About me

First off, enjoy this picture of one of my dogs! Secondly, let me tell you a little about myself, have to keep my priorities straight here. My name is Blaine, and I have been DM'ing for a little over 7 years, since I first brought up the idea of playing DnD 5e with my friend group and everyone was on board, but most people were not comfortable trying to DM. As a result, I volunteered to be the first person to try DM'ing for everyone, and that campaign went on for over two years. Since then I've DM'd for friends and family in more than a few campaigns, but generally with DnD 5e. For a little more about me, I took theater in highschool, and have always had writing, reading, and improv as some of my favorite hobbies, and so DnD was a perfect opportunity to marry all of those ideas into one. As for the games I tend to run, I most often run homebrew settings as I enjoy the chance to world build and I feel more comfortable adapting my own worlds to my players than learning existing settings. That said, I've run pre existing 5th Edition content in the past, and would enjoy the chance to do so again, so always feel free to reach out if I'm not running something you would be interested in yet! I will run and maintain a discord server for my players to interact and talk during and between sessions, which often helps for both myself and my players to leave notes so that the group can see, and for making sure everyone is on equal footing, even if a player has to miss a session for one reason or another. As a note, if you or your group want to play in a system or setting I don't already own or run in, if provided with the materials I am open to doing so, subject to reasonable accommodations, as well as potentially adapting content as necessary. As always, feel free to reach out with questions!

GM Style

Gameplay Style: I prefer to run games where I seed different story hooks into the player's environment, but let the players pick up on the things that seem the most interesting or important to their characters, and shape the experience around those things. For example, out of several hooks mentioned, the players seem to all have some sort of connection to dragons in their backstories, then when they take on the request to clear out a kobold den, there will be hints at a greater plot unfolding to find there. The game will typically feature a mix between combat, roleplay, and exploration, although the ratios will depend on the players interests. Roleplay: Everyone has a different level of comfort with roleplaying, whether it be character voices, talking in character, and so on, so the level and type of roleplay will be something discussed leading up to and during the first session. Players will be encouraged and incentivized to take an active part in roleplaying, but will not be forced to go too far from what is comfortable to them, we're all here to have fun, after all! A good example is when negotiating with a guard to allow the party entry to somewhere they shouldn't be. If a player can come up with something clever to trick the guard, then they'll either get a bonus to their attempt, or if it's particularly clever or has bits of truth the party had learned, it may just succeed! Combat: I prefer to run combat in a somewhat tactical manner, as I use Roll20 to run my games, in concert with Discord and DnD Beyond, which help to make things easily understood and more interactive! I find that this leads to players finding clever and innovative ways to solve encounters, and that's something I try to encourage. The cleverly thought out plans might not always succeed outright, but my players are always encouraged to try! For example, a player trying to attack a large monsters legs to make it easier to attack? Sure! It may not work if the attack misses or does very little damage, but maybe the monster gets a bit slower! Player Versus Player: I find that pvp is strenuous on the players enjoyment of the game at best, and can ruin the fun at the worst, but on very rare and specific occasions it can help raise drama and everyone's enjoyment. That said, I tend to rule against player characters trying to steal or harm one another, whether it makes sense for immersion or not. The exception stated about is only for when both players talk about it and decide they want it to happen, and only then. Again, we're all here to have fun! I should also note that my players can look forward to maps made using Inkarnate Mapmaking Software to make detailed maps for everyone's enjoyment! Key battles, places of exploration, and more will have their own maps! And sometimes, players can spot secrets hidden on the map itself, rather than having to rely on their characters to spot these secrets! Although their characters can certainly be used to help with the search by rolling, and thus receive hints if needed! All of this said, not all locations and battles will utilize customized maps, but as time goes on I add more and more maps and locations to my repertoire, so be on the lookout for new things!

Games played

Game platforms used