About me

Hi there! I'm new to StartPlaying and ready to DM! I’m Ash, a lifelong fan of D&D, “Forever DM”, author, and creative director of a startup game company. I've been playing for 20 years and DMing for 18. My system of choice is D&D 5e, though I can swing 3.5, Pathfinder, and a home-brewed version of d20 Modern. I’m newbie and pro friendly! I welcome everyone to my table and am happy to call myself an ally to the LGBTQ+ community! That being said, I will absolutely not tolerate any sort of inappropriate behavior including racism, bigotry, or sexism - you'll get one warning before you're kicked, full stop. However, a good Session 0 and communication is likely to prevent these issues from arising in the first place!

GM style

Every DM is different, so here are my strengths and weaknesses as a Dungeon Master :) Strengths * Storytelling & setting the scene * Involved plots, typically with lots of out-of-combat RP scenarios, and usually with some sort of mystery * Tactical combat encounters that don't turn into a never-ending slog of dice rolls * Traps! I love 'em, you love to hate 'em! * I really enjoy teaching beginners as well as having a good time with advanced players - all skill levels welcome! * I LOVE CHARACTER BUILDING AND MULTICLASSING and I'm happy to help/guide players who may want it * Most importantly, I understand the job of a DM is to make sure players are having fun... I'm not saying I'm against downing a player character, but I'm very aware and respectful of the time and commitment it takes to make a fleshed-out character and I won't punish non-optimized characters in combat scenarios. Weaknesses * I don't often do accents for NPCs, but can upon player request * If you want a DM who gives funny voices to all NPC's, you'll honestly be happier with a different DM. I do RP conversation, wordplay, etc., but funny voices just aren't my thing. * HOWEVER, while I don't put on voices for RP purposes, I love it when my players do. * I don't like DMing for murderhobos... sry not sry "House Rules" * I typically do not use spell components, though I do upon player request * I do not let players roll for inter-personal skills against each other - if there are issues or events between player characters, I prefer to have them talk it out/use their own guile as opposed to roll and say, "sorry, you have to act like you believe him". Available for games rated PG - R+. We'll go over trigger words, limits, etc. before play to ensure everyone is respected and we all get what we want out of our games. (Also, if you want a session longer than 4 hrs, let's talk about it and make it happen) Please message me with any questions!

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What's StartPlaying?

Tabletop Roleplaying Games Run by Game Masters