.

May their memory be for a Blessing. GNU Chuck Turner

David/ Karnak
10 Jan 2025

So sad to hear that. Always liked seeing him post and he helped out a bunch of noob toons in MMOs for me over the years.

Thanks for the post. Always special to remember there are actual people behind the usernames.

Chuck was one of my favorite curmudgeons to fight with over game, genre, and industry opinions.
/OverwatchVictoryPose

Sorry to hear that

Thanks for this, David. Perfectly said and wraps up my thoughts.

It will be a big loss for the Discord community as well. He was a fantastic presence and moderator for everyone there.

I enjoyed all of the arguments, battles, discussions and wrangling he and I did.

May he rest well, his burdens laid down.

We exchanged words, sometimes heated, sometimes slowly sharing lives as we clicked heads or cultivated small worlds side by side in the late night hours. I found Chuck's presence comforting. People show their love in so many ways; his was creating space and a joy for the games he loved so we could share in it, too. I wish I'd had the chance to thank him again.

I started playing with Ranalin back in 2006 (nearly 20 years!) during the Xbox 360 days and we immediately hit it off over the fact we liked the same types of games and we were both Tennesseans. We've played all sorts of stuff together over the years since then (DayZ, pubg, TF2, Overwatch). He was always my go to for information on new and upcoming mmos or world building games. Ran was definitely strongly opinionated about certain things but I liked that about him and the fact that he could argue with you but never made it personal. The news has hit me like a ton of bricks and I will be missing him for a long time to come.

Ranalin and I butted heads early on over politics, but came to a mutual respect and liking over the years. I didn't interact with him often, but I know he was closer to my son and that meant a lot to both of us. He was good people and I'm sorry that I won't get the chance to tell him that again.

His passing is a real loss for the site, especially with Dee gone a few months now. I guess a bunch of us old-timers are actually old and this is to be expected, but it's always a horrible surprise.

All my love to his family and friends.

I'm gonna miss you, Ran.

I have fond online memories, as we gamed together in a variety of genres, starting with WoW over 20 years ago, and he never hesitated to lend a helping hand or words of encouragement.

RIP, Chuck.

Terrible news.

There goes the only man who could call me "Sweetheart" and not get shanked. The accent didn't hurt.

I think part of why I empathized and befriended him easily is because I ALSO am a pain in the ass-- but only because I feel things with my whole heart, just like he did. I like to think that over the years we saw eye to eye because we are learning to chill out as we age. Growth never stops, mostly because we have reason to get up every day and get excited about something new -- this game, that new album drop, this TV show, that next book in the sci-fi fantasy series.

We use these distractions as the main reasons, the justifications, why we seek each other out every day. I'm a gamer, I'm passionate about the games. Sure, but let's admit more that it's a very convenient daily excuse to see each other almost every day.

I got to know him better through D&D (I loved his divine soul sorcerer Nilinar, but my character was terrified of her), though we played Overwatch and Valheim quite a bit too (we don't talk about the Icarus days). We talked shop about videogames OBVIOUSLY, but my conversations about music with him were my absolute favorites. Bro, I'm so thrilled you liked Kiki Rockwell and that one Halsey album, and your recommendation that I should go listen to The Bridge City Sinners practically changed my life.

I'll have a long time to miss that, I hope. You won't be forgotten.

I've been playing games with Chuck since 2008, I think. We played years of Team Fortress 2 together and then more years of Overwatch. In between there were many other games, Battlefields, Valheim worlds, board games. I was in a multi-year D&D campaign with him as players that Wayfarer ran for us, and he is/was in a Pathfinder game that I have been running for the last year and a half. We were supposed to pick up again after the holiday break tonight.

I really hoped I would have a chance to get together with him in person after all these years of hanging out virtually, put a face to the name, but I won't get that chance. I am just really bummed out today.

Chuck, you'll be missed.

PS - If you spend a lot of time in this community, make sure you let your loved ones know how to get in touch with one of us if the worst does happen.

Met Chuck as Ranalin through games, Overwatch in particular. Got to know Ranalin as Chuck over the past 9 years through conversations of his foray owning a board game shop before board game shops were cool, his stories of following bands and escapades when he was young and dumb, of how he helped out friends trying to make it shooting shoestring budget movies, of swapping soccer playing memories when our bodies didn't fight our every command. How he would drive his brother to dancing competitions when he was in high school. Arguing and "discussing" influential bands and music. Raising the topic of a book and knowing that Chuck had likely already read it and could recommend 20 others that were similar or better.

When he could not make an in person gathering a couple years ago, his way of contributing and being a part of it was to send a whole damn hog for us to smoke and share. We talked him out of that one in exchange for a big order from a local BBQ place, but Chuck always seemed to go for the whole damn hog in everything. Music, books, generosity, and games. It certainly created plenty of headbutting and hard-feelings over the years with Ranalin, but getting to know Chuck helped me to understand and not take anything personally, his well of compassion was so much deeper than Ranalin revealed on the surface.

