Cost Per Player
$50.00
John (Big Bad Evil Gamer) (he/him)
5.0
(79)
4 years on StartPlaying
496 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Sets the Mood, World Builder
Average response time: 6 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
High-value adventuring, versatile gamemastery. 27/M/US-ET. 100% human-made. Focus on player-driven stories, great voice acting, complex tactics, deep roleplay, and good VTT use. 🔵 COMMISSIONS • Many systems, any genre • Official or custom content • Large group, small group, or duet • Specialty offerings • See pricing below 🔵 EXPERIENCE • 4+ years public speaking • 7+ years acting (10 theater performances, 1 year formal improv training) • 14+ years gamemastering • 20+ years worldbuilding • 11+ years "Dungeons and Dragons 5e" • 3+ years "Pathfinder 2e" • 2+ years Old School Renaissance (primarily, "Without Number") • 2+ years "Forged in the Dark" • 1+ year "LANCER" • <1 year experience "City of Mist", "Cortex Prime", "The Contract", and others 🔵 PERKS All perks only provided at request. • After your first session, I will credit you up to $75 USD to purchase a character portrait by an artist who uses human methods (no gen-AI) of your choice. Credits are provided as a per-session discount of 10% of the purchase price (up to $7.50) for the next 10 sessions. • Prior to your first or second session, I will call you for a free 30–60 minute character creation consultation. • For any private commission of custom content, I will call you for a free 30–60 minute adventure design consultation. • At any time, I can help you source a human-generated image for your character portrait from my library of purchased assets or freely-licensed content libraries I have access to. • After one session, I will write ~1,000 words (~2 pages of text @ 12-point font, single-spaced) at your direction for your character to create narrative anchors to the adventure, explore your backstory, answer lore questions, or define a personal quest. One revision cycle allowed. 🔵 PRICING Listed fees for public games may differ, below prices reflect fees for private requests. • Official/published content: $35 per person per session • Ready-to-play homebrew content, yours or mine: $40 per person per session • Custom content I design for you: $50+ per person per session, complex or specialty requests may cost more. Labor-intensive designs may incur a nonrefundable retainer equal to the cost of 1–2 undiscounted session(s), credited to the first session(s). I may require 2-4 weeks to prepare content. • Private groups of 2–5 players: 6 × regular cost of 1 person, either distributed equally between all players or serviced by special arrangement. Arrangement is renegotiable upon gain or loss of group members. This price modifier reflects the opportunity cost of hosting a smaller private game when I could otherwise host a public game of 6+ players. • Single-player adventures (duets): 7 × regular cost of 1 person. This price modifier reflects the same sentiments as above, as well as the additional labor required to entertain and advance a solo player through an adventure without the social and creative reliefs provided by multi-player party. • New system beyond my current offerings: Upfront retainer equal to the cost of 1 undiscounted session, credited to the first session(s). I may require up to 2–4 weeks to become competent with the system. • Play-by-post (play slowly via text-messaging): -15$ to regular cost. You are guaranteed up to 6 hours of messaging availability per week, schedule to be determined by interview. 🔵 TRIVIA • I used to do heavy equipment mechanics. • I once drove a puppy-powered dog-sled atop an Alaskan glacier. • I once sang at Carnegie Hall (with my high-school chorus, I sung baritone). • My director typecast me as the designated "drunk" character-actor for 5 of our plays (Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Plow and the Stars, Our Town, Threepenny Opera,). • I have lived in two US states and one EU country.
GM Style
• Huge library of maps, systems, adventures… • Player-driven adventures • Dramatic storytelling • Effective pacing • Skillful voice acting • Colorful characters • Thrilling challenges • Unique encounters • Custom worldbuilding • Efficient VTT use
Games played
Game platforms used
What's StartPlaying?
Tabletop Roleplaying Games Run by Game Masters
Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.