Asa

he/him

5.0

(5)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

About Asa

GM for several years, player for several more. Call of Cthulhu and Borg-adjacent content creator with plans to expand. Have run original Call of Cthulhu scenarios at multiple cons. Cross-game conversion is a particular specialty and passion. Writer, composer, voice actor, sound engineer, video editor, producer, and plumber. Former performance space manager and current disordered mind behind Dead Weirdo Studios. Worryingly capable of starting a podcast if provoked.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Inclusive

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

Needed something to do while convalescing from heart surgery so I didn't go utterly mad (mad, I tell you) so I got some 7e Call of Cthulhu books. Within a month I was pinch GMing when we were down a player in my weekly D&D game, and in another six months the Forever GM Curse had taken me.

My favorite books are

(subject to wildly fluctuate) The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft The Martian Chronicles No Exit and Three Other Plays (Sartre) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy Promethea (Moore) Magick in Theory in Practice (Crowley) UBIK (PKD) Guards! Guards! (Pratchett)

My favorite shows/movies are

Twin Peaks Shakes the Clown Motorama Mad God The Black Cat (1934) The Maxx Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Evil Dead 2 Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas

How Asa runs games

For me the key to running games is strong role play and a solid descriptive vocabulary. It's imperative from my perspective to be able to run just as strong of a game using only my voice as I would with the aid of high quality physical props, mood lighting and music. Whether the pensive penetration of the unreal into the real of Call of Cthulhu or the madcap, dialed up to 11 grimdark lunacy of the Borg family of games, players can expect a fully realized and consistent vibe in whatever game world I am shepherding them through. A near lifetime of tutoring in everything from percussion to plumbing has made me an ideal GM for players who are new to any game system or gaming platform in which I am personally proficient. I tend to pick up new systems fairly quickly and enjoy teaching them almost as much as I enjoy running them, so you can expect my repertoire to expand with some regularity for that express purpose.

Featured Prompts

If my games were Movies they'd be directed by...

Ideally Demián Rugna (Terrified, When Evil Lurks) but if I'm being honest we're as likely to oscillate our way into Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond) territory.

I prep by

I don't run a scenario professionally until I know it like the back of my hand. Plus I have an intricately organized box of index cards with stats and role play notes for NPCs and descriptions of spells, tomes, artifacts etc for myself and a labyrinthine cloud drive full of handouts for players.

When it comes to voices

I may or may not have had an solid Don Knotts impression before I started elementary school, but you're not going to a ton of that in my more grounded real world games. If that's what's you're after you're probably going to want to come to a Mörk or Pirate Borg table.

Asa's ideal table

I've run for total newbies and I've run for long time pros; experience is no issue, provided everyone comes prepared to play, and I mean 'play' in every sense of the word. The table of course varies depending on the game. Call of Cthulhu tends to run a little more serious and grounded (at least until things... and people... start to unravel), while the Borg games tend to start off beat and quirky and pinball their way into absurdity. Individual listings will make expectations quite clear in that regard. As long as you're respectful to the other players and clear about your own expectations in the lead up to the proper session then everyone should have a pretty damn good time.

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

Twin Peaks by way of Adult Swim if that makes sense.

I love it when a player

makes interesting choices or takes interesting chances. First and foremost remember that your character is the kind of person who would see this situation through, at least up to a point, and behave accordingly. Read that tome, open that door; what's the worst that could happen?

My perfect party mix is

pretty broad tbh. In Call of Cthulhu as long as there is at least one bookworm and one person willing to get their hands dirty then there won't be a ton of doors closed to you, and most other games you just want to make sure there's a mix of range and melee so you don't wind up hamstrung in combat.