Michael

he/him

5.0

(9)

Timezone

Europe/prague

Language

English

About Michael

Welcome to my little profile thingy, traveler. And please enjoy this exposition dump. I have over 25 years of various D&D experience, mostly as the DM. Started playing with the AD&D rules, and played every version of D&D since, barring D&D 4e, because we preferred to stick with 3.5 I started running online games for Reddit folks during lockdowns. While initially skeptical of not GMing at a real table I have since grown to really appreciate some of the benefits of playing on a virtual tabletop. I like my campaigns to convey a sense of realism, but I'm definitely up for some surreal silliness as well. Most of my NPCs have a unique voice or cadence, and while I'm not a voice actor or anything like that I do try to make as many of the NPCs you meet in my campaigns as memorable as possible. I believe rules are the bones of our game experience, but they are not the soul, so rule of cool is never rejected out of hand. Most recently I have DMed mainly in the Eberron setting, using 5e rules, with a home-brew setting in between Eberron campaigns. Longest campaign in recent years finished at session 78. Life Deets - 44 year old male, native NYCer, currently Europe working as a travel writer/blogger.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Knows the Rules

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

No one else wanted to GM 30 years ago =P

My favorite books are

Will keep this in the sci/fi and fantasy genre - Dune, A Song of Ice and Fire. Lies of Locke Lamora, Malazan Book of the Fallen

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

Travel writing. Photographing. Exploring. Thinking about D&D plotlines and character backstories.

How Michael runs games

- Mature themes and language. Think - a cross between Deadwood, Indiana Jones, Star Wars/A Song of Ice and Fire, and Heat with a hope a healthy dose of comedy, occasionally campy situations, while allowing for a dash of weird. I prefer the Eberron setting these days, after a lot of experimenting with D&D worlds and homebrews. - Have a few house rules to make skills more important to the game. I like rolling for things outside of combat as much as I do in combat itself. Example - I use history checks for things like player memories and bits of world lore reveal, tool proficiencies come up often, persuasion and insight is also often rolled at my table, and things are tabulated in conjunction with roleplay itself. - In regards to combat, I prefer epic combats with "win conditions" that aren't all just "defeat every NPC/Monster". More tactics and thoughtfulness, but almost zero dungeon crawling. I prefer epic combat at a rate of about 2 every 3 sessions, versus lots of smaller and shorter encounters. Not to say that quick and dirty combat a couple of ties a session won't come up, it certainly can depending on YOU. - Character and Plot Driven - All character background stories will be woven into the plot in an attempt to give each PC a tangible and emotional hook into the main plot. We will work together to craft that narrative. Even if we are running a short 10 session story, or a "one-shot" (does anyone ever finish a one shot in one 3 hour session??) player backstory matters to me. And i hope it matters to you too.

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

Usually discussing after and in between sessions, and try not to spend too much time on them during. Will pause to look some things up occasionally.

Rules are...

Rules are the bones of our experience, but they are not the soul. My philosophy is as follows - Character development >> Plot >> Rules and Rolls. That is not to say that the rules are ethereal, they are the guidelines for "reality" within the game. Can be bent, but not totally broken...

Michael's ideal table

My ideal table consists of players who enjoy roleplaying their characters, enjoy interacting with aspects of their backstories that come up during the course of the plot and campaign, and enjoy exploring other player's back stories as well. Not into endless dungeon crawls or murder hobos.