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Zane

Zane (he/him)

5.0

(7)

Neurodivergent

3 years on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Inclusive

About me

Hello! My name is Zane Benavidez. I am a cave creature with chronic anxiety and a loud mouth, that will try desperately to make a cohesive story for people to follow and enjoy. I can't promise a fully immersive experience but I can promise a fairly robust ability to improvise and utilize DMing tools. My games are run in Dungeons and Dragons 5e, Stars Without Number, Worlds Without Number, and Starfinder. I prefer to utilize FoundryVTT through my own machine and like to utilize a personal Discord channel, with a category designated for each campaign that I'm currently running. Please don't be afraid to speak to me if you have any problems. I'm always willing to help smooth things over if my play experience isn't what you were looking for.

GM Style

My GMing style is very heavy on the improvisation aspect; when something comes up from a player's actions, I try to respond as naturally as the world might allow, to the point I'm capable of imagining. Much of this comes from theatre of the mind play. I admit that my character roleplay needs a lot of work, but I excel at a few major themes. Combat is something I try to handle quickly, without an over-emphasis on crunch. I give players leeway to try unusual things and often reward them for creativity in a combat situation. I deeply enjoy roleplay as it is what drew me in as a player originally, even if I still struggle to put on the many hats of a GM, so to speak. Although I have little experience with them (yet), I am willing to use safety tools such as those found in the TTRPG Safety Toolkit, as well as the X-Card. By default, I will use the X-Card for its simplicity, just for my personal comfort with the concept, but I'm willing to use any other safety tools if players prefer them instead.

Game platforms used
Social
Game Master Reviews (7)

Proficiencies

Players say this GM is great at:

Creativity

Teacher

Inclusive

Tiffany avatar

Tiffany

I joined Zane's group for a D&D 5e game. I found he really put effort into running his game. I've played in a few Worlds without number games, a stars without number game, a godbound game, and a WoD 20th game with him. He makes an effort to make the game engaging for everyone and reward player effort. I look forward to every session and get super bummed when I can't make it to his games. He's adaptable which is nice - some GMs railroad, not him. He puts in effort to establish lore for players which is nice because I eat lore tidbits up like potato chips. Even when a scene is going badly due to just bad dice rolls, he makes sure you are OK and not taking it personally. He does not go out of his way to be harsh, however, your actions may trigger reactions for better or worse which is exactly how it should be IMO.

Saerithcal avatar

Saerithcal

In Table Top RPG and Roleplay settings I am more interested in the world building such as the species that inhabit it, their cultures and the places they live. The GM has created an interesting world and takes the players ideas and suggestions for the world and builds upon them in enjoyable ways. In game maps are pleasant to look at and have pleasant music. Whenever players start talking over each other or arguing, GM stops it immediately. GM is understanding of player's needs and has a pleasant voice.

Darryl avatar

Darryl

I could only pick three tags, but Inclusive/Safe and Sets the Mood are also appropriate. The games I've played with this GM have a lot of world building and background lore for player characters to use for hooks (as well as working with players to adapt a character concept to whatever setting the game is in). He does his best to ensure players are included in the game/story as well. The rules are not quite as important; he tends to try rules as written first and alter them if the rule doesn't fit the game or feel like they get in the way.

Marley avatar

Marley

Zane is a great GM. He's friendly and inclusive to new players while allowing veterans of TTRPG's to really flex their creative muscles with their characters. His stories are always entertaining with long-form narratives that span the entire campaign and interesting side stories.

Simon avatar

Simon

The improv and on the spot world building. Helping me go from zero experience with TTRPG to enjoying it to my fullest. Describing the world and letting me get immersed. The worlds feel real and belivable and have cool ideas behind them, and a lot of it is on the spot improv. Letting us do cool shit and dumb shit, and letting the consequenses of our actions play out, but not in unfair ways that feel bullshit. The danger feels real, but not unfair.

Rhory avatar

Rhory

Been playing with the ape for years now, he's a good guy. He'll work with you to do cool stuff within reason and is pretty good at coming up with fun scenarios and campaigns, often highly imaginative and fantastical ones. Last campaign we finished, I got to kill the final big bad by Ozzy Osbourning it in the form of a god-like dragon and biting its freakin' head off. Absolutely epic.

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