Gideon Atlas
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About Gideon Atlas
I am Gideon, and I have been a DM for over 7 years. I have run for a variety of age levels (including teenagers and their parents at the same table) and experience levels (from complete newbie to very experienced). I primarily DM with D&D 5e 2014, but have run other games in the past if the story required a different system. I take game safety very seriously, with a multi-section Consent in Gaming form I have every player fill out, in order to make sure the game is safe for everyone. I've run both entirely homebrew campaigns and plenty of modules. Game night is the highlight of my week, and hopefully I can make it yours as well!
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Rule of Cool
Featured Prompts
I got started GMing...
back in 2019. I had never played before, but had watched a bunch of Critical Role. I mentioned offhandedly in a voice call that I was interested in starting up a game, and 6 people were interested. So, for my first campaign as a new DM, I ran Storm Kings Thunder for a table of 6!
My favorite books are
the Percy Jackson series, the Septimus Heap series, the Stormlight Archive, the Rangers Apprentice series, the Brotherband Chronicles series, and The Wicked + The Divine comic series, to name a few! There are too many to name here, but safe to say, if its fantasy or sci-fi, I'll probably like it!
When I'm not running games I'm...
knitting (probably a blanket or sweater), crocheting (probably a blanket or stuffed animal), playing video games (I'm partial to Hollow Knight and Animal Crossing New Horizons), or reading!
How Gideon Atlas runs games
I love both roleplay and combat, and the amount of each depends on the campaign I run. When I run modules, combat tends to take more of a role, as encounters are already written out. When I run homebrew campaigns, roleplay tends to take the spotlight, as I don't tend to run combat for combats sake in homebrew campaigns. Why run a combat like "you are walking when ORCS ATTACK" when you can have fewer combats at more meaningful moments that lead to story progress? My homebrew campaigns tend to vary in number of combats, because with some it makes sense to have very few, and in others it makes more sense to have more. It just depends on the story we are trying to tell. With the combats I do run, I want to make them tactical, and am actively working on bettering that! I think tactical combat is cool, I just haven't run much of it, so I'm learning as I go. I also love to give my PCs cool gear. I have so many 3rd-Party magic item books and I love to give them out when the occasion comes.
Featured Prompts
Rules are...
important building blocks. Sometimes there's nuance needed, but you need a solid base. I value my player's safety, so I make a solid base understanding of the rules for everyone to follow, based on what people tell me is and isn't ok for them.
When it comes to voices
I have like, 3 accents I rotate between, that I can kinda modify. Sometimes players talk to a boar and your mouth decides that the boar is vague eastern european. This is normal. Usually I stick with my regular voice, with minor changes to distinguish people. I'm no voice actor, but I do my best.
Gideon Atlas's ideal table
My tables aren't too serious. While there are potentially serious moments, there is quite a lot of levity, whether because I or another player said something weird, or because the story lends itself that way. Ginny Di has a great video going over player types, so for the sake of brevity, I'll use those. If you are an Actor, Explorer, Fighter, Instigator, Problem Solver, or Storyteller, you'll probably have a great time at my table! If you're an Optimizer, you may not fit as well. I've had optimizers at my table and they have had fun, but my table may not be as number crunchy as you would like, and I don't want to hold you back from that. I use music (that I play through Spotify to Discord) to help bring everyone into the same mood. My games start with a few minutes of chatting, letting everyone catch up and talk about their week (and share pics of pets and things), and then I start the session by doing a recap of the previous session or arc. Halfway through I call for a bio break. At the end of the session, I allocate a few minutes to debrief and go over Roses (things we liked), Buds (things we're looking forward to), and Thorns (things we didn't like or wish we had done differently) for the session.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
uses their abilities to do something I had never thought possible. This is especially true at low levels, and with new players, when there aren't a lot of options for what a character can do, so sometimes you get creative with a length of rope, some caltrops, and a cantrip, and it works out!
I think it's a red flag when players...
try to play another (usually new) person's character. This is often done when trying to help, saying "well, that course of action wouldn't be as good as this, this, or this." The fun of learning to play is making mistakes and learning, and making constant suggestions unprompted doesn't help.
My table is not the place for...
people who use AI. If you use ChatGPT and other AIs to generate images or text, this is not the table for you.
Gideon Atlas's Preferences
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