Zaroff

he/him

5.0

(6)

Timezone

America/north Dakota/center

Language

English

About Zaroff

I have been running games for around 8 years or so and was a player in older versions of dnd/pathfinder for a couple before that. I love worldbuilding and prefer custom campaigns to modules as that is what really captivates me. I am a hardcore gamer and have been invited to dozens of private testing sessions to develop and provide feedback on mechanics, systems and character progression for several online games and rpgs. I view TTRPG's as a chance to write a story with each player as a co-author, writing a new story and a new future in every single session. I spend countless hours creating alternative paths for every decision the players make. I don't just write one story, I write a hundred. Each path can shift dramatically with every choice. See, I want my players stories to inform not only the plot, but the world itself. Give me an idea, tell me your character's history and we can run with it and see where it goes. I want a world to feel completely open at all times. Go anywhere and do anything, and watch the consequences unfold. Your actions and decisions should have reactions that echo through the world if they are going to feel meaningful. That is what I aim to provide. Every relationship, every location, every npc. A living breathing world. When you sit down at my table, I want you to feel completely immersed in a sprawling fantasy epic. I encourage you to live through your characters eyes. If you aren't daydreaming about your characters adventures later in the week, then I'm not trying hard enough.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: World Builder, Storytelling, Creativity

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

I had actually read 20+ books by R.A. Salvatore series in the Forgotten Realms. I had never played dnd and knew nothing about it. It wasn't until I was playing for the first time that I realized I knew all the monsters and races in the game that it hit me; I had been reading DnD all along.

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

Usually playing games or working on stories. I love breaking game mechanics in video games just as much as I do in a TTRPG. I also love world building and will occasionally fall off the deep end for a day or two writing the set up for a large campaign or world.

How Zaroff runs games

I am a huge proponent of deep story and roleplay. I try to voice my characters and create believable personalities for each one. I want the world to feel alive and open for exploration. I put a lot of time into maps/character tokens/music/ambience etc. I want each player to have a chance to feel like they are part of a living world that has a history directly tied to theirs and a future decided by them. I am also a fairly hardcore min-maxer when it comes to character builds and balance. I've spent a lot of time pouring over multiple versions of each class/subclass through the years, trying to push them to the limit. So if I have players seeking strategic challenge, I have no concerns with providing something balanced but difficult. If they need help building, I can provide that too. I recognize however that not everyone wants that level of combat encounter, so I adjust accordingly based on what my players want. The great thing about learning to push characters to their limits, is how much it has helped me with understanding the DnD 5.5/5e limitations. I feel confident designing balanced encounters for all skill levels. Combat ideally should reward strategy and teamwork and sometimes be difficult, but not punishing or frustrating. It should give players opportunities to use their abilities in fun ways and celebrate creativity. These things can be tricky to balance with different skill levels in a group. Nothing feels quite as bad as an accidental TPK that had no way to prevent it. Mechanics should make sense, but also be fun and accessible. Sometimes mechanics in dnd are silly or outdated and in those circumstances, I believe changes should be made to make the game feel good for the players and try to stay thematic to the world we build together. At the end of the day, it's about creating a fantasy world where people feel comfortable roleplaying their fantasy character, and having fun.