James
he/him
4.8
(5)
Timezone
Language
About James
I've been running D&D campaigns for my friends for a little over 10 years now. Started out with D&D 3.5 then eventually swapped over to 5e. I have a lot of fun seeing my friends experience the settings and stories I create for them, but part of me wonders if other people would enjoy them too. If they did I'd love to make more worlds and stories for other people to have a great time experiencing. I do use a large amount of AI generated images and music for my sessions. Hopefully that shouldn't be a problem for anyone but thought I'd include it to be transparent.
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, World Builder
Featured Prompts
I became a GM because
I really enjoy making characters and nesting them into an overarching world that is all connected. That random man who bumped into the party may wind up being a knight you all encounter months down the line when on a job to save captives from a horde of demons. Everything can be a useful detail.
People are always surprised when I tell them
I don't think I could ever be a player again in d&d, I've been a DM for so long and the level of detail and involvement in the characters and NPC's I make would drive other DM's insane with all the questions I'd constantly be asking.
When I'm not running games I'm...
Usually playing video games fighting the urge to endlessly make more content and lore for my d&d campaigns.
How James runs games
I enjoying dancing the fine line of important and impactful roleplay scenarios as well as intense combat encounters. I always leave it up to the party to let me know if there's been too much of either one to keep it fresh for everyone. I'm very willing to cater portions of the experience to specific players in order to make their character feel more alive and involved, but also just to ensure the player themselves is invested and having fun.
Featured Prompts
I deal with rules issues by...
Trying to use reality as a simple grounding point. Rules are only there to keep things within a workable system to ensure everyone can have a good time. No need to make things complicated or stressful be sweating the fine print.
Rules are...
a tool to provide a guideline to experiencing the worlds DM's build. They are to be followed but can be bent to fit certain situations.
When it comes to voices
My range is limited, I try with accents but I'm sure anyone from the places I use the accent of would destroy me. But I do what I can with what I've got and I think everyone should be okay with that.
James's ideal table
I like tables with people willing to really flesh out a character, give them an origin and background that really play into the overall character. Also people who can lock in when there's something serious going on but also able to crack jokes from time to time without disrupting the flow of the overall experience.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
Gets emotionally invested in their character's actions and choices. That they really aren't thinking "this would be an upgrade" or "this is a bad idea" but just working off of what would be the character's thoughts, ideals, and instincts.
I think metagaming...
is annoying, if done too often. I've tried to mitigate most of this by making most of my creatures and encounters from scratch so people don't even have the meta knowledge to use. (I don't mind meta out of character discussions and planning but I enjoy when characters are acting as they should)
I think min/maxing...
is an annoying way to play. I always ensure that encounters are easy or challenging for the whole party to make situations tense or make the party feel powerful. When one player min/maxes it makes it harder to keep that simple balance and can lead to very awful feeling encounters.
James's Preferences
Systems
Platforms
Game Mechanics