In 1996, a chance meeting reunited old friends Scott R. “Lurch” Redman and Thomas Polinski after several years’ separation.  As both were veteran gamers they wasted little time in starting up a new gaming group.  Along with charter recruit Chris Carlson they formed The Council of the Gilded Griffon.

This group would see its membership fluctuate wildly over the next year or so, with players joining and leaving at a sometimes-dizzying rate.  Eventually however, the group stabilized into its current incarnation and has remained so ever since.  In 1998, founding member Lurch decided the group needed a new name (he had never really warmed up to the old one anyway), and retitled it The ILLITHIDS (ILLInois THInking Dungeoneers’ Society).  The rest, as they say, is history…