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Cost Per Player

$20.00
Daniel S.

Daniel S. (he/him)

5.0

(6)

2 years on StartPlaying

7 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling

About me

Hi there. I'm very dedicated to the hobby, game mastering, and game design. I'm developing my own system called 'Duels of Dreams', and would love to run some of those games. In the meantime, I play and run D&D 5e a lot, and would love to run for the right group. I also sometimes design and run my own adventures. As part of designing my own game, I have dissected the math and mechanics of D&D 5e quite thoroughly and know it well. I have 3000+ hours in Roll20 and am a sheet author. I like to minmax the experience on Roll20, using API scripts, Patreon artist maps, modules and macros to their fullest, custom CSS themes, etc. Some examples of API scripts are: teleporting between areas through token movement, group skill and damage checks, turn trackers, door opening macro buttons, music tied to areas, damage animations, etc. I want this to be a fun environment for everyone to hang out and be themselves. Ideally we all make some friends out of this, and tell a collaborative story that rivals your favorite TV show. I'm a live musician and studied some audio production, so I have good mics and can record a decent quality (at least with audio) live stream of every session to look back on later. You can see what I'm working on with my own game here. http://duelsofdreams.com/ And you can watch me GM some games over the years on my YouTube channel. This session linked below is a recent module conversion run-through of an AD&D module using my system 'Duels of Dreams'. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBz7Vp7CTl826k9g3ihvqJhRUaoiWVos_ My Roll20 profile. https://app.roll20.net/users/224840/daniel-s

GM Style

I first and foremost love tactical and creative decision making. Whether that means a well fought combat, strategically avoiding combat, or generally coming up with clever solutions to problems that a video game might not allow! I let my players think and strategize with each other (within reason), and talk through their gameplans. Beyond that my top priority and desire is to see players working together as a team! This is ultimately a game about cooperation and teamwork. I like to subtly and sometimes directly reward good teamwork. A selfish character who is "just roleplaying their character" is, in my opinion, not fun for the group. However, if that kind of dedicated roleplaying is what the group wants and expects, it can be fun and interesting. I like to make sure players get a chance to take actions and make decisions that are meaningful. I'm okay stopping to discuss the rules from time to time and finding something everyone feels good about, and am okay getting called out as a GM. Ultimately, I seek to facilitate a game and environment where your choices matter, and players get to influence the world. Railroading and power tripping GM'ing are two things I'm passionately against! I generally don't worry very much about metagaming, as I think many players underestimate what a character would know, and how well they would understand the numerical abstractions that game mechanics represent in the game world. Also, as much as roleplaying is important, making decisions informed by player knowledge is just as or more important. I like to run a mix of combat encounters, social encounters and dialogue, and exploration and roleplaying. I have a soft spot for a good tactical combat romp. But stealth, exploration, planning, intrigue, and choosing when to fight is just as important. I don't require that players talk in character or have voices. But I'm happy to run games where players are dedicated to talking in character or not, depending on the preferences of the players. I've run old-school hack 'n' slashes with almost no talking in character, and have run heavy role-playing games where that's the primary drive of the story and gameplay. I appreciate characters who go above and beyond with their character background, ties with the local world, etc. I'm willing to go as deep as the players do. However, some people would prefer to just jump in and play and not spend hours on a backstory, and I'm fine with that too! We create a story and develop characters together as we play. Overall, I want this to be an immersive story where you and your friends overcome challenges together and tell a collaborative story of adventure!

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