Running the Game (DMing D&D for Beginners and Intermediate)

Imagine The air is cold, stale, and dry. You entered to half-buried hill of old stones following clues scrounged from the lair of cultists, paired with research the wizard spent weeks on...weeks of boredom in the sleepy town. Now, you finally get to stretch your limbs and do what you do best! Ahead of your group the darkness billows like a gauzy curtain. Rock dust grits beneath your boots as the party creeps into a broken chamber. The small sounds you make echo back to you seconds later, distorted, and the ceiling is lost above you in shadow. You can feel the crushing weight of stone above. The fighter carries a torch which gutters in a sudden wind. Sounds creep from the surrounding dark; the dry rasp of scales on stone. The sorcerer's eyes go white as it watches from above through the eyes if it's familiar. The sound of the rogue's footsteps fade as they slip away from the torch's light, knowing that an attack is imminent. Inhuman throats hiss all around the party, whispering coughs punctuating the roiling darkness. At the edges of the torch light the gloom takes shape. Scaled creatures in filthy robes hiss as they charge into the circle of the party's light...What do *you* do?! Decades of Passion and Experience are your Game Engine Play campaigns that are a combination of player-generated and GM-inspired. Be immersed in rich description, action, problem-solving, and meaningful choice! Enjoy tense combat in a combination of grid tactics and narrative description. Dive into sandbox-style play, build your character’s name, resources, and power while unraveling mysteries and secrets. Then use those secrets to alter the direction of the world story, impacting hundreds or thousands with your decisions. Interact with new game mechanics, magic items, and creatures. Personalize your character and tie their abilities to the history of the world. Enjoy tailored gameplay based on character background, abilities, and player playstyle. Delve into grounded and human settings, with events happening beyond your character's actions, and NPCs who have agendas of their own. Experience detailed, evocative worlds, and explore them with a fun table of players and flexible GM who has something to offer every playstyle! Different Playstyles I run several tables and each table has a different game style. New players are absolutely welcome! I enjoy bringing new players in. It may actually be one of my favorite things. New players always bring a fresh perspective, a curiosity about the game, a willingness to flow with others, fresh creativity, and bravery when it comes to trying new things. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are my best tables for new players. Some of my tables are more challenging than others, some campaigns or groups leaning more toward grittyness, hardcore gameplay, and deep detail. Regardless, the groups that form around my game tables are all gracious and patient...because this is what we feel it takes to make a great game! Old-School, Narrative, and Homebrew I combine elements from many editions of the game, alter rules for each table and world to match the theme, and in many ways tailor the game to my table. If you are looking for a strict interpretation of 5e rules, looking to play the mechanics, min/max, run game-breaking builds, etc, and are put off by homebrew and rule changes I may not be the DM for you. However, if you are into the spirit of co-creation, like characters that are unique to the table, and want both narrative and granular play then feel free to join us and observe a session!