Alexander

he/him

5.0

(7)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Identity

DMs Guild Writer

About Alexander

Hello! My name is Alex and I am a writer and Game Master of 7+ Years. I first got into Dungeons and Dragons after being a part of a college production of “She Kills Monsters” (shoutout Qui Nguyen) and joining up with a group of adventurers and a DM in the production who sparked my love for collaborative storytelling in a medium I hadn’t ever experienced. Cue the whole COVID-19 business, I absorbed tons of DnD podcasts and shows while taking every chance I could to rope friends into rolling dice and improvising fun and interesting characters. Over the course of my time as a certified TTRPG head, I have played several systems from Call of Cthulhu to Vampire: The Masquerade to Mothership, my current obsession. I have run a collected total of over 25 different games spanning from one-shots to full blown campaigns and have run sessions for parties of 3 to 8 people depending on the project. My games focus around a deep sense of world-building mixed in with character spotlights where I try my darnedest to make the game and story centralized on the kooky characters my players bring with a deep emphasis on player choices mattering and a desperately important consequences with risks and rewards reflective of the team’s actions on an individual level and as a whole. While maintaining a respect for mechanical structure in games, I often will be adaptive to what the tone of the group and what the game at large requires; the rule of cool is my deity and I pray to it often and frequently.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Rule of Cool, Inclusive, Creativity

$18 per session

Featured Prompts

I started running games because...

I was the only one willing to do it! I first learned about DnD in college while being cast for the show "She Kills Monsters," and discovering that Table Top Games rock, I figured that the only way I'd get to play was if I learned how to run games!

My favorite system of all Time is

Call of Cthulhu! D100's > D20's any day - plus I get to make fun of H. P. Lovecraft and 20th century tropes while flexing eldritch horrors? Sign me up! I run tons of modules for CoC and am happy to make homebrews on request.

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

Hosting lavish dinner parties, writing books that will never be finished, and running running as I'm training for a half marathon! I love videogames and long walks on the beach, I'm a recovering Yu-Gi-Oh obsessive and I love a homemade cappuccino and hanging out with my ancient cat!

How Alexander runs games

I love dramatics, but my games lean on the more whimsical and humorous side especially with regards to classic RPG horror. My favorite type of game to run is in the form of pre-made modules where I am able to work my individual brand of fiction into a beloved creation, absolutely crack it open at its core, and rebuild it into something familiar yet oftentimes hilariously new and pertinent to myself and my courageous adventurers. Above all, I care about player safety at my tables and make careful and concentrated effort to make everyone aware of the rules of my table that facilitate fun without overstepping boundaries nor making anyone uncomfortable. Sanctuary isn’t just a dope spell for clerics, it is a tenant of the community I wish to foster and the fantasy that I choose to engage with. In other words; will I terrify you with creatures of incomprehensible eldritch horror that shake you to your core? Oh absolutely! Will I make you roleplay something undiscussed or fail to go over any trigger warnings prior to their release in the session? Hard no, absolutely not, you can bet your last Hag’s Cauldron on that. I love putting on voices and acting out scenes - though I try to make combat equally as interesting by having homebrew mechanics and a menagerie of morally gray factions that the players can choose to ally with, betray, or just generally annoy until they become the BBEG. I like big swings and big whiffs. More than anything, I like telling a story with friends :)

Featured Prompts

I prep by

Writing until 2am in a coffee binge madness, and also by having several sticky notes with different doodles of Dragons on them. It just depends on the table! My ideal practice is to create a rich and populated world, forget it, and then discover it together with my players as the game changes.

Rules are...

1. Be respectful. 2. No bigotry. 3. Don’t argue to excess over rulings – it is after all, just a game. 4. Speak up if something is bothering you. 5. Don’t show up over-inebriated – it is not my job to keep you from eating your dice. 6. Try not to Murder-Hobo. 7. Have Fun!

When it comes to voices

I would not expect consistency, but expect a whole lotta trying. French, Irish, Regal/Cockney British, Scottish, and deplorable Goblinite little freak are all ones I frequently pull out of the tool belt, though I'm constantly expanding the repertoire.

Alexander's ideal table

My ideal table is a group of players who are highly adaptive and who have a love of spotlighting others and themselves where appropriate, who view this as a collaborative storytelling experience and so much more than just a game system for nerds (though it is also that). I like a good mix of drama-geeks, improv ex-or-current theater kids, jocks, goths, mathletes, or any other multicolored cloth you would describe yourself as! Mostly, I look for creative and open-minded individuals with an inclination towards acceptance of all walks of life and who have absolutely no patience for bigotry. Oh, and I also really love Druid mains, you freaks know who you are.

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

immaculate, relaxing, panic inducing, stressful, recuperative, all out chaos, scheming, and all of the rest. I like high octane parties and I like quiet, cautious chess players in deep political intrigues. Pick your poison, and I'll serve it in a pink fizzling high ball glass or a skull chalice.

I love it when a player

I love it when a player takes a big swing and is willing to build up a sense of stakes and consequences. Put yourself out there, put it all on the line. There is no such thing as a failure, and I found that more often low dice rolls have dictated better TTRPG moments than high ones in my games.

I think min/maxing...

Is rad! And also kind of silly. But if min/maxing is your thing, hey, go nuts! I support you on it, but also know that I love underpowered characters equally, and you will not be penalized if your species/class/trinkets don't have perfect syzygy. Note, I will adjust difficulties accordingly...