Jay
he/him
5.0
(6)
Timezone
Language
Identity
About Jay
Howdy! I'm Jay. I'm a huge indoor cat living an outdoor life. The Marine Corps took me all around the world, currently in Japan. I've internalized a ridiculous number of tropes, references, and story beats. For video games, I typically play 4x strategy games, survival crafting games, and anything with sandbox modes. For books, I've been focused on translated xianxia lately, but I cut my teeth on YA fantasy from The Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance. The list of settings I've walked in my literary journey is... extensive. JRR Tolkien, GRRM, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, RA Salvatore, and so many more. Outside of fantasy, I'm a huge dystopian literature and philosophy nerd. I am intimately familiar with 1984, Brave New World, The Wave, Farenheit 451, and many more. I love incorporating Stoics with Nihilists, and sprinkling in the Absurdists. When it comes to games, I am typically a player, but I often build puzzles and small encounters. Recently, I've begun building custom homebrew oneshots and mini campaigns. Many of these custom one shots and mini campaigns are inspired from existing Intellectual Property such as Leverage, Inception, Edge of Tomorrow, Matrix, and Game of Thrones. The way I build a game experience is focused on roles and orchestrated dilemmas with consequences that feel inevitable. I like to plant seeds and initialize a session and let players run with the gameplay to a juicy conclusion.
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Storytelling, Creativity
Featured Prompts
My favorite books are
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake Warstrider Series by Ian Douglas (William H. Keith, Jr.) Everything in Shannara setting written by Terry Brooks Honorverse Series by David Weber These are some formative sets of western fantasy which touch on platonic ideals heavily.
My favorite shows/movies are
I could list a thousand shows and movies and only scratch the surface. However, I have a few that really speak to me: The Princess Bride - This is a feel good watch with my mom. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World - The absurdity is the point. Spaghetti Westerns - Love a good morally grey protagonist
When I'm not running games I'm...
probably eating, sleeping, working, or spending time with my favorite person. Life really gets simple when you can focus on the people who matter, and spend your time playing with them.
How Jay runs games
I am a very technical thinker and organize my games around inflection points and mechanical decisions or traps. In one of my games, you may be focused on a particular objective which blinds you to the availability of your true goal through another direction. This adds an element of Greek tragedy to the story telling because by being right, by being true to yourself, you cause the most harm. Additionally, I like to build puzzles which can be intellectually gamed out and *beaten* but rarely meta gamed. The goal is to push both player and character to enjoy the situation while being true to their motivations and objectives. Often, I enjoy detailed role play, but do not enjoy any "jump the shark" moments. Sometimes, a little levity is great, but no overt immersion breaking. I prefer high fantasy environments and settings but I am not against a modernized magical world. I do enjoy drawing inspiration from existing Intellectual Property, but always adapt it to make it my own and spin it for consistency. None of my games will every be built to be inconsistent.
Featured Prompts
I prep by
Mentally gaming out the decision trees throughout an encounter. In any given moment, I understand the design intent for puzzles, dilemmas, and story hooks. However, I know the players, and their characters, have more limited knowledge. It's fun to be surprised by innovative solutions, though!
My games focus on...
Systems. Full stop. Sometimes, I give you a role to fill. Often, I give you personalized objectives that align to your personality, background, and behavior in game. Whether you play a role or something more free build, playing your objectives well is meant to build into a Greek form of tragedy.
Rules are...
Extremely strong suggestions. I am not above inflicting lasting consequences, to include death saving throws in the right table environment. But, they remain suggestions. If table chemistry requires me to lower HP, saving throws, or damage due to an over-tuned encounter... you'll never know.
Jay's ideal table
I run story-focused games where the narrative matters as much as the mechanics. Players who naturally think in terms of “yes, and…” will fit in well here. Even better are players who understand that sometimes a “no” can still lead to a stronger “yes, and…” for the story. Collaborative storytelling is the goal. The vibe at my table is one where players feel comfortable leaning into roleplay, character decisions, and narrative moments. I want everyone to have opportunities to pursue concepts that are fun to them and meaningful for their character. Ideally, every player walks away from a session with at least one moment where their character got to do something really cool or narratively important. At the same time, I value immersion and internal consistency. Humor and levity are absolutely welcome; some of the best moments at the table come from them. What I don’t enjoy is deliberate nonsense that breaks the world or ignores established characterization just for a joke. When immersion is constantly broken, it becomes much harder to build a story that highlights each character and keeps the narrative meaningful. In short, my table works best for players who: 1. Enjoy story and character-driven play 2. Like collaborative roleplay 3. Appreciate cool narrative moments and spotlight sharing 4. Can balance humor with immersion If you enjoy being part of a story where everyone helps build the narrative and characters get meaningful moments to shine, you’ll probably fit in well.
Featured Prompts
I think it's a red flag when players...
are incapable of explaining why their characters do anything. If you are playing your character to "win" at Dungeons and Dragons... then play a PvP or dungeon crawl. If you are playing a collaborative campaign or one shot, be prepared to act in accordance with your character sheet.
I think metagaming...
is often unavoidable, and I am sympathetic to the way a player builds knowledge over time. However, there is a level of unavoidable metagaming, and there's a level of obscene metagaming. I will never ask anyone to pretend they don't understand the basic tropes. But neither will I accept OOC abuse.
I think min/maxing...
an invitation. If you, and your party, wish to be as powerful as possible, I welcome you with open arms. Those open arms may also contain extremely powerful combat encounters, high DC skill checks, and equally expert machinations by the BBEG you are seeking to outsmart.
Jay's Preferences
Game Mechanics