Shane

he/him

5.0

(25)

Timezone

America/chicago

Identity

Veteran

Teacher/Educator

About Shane

Hello. My name is Shane. I was introduced to RPGs when I was 12 years old and was hooked from that very first session. I have been playing and running RPGs, on and off, for the past four decades and hope to continue for many more! I have run many different games and genres, but my favorite is fantasy RPGs. My GM strengths are involving players, improvising scenes, and game pacing. I have run games for a wide variety of people over the years, to include complete beginners, BIPOC players, children, LGBTQ+ players, neurodivergent players, and veterans. By my count, I have gamed with about 400-450 people over the past 40 years and would be honored to be your GM.

At a glance

3 years on StartPlaying

164 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling

Featured Prompts

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

AD&D, 2nd edition - for classic, fast playing, old school fantasy D&D, 5th edition - for superheroic, free-wheeling fantasy Pathfinder 2nd edition - for tactical, every modifier matters fantasy

My favorite books are

Lord of the Rings Trilogy/The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien Earthsea Cycle - Ursula Le Guin Chronicles of Narnia - Lloyd Alexander

My favorite shows/movies are

Movies: Back to the Future Princess Bride Star Wars: New Hope Shows: Breaking Bad Firefly Game of Thrones

How Shane runs games

I run fast, fun, and lighthearted games with a casual, relaxed, and welcoming table vibe. My games feature an even mix of combat, exploration, and roleplay, with slightly more emphasis on action and exploration than on deep first-person roleplay. I put a lot of effort into the games I run. I use high-quality battle maps and tokens to help players visualize scenes. You can expect me to lean into the rule of cool, while mostly sticking to rules as written. When it comes to roleplay, I focus on creating realistic NPCs with believable motivations. Finally, I provide a lot of custom handouts, NPC portraits, images, maps, and ambient music to enhance player experience. But the main thing for you to know about my GM style is that I focus on ensuring players have their moment to shine and leave the table excited for the next session. People play RPGs to escape the ordinary and do cool stuff--I ensure that happens, in every game.

Featured Prompts

My favorite trope is...

Ending a session with a cliffhanger.

Rules are...

Important to provide a solid framework for everyone to work off of, and rules as written is generally my style--but I don't shy away from making a ruling to keep the game moving.

When it comes to voices

I try to provide unique voices for most NPCs, but I am more concerned about portraying NPCs with unique personalities and motivations than I am about having them sound different, funny, or quirky.

Shane's ideal table

I run a casual, fun, and welcoming table where players can spend a couple of hours having wild and unpredictable adventures. Players who will fit best at my table are players who build their characters around the campaign theme, play a character who will support other characters in the party, and build characters with connections to the other characters and campaign setting.

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

Adds details to their background as a campaign develops, rather than coming to the table with a fully fleshed out character.

I think metagaming...

Should be avoided. It's more interesting when players can separate their personal knowledge from their character's knowledge.

I think min/maxing...

Is okay when the whole table has decided that's the sort of campaign they want, but I prefer tables where there's less focus on trying to build the strongest character possible.