About me

Hello, you can call me Grayson, or Knight, or Unknown, but don't call me late to the session... better not be, I'm the DM! Or at least I hope to be your DM. So a little about me then, Growing up I had a passion for writing poetry, short stories, acting in plays (I got silver in state for short form acting in highschool), doing impressions (I did a golem impression from LOTR for my talent portion of male pageant in highschool, funny enough I got second place haha), watching horror films, playing videogames, and eventually running D&D games for my friends. I love various types of mythology, the art of story telling and film making, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and my favorite hobby and topic of study for the past decade... D&D! What I love about D&D is that it allows us to interact with worlds and stories in ways that no other media can. In video games you run into invisible barriers, objects are static, and dialog is limited. In movies you are simply a spectator... but in D&D... sky is the limit! You can be Perseus fighting the kraken, you can run from the bolder with treasure in hand like Indie, you can fight an army of monsters from a portal in the sky with your team of misfit heroes like in the Avengers, and explore the meaning of friendship and hope while traveling an ancient world like in Lord of the Rings. It has so much potential to be a deep, and rewarding experience. When we tell stories about our D&D games... we don't talk about it like it was game, because at times we get so invested it feels real... because it can give us real feelings. I want to do what I can to help people play this game in a fun and rewarding way. I love this hobby for many reasons. They say that if you do what you love for work, you won't ever work a day in your life. So here I am. I've been DMing for about 10 years, and playing for around 12. In that time I've run both homebrew campaigns and pre written modules. I've done a range of goofy one shots, to dark horror filled fights to bring the light to darkness. I've run for experienced players, to complete newbies. Doesn't matter who you are, as long as you are kind, have a spirit of adventurous imagination, and mature when it comes to things like rule disagreements, then we can play together :) If you are more interested in aspects of my DMing Style look at that section on start playing. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Whether I end up as your DM or not, I hope you have fun, and roll some 20's and yes... even some comical 1's.

GM style

I enjoy all three pillars of game play: Combat, Exploration, and Social Interaction, and I put a very large emphasis on Role Play and narrative. I do voices and go in-depth with my NPC's and monsters. I think about their tactics, motives, feelings, and reactions in a way that is more than what you would find in things like video games. I run my games where the world holds realistic goals, reactions, and processes. This means that choices, actions, and words of the players matter greatly. Actions will have realistic reactions from the world. I run combat in different ways depending on these factors: The enemies motives, their intelligence, the situation, and the actions of the players. If the villain is smart, prepared, and wants to win... then the combat can get intense and be very tactical. If it's a large dumb beasty just looking for it's next adventurer shaped meal... then it will be simple and possibly a short combat depending on if the monster is the type to run when close to death. Player Character death is always a possibility due to dice, planning, choices, and the range of challenge that different types of combat scenarios that can be presented. I think that the possibility of death and failure are what give combat it's tension, and without it, victory feels hallow. However, I never have the goal as the Dungeon Master to kill pcs. I do my best to be fair and impartial, and my goal as the DM is for my players to have fun. I try to encourage my players to role play, rather than roll play. This means that I run my games with the intention to have players use their imagination and get into character, rather than only using the dice and modifiers. Yes we use dice and modifiers, and yes they do have value and matter, but I want a deeper game experience for my groups than simply rolling a die to interact with he world and story. I don't care for meta gaming, power gaming, and most of all... players who make the game less fun for others. I run the game mostly rules as written/rules as intended, however I don't take the rules as something written in stone. They ultimately are guidelines for us to use to have fun playing a game, and telling a story together. I welcome healthy and respectful discussion on rules and interpretations, but if I need the game to get moving, I will make a call and that will be the end of the discussion. Quoting RAW or being the negative kind of rules lawyer has no value when the rule books even say that the DM has final say on the rules. Please respect my calls as the DM. I do bring in some homebrew and house rule content of my own making. I have rules that boost martial characters, help with class and party balance, allow upgrading of weapons and armor, drinking healing potions as a bonus action, max damage on one of the die for critical hits, rules for using healing kits, rules for making death saves more dramatic, and many more that I have in a character creation document. In the end I think the best way to play the game, is for the players to think about their characters, the fun of the table, analyze the situation, and explain to the DM what they want to do, and I help the players get there using the rules. Lastly the fun of the whole group matters more than any one individual. Even if I'm being paid by a player, I'm still being paid by the others as well. Paying me to run a D&D game doesn't give you the right to do or say negative or problematic things. Paying me to run a D&D game doesn't give you the right to win or have the game be run in a bias way. It's pay to play, not pay to win.

Games played

Game platforms used

What's StartPlaying?

Tabletop Roleplaying Games Run by Game Masters