DM/GM Simon

he/him

4.9

(8)

Timezone

Europe/london

Language

English

Identity

Neurodivergent

About DM/GM Simon

I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for over 30 years and quite quickly I became the 'Forever DM' for my groups of friends. Over the years I have performed and taught acting for TV, Film and Theatre and have a deep love of all things medieval and fantasy. As such my passion followed me into adult hood. I have played and run many RP games from Fantasy DnD, Rifts, Vampire Masquerade, Werewolf, Dark Heresy, but my biggest passion is Dungeons and Dragons. Right from the early years where you had to calculate THAC0 (for the older players that remember such things). I enjoy building immersive worlds for my players to interact with and explore. As such I even created and ran my own LARP (Live Action Roleplay) group DARKENVALE which ran for 10 years until Covid hit. It was then I had to develop a way of converting my LARP to Online play using Roll20 and Discord and successfully achieved that goal. For the past couple of years I have toured England and Scotland running live tabletop games for Anime/Comic Conventions and it's through this I decided to take my DM/GM'ing professionally. Seeing how big the need was for DM/GM's due the the surge of players joining the TTRPG hobby who wanted to play but were not confident enough to run the games themselves. This gave me the opportunity to work with many different types of people will lots of diverse needs, ADHD, Autism, LGBTQ+, Young or Older all are welcome at my table.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Storytelling, Inclusive, Creativity

$20 per session

Featured Prompts

I started running games because...

I have always lived in my head as a fantasy world. Medieval sword and sorcery. Having ADHD I have always been able to plan ahead for multiple outcomes of a given situation and I love story telling and creating either crafts of adventures. It was my way to bring these thoughts into reality for me.

My favorite books are

Raymond E Feist - The Magician. Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy - Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest.

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

Creating props, building Chainmail, 3d printing minis/terrain and painting them and most importantly, creating more games and stories that I find fun and interesting and wonder what players of my games would do differently to what I would.

How DM/GM Simon runs games

For me D&D is all about collaborative story telling. Immersing yourself in a world far removed from our own day to day world. Where you can be who you want to be and have epic adventures that you can tell your friends about and all in all, have fun. I often say I take the 'Jack Sparrow' approach to the game. The rules are more like guidelines than actual rules. They are the basis which I build on but not defined by. So describe to me what you as a player want your character to do, I will set a difficulty of what you described and if you roll high enough then success! I am a big advocate of Action and Consequence and the worlds I build will change depending upon the actions of you the player. I may have an over arching story but its down to you the player and your group to be the protagonists, and mold the story's journey. The more you put into the story - the more you will get out of it. I love the roleplay side of the game and as an actor love to create unique characters with voices and mannerisms that will be remembered. Session 0 is a must for me, help to guide the characters and learn what you as a player needs/wants to get out of a game so I can create a tailored balanced game that is fun for all. Does your party want a lot of combat? little combat and more roleplay? puzzles? traps? I listen, because the most important thing for me is that you're having fun playing a game that I also love and enjoy. So, new to the hobby or already an experienced player? Lets go!

Featured Prompts

I prep by

first by thinking of the over all arch to the story. What does the 'Party' need to achieve? Then what characters (NPC's) will be needed for it to work. By making the NPC's and looking at their needs, wants, desires the story may evolve. Then I look at the where and how. Then what could happen if...

Rules are...

the basics of the game but not the be all and end all. I adopt a more vibe checker approach and love immersion. I'm very much NOT a 100% by the rules as written kind of DM.

When it comes to voices

I love doing character voices. I don't have a wide range of accents but I ultimately want my players to be able to hear a voice behind a door and go "oh it's so-and-so we met in such-a-place", without me specifically saying who it is. I want the key NPC's to be memorable and I have fun doing it.

DM/GM Simon's ideal table

I love players who like develop their characters narratively. Creative, imaginative. I'm an actor but I don't expect everyone else at my table to be, so I'm just as happy for any of my players to, for example: (normal voice) 'I'll ask woman for directions to the town hall", as well as (Characterised voice) "Good lady! May I trouble you for the way to the town hall? Apologies if I have inconvenienced your morning stroll".

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

Gets emotionally invested in their characters and the others in their party. To me, it's the journey, who were they when they started adventuring and what have they become.

I think min/maxing...

takes the fun out of character development for me. Follow the story, develop the character narratively. If a character finds a training manual that has skills normally their class wouldn't have, read, train, fail, practice in game and it's likely they will learn it eventually.

My table is not the place for...

What some people call rules lawyers. It's not all about numbers and what combination of classes/skills make them the best/untouchable. The lone wolf, I don't need anybody approach does not fit my games. We can't do everything ourselves I feel it's good to have friends that can cover our weaknesses.