Aza
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5.0
(11)
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About Aza
HELLO! I'm Aza! I was introduced to D&D in my mid twenties and I am now in my early 30's. Suffice it to say the group I was playing with just after the height of Covid was a little more focused on the substances around the table than the content on the table, and while I am by no means a straight edge, it's not what I wanted out of life. After taking a break from D&D I began to miss it very much and decided to try organize my new social circle and daughter to play. Then I learned about a local organized play group in my town and started playing 1 to 5 times per week depending on what my work schedule allowed. I am newer to DMing but I have taken a lot of inspiration from VLDL, and Dimension 20 as far as my philosophy about gaming is concerned, that is to say, roleplay matters, and fun and cool beats rigid and lawyery. With all of the Hasbro stuff lately I'm a bit worried that 5.5e represents the end of D&D. I am SO excited for new systems like DC20 to finish development and if you want to play in the Beta releases of DC20 with me, I have them and would love that! I also own copies of Cairn 2e, Mausritter, Mork Borg, Blades in the Dark, and the (Worlds/Stars/Cities/Ashes) Without Number books. I intend to run free games in some of the prewritten D&D books while I smooth out all of the technical learning but I really look forward to running games in the Obojima setting and eventually creating settings tailored for my players. (Professional profile art coming soon)
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Beginner Friendly, Creativity
$20 per session
Featured Prompts
I started running games because...
In part, there was an organized play group in my town that was asking players to volunteer. In part because I was missing a group I left group and wanted to start my own.
My favorite books are
Stranger in a Strange Land, The Night Circus, Foundation, Song of Achilles, The Magicians, Siddartha, The Prophet
My favorite shows/movies are
The Matrix, Avatar the last Airbender, Forest Gump,
How Aza runs games
Roleplaying. Game. To me RPG means immersing yourself in a quest or a universe as a character for the purpose of entertainment. That entertainment could look like horror or whimsy, sci-fi or fantasy, combat or exploration (of space or themes), but it is meant to, overall. enjoyable and fun. If a rule is preventing fun and there a reasonable interpretation that allows fun without breaking the world, Im going to lean towards fun. When it comes to combat, I think that means the possibility of losing has to be real, at least sometimes. If their are no stakes there is no buy in and it kills entertainment. I think a combat that is also a puzzle is a better combat, too. Maybe you need to figure out the enemies weaknesses to stand a chance or you have no chance of beating them outright but you could push them off a tower or trigger a rockslide onto their head. The roll-hit-pass loop needs a little seasoning. When it comes to world building, I believe the world should largely be a product of the themes, tones, interests and backstories of the players playing in that world. Serious characters with dramatic backstories, gritty world with high stakes and intrigue, whimsical characters, whimsical world, and so on. At the end of the day this hobby is for having a social connection thru play, and so, things that make that unsafe or unfun are to be avoided entirely when possible.
Featured Prompts
I deal with rules issues by...
Making the best ruling I can in the moment and sharing the official rules with the group after the session
Rules are...
Meant to give structure to fun, establish boundaries, set expectations, and give a sense of design intent. I'm likely to allow a rule to be flexible when the moment is narrative, logical, awesome, and not world breaking.
When it comes to voices
I'm not trained or talented but I give my best effort. It's one of my favorite parts of GMing
Aza's ideal table
We're a bunch of adults getting together to play make believe. Let's not take ourselves too seriously. You're also probably a bad fit for my table if you think woke is an insult, can't handle an ACAB joke, or think billionaires are cool dudes. I like to keep the overall vibe whimsy friendly which is not to say there will never be high emotion, high drama, high stakes, or emotionally heavy moments. I didn't expect anyone to have the rules down perfect, rules are a team sport and hope my players will help each other when they spot a missed rule. You are welcome at my table only to the extent you didn't make anyone else feel unwelcome. I am a queer leftist. Queer characters and players are explicitly welcome at my tables and bigotry between players will not be tolerated. If you have feedback regarding how I can make my games more accessible I want to hear it.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
Gives an Oscar worthy performance, takes big swings, delivers playable shenanigans, recognizes when the spotlight goes to a different player, a puzzle in an unintended way, waits to make sure a combat encounter is actually a combat encounter, ends a combat encounter without violence
I think it's a red flag when players...
Want to use their character as an excuse to act out disturbing and anti social fantasies.
My table is not the place for...
Being excessively intoxicated, bigotry, bootlicking
Aza's Preferences
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