Awan Castaneda

he/him

5.0

(6)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Identity

Hispanic/Latinx

Published Writer

Teacher/Educator

About Awan Castaneda

Hey! I'm Awan (Ah-one if you've not seen this name before). I’ve been an amateur GM who’s run games for 7 years for young teens and adults alike of all neurotypes, genders, and orientations - mostly in D&D 5e but also occasionally in the Apocalypse engine. Ex-homeschool kid with a strong progressive upbringing and college graduate that studied neuroscience and philosophy and makes an effort to make games deeper using that knowledge and my love of fantasy and science fiction. I work with new and seasoned players alike, particularly with neurodivergent and/or LGBTQ+ folks, and I do my best to be accommodating at all times to people of all backgrounds. While I prefer to run 2-5 player games, I’ve successfully run a 9 player game before and am open to doing so again for shorter games like one-shots. I am currently alpha testing a new sci-fi setting D&D 5e supplement called Ardente in a West Marches game - if you’re curious reach out and we’ll see if you’d like to test it in a game I run for you or if you’d like your game to be a part of the West Marches run.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

11 games hosted

Highly rated for: Rule of Cool, Creativity, Storytelling

Average response time: 6 hours

Response rate: 100%

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

After I listened to my first ever actual play, The Adventure Zone, and got my hands on the Mines of Phandelver starter set they played with in the first few episodes!

My favorite books are

The Golden Compass, Dragon Rider, and Zhuangzhi, though it's so freaking close for so many other choices!

When I'm not running games I'm...

Working on my games! And of course, I'm in the eternal gen z job search while I try to save up to get through grad school down the line. I also court my lovely girlfriend, volunteer in a neuroscience lab, at my local UU congregation, play video games, hang out with friends and take care of my cats.

How Awan Castaneda runs games

I’m heavily influenced by role play-heavy GMs, such as BLeeM (Brennan Lee Mulligan), The Adventure Zone’s entire cast, Aabria Iyengar, and Matthew Mercer. I’m often told by my players that I give their characters room to be who they envisioned them to be while still meaningfully challenging them. I do that in part by immersing them in a world of deep lore and political intrigue informed by my own experiences growing up a 'crunchy' and woo-woo kid and as a scientist in a bad time for science in my country. I tend to include struggles between higher powers (divine or driven entirely by people), questions about morality and a person's worth and more. Yes, I do lots of voices - though be warned many of my accents are not at all accurate! I make sure all story-vital NPCs can be distinguished almost entirely by speech and do play them in primarily 1st person. My combat is good, primarily because I make mechanically diverse encounters more than having a perfect knowledge of every creature, but I am always working to learn them better and improve my tactics to keep combat engaging. I usually do not aim to kill nor spare PCs unless the game is agreed beforehand to be deathless - I do give fair warning in game and above the table if death is a likely outcome for any given scenario. My games have only ever seen player-planned character deaths so far, which is a testament to the kind of heads up I give and the fairness of my encounters for players of all skill levels.

Featured Prompts

I prep by

Making sure I know the NPCs, places, and things that are most relevant to the start of the session, then building out my prep from there as I consider player decisions. I like to have the world and NPCs already pretty well built so I can focus on player ingenuity, but do a fair bit of improv too.

My games focus on...

Stories! Stories that get you invested and immersed, where you care about your character(s) and the characters in the world! And above all, how choices affect the world of the game. It's something TTRPGs excel at, to paraphrase some of the greats in the space, and I pride myself on making that true.

Rules are...

A way to build immersion rather than break it - to keep the world consistent. That's what makes choices matter! I love the Rule of Cool and try to follow it where I can, but like any other rule it's best when it is approached with consistency in mind - let it set precedent, and let it follow it too!

Awan Castaneda's ideal table

My table is all about having fun through interesting stories - a mix of at times dramatic roleplay and plot with hilarious shenanigans is very welcome! I maintain my table as a kind and inclusive place - no half-measures also means you do have to be fully accepting, not just tolerant, of the other players and who they are. There's also room for things getting a little long-winded at times, as long as people are enjoying getting off-topic.

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

A mix of semi-serious narrative and character moments with any shenanigans the party wants to engage in. In downtime or when a good zinger goes by I am known for going with the bit where I can without uprooting crucial rulings or character traits (though a Nat 20 is a good case to break that rule)

I love it when a player

Comes with a character they care about and a backstory they're okay with bending a tinyyy bit if the details don't fit a setting to find a way for it to work. I want you to be able to invest in that character, and both honor your desires and efforts and the design of the setting they're being put in

I think min/maxing...

Can be fine. It all depends on how and why, and what the table rules allow for. For example, I tend to run Point Buy and Standard Array, which leaves room for fun insane builds without being too far beyond my ability as a GM to adapt and leaves room for other players to actually contribute and play