About me

James, AKA DM_Shroud. Mostly a sci-fi game Referee for 46 years, starting with Traveller. I can also run fantasy. I prefer Narrative / RP-Heavy Space Opera campaigns. Mission statement: My goal as a professional gamemaster is to provide exciting, compelling gaming experiences to price-conscious players. [Costs are per player, per session. The games I run are priced as listed. If you want to do a custom game, for example have me design a whole world in loving detail just for your private group, I can certainly do that. For a very challenging custom job, I charge 30$ per player per session. Let me know what you want to do, we can work it out.] Recruiting players on Roll20 for the following: (PST Times) Sun Night 7p-10p Intro to Traveller 2e: Space Opera Intrigues in the Aurin Cluster $10 (on hold) Mon Night 7p-10p Cyberpunk Red "Revolution: 2045" Tue Night 7p-10p D&D 5e "Tales of the Lost Empire" (Group 4) Wed Night 7p-10p (open to run for you) Thu Night 7p-10p A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones - A Whisper of Steel FREE [every two weeks] Fri Morning 7a-10a D&D 5e "Tales of the Lost Empire" (Group 2) [Full/Closed] Friday Night 7p-10p Unavailable Saturday (All Day) Unavailable Other days and times are possible, but those would require negotiation in advance, typically 30$ a session but we can negotiate. I'm NOT typically available on Friday evenings, or Saturdays, USA times. About Me: I have always been an avid fan of Sci-fi, since I was a kid, reading Joe Haldeman's "Forever War", under the blankets past my bedtime with a flashlight. When I am not writing or gaming, I am designing fictional solar systems or working on cartography maps of all scales for games and novels. I strive to inspire others as I was inspired as a young boy reading sci-fi novels late into the night. Check out my games. Welcome to my Mind.

GM style

My Style Manifesto is thus, (Adopted from the Professional Game Master Society) 1. Be courteous, and respectful, with a well-organized presentation for my gaming clients. 2. I will not cancel game events without prior notification to my Game clients. 3. I will not make complicated financial arrangements with my clients. Return policies can be complicated– just keep it simple. 4. I will be courageous, and write the best scenarios I can. I will use technology wisely wherever it improves the specific game at hand. 5. Each of my games is like a tree. I will do the work required to make it grow, and prune whatever is dead to keep the game lively. 6. I will endeavor to be entertaining. I will use voice, as well as improvisational description, and literary motifs to craft a better performance. 7. With everything above in mind, I will have fun in my role as a Professional Gamemaster. * * * * I am an Actor/Role-player as a player and DM. I used to design World War 2, and Vietnam-era wargames, so I am well versed in Tactics and Strategy at all levels. I love to do maps of all scales- from taverns to entire continents and worlds, using the best software available. I like to prepare handouts, character pictures, and lore handouts to support the game campaign. I generally run games in a gritty/realistic style, including critical hits, disabling injuries, encumbrance, weather effects of cold, heat, snow, etc. thirst, and starvation. Combat happens, but it is usually very deadly, and should only be engaged in by choice, to support the job at hand, not just for combat-as-drama. it is too easy to lose characters that way. GM Preferences: Combat Frequency Casual: Story-based combat encounters, with logical side encounters, and minimal random encounters. Combat Style Advanced: Encounters exploit mechanics, strategy, and movement. Failure to overcome these challenges results in losses or death for your character. Story and Significance Story-Driven: Encounters relate to detailed plots and conflicts. Key details of the encounter could mean the difference between life and death. Story Type Intrigue: I design Encounters around shifting political loyalties and uncertain motives. Enemies in encounters may not show their true faces or may not be obvious. AND Adventurer: I design Encounters around mysteries and strange events. Untangling these stories will provide much-needed information, as the campaign progresses. Treasure Importance Casual: Loot is uncommon. Magic or high-tech items are sparse to rarely found, but powerful. Surviving as an adventurer is a dangerous life, sometimes forced on you by circumstance. Game Pace Easy Going: The game is always moving forward with overlapping events, adventures, or quests, but I still space events out. There may be time for training and research, but you never know what might come up next week. If an opportunity comes up, you might not want to turn it down, as it may be a while before the next knock on the door comes. Combat encounters can happen but infrequently (perhaps 30% of a scenario). Mass battles are rare. I don't want to take up story time with mass battle game mechanics, often, I'll rule this by Fiat, common sense, or have key scenes that involve the player characters that determine the direction of any large battle. Advancement Easy Going: Leveling is slow, to keep survival edgy, without a lot of hit points gained, for setting reasons. Players can expect to level several times in a year of the game depending on the events of the game- the typical character will level during an average of every 4 to 6 adventures, based on milestones, for a level-based system like 5th Ed. D&D. Game Play Tone Serious: We play the game and only the game. No dick jokes. Limited puns. Limited out-of-character comments. We are all adults here. Metagaming Tone Easy Going: Everyone tries to remember not to use real-world knowledge or decide actions based on what page the Monster Manual is open to currently. The party comes together semi-organically with an overriding theme.

Games played

Game platforms used

Social

What's StartPlaying?

Tabletop Roleplaying Games Run by Game Masters