About me

On a school trip to Florida, I blundered into my first game of Dungeons & Dragons. I really didn’t know what it was, I had only just met the DM (another student) that morning, and I bullied a friend into coming along. The DM had not known he was going to be running D&D on this trip, we didn’t have character sheets, and we barely had dice. The scenario was utterly basic: rescue the princess from the goblins. My friend, Mike, wasn’t impressed. I was instantly hooked. That was 30 years ago (or more depending on when you read this), and I’ve played regularly ever since. I can’t tell you how many campaigns I’ve participated in or run. I have mostly been a GM. In retrospect, I really should have kept a record. That would have been a great tool for reminiscing, but alas. Let it suffice that I have tens of thousands of hours running and playing in games of all types. I started with D&D, as many do, but have also played Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, Shadowrun, Star Wars (multiple versions), Fading Suns, Burning Wheel, Vampire, Werewolf, Dune, A Good Society, Alien, Achtung! Cthulhu, Marvel (Faserip, Heroic, Multiverse), and way too many more. Obviously, I have done more in the past 30 years than just play RPGs. I went to college, got a job in marketing, met my wife, performed improv, had kids, started consulting, etc. I never stopped playing games though. Even in years where playing was minimal, I always made sure that I got at least a group of friends around the table every few months to skewer monsters and orate poorly. I am certain I will do it until I die or my mind is too addled to remember any rules. That’s the future, uncertain though it might be. What is now is gaming on the Internet. Gaming online and in person are so very similar, but not quite the same thing. Games move at a different pace, some games work better online than in person and vice versa, and the interface is both a benefit and a detriment. Fortunately, I have been running games online since 2008 and know how to do it very well. Last, but not least, I am the main GM for the BastardQuest actual play podcast. We have over 250 episodes, we've played over 25 different games, and I've been GM for most of that. If you want to listen to me run a game, you can find us on the YouTube link on this page or wherever fine podcasts are distributed freely.

GM Style

As a GM, I see my role as the Inventor of Challenge. What the heck does that mean? First, I mean that I am not a novelist. I am not inventing a grandiose plot tapestry through which the players’ choices are narrated. I do create non-player characters, factions, locations, lore, and more with which the player characters can interact. However, what happens is very much up to those player characters. Second, the drama only happens when characters in any medium face challenges. This is the story of our player characters, right? Ergo, they must face tough challenges for this to be at all interesting. Any roleplaying game without a challenge, though they might wildly vary in type, for the players to face would be a boring one. Third, I do not craft solutions. Solutions are up to the players, and their characters. I specifically do not even try to speculate about what the players are going to do about a given problem. I’ve done that in the past, and I’m always wrong. These days I just assume the players will figure it out or not. When they do, I adapt, improvise, and get them heading to the next challenge that their characters will no doubt, somehow, overcome. Or fail. Fail? Yes, I believe in a consequential table. The dice fall where they may. The NPCs react according to their nature and resources. If the players miscalculate, if the (dice) gods abandon them, then failure can follow, and beloved PCs might die. It sucks, so why do it? Why not fudge the dice to success? I’ve run and played in games where failure was possible, and where it wasn’t. And, for my money, the ones where it was always an option were far more interesting and compelling than the ones in which it felt like we could do no wrong.

Games played

Game platforms used

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