Ecstasy of Bleakwash Village - A Dark Cult Hunting Adventure

This was our first time playing DND and I could not be happier that we got to go through it with Nick as our DM. Session zero was super helpful and informative. Our sessions were balanced and Nick explained all the things every step of the way. If you’re nervous to jump in, Nick is your guy!

Nick is an amazing game master. Particularly for new players. He is patient, intuitive, and very helpful. His explanations are thorough and clear. He puts a lot of effort into making sure that the players know what's going on and why things are happening.

I've been blessed to have half a dozen truly wonderful regular-ish GMs in my life, including Nick. I've also experienced one truly awful DM. So having known what the opposite of good GMing is, I can say with *absolute* confidence that Nick is a gem I really couldn't recommend highly enough. If you're considering one of his games please just do yourself a favor and get on in there! You'll be in very safe hands as his fastidiousness over safety tools, potential player triggers and session zeros is second to none. He'll be very clear about what he expects from you but also what he expects from himself, to the point of welcoming people to call out any missteps even, though I've yet to see Nick misstep once. At the same time he's incredibly flexible when it comes to accommodating player shenanigans, despite the number of technical and gameplay hot potatoes he's already juggling. Nick makes the balance between session planning and pure improvisation look criminally effortless, able to look things up on the fly and make fair rulings at lightning pace so things can continue on smoother than cashmere socks in teflon shoes over a buttered laminate floor. He maintains a reliable command of the 'room' to make sure nobody accidentally hijacks a scene/session. Yet seemingly endless patience with people like me who, despite years of player experience, can still struggle with crunch and end up buzzing round their character sheets like overexcited bumblebees, need things repeating or mis-click virtual dice rolls in unbridled hyperactivity. This is a gift to beginners and neurospicy folk alike. You'll get the sense that he's genuinely rooting for the characters and has an infectious positive energy when dealing with their antics or pulling delightful NPC reactions out of nowhere, despite all the challenging puzzles and antagonists he has ready to toss at them. And he'll work with you to help with any specific game goals you have in mind; my own mantra of "ways to say yes instead of reasons to say no" springs to mind for his approach. This all makes his games incredibly entertaining, to the point that if you check out his VoD catalogue as research I'd wager you'll just end up getting sucked in and being entertained by games you're not even actively participating in, which I think is always a good sign of a great game runner. TL;DR: If you're here for DM-shopping, give Nick your money.

Nick took two newbies and managed to turn them into a pair of competent players over a couple of play sessions. During session 0 he painstakingly went through the character creation showing a deep knowledge of the rules and allowing us to accommodate what we wanted to do with our characters. During the next couple of sessions, the actual adventure, we were taken on a rollercoaster of highs for our characters to be taken to the edge before snatching a success from defeat through heroic deeds. Nick is ever patient with our “And that’s a D20 we roll?” type queries. We’re looking to continue the adventure with Nick and our characters.

nick has been a great DM. outside of the games he's run for me, he has managed to keep a consistent and entertaining world in his main campaign. Which has been running for... two years i think? The combat is interesting, his story beats are fun. Nick has a good sense of humor and a great emphasis on player safety and inclusion. He makes note of things players are uncomfortable with and runs games without you having to worry about those showing up. He's confident running games on a stream or off.

I've been playing in games that Nick runs for several years, and he truly is an exceptional DM. Not only is he adept at crafting a quest for the short-term, he excels at weaving together multiple threads into a greater quest arc, a skill exemplified by his YouTube Actual Play series, Guild of Icons, which spans 3 years so far, and has spawned several spin-off campaigns set in the same world. These spin-offs sometimes have other DMs, and Nick has repeatedly shown that he is willing and more than able to incorporate the lore crafted by other DMs, and adjust his materials to match. He's published several of the quests written for this world, and is offering to run them here. Nick's Session 0's have proven effective in working out what the players expect of him, and what he expects from them, as well as what triggers need to be avoided. He's always been patient and kind, effortlessly collaborating with players of all skill levels, with different neurotypes or various disabilities. Generally, Nick wants the players to succeed, and he'll work with you to figure out how to do That One Cool Thing you've been working towards, but that doesn't mean he pulls punches. Nick strikes a balance between empowering players and challenging them, making every triumph feel genuinely earned! TL;DR: Nick is an excellent DM for players of all skills, an excellent writer and world builder, and a kind way to enter into the world of D&D,