Robert

he/him

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Identity

Queer

About Robert

Hello there! My name is Rob and I hope to be your Dungeon Master, Been playing ttrpgs at for almost thirty years now* and have always felt most comfortable in the DM seat. I enjoy crafting stories with players and make sure everyone feels safe and welcome at my table, so long as they make others feel safe and welcome. Character conflict with other characters is great, so long as it stays on that side of the 4th wall. I've been part of the same group for about twenty years now, and I'm frequently the DM. I also was elected president of my college gaming group for a few semesters. I'm eager to both try new games with people and introduce others to my old favorites.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

I love creating worlds and plots that capture my players interest and actively encourage them to make the story their own. It is satisfying when players piece together the clues you have laid out and you see something click as they figure things out.

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

I asked my normal playgroup and the three they came up with are: Innovative, Collaborative, and Inclusive.

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

Spending time with my loved ones, watching way too much Youtube, or working my day job... or at least should be working my day job when prepping for games instead.

How Robert runs games

Hey everyone! I absolutely love character driven narratives that focus on the connections the characters have to npcs and to each others. One thing I love to do is to early on establish the characters as having some big goal that they all share (which might be as simple as survive) as well as separate but not mutually exclusive individual goals. I usually have less focus on random encounters being forced, and many conflicts having at least a chance of being dealt with outside of combat. I usually create online info sheets or databases where players can look up world information that can get updated based on their actions (or inactions.) When rules conflict with fun, I tend to side on the fun... but sometimes I encourage players to remember that bad things happening to their characters can be fun, or at least it can lead to fun later. I'm slow to kill off characters and try to make it clear when the character is doing something that might result in their death, but this does vary system to system. I'm a very big fan of having a long conversation during session 0 to make sure we all are onboard with telling the same kind of story.

Featured Prompts

I once ran a session...

They discovered the remains of a dead god under their castle. The party, as the actual nobles and officials of the kingdom, had to protect it from adventurers and from other kingdoms finding out about it. In a battle to protect it, a hole opened in reality and two members were trapped in the Feywild

My games focus on...

Politics, as in how the player characters will deal with conflicting but not mutually exclusive goals and alliances with NPCs. Next most common thing I focus on are puzzles and mysteries. Low focus on combat in terms of how often combat happens, I try to make it exciting & meaningful when it does.

Rules are...

Guidelines to keep us on the same page, keep things fair and avoid arguments. When they are not serving that end, then they should be bent or broken. Happy to occasionally be ruleslawered for the betterment of the party (Rules Public Defender!) but will consider whats best for the group and myself

Robert's ideal table

My table is inclusive to everyone who is inclusive. I have low tolerance for people who are actually threatening or intolerant. With that established, I want to keep things laid back and fun. Our characters can go through emotional turmoil but I will want to check in and make sure everyone is feeling good even if their characters are facing trauma. I'm likely to include awful puns and jokes in some descriptions. I will not apologize for it.

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

Open, engaging, I hope good for new players. If you treat the rules as gospel and think it's me vs the players, I might not be a great fit. I'm here to work with the party to make an awesome story and I'm routing for them... just won't make it easy :).

I love it when a player

Figures something out early. That a seemingly loyal npc is planning on betraying them, they break some code that I didn't even give them clues how to yet. They ask to look into some obscure part that logically is where the assassin was hiding. Catch me off my game and make me react!

I think min/maxing...

Is a completely valid way to play! Many times we want to play as someone capable/strong/effective. Min-maxing helps the mechanics of the game match the story. That said: please don't think it's the only way to play, and flaws are way more interesting to dive into than strengths.