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Derek

he/him

5.0

(37)

Timezone

America/chicago

Language

English

Identity

Published Writer
Game Designer

About Derek

A player and gamemaster of ttrpgs for over a decade in various games/systems and a member of the Cult of Chaos, Chaosium's official Volunteer Game Master program. Currently focused on running Call of Cthulhu campaigns, one shots, and demo games. When I'm not running games, I'm writing them! I have multiple bestselling scenarios for Call of Cthulhu published on drivethrurpg.com via the Miskatonic Repository, including a nominee for the ENNIE TTRPG awards, “Escape from Mammoth Cave.”

At a glance

1 year on StartPlaying

74 games hosted

Highly rated for: Teacher, Knows the Rules, Creativity

Average response time: Under 1 hour

Response rate: 100%

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I got started GMing...

back in college. I started because our group’s ’forever GM’ wanted a chance to play!

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

reading, writing, or playing games (board and video)

How Derek runs games

My GM style is very “Narrative First” (Sometime referred to as “rule of cool” in heroic-leaning ttrps) If your character wants to do something that takes the story in an interesting direction, we’ll figure out how to do it. This also makes it very easy to jump right into a game and learn rules as you play. Narrate your actions and I’ll let you know when to roll dice. I find this style of GMing makes my tables inviting to newcomers and also facilitates great collaborative storytelling. My goal with each session is to work with the players to craft an engaging and memorable story for the whole table.

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My games focus on...

the characters. Tabletop games are best to me when players are really getting inside their character’s shoes to help make a good story.

Derek's ideal table

At my table I’m not concerned with players knowing all (or any) of the rules, as long as they’re willing to play and learn.

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I love it when a player

puts someone else’s character in the spotlight.

Derek's Preferences

Platforms

Themes

Game style

Roleplay Heavy

Rule of Cool (RoC)

Derek's games