Alexander the Hunter

he/him

4.8

(5)

Timezone

Australia/sydney

Language

English

Identity

LGBTQ+

Game Designer

About Alexander the Hunter

Hello, hello! I am Alexander the Hunter, an established Game Master with 8 years' GMing experience across more than 15 TTRPGs. There's a lot of good to be said of reading a good book, or watching a good film, but there's nothing that invigorates the soul like a group of compatriots huddled around a table telling a story together. The foundation of any successful adventure is built of buy-in, challenge, agency, and chaos. I have learned that every player has unique preferences for each category, so I make a point to practice a process of reflection with my players after every game session to learn what worked best for them. It's through listening and learning together that game groups create memories that will last a lifetime. I endeavour to create an open, inclusive environment of structured and collaborative storytelling. All killer, no filler. I do bend the rules on occasion, but only once it has become clear that the intentions of the gaming table and the intentions of the rules are at odds.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Teacher

Featured Prompts

My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be

Pathfinder 2, Star Wars d6, and Blades in the Dark. I love little indie games, but I tire of them quickly; these three games cover vastly different styles but have enough depth to keep me invested for hours, and to have something new to get invested to again and again.

How Alexander the Hunter runs games

I like high politics and high action. I favour grand set-pieces, dramatic reveals, and unexpected plans, with a distaste for room-by-room clearing actions or tedious bean-counting. The story is paramount. My adventures have been compared to puzzle boxes. I create a situation that can be approached from many angles, with any conceivable approach presenting it's own unique challenges. As the party enters the adventure, we find out together who they are, and learn how they deal with problems. Characters in my worlds are never one-dimensional villains and heroes, their struggles and desires make them unpredictable, and ensure that reconnaissance work is vital to any success. With all that said, I endeavour to make each game session I run engaging and rewarding standalone, as if it were the last. Long arcs are invaluable for their meaning and themes; but it's always the smaller, simpler stories that crop up session-to-session which bring the greatest enjoyment.

Featured Prompts

Rules are...

little prompts that a designer uses to enrich an RPG’s experience. When a table disagrees with the designer’s goals, there is no good reason for them to be kept; but another set of rules must be found or the experience can become monochrome very quickly.

Alexander the Hunter's ideal table

No two tables are ever the same, and that's how I like it. I work out what each of my players want, and endeavour to bring it to every game session. However, if I was to chart out my ***ideal*** table, I would want players supporting each other's strengths: e.g. a researcher obsessed with learning the world's secrets, a mastermind who knows how to weaponize those secrets to change the face of world, a lieutenant who has everyone's backs, and a hero who makes sure that the plan never leaves anyone behind. This kind of party doesn't emerge by chance. When players learn to trust each other, and are rewarded for leaning into the party roles they want to take, the small differences in what players want can create a rich and rewarding story.