!ris

he/him

Timezone

America/los Angeles

Language

English

Identity

No Gen AI

About !ris

I've been a Game Master for several years, running a wide variety of tabletop RPGs with wildly different settings, themes, and tones. I'm also an aspiring voice actor, so performance and character work are a big part of what I enjoy about running games. I've built entire worlds from scratch, run published modules, repaired modules that needed some help, and improvised entire sessions because my players decided to do something completely different from what I expected. I've had tables and players stick around for years, which has taught me a lot more than simply knowing the rules ever could. I've run enough different kinds of games to be comfortable adapting to the table in front of me. Sometimes that means carefully prepared encounters and storylines; sometimes it means throwing the notes away because the party just came up with something much more interesting. At the end of the day, I run games because I like playing games. I want the people at my table to have something they can look forward to every week, and I want to see what happens when I give them a world and let them loose in it.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

$12 per session

Average response time: Under 1 hour

Response rate: 100%

Featured Prompts

I ran my first game...

In 2018 for my friends over discord, we had no idea what we were doing really, but they all enjoyed it and we're still playing together today. It was SW5E, we all knew star wars lore like the back of our hand, so it was easy to enter that universe and play within it.

I started running games because...

I used to run and organize community events for a massing of dozens of people on the regular, coming up with ideas, plots, and trying to corral people to work together. Now I do it for a significantly smaller group and with much more fun and less stress.

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

Either prepping my games, or playing them. One with a drink, the other with a think.

How !ris runs games

I run games like a Saturday morning cartoon: energetic, adventurous, occasionally ridiculous, and above all, fun. I prioritize fun and fairness over rigidly following a rule when the rule itself would discourage a clever or creative solution. If you come up with something that makes sense, I want you to be able to try it. When it comes to the dice, what you see is what you get. I roll combat openly and never fudge a roll. I want everyone at the table to understand what is happening mechanically and trust that the results are real. The rules provide the framework for the game; the table's job is to actually have fun with that framework. Otherwise, we're just playing Calvinball. I'm neither a god handing down the will of the universe nor a boss telling you what you're supposed to do. I see the GM more as a coach and referee: I run the world, present the challenges, keep the game moving, and make sure everyone gets a fair chance to play. My job is to keep things grounded even when the fireballs are flying, swords are swinging, and bells are ringing. I also don't believe in combat for combat's sake. If you're fighting something, there should be a reason you're fighting it. I prefer encounters where you understand what is happening, why it matters, and what is at stake rather than suddenly announcing, "It's five o'clock. Time for fighting." Most importantly, I actively reward roleplaying, creative thinking, and unusual solutions. If you find a way around an obstacle that I didn't anticipate, that's not ruining my encounter that's the game working exactly as intended.

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

Looking for 15 seconds to find the answer, failing that I usually find common ground with the rules issue at large and then bring it up post session to find the answer and apply it going forwards.

My games focus on...

Fun, we're all here be cause we enjoy playing, albeit for different reasons, if we're not having fun, why bother? I like to run my games like a saturday morning cartoon, or a prime time show on AMC that gets bought by Netflix and allowed to curse in.

When it comes to voices

I'm very bad at them, I'm still going to do them, but I'm bad at them.

!ris's ideal table

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

Easy and cozy with that ever present element of danger. Imagine waking up and watching Sonic X or similar cartoons in the early 2000s as a kid, but your friend next door bought a new nerf gun so at any moment you've got to spring into action and engage in a foam firefight in the backyard.

I think metagaming...

Is perfectly fine, you can read ahead if you'd like, just don't be surprised when things have changed in the campaign. And just because you know what a monster CAN do, it doesn't mean you're safe, my combat rolls are public, and so are yours.