Michael

he/him

5.0

(7)

Timezone

America/los Angeles

Language

English

Identity

Queer

Neurodivergent

Cosplayer

Voice Actor

About Michael

I have been playing tabletop RPG's for over twenty years now. I got my start with D&D 3.5, moved from that to 5e, and then most recently to Pathfinder 2e as my system of choice. I started at a summer camp, when I was 12 and never looked back. I quickly picked up being the GM as no one at the time wanted to, and did that on and off for small groups of friends during middle and high school. During college and past it I ran two groups of six players each, that met weekly for several years. I have run groups with as few as two players and as many as seven, and understand how to adapt my games to the size of the party. I am proficient in teaching the game rules to new players, I have done quite a bit of it so far, and hope to continue to bring new people into the hobby. I am very passionate about collaborative story telling, and I love being able to fit my players backstories and characters into the world I have created for them. Nothing bring me more joy than receiving a 10 page backstory from a player, and figuring out which of the NPCs they have created can replace the ones I was planning to have the party meet. I love playing these games, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet new players, and expand my game mastering abilities.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Storytelling, Inclusive, Teacher

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

it gives me the opportunity to tell stories with a group of people that in know are invested in the outcome. Watching as the players develop their characters while engaging with the story we all created is incredible satisfying.

My favorite books are

Currently, its Dungeon Crawler Carl. But included would also be The Lord of the Rings and all of the extended legendarium. The Expanse, Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, Wheel of Time

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

Sewing and 3D printing. I have a full workshop set up to make props and costumes, mostly just to hang on my walls for decorations.

How Michael runs games

I love large, overarching story beats. The kind of thing that slowly gets revealed over the entire campaign, where you don't realize you have been working towards it until you get there. I try to make combat fun an engaging, with varied terrain, enemies that have interesting abilities, and additional tasks during a fight that aren't strictly combat. I try to avoid set ups that amount to standing in a featureless void trading hits until someone goes down. I am also really big into role play, I have a stable of characters voices I love to bring out, and I take a lot of pride in playing compelling NPCs for the party. Overall though, I truly love playing these types of games, and try to tailor my play style to whoever is currently at my table. I really try to create a space where my players can shine, and everyone gets a chance to be in the spotlight. I am a GM who wants those multi page backstories from my players, I leave space in my adventures into which those backstories can be fit.

Michael's ideal table

At the end of the day, I want everyone to have fun, and walk away form my table with a good story to tell. I encourage, not the best choice, but the most narratively interesting one. I want players that are going to engage with my world, but also make it their own. I try to balance both serious and silly moments, and give each their own room to breathe.

Featured Prompts

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

If you are into long story arcs and interwoven plots, you're going to love my table. I love to set up a big mystery, and then run a bunch of smaller story arcs that build on the bigger one in the background so as to have that moment where the players realize its been connected the whole time.

I love it when a player

provides any amount of backstory for their character. If you show up with pages of backstory, great, I now have a ton of things to incorporate into my world, and I thrive on creative adjacency. If you show up with a just name, wonderful, who doesn't love a mystery.