Shawn Drake
he/him
5.0
(6)
Timezone
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About Shawn Drake
Hey there! I'm Shawn, and I've been playing Tabletop Roleplaying Games for twenty some-odd years, and started DMing from about my fourth session. Since then, I've dabbled in a couple dozen other game systems and built up an inordinate love for collaborative storytelling. In this time where tabletop roleplaying games have inexplicably become cool and popular, I've come to the staggering realization that there are a lot of people out there who don't have a weekly group with which to tell amazing stories. That hurts on a deep and personal level. Nerts to that. I'll run games! Oh, and I make tabletop games for a living. Court of Blades, Dead Belt, HEDGE, Disaster/Peace, Disaster/Wing, and a few others. That's not germane to the conversation, but I like saying it. My games tend to run the gamut between heroic fantasy, rollicking steampunk adventure, taut political drama, spine-tingling horror, and various shades and blendings along those spectra. I believe in being the players' (and their characters') biggest fan, and filling whatever world we're running in with daring adventure, sweeping mystery, funny accents, and surprises aplenty. If that sounds like fun to you, reach out and see if we can't get something rolling.
At a glance
4 years on StartPlaying
1 games hosted
Featured Prompts
I got started GMing...
Long, long ago I got impatient with there being only a single game in town that only happened every two weeks or so. I figured the best way to get more games in my life was to start running them. It's been nearly thirty years now and I've yet to find a better way to ensure I'm never without a game.
When I'm not running games I'm...
If I'm not running a game, I'm writing games. If I'm not writing games, I'm writing about games. If I'm not writing about games, I'm thinking about games. Or I'm playing the guitar, foraging for mushrooms, brewing beer, or knitting chainmail.
My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be
Smart money would say I'd bring a bunch of solo games, right? Ironsworn, Starforged, and probably The Spider and the City. If I had friends, it'd be Blades in the Dark, The Sprawl, and Fellowship.
How Shawn Drake runs games
I'm a collaborative fiction junkie. I'm excited about your ideas, and willing and able to let the game follow the fiction we develop together. I'm also a whiz for character voice and roleplay; embodying the non-player characters in your story is my joy. As far as combat and tactics, your antagonists will be smart and looking to win, but good teamwork and bravery will probably carry the day.
Featured Prompts
Rules are...
Rules are where the game pushes back on you, and that friction is where the very best roleplaying moments come to the fore. If you think of them like constraints, you'll resent them. Think of them instead like joints where the skeleton of a good story find their pivot points.
I once ran a session...
In the back of an MC-130.
When it comes to voices
I do them. I can't really help myself. Something about sinking into character means that voices are strangely compulsory for me. I don't expect them from others, but I tend to cheer when you try one for the first time.
Shawn Drake's ideal table
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
is not afraid to answer a question like they're the subject-matter expert. Whatsoever you hold in character, I will hold in the lore. Build the world with me. The only thing cooler than my ideas are OUR ideas.
I think metagaming...
gets a bad rap. Metagaming is only a problem when our talking about the game like a game, engaging with the mechanics like skilled systems experts, damages the fun at the table. We keep the metagame channel open, but we keep it separate from the narrative layer.
I am for a vibe that's...
My vibe is best described as somewhere between the dark whimsy of an Old Country fairytale and rad enough to be airbrushed onto the side of a van. Make of that what you will.
Shawn Drake's Preferences
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