About me

Connie (they/he/she) is a trans and queer 1.5-generation Chinese-American person with a background in improv comedy, screenwriting, and critical race studies. Connie brings a reflexive approach to the games she runs, with an emphasis on player initiative, creative collaboration, critical worldbuilding, thematic cohesion, humor and horror, and villain-driven drama. She has been GMing D&D 5th Edition for over five years. Connie is the GM and executive producer behind Transplanar RPG, an all-transgender, person of color-led D&D 5th Edition livestreamed actual play campaign set in an original noncolonial, antiorientalist world. In their free time, Connie likes to play video games like Overwatch and Hades, strength train, write poetry, and spend time with their cat, Baobao.

GM style

REPRESENTATION & RACE: My games are QUEER! My games are TRANS! My games feature diverse NPCs, critical worldbuilding, and homebrew settings where racial/biological determinism does not exist! When running D&D 5e, I expect ALL my players to build their characters utilizing ALTERNATE approaches to race -- and I challenge ALL my players to rethink their assumptions about race in fantasy. I will provide the resources and support to help you with this. Other than that... ROLEPLAY: If you like roleplay, a strong and well-paced plot, gripping story hooks, and villains with complex motivations, then you've come to the right place. In my games, story and character are king. I prioritize player agency and collaborative improv within a strong narrative structure, dropping my PCs into the midst of ongoing conflict that inevitably trace back to YOUR backstories, motivations, and arcs. It's important for me to foster a game experience where all players feel empowered to 1) take creative risks without fearing a TPK or "retribution" from the GM; 2) take initiative to explore the environment, interact with NPCs, and move the story along of their own accord; and 3) draw their own conclusions about the plot and make their own meaning out of the themes I present. TTRPGs are collaborative for a reason! EXPLORATION: My settings are always homebrew, ensuring that there is a wealth of fresh, unexpected lore to uncover. My worlds are also always noncolonial and antiorientalist, fighting against normative approaches to conflict in trad games. You won't find any "savage orcs," "greedy goblins," or "evil drow" in my worlds. Instead, all peoples mingle freely, judging each other not by their heritages and appearances but their deeds, actions, and shared values. Moreover, my worlds are always situated outside of a western fantasy framework: I make it a priority to research and highlight non-western cultures, their folklores, histories, and mythologies. COMBAT: I do not use VTTs or battlemaps. All combat is run theatre-of-the-mind, with a relaxed approach to ranges and components. I approach combat encounters cinematically. As I like to say, John Wick and Bruce Lee don't care about feet or spheres; they just kick ass. I run my combats with tactical creativity, dynamic environments, and narrative stakes at the forefront. The "rule of cool" is queen here. If your barbarian wants to try to launch herself off a cliff to grapple the vrock in midair, you can certainly try! I love giving my players devil's bargains, tough choices, painful consequences, and rewarding payoffs for taking creative risks in battle -- and beyond. SAFETY TOOLS: The safety tools I use in my games are Lines and Veils and the X-Card. These are mandatory for all players. Before each campaign or one-shot begins, I explain what these safety tools are, and how they will be implemented in my games. My lines (hard boundaries -- do NOT exist in ANY games) include sexual assault; real-world oppressions like racism, homophobia, transphobia; wrist gore; and graphic depictions of self-harm. My veils include neck gore. BEYOND D&D: Although 5th Edition is my bread and butter, I can also run MASKS: A NEW GENERATION. If you want to play as teenage superheroes punching baddies and grappling with adolescence, hti me up too!

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