As per our relationship, my parting message to Chuck is that I love you, I will miss you, and FU for now making me the oldest curmudgeon.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here, as one of the more casual gamers in our GWJ community. Today, I felt compelled to share my thoughts and memories of Chuck. His passing will leave a hole in our group and in my heart. Chuck was my go-to for gaming advice. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to game, he always knew exactly which ones were worth my limited hours. He had this uncanny ability to guide you toward experiences that were not just fun, but meaningful. Our most recent escape together was building a world in Enshrouded. Chuck, being who he was, provided the server where all of us GWJers could come together to create, explore, and, of course, goof around. He was the glue that held our worlds together—literally and figuratively.

And then there were our nightly Overwatch sessions. No matter what shiny new game caught his attention, Chuck always made time to check in. If you were alone in the Overwatch channel, you could count on hearing that familiar “Heeello” as he jumped in to keep you company. I’ll miss him ready to speak about his woes and engage with me. I felt really comfortable with Chuck.

Chuck wasn’t just a gaming buddy. He recommended books that expanded my horizons and gave me new perspectives. We had recently talked about the upcoming movie adaptation of Project Hail Mary, a book we both loved, and I’m heartbroken we won’t get to talk about it when it comes out.

In one of our last conversations, we talked about his health and made a pact to share a dance at our next in-person meetup. I know that dance will have to wait now, but I hold onto the hope that we’ll share it someday, somewhere.

Thank you Chuck for the worlds you helped us build, the laughs you shared, and the memories we’ll carry with us.

I will have that dance with you one day, my friend. Until then, rest easy.

With love and gratitude,
Misa

I'm heartbroken over this. Chuck and I talked books all the time, and I could never find a book that he hadn't already somehow read. Now I never will.
Met Chuck with Overwatch friends. He played in a multi-year campaign I DM'd and had played in many other friends campaigns as well. It always brought a smile to me how someone who could be so stubborn sometimes, could suddenly flip and be a goofy/oddball character so perfectly.
He hosted SO MANY servers for different games for this community, without ever asking for anything in return, and was always there to chat with about anything.

He will be extremely missed. I dont know what else to say. I am going to miss him tons.

Still haven't fully processed my feelings or emotions. Like many others I've been fortunate to spend the past nearly decade playing games regularly with Chuck in Overwatch, Valheim, Pathfinder, PoE, Helldivers, and many many others.

Some random Ranalin memories

One of the first nights playing Overwatch with GWJ folks, my then 18 month old wandered in behind me grabbed at a box on a shelf which pulled the box over on him. Apparently the crash and the crying child were audible over the mic, as I heard Ranalin say even before I could get my headset off "We're going to be down one for a few minutes, folks" I knew I had found an understanding community.

The time some of us were having an in person meetup, and though Ranalin couldn't come, he wanted to send something that we could all enjoy. What he wanted to send: a whole pig that we could roast. Those of us attending frantically sent messages to each other asking if anyone knew how to roast a whole pig. Eventually we got him to switch it to catering from a local BBQ place. He sent so much I was still pulling BBQ out of the freezer 4 months later.

All the times I fired up a custom channel in Discord for a game that wasn't on the regular list. It always seemed like a bat signal to Ranalin who would often drop in and join whatever random game I was playing.

Survival games aren't my thing, but I enjoyed tagging along with him in Valheim. He protected me through so many corpse runs as I fumbled my way through that game.

But I guess the biggest memory is just his passion for anything and everything. Sometimes that passion was expressed a bit forcefully, but it always reminded me that life is something to enjoy, not just something to endure. And Chuck was someone who enjoyed so many things that it helped broaden my horizon of books to read, movies to watch, and of course new games to play.

One memory of Chuck I just remembered.

DayZ has just come out and was all the rage and several of us had started playing it every night. One night I was playing solo and wondering around in a part of the map I had never been. I came face to face with another player and we both opened fire on each other. I killed him but he had mortally wounded me. As I lay there in the middle of nowhere on this gigantic game map Ranalin jumped into discord. I immediately started yelling (jokingly) for him to login and come revive me. He joined the server and I started giving him horrible directions (umm, l'm near a field with uhh stuff growing in it??) to try and find me bleeding out. Lo and behold as I was seconds away from bleeding out I hear a car hauling ass in the distance and a few seconds later footsteps near as he turned the corner and found me. We laughed our asses off thinking about how absurd it was that he was able to find me due to the sheer size of the game map, the amount of time I had left to bleed out, and my god awful directions. We would fondly bring that story up from time to time in the years following and always had a good laugh.

Gumbie wrote:

One memory of Chuck I just remembered.

