Ben from TechDiff banner

Ben from TechDiff

he/him

5.0

(2)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Identity

Podcaster
LGBTQ+
Teacher/Educator

About Ben from TechDiff

My name is Ben and I've been GMing TTRPGs for over a decade now. I'm a regular cast member of Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast (https://www.technicaldifficultiespod.com/). My preferred systems are Powered by the Apocalypse (Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, FIST), d100 horror (Mothership, Call of Cthulhu, Unknown Armies), and GUMSHOE (Fear Itself, Night's Black Agents, Trail of Cthulhu). I also love trying small story games that I find on itch.io. I'm LGBTQA+ friendly and I don't accept any Nazi shit at my table.

At a glance

1 year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Knows the Rules

Featured Prompts

My favorite system of all Time is

If I had to boil it down to one big core system, its probably d100 horror(Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Unknown Armies, Mothership, etc.)

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

I study and teach biology as my career, with a big focus on evolutionary biology, invertebrate zoology, and entomology. For not work related things, I enjoy short stories, movies, and podcasts.

How Ben from TechDiff runs games

Featured Prompts

My games focus on...

My favorite types of fun are Narratives and Challenge. I like to run games where the players are just normal people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. I do tend to lean towards horror systems just because they often put the challenges on the players end for the characters to just survive.

Ben from TechDiff's ideal table

If I'd had to pick my favorite types of fun (see here: https://gnomestew.com/the-eight-types-of-fun/), they would be: Narrative- Presenting a compelling narrative that my players are intrigued by and can contribute to. I want to give them my stories and be intrigued by what I have created and invest themselves in the game world via their characters. I want to my game worlds to be a firm trellis and fertile soil for the characters to blossom, bounce off each other and the NPCs, and create a compelling story that we'll remember for years. Challenge- Creating tough challenges that my players have to overcome. I want challenges that engage my players' tactical minds and imaginations, challenges that require more thought than betting it all on their stats. I feel like tough challenges that requires a solid plan, maybe a rickety plan that hinges on some good dice rolls, are the best ways to engage players at my table.

Ben from TechDiff's Preferences

Systems

Eclipse Phase
Lancer
Blades in the Dark
Monster of the Week
Delta Green
Mothership
Night's Black Agents
Mörk Borg
Red Markets
Unknown Armies
Spire: The City Must Fall RPG
Heart: The City Beneath RPG
Fear Itself
CY_BORG
Trophy Dark
FIST
CBR+PNK

Platforms

Game Mechanics

d100 System
Powered by the Apocalypse
OSR
d6 System

Game style

Roleplay Heavy

Dungeon Crawl

Theater of the Mind

Puzzle / Mystery Focused