Ryan

he/him

5.0

(6)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Identity

Veteran

Cosplayer

About Ryan

Hello there! I'm Ryan, and I've been a GM for about 11 years now. I love all things TTRPG; building engaging settings and mechanics, goofing around with good friends, and getting to be a part of the story my players tell. Its great fun. Want to play in a spooky horror setting? love it. Want to see what happens when 6 wild magic sorcerers try to adventure together? heck yeah. Want to get REAL deep in to some dramatic RP? I'm here for it. I definitely run on the sillier side, but I also believe that stands as great foil for really dramatic moments and meaningful story. I also spend a lot of my free time thinking of new mechanics and puzzles that people have never seen before. I love creative solutions and outside-the-box thinking from players, and I'm constantly surprised by what people do when handed a box of matches (metaphorically. Don't play with matches, folks).

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Inclusive, Storytelling, Creativity

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

My first ever group had a GM that kept calling off last minute. When the group was going to disband, I said I'd give it a crack. About 10 sessions in several players shed real tears when an NPC died and I knew I loved being in this chair.

My favorite books are

Oryx and Crake - A wonderful dystopian story that inspired my very first campaign Dungeon Crawler Carl - The king of LitRPG. So fun and funny and full of heart.

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

I asked some of my players this, and I promised to use their answers good or bad. K - Funny, Flexible, Creative S - Playful, Plotting-Mastermind J - Funny, Creative, Fair D1 - Kind of Smelly D2 - Imaginative, Puzzle-Genius

How Ryan runs games

I am definitely on the sillier side of the GM spectrum, no doubt about it. But I also believe that the GM should never be the center of attention. My place is to build the setting the players use to tell compelling stories. Home-brew rules are a big part of my toolkit. I try to soften the edges of the crunchier parts of the games I run so as not to lose momentum in the game. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of an RP scene and having to make change for something that costs 2 silver and 73 copper. I also like to mess with stat blocks and motives so even if a veteran player has killed some of these monsters 100 times over, they will still need to think and be prepared to adjust because their character probably has never seen that monster. Or maybe all dinosaurs are super smart and friendly? Who knows!

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

What keeps the game moving fairly. Orcus knows DnD has a long history of murky rules with iffy interpretations. I have some homebrew rules that seek to smooth that out. But nobody's perfect! I've seen Mercer and Brennan make mistakes. If I mess up I own it, and try to keep the game moving fairly.

When it comes to voices

I do my best when I think it adds to the game. I'd say maybe 20% of my NPCs will have a character voice. It's something I'm working on improving, but I am far from a professional VA. I do try to make all of my characters unique in some way, but that doesn't always mean a new voice.

Ryan's ideal table

PLAYER cohesion is more important than PARTY cohesion and party comp every time. With a new group, this can take some feeling out. Characters in a party often have different motivations and friction happens. It can lead to really meaningful story moments. But there's a line where "it's what my character would do" can be disruptive to a good time. I love players that engage with each other more than me. Whether that be in an RP sense, or working together on a puzzle, or trying to plan a hostile takeover of a small village. That's where great stories and great tables live.

Featured Prompts

If you're into ___, you're going to love my table

Unique puzzles and encounters

I think min/maxing...

is perfectly reasonable! Players have fun in different ways. Some people like min/maxing, some people like to make goof characters, some people build the tropiest trope character of all time. As long as you play something that is fun for you, I will do my best to make it work!

My perfect party mix is

one where everyone plays a character they WANT to play and can engage with. Sometimes that means perfect party comp, sometimes that means "lets see what happens with 6 wild magic sorcerers trying to take over the world." It's my job to make sure you party comp is viable in the game.