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Dexter Calkins

Dexter Calkins (he/him)

5.0

(14)

Queer
Teacher/Educator
Multi-lingual

1 year on StartPlaying

21 games hosted

Highly rated for: Inclusive, Sets the Mood, Storytelling

Average response time: Under 1 hour

Response rate: 100%

About me

Certified ESL / Multilingual Teacher I'm a middle school teacher who moonlights as a GM. I've GM'ed since 5th grade and now run a small alternative tabletop gaming collective specializing in small press, indie, and otherwise alternative TTRPGs for queer gamers. No AI used in art or writing. All human brain juice simulating medieval fantasy.

GM Style

🏃 Pacing is king. We move fast! 🗺️ Responsive, open-ended sandbox game play. 📜 Story emerges through the players' choices. 🤭 Dubious attempts at character voices.

Game platforms used
Social
Game Master Reviews (14)

Proficiencies

Players say this GM is great at:

Inclusive

Sets the Mood

Storytelling

Caius avatar

Caius

Played 3 sessions

I recently had the pleasure of playing under Dex, and I can honestly say it was an outstanding experience. [He/She/They] brought an incredible level of creativity to every session, weaving intricate storylines that kept everyone engaged and excited to see what would happen next. Beyond just storytelling, Dex is impressively organized, making the game flow smoothly without ever feeling rushed or chaotic. He is also very approachable and empathetic, always taking the time to listen to players’ ideas, concerns, or even just small jokes, making everyone feel heard and valued. And on top of it all, Dex has a great sense of humour, which kept the mood light and made every session a joy to attend. I can't recommend [him/her/them] highly enough — if you get the chance to join one of his games, don’t hesitate!

Tay S avatar

Tay S

Played 1 sessions

If I could pick all of the tags in here, I would, and that says a lot about Dexter's skill and talent at GMing. He masterfully wove in a tutorial of a new system, a great story, memorable and lovable NPCs (I got attached to a slime and a skeleton bad guy for crying out loud), and a space for all of the players to be comfortable and creative all into a single one-shot session. All of the stuff leading up to the session was also wonderful. Dexter showed a lot of enthusiasm and supported us at every turn, from explaining the system to helping us build our characters to encouraging us whenever we crafted lore about our backstory or connection. I think if I absolutely had to pick a single favourite thing about the experience I would say it was how he was as into the world, the characters, and the story as all of us players were. Whenever one of us would do something we thought would be fun, be it throwing out a one-liner or doing a creative attack or earnestly engaging with the story, Dexter reacted with the same or even greater level of enthusiasm and had fun right along with us. The environment also felt safe and welcoming, which is very important to me as a femme-presenting queer person playing with strangers for the first time. There was not a single moment in the whole experience where I wasn't having a blast.

Apollo avatar

Apollo

Played 1 sessions

If you're looking for a kind, engaging, wonderful DM then don't look further. Dexter was super accommodating even though we were scrambling to learn a new system, he taught it to us in such an easy-to-understand way while also somehow simultaneously putting on a one shot, mind you, that also made us tear up and burst out with laughter. His biggest strength was tailoring the game for us and just putting our good time as the tip top priority. I could not recommend a better GM! His session showed me joys of a TTRPG that I have not seen in a very long time :D

Danny avatar

Danny

Played 1 sessions

Very friendly, and engages with player’s interests to build a wonderful and fun story/game!

Pj Jauregui avatar

Pj Jauregui

Great GM! I wish I could choose more than three tags to describe the GM. We played a three-session campaign that was in a horror/thriller setting. The GM did a great job of keeping it moving at a good pace but also allowed space for players to do creative things with their characters. Is patient with players and helps them when needed when confused or stuck. Did a great job tying everyone's characters' goals together which gave a satisfying end that also worked with the setting and goal of the campaign. Since it was a horror setting the GM checked in with everyone and gave warnings before bringing up subjects that might trigger anyone. Great GM to play with, 10/10 would play again and recommend others who are interested or like playing DnD/other ttrpgs.

Mason Peterson avatar

Mason Peterson

Fantastic music and tone, tons of room for creativity, SUPER beginner friendly. Dex helped me learn Shadowdark and even sat down 1 on 1 to help me make my character and understand the mechanics.

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