Reform School Girls vs. Cthulhu - A Cautionary Tale - PbtA

Hi! My name's Wade, and I'm a GM. You can thank my wife for the nickname. It's probably more ironic than I'd like to admit. A friend's dad taught me how to play AD&D during a sleepover when I was 10 (His game group crashed on him), and as a junior fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I was hooked. A couple of months later, I stumbled across the original D&D basic boxed set. We didn't even have dice... I lived overseas and actually used the cardboard chits in the box for almost a year. That was the beginning of my fascination with narrative roleplaying games that has endured for over 40 years... and for most of that time, I've been the GM. Some people just end up as the GM. It's in our DNA. I've run all manner of games and genres in that time, and still find the hobby compelling, creative, and a means of genuine collaborative art. I truly believe that the game is not the GM's story. If you are telling the player "no" all the time, you are doing something wrong. On the flip side, I expect players to be invested in the story and be active participants. RPGs are shared experiences and one of the most unique ways to be part of a tale you will remember and talk about years later. My strengths as a GM lie in my gaming experience and my skills in story and Improv. I will keep the story going in the face of the most hell-bent-on-destruction parties out there. My wife claims I am very patient and a master of "the teach." I love nothing more than introducing new players to this wonderful hobby. Whether a byproduct of subject matter, style, or fate... statistically, my tables are 80% women, span over 30 years in age gaps, and are incredibly diverse racially and culturally. I'm absolutely LGBTQ+ friendly. I have no place at my table for advocating bigotry or hatred of any kind. An activity that fundamentally involves everyone pretending to be someone else should be accepting by its very nature. If I have a favorite genre, it tends to be horror. I discovered Call of Cthulhu at 14. I never realized how much fun playing a game could be where everyone dies. Since then, even my fantasy campaigns have a darker flair (Tentacles are so versatile). My games are geared toward an adult audience, and I use various boundary tools upfront, from lines and veils to the X-Card to comfort surveys. The trick to horror games is that making people uncomfortable is part of the experience, but ensuring everyone is still having fun is your primary responsibility. It's like running a haunted house or building a roller coaster. You try to scare the bejeezus out of someone, but never want to hurt them. I rely primarily on the theater of the mind for gaming, but I'm no Luddite. I primarily use Discord and Foundry VTT. I am more likely to run a custom campaign of my own than a published product at this point in my evolution as a GM. I hope you found something interesting if you've made it this far. I love this hobby, and it doesn't work without others. While I'm not for everyone, my players tend to be very loyal, with some campaigns running over 18 months and almost all of my current players having played over 100 sessions with me. It's very humbling. I've had some wonderful experiences on StartPlaying, and I hope to meet more of you from across the GM Screen.