
Joel (he/him)
5.0
(26)
4 years on StartPlaying
116 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Sets the Mood, Teacher
About me
I'm a gaming enthusiast, a GM with many voices, a patient teacher for new players, and I love it when players come up with creative solutions to my creative problems! One thing you'll never need to worry about with me as your guide is going off script, I will make up something if the Party suddenly finds a rug really interesting, I will create a use for those artisans tools that have no use. I will throw out what I had prepared and go with your ideas when you have good ideas, or we will all have a good laugh if your ideas are off the mark or you roll that dreaded 1. Fun is the name of the game, so let's stretch our imaginations and get to fun in as many ways as possible!
GM Style
For me, GMing is all about the story we create together, and if you create a backstory with interesting NPCs I will love roleplaying them and weaving them in to whatever story it is we are playing and creating together. I love doing character voices, and I'm always looking to grow my list of fun voices. I like tactical combat a lot but I also love improvised combat! Just because it's not covered in the rules doesn't mean you can't do it, so lets use the environment, our wits and our sense of humours to make combat more cinematic!
Games played
Game platforms used
Game Master Reviews (26)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Creativity
Sets the Mood
Teacher
I wish I could pick more tags from the list above (it limits me to 3). Joel has been awesome so far! We're 3 sessions in (4 if you count Session 0) to a long-term campaign and I am legitimately so excited when it's time to play every time. Joel has done an awesome job adapting a 3rd-party setting to fit his DM style and our group. His rulings seem fair and he's (so far) presented us with obstacles that are challenging but not insurmountable through smart play. The setting we're in is intentionally on the tougher side and Joel has done an amazing job keeping things threatening while not being insurmountable. He's also done a awesome job keeping the tone of the setting serious will allowing us (the players) to still goof around and have fun so the severity of the setting never feels overwhelming. The group I'm playing with is all "strangers" (meaning we all signed up for the campaign and met for the first time during Session 0/1). I've played with groups like this a few times before and there's no doubt that this is the best everyone's gotten along and the most excited everyone's been for the campaign setting. This is in no small part due to Joel helping everyone feel welcome, heard, and excited about the campaign setting. Also, during Session 0, Joel had us create NPCs who knew our characters and he has already integrated them into the story in major ways. How freaking cool is that? I can't say enough nice things about Joel. Highly recommend!
GM was amazing at keeping the pace of play during our play-by-post session. We never felt rushed in the circumstance where we wanted to RP, but also felt like we didn't linger too long when no actions were taken. GM also had to contend with some player departures (and other players joining ) and all of the transitions were smooth and super well-handled. Also felt like the scaling was good, with fights not being too difficult, nor too easy.. All-in-all, a great session !
"The Mad King's Nightmare" was super fun! It was nice to min/max a character to really see how much potential they have in a high-combat one-shot. The maze encounters were fun. I can't speak to other games Joel has/will host, but if you love high combat D&D, "The Mad King's Nightmare" one-shot is for you.
Joel is an excellent DM. He's responsive, engaging, and open to feedback. He created a really friendly environment for players to roleplay in, and he actively works with us with our characters. He knows how to keep the game going without making anyone feel left behind, which is super important in play-by-post games. He's one of the best PbP DM's I've played with, and I can't recommend his games enough.
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