Allen (Big Al)

he/him

5.0

(6)

Timezone

America/chicago

Language

English

Identity

Disabled

Published Writer

Artist

Game Designer

About Allen (Big Al)

I started playing TTRPGs in the late '80s, mostly 1st Ed. D&D before we transitioned to 2nd Ed. D&D. None of my high school friends wanted to DM, so I ran almost all of our games. While at college in the early 90s, I continued DMing 2nd Ed. D&D games, but I was able to play more--including games other than D&D. I was our Gaming Club president for two years. I was fortunate enough to win the D&D Open at GenCon in both 1994 & 1999. After my second win, I started judging. It was my privilege to co-author the adventure The Sword of Cuthbert, which was used for the D&D Open in 2003. I was the D&D Open Coordinator from 2004 to 2007. Although I was a play tester for 4th Ed. D&D, I was not a fan so I continued playing 3.5 Ed. D&D until Pathfinder came along. In 2010, a few friends & I started publishing some third-party Pathfinder 1e content via a company called Interaction Point Games. I was the primary editor, but I also wrote a few items including Kingdoms of Legend: Dragon Challenge and Kingdoms of Legend: Haunted Woods Encounter. Through it all, I have continued playing and DMing several campaigns. At this point, I mostly run games in Pathfinder 1 Ed.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

1 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Knows the Rules, Inclusive

Average response time: 1 hour

Response rate: 100%

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

in the late 80s because none of my high school friends wanted to GM. Now I enjoy GMing almost as much as I enjoy playing. I enjoy creating challenges for my players and then celebrating their successes when they overcome those challenges.

My favorite books are

The Wheel of Time series, The Dresden Files, The Iron Druid Chronicles, the Forgotten Realms novels (Elaine Cunningham, R.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, Douglas Niles, etc.), Harry Potter books, Blue Moon Investigations, Robert Langdon Series, Dragonlance novels, Lily Singer Adventures, & many more!

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

playing various video games or fishing!

How Allen (Big Al) runs games

I proudly admit my games tend to be more focused on old fashioned hack & slash dungeon crawls. I have also been labeled as a Monty Haul DM. My goal is to make my players feel like they've truly accomplished something when they complete my adventures. If my players are thinking "Oh boy, I need get this hit or I'm probably going down", then I have accomplished my goal. At the end of the day, however, my enjoyment comes from seeing my players laughing and having a good time. I am not a fan of TPKs or "Save or Die" situations. I like to see my players "sweating it out", but I ultimately want them to win. The PCs ARE the heroes after all. Oh, one other thing. I feel TTRPGs should be an escape from reality. I don't think is very fun to deal with ethical or moral dilemmas in the game. There are the occasional exceptions, but things in my games tend to be very black & white. The PCs are heroes and their job is to vanquish evil and save the day. In other words, I hope my games feel more like Star Wars, rather than Star Trek. Both are fun, but I prefer a Star Wars feel when I run a game (even though it is a high fantasy setting rather than a galaxy far, far away).

Featured Prompts

I prep by

converting 1st & 2nd Edition D&D adventures into Pathfinder 1e.

My favorite trope is...

good old-fashioned dungeon crawls.

Rules are...

meant to be broken--with GM approval, of course. :)

Allen (Big Al)'s ideal table

I hope my tables are fun, first and foremost. If you like good old-fashioned dungeon crawls with a bit of role-playing springled in, then you'll enjoy my games. I try to push the characters to their limits, but the heroes always defeat the evil in the end. I'm not much into ambiguous morals at my table. I play RPGs to escape the real world. As I inferred before, I believe in valiant heroes defeating evil.

Featured Prompts

I think it's a red flag when players...

try to dominate the spotlight. Everyone should get their moment to shine.

I think metagaming...

is ok. In my opinion, metagaming and/or table talk is how someone playing a barbarian with a 6 intelligence can still contribute when the party is trying to solve a riddle or how the party helps the person playing a wizard with a 180 IQ (otherwise known as an 18 intelligence).

I think min/maxing...

is to be expected--especially in my games, which are more combat focused and role-play light.