Al
he/him
5.0
(6)
Timezone
Language
Identity
About Al
I played a lot of D&D and other TTRPGs in high school (’94–’98), then stepped away for a while before recently returning to the hobby. After struggling to find a table, I started DMing my own games. I found great online players who were patient as I learned, and more importantly, made the experience fun. I also started a local group where I’ve enjoyed creating stories with a wide range of characters and play styles. Over the past few years, I’ve come to really value how different voices and perspectives make a story stronger.
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Teacher, Creativity
Featured Prompts
My favorite books are
I can talk about books all day. I love the Discworld Series by Sir Terry Prachett. I tend to go for books with a sense of humor. Mary Roach's books are also a favorite.
When I'm not running games I'm...
spending time with my daughter. Hanging out in Discord or playing a game on the computer.
How Al runs games
I enjoy building tension in a story, but my main goal is to make the experience fun for the players. While characters and their goals can be serious, I like to balance that with humor and shared moments of laughter as we navigate the story together. I also try to balance roleplay and combat encounters, giving players space to explore the backstories and elements they’ve built into their characters. I avoid railroading, as I feel it takes away player agency, and instead aim to support their choices within the story. I also prefer characters who have at least a Granny Weatherwax-style sense of doing what’s right—which isn’t always the same as doing good—and tend to avoid games centered around characters without that grounding.
Featured Prompts
I deal with rules issues by...
asking what the player wants to happen. If i can help make it happen, I don't want to to shut it down completely.
Rules are...
important guidelines. But guidelines have more leeway that being stone cold things that stop us from having fun. I would rather make a lasting fun memory for a group than to completely shut an idea down due to rules as written.