DayZ has just come out and was all the rage and several of us had started playing it every night. One night I was playing solo and wondering around in a part of the map I had never been. I came face to face with another player and we both opened fire on each other. I killed him but he had mortally wounded me. As I lay there in the middle of nowhere on this gigantic game map Ranalin jumped into discord. I immediately started yelling (jokingly) for him to login and come revive me. He joined the server and I started giving him horrible directions (umm, l'm near a field with uhh stuff growing in it??) to try and find me bleeding out. Lo and behold as I was seconds away from bleeding out I hear a car hauling ass in the distance and a few seconds later footsteps near as he turned the corner and found me. We laughed our asses off thinking about how absurd it was that he was able to find me due to the sheer size of the game map, the amount of time I had left to bleed out, and my god awful directions. We would fondly bring that story up from time to time in the years following and always had a good laugh.

I read that in both of your voices and it got reeeeeeeaaaaaaal Tennessee up in my head! Loved it. Chuck had one of the most recognizable voices. I can't read anything that he has typed without it being in his voice.

I have played many games with Ranalin over the years and have had many fun times. He will be missed in game and in the community.

Did the overwatch grapevine say if his family needed anything?

I am really struggling with this news. I am sincerely glad for his habit of hopping into random games as that meant I got to talk to him last month.

I don't have any standout memories of playing with Ranalin, though we did play a lot of TF2 together, but I always appreciated his opinion on mmos and survival games, even if it was so I would know which games to avoid because we had such different opinions on what made for a fun experience.

I have not played with Ranalin as long as some of you. However, I spent over a thousand hours playing Ranlin games over the past 10 years. He was one of the very few people I could play with filter-free. It did not matter who said what during a game because we both knew it was just adrenaline from the game, and we never took offense. He just reached out to me about PoE2 just before the Holidays. I can't believe that will be the last time I talk to him. Division 3, when it finally releases, will not be the same without him. Rest well, my friend, with all your Dark Matter Camo's.

oilypenguin wrote:

Did the overwatch grapevine say if his family needed anything?

I am really struggling with this news. I am sincerely glad for his habit of hopping into random games as that meant I got to talk to him last month.

I have shared this chat with Chuck's brother and he has shared it with their mom and other brother. I hope these memories can help share a part of his life with them and the impact, big and small, that he has had on others all across North America, from all walks of life.

Super sad to hear this news. When I think of GWJ, I think of Ran. He was a friend, always available to play multiplayer games with. I would drift in and out of the gaming community, but whenever I returned, Ran was always a fixture in discord. When I'd get the itch to play an MMORPG, shooter, strategy game, or RPG, Ran would always be available. As others have said -- he was passionate about the games he played. And happy to share the wealth of information he had about them. He also graciously rented game servers to host anyone in the community who wanted to join, sometimes hosting multiple games at a time.

I'll truly miss playing games with him.

Ah man, this sucks so bad. RIP Chuck, you will be sorely missed around here.

Well, shit. The movie trailers thread will not be the same without you, ran.

Be at peace.

bhchrist wrote:

Met Chuck as Ranalin through games, Overwatch in particular. Got to know Ranalin as Chuck over the past 9 years through conversations of his foray owning a board game shop before board game shops were cool, his stories of following bands and escapades when he was young and dumb, of how he helped out friends trying to make it shooting shoestring budget movies, of swapping soccer playing memories when our bodies didn't fight our every command. How he would drive his brother to dancing competitions when he was in high school. Arguing and "discussing" influential bands and music. Raising the topic of a book and knowing that Chuck had likely already read it and could recommend 20 others that were similar or better.

When he could not make an in person gathering a couple years ago, his way of contributing and being a part of it was to send a whole damn hog for us to smoke and share. We talked him out of that one in exchange for a big order from a local BBQ place, but Chuck always seemed to go for the whole damn hog in everything. Music, books, generosity, and games. It certainly created plenty of headbutting and hard-feelings over the years with Ranalin, but getting to know Chuck helped me to understand and not take anything personally, his well of compassion was so much deeper than Ranalin revealed on the surface.

As per our relationship, my parting message to Chuck is that I love you, I will miss you, and FU for now making me the oldest curmudgeon.

Ahhhh man.... Soccer never came up between us. That was my JAM for a good chunk of my life. Wish it would have come up.

Aside from a few random LoL games many years ago, I only really started playing with Ranalin somewhat regularly a couple of years ago as part of a 4-person gaming group. We played a bunch of different games together once a week over a year. Admittedly, I found his forwardness about most things quite abrasive at first, but I quickly changed my opinion on that as it became clear that there was no ego or vitriol involved, just passion. He was always happy to teach a new mechanic or take a less glamorous role for the team. If I ever had a disagreement with Ranalin, I never worried that there might be any hard feelings after.

Even after that we stopped with that particular group last year, Ranalin would pop in discord to play games from time to time. I think the last time I played with him was Deadlock in October. I was looking forward to playing more with him once it finally released. RIP, buddy.

Can't even remember all the games I ran into him playing with goodjers. Was always a good time and he was always happy to help out a newbie.

I've been lurking these forums 20 years now (oof), I may not say much, but I really appreciate y'all <3

RIP buddy