A Fistful Of D20s
he/him
5.0
(8)
Timezone
Identity
About A Fistful Of D20s
Hi, I'm Chase! I'm a Sacramento local GM, and have been my whole life! I basically learned to read reading the 1st edition D&D material, so I've been immersed since the beginning. I run Kids' and Adults' games locally at various locations across Sacramento and Roseville (more locations TBA, and I'm open for suggestions for in-person games) and privately for all ages and groups! I've done everything from kids' birthday parties to corporate team-building Making sure people have a fun time in the game is imperative to me, which also means being safe. I have a conversation with every player, even before character creation, to discuss any boundaries and limits, and I use Green/Yellow/Red cards/callouts while in-game to allow players to discreetly let me know if something approaches those boundaries. At the same time, no good story is totally without conflict, so I highly encourage players to roleplay their characters in tough situations. Heroic deeds and vile villains await, along with shades of gray in between. I am most familiar with D&D 5th edition, and actively run a twice-weekly in-person drop-in "West Marches" style D&D 5e Campaign and an online LANCER campaign. I am also available to run games for other systems, including: D&D 3.5 and 4e, Pathfinder 1st and 2nd edition, Shadowrun, RIFTS, and many more.
At a glance
1 year on StartPlaying
26 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, World Builder, Storytelling
Featured Prompts
I became a GM because
I have the whole world up in my head already, I just needed the actors to decide where each individual story went! I have a huge imagination, and I love seeing how players interact with it and parse it in their own ways!
I got started GMing...
literally in first grade! Starting with simply making up fantasy stories for my friends, I eventually got a few of them to look at these weird old rulebooks my uncles had left around and try and roll some dice!
When I'm not running games I'm...
playing drums and guitar to find more inspiration! I get a lot of visual-imaginative inspiration from music, so I'm always looking to get deeper into interesting music!
How A Fistful Of D20s runs games
I love high fantasy worlds, and I love them to be living, breathing entities of their own. Players can engage in rip-roarin' adventures from dangerous and dramatic undertakings to lighthearted fairy tales that all affect the living world. Return players will see their characters grow and possibly face consequences of their previous actions, all within the flexibility of a loose "West Marches" style modular game. I want every Player Character to be their own hero in their own story, as well as a part of the larger story of the team! The Rule of Cool is strong in my house, and I love working with players to reflavor anything they think could be cooler! I love cinematic and epic combats, with grand tales of heroism and bravery, alongside in-depth conversations with hosts of NPCs in a world that has a story of its own.
Featured Prompts
I deal with rules issues by...
talking about it! If you can explain how or why your character can do something that isn't directly Rules-As-Written, then I might allow it! Rule of COOL trumps most of the book rules for me, so if you can roleplay it or make it AWESOME then I love to incorporate it.
I once ran a session...
for a board of engineering school professors who wanted to do teambuilding exercises. I never knew that the engineers could be such thespians! An eccentric and invigorating theatrical performance came forth from (a different kind of) nerds throwing dice at graph paper.
My games focus on...
long-form story and short-term plot! What I mean by that is that each little errand a player might be on may have consequences throughout the entire living, breathing world! Actions of one group might even affect another group's story, behind the scenes.
A Fistful Of D20s's ideal table
ALL players are welcome! I run games for the combat min-maxers and for the heavy roleplayers, for the lifelong wargamers and the absolute beginners who just want to hang out with their friends! A lot of the time, these groups end up mingling and finding a great balance! For Dungeons and Dragons, when the fighter player is making dice pyramids during conversations I make sure to bring their characters' expertise and experience into the conversation! When the charisma-heavy character has no idea what they are doing on their combat turn, I can suggest plenty of noncombat courses of action to get them involved! Any good party has different types of players as well as character types! For LANCER, the game itself is a lot more combat-heavy with only a small amount of roleplay mechanically outlined in the rules. Still, I run a story-focused game, with each SitRep representing a new step in the overall plot. Not just a wargame to be solved with tactics, character flavor and roleplay has a huge part in the setting for me.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
describes their attacks or actions! I have a very cinematic imagination for these games, so flavoring attacks and spells in your specific way just feeds me visuals!
I think min/maxing...
is great! I tailor all encounters to how the party plays and operates! If your party is all for happy-slappy fairy tales in the woods, then the combats won't be too challenging! If you want to min/max, then I get to as well >=)
My table is not the place for...
PVP. (Player vs Player combat) Unless it is incredibly well justified in the story (and ideally discussed beforehand) I do not condone using character actions to silence another player or take away their agency.
A Fistful Of D20s's Preferences
Systems
Game Mechanics