T.J.

he/him

5.0

(5)

Timezone

America/chicago

About T.J.

I'm a father, husband, and U.S. Army veteran who's been playing TTRPGs since I was introduced to AD&D at age 10. I started DMing at 12 and got serious at 16, mainly running World of Darkness games. While in the Army, I continued running WoD and explored D&D 3/3.5e. Since 2022, I’ve been running 5e and currently serve as an in-house DM for a weekly game at my local game store. I love storytelling and giving the players agency with their actions and decisions making a real impact in the world.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

2 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

originally nobody else wanted to and I wanted to bring more people into the hobby, the longer I was the GM the harder it was to be a player so ultimately became a forever GM and I find it extremely fulfilling and eventful.

The three words my players would use to describe me are...

Intricate, Creative, Immersive

How T.J. runs games

I am not your enemy. I am your partner and ally. It is my job to provide you with an enjoyable narrative that you and your character interact with. This is our world that we are uncovering together. So let us go forth and discover forgotten ruins, dine amongst royals, defend the helpless, fight a dragon or two, and get into countless shenanigans in the times between. Beginners, Veterans, Families, and Friend groups are all welcome. So whether you are looking for a week to week classic dungeon crawl with death, riddles, and treasure or looking for a long-term story driven, group narrative with large overarching storylines, intricate webs of mystery, deceit, romance, and manipulation that, while seemingly unrelated at first intertwine to reveal the truth and the larger picture.

Featured Prompts

My games focus on...

character development and progression through deep narrative and complex situations. Thinking through problems and putting pieces together to see the big picture.

T.J.'s ideal table

Roleplay is welcomed but not required or expected. Players start at lvl 1 and as they level up the hints decrease while the difficulty increases. The player/ character weaknesses and habits will be used in game. Actions have consequences; mobs are overwhelming, smart enemies are tactical, situations are fluid and things are rarely what they seem as motivations and actions are complicated and hardly black or white. Situations may be as dire as the prevention of a kings assassination or as whimsical as a pop culture reference as the passphrase to a door. The world is ever evolving even outside of the players influence. Attention to detail matters as small clues lead to understanding the over arching story.