Zara

she/her

4.8

(6)

Timezone

America/chicago

Language

English

Identity

LGBTQ+

Neurodivergent

Teacher/Educator

Women/Femme Identifying

Game Designer

About Zara

Hi! My name is Zara Bamford and I live in Chicago, IL, with my partner and our adorable little monster of a cat. I’m passionate about history, comic books, medieval fantasy, science-fiction, and cooking. I’ve been DM’ing professionally for over three years on the convention circuit and have run D&D 5th Edition, Arkham Horror, and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire at major conventions like Gencon, Gamehole Con, and Pax Unplugged on behalf of Asmodee. I got my start in tabletop gaming with Warhammer 40,000, and spent countless hours hunched over kitchen tables and patios in my youth waging epic battles with plastic and metal figurines, but I always craved something more than just tactical combat - I wanted narrative, an epic adventure to accompany awesome battles. I wouldn't start truly DM'ing till college however, where I started a Rogue Trader campaign for my friends which continues to this day!

At a glance

1 year on StartPlaying

8 games hosted

Highly rated for: Inclusive, Storytelling, World Builder

Featured Prompts

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

Passionate, Confident, Surprising

How Zara runs games

When you sign up for one of my games you’ll be entering an immersive, realized world with high stakes for your characters and real consequences for their actions. I love to roleplay with my players but I also believe that the best stories involve overcoming conflict, whether it's a fast paced, tactically demanding combat in a Three World Empire dockyard, or a duel of wits and words between two rival vampires in strobe-lit Chicago nightclub.