Simon of Spellbound Inc

he/him

Timezone

Europe/london

Language

English

Identity

Published Writer

Artist

Game Designer

About Simon of Spellbound Inc

I’ve been a Game Master since 1982, when I received my first Dungeons & Dragons box set for my 8th birthday. That gift sparked a lifelong love of tabletop roleplaying, storytelling, and collaborative imagination. What drew me to RPGs then still drives me today: the chance to bring together my passions for illustration, writing, and world-building in a way that invites others to explore and create. Over the years, I’ve run countless home campaigns and designed custom adventures that focus on player-driven storytelling, atmosphere, and visual immersion. My current obsession is Mothership RPG, the sci-fi horror game. I've created three adventures written, illustrated and successfully funded for that system. What drew me to RPGs then still drives me today: the chance to bring together my passions for illustration, writing, and world-building in a way that invites others to explore and create.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

$25 per session

Featured Prompts

I ran my first game...

When I was 10 years old. It was B/X D&D. Early 80's. Just myself and my best friend Jason. He didn't like it when a fire beetle killed his dwarf. I've spent the last 42 years proving I am not a 'killer GM'.

I started running games because...

I had a deep-seated need to pull the characters and stories that filled my imagination into the real-world, to share them and make them better with my friends. When I read Gary Gygax's foreword in my original D&D boxset, my 10 year old brain went "DING!" (not literally, but you get what I mean).

My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be

Mothership, Star Wars D6 and Old School Essentials.

How Simon of Spellbound Inc runs games

As an experienced GM, I bring 42 years of running RPGs to the table, with a focus on creativity, improvisation and theatre of the mind. I enjoy building vivid worlds, playing memorable characters and discovering what happens when you bring an unexpected idea into the adventure. If you enjoy exploration, meaningful choices and developing relationships with interesting NPCs—without being railroaded—you will feel at home at my table. As a professional writer and illustrator, I pay close attention to atmosphere, character and the details that make a fictional world feel real. I want you to picture the places your character visits, become curious about the people who live there and wonder what lies beyond the next door—or inside that suspiciously silent space station. Creating and playing NPCs is one of my favourite parts of GMing. I give each character a distinct voice, mannerism, objective and secret. You may negotiate, investigate, take a calculated risk, enlist an unlikely ally or propose something I never anticipated. Your decisions matter, and I will give you the information and freedom you need to make meaningful choices. My campaigns tend towards detailed sandboxes. I prepare locations, factions, personalities, tensions and opportunities, then use that foundation to respond when you take the story in an unexpected direction. I think of roleplaying as a structured conversation: a ball passing between us, with each person adding a little spin before returning it.

Featured Prompts

I prep by

Creating a focused sandbox per adventure. Within this sandbox are enough random NPC's, random encounter tables and wt least one map to ensure I have enough material to cover whatever you and the party wants to do within this environment.

My games focus on...

Player choice and all of the group passing the proverbial ball of narrative between each other. Make sure we put a nice spin on it so we can keep twisting our shared, emerging story!

When it comes to voices

I practice what each NPC sounds like whilst speaking to myself. Sometimes my partner catches me grunting like an orc. Hilarity ensues. Just because I do silly voices, I do not expect players to do the same. Just turn up, talk like you but play your character and let's have an awesome game!