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Prof. Mark Randall

Prof. Mark Randall (he/him)

4 years on StartPlaying

About me

I am a life-long, full-time entrepreneur, and a part-time Ph.D. student of Computer Science, and a single dad to two great kids. Awarded a Ph.D. fellowship from UT Arlington in 2016, I research the field of "Gaming with a Purpose" while incorporating my findings into Dungeons and Dragons games that I host. I am also a university professor, a research consultant, and a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

GM Style

I'm a huge fan of roleplaying game sessions. I enjoy voice-acting the NPCs. I tend to be quick on improvisation, able to handle anything my players can imagine. If you could imagine if Robin Williams ever hosted a D&D game, that's the kind of DM I would draw my inspiration from. I don't let rules get in the way of having a good time, and will improvise house rules in order to progress the story. My new players won't be overwhelmed with game mechanics but will have plenty of opportunities to learn as they go. I do everything I can to make sure my players have an entertaining and memorable experience. Depending on the group that I'm with, I prioritize fun and the "Rule of Cool" while figuring out and adapting to everyone's preferred playstyle, twisting and changing a lot of the rules to make things as fun for everyone as possible. That said, I tend to use a lot of homebrew rules and content. Most of my sessions are original adventures. If I find a module that I like, I may simply use it as an inspirational starting point, allowing my players to make their adventures completely their own, in favor of a more improvised sandbox environment. I'm not a huge fan of intensive tactical combat. If we are having a lot of fun roleplaying, and nobody in the group is actively seeking combat, we may skip combat during our session altogether. I prefer to use Google Meet for face-to-face interaction during the game. I also use Discord for general communication, Foundry VTT when useful, although I tend to use the theater of the mind for most interactions.

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