TheSword
he/him
5.0
(11)
Timezone
About TheSword
I'm a 45 year old Brit living in the medieval town of Warwick, England. Though I've lived all over England, picking up a few accents as I go. I've been a regular player and GM of TTRPG since I was 15, starting with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and AD&D back in the 90's. My monthly face to face group started in Kent in 2002 with us gaming at least once a month for 23 years as a GM and a player. That group saw me through every edition of D&D, Pathfinder and the recent 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay with circa 10,000 hours of gaming. I started online VTT gaming when Covid hit and haven't looked back. With three more online groups - two of which were new to TTRPGs. All three are still going now, playing either fortnightly or monthly. Roll20 was originally my VTT of choice due to the support for D&D but I now host Foundry because of its flexibility, and excellent support for WFRP. Online is great. I'm usually happy running games for veterans or complete beginners. Sharing a game you love is great! Some of the campaigns I've completed include... The Enemy Within Doomstones Ubersreik Adventures Paths of the Damned Night Below Cormy/Shadowdale/Anauroch Shackled City Age of Worms City of the Spider Queen Way of the Wicked Kingmaker Rise of the Runelords Shattered Star Skull & Shackles Curse of Strahd Tomb of Annihilation Baldur's Gate Descent Odyssey of the Dragonlords Dungeons of Drakenheim
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
18 games hosted
Highly rated for: Knows the Rules, Creativity, Storytelling
Featured Prompts
My favorite books are
The Wheel of Time The Witcher Anything by Terry Pratchett
My favorite shows/movies are
The West Wing The Young Pope The Witcher
My favorite system of all Time is
WFRP 4e. Its the perfect mix of grittiness and fantasy. Combat is tense and exciting with meaningful consequences and a great social interaction system.
How TheSword runs games
I love taking a quality module and tailoring it to your preferences and skill level. Weaving it into a convincing and detailed world. My improv skills go into bringing characters and scenarios to life and not into winging crucial details. I believe in player agency to affect the adventure and this will be your story. While I will adjust elements of a module it will be in advance and always with the intention of improving an encounter not in confounding the player's choices. I enjoy investigation and mystery and that takes planning. I'm roleplay heavy with at least half of a typical session being roleplaying the interactions with various interesting characters. I will use voice acting and have picked up many accents along my travels but I'm also more than happy speaking in third person or switching between them. Whatever a particular player is most comfortable with at the time. I like meaningful combat and it will be rare session that doesn't include at least a couple of combat encounters. I try to avoid laborious slogs with dozens of foes and I won't take the players limelight with DM PCs. Combat will generally be dangerous, tense and fast with a full range of tactical options. Most of my games will avoid logic puzzles and word games filling that space with mystery and intrigue. While I have successfully converted many adventures from different editions and systems I run the official published rules as standard and I try to avoid homebrew so that players know what to expect from the system. Optional, house-rules or 3pp content is campaign specific and pre-arranged.
Featured Prompts
I deal with rules issues by...
having a quick discussion if time allows. Everyone makes mistakes and every day is a school day. If that will take more than a few minutes I'll make a decision and research it after the session and discuss in discord so we all know for next time.
Rules are...
a shared language that players and the DM can use to inform what is likely to happen in the game when they try certain things. I minimise house rules so players know what to expect. Though I will clarify things upfront in a campaign so we're all on the same page if I think a rule is ambiguous.
When it comes to voices
I'll use a wide range of British regional accents. My aim is to capture some of the spirit of the Witcher 3 CRPG for frame of reference.
TheSword's ideal table
I'm happy running games for beginners or veterans and I'm a patient teacher. As long as everyone is having fun! Humour is great and can really help with gritty tense games, whether in character or out. The most important thing I need from players at the table is to be inquisitive about the world. Interrogate the scene around you. Ask tons of questions and be interested in what's going on. Don't be afraid to ask a leading question that way you get to make a stamp on the world. Be interested in the other PCs, build connections with them - help them achieve their goals and ask them to help you with yours. Be a fan of those characters and share the spotlight with them. Do your best to build a compelling character by thinking about what your character wants, why they want it and how they usually go about getting it. Don't feel like you have to have a character idea fully formed. Its fine to leave space for them to grow.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
Builds a character concept that plays well with others. A character that has a reason to be interested in the other characters and wants to build relationships with them and the world around them.
I think metagaming...
is a problem when players act on it. Its fine to have read or played an adventure before but don't spoil the fun for everyone else. If you know the secret because you know it out-of-character already then let someone else be the one to reveal it no matter how tempting.
I think min/maxing...
Should be balanced against the other players in the group. Its not a problem when everyone shares expectations. Though it can be destructive when it leads to stealing the limelight. Its all relative and there is a social contract with the other players to make sure everyone gets a chance to shine.