GM Seth

he/him

5.0

(8)

Timezone

America/los Angeles

Language

English

About GM Seth

My first experience with tabletop was playing Ravenloft from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons over at my neighbors house when I was in second grade. We would sketch things out on paper and grid paper, and my friends older brother would GM! We played Ravenloft for years until the GM eventually bought an Eberron book. We played all the way through until around high school, where each of us took turns playing and GMing together. During high school I was involved in a play by post Star Wars forum where I was very active, moving to a mod and GM eventually. Just after high school, I was introduced to White Wolf, World of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem LARP by a friend from the east coast. I played in the Pacific Northwest as a member of the White Wolf LARP, and still have my member number to this day. I played from Portland to Seattle, and everywhere between, at one point playing around 4-5 nights per week in different cities, eventually becoming a chapter and domain storyteller. I met my girlfriend at Vampire: The Requiem LARP and we are still together 18 years later playing RPGs and tabletop! Consistently since then, I've been GMing for multiple groups of friends constantly in real life, running games for different systems, including: D&D 3rd-5.5E, Pathfinder, Star Wars, Vampire: The Masquerade, Traveller, Cyberpunk RED, Warhammer, Mork Borg, Coriolis, and numerous others! Now, I'm taking a step to making my dreams come true, sharing my GMing passion with more people!

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

2 games hosted

Highly rated for: Teacher, World Builder, Sets the Mood

Average response time: Under 1 hour

Response rate: 100%

Featured Prompts

My favorite shows/movies are

I have SO many, I love storytelling in any format, including movies, shows, and books. Some of my favorites are Southland Tales, 13 Assassins, Dredd, District 9, Chappie, Hackers, Revolver, Last Knights, Oh Brother-Where art thou?, The Last Starfighter, Frailty, Big Fish, 13th Warrior, Lucky#Slevin

My favorite system of all Time is

Vampire: The Masquerade. It's so awesome! Such a fantastic system, and I met my girlfriend during Vampire/White Wolf LARP! I've played and LARPed with the greatest people, including Jason Carl - helping him as he hosted "The Lonely Black Bleeding Hearts" gathering in Seattle. I love VTM!

When I'm not running games I'm...

Writing and worldbuilding, working on publishing books, fishing, hiking, camping in the PNW, golfing, drone flying, sports shooting.

How GM Seth runs games

I absolutely love consistent tables with epic meta plots woven in deeply with rich character arcs that bring out the type of roleplay every session that feels like the dragon you chase from that most memorable tabletop experience from your past! Games I run can range from silly to serious, depending on the vibe from the players and the tone they're looking for. However, my favorite approach is to bring people through emotional twists and turns, high tension moments, and epic heroic scenes to give people a wide range of experiences each game and over the long term campaign. Combat and conflict is mandatory for a good story, but with my background in so many different tabletops, LARP, and play by post, I love the unexpected alternatives or unique approaches that players feel able to take at my tables with overcoming these encounters. I prefer visceral, high-stakes combat over long, drawn out boring auto-attack sessions with hit point soak monsters. With my GM experience, I often homebrew most of my own monsters with custom artwork and tokens to keep players guessing and always surprised for what threat they may face next! I have multiple homebrew worlds that are well-crafted and fleshed out, and are continually expanding! I spend the equivalent of a full-time job fleshing out my worlds every week with more content and unique, complex NPCs. I try my hand at some unique voices for NPCs, but often focus on tone, cadence, and personality to shine through!

Featured Prompts

If my games were Movies they'd be directed by...

Some weird amalgamation of Richard Kelly, Neill Blomkamp, Denis Villeneuve, Akira Kurosawa, and Christopher Nolan. Some crazy fever dream with awesome visuals and environmental feel, as well as intense, visceral action!

Rules are...

Rules are a baseline for everyone to come together and sit down with a system - you have to accept some of them as a simple basis for interaction and using a system collaboratively! However, every TTRPG system I've picked up and read has specifically said THE RULE OF COOL is the first rule, I agree

GM Seth's ideal table

My table is a great experience for people who enjoy collaborative storytelling, and an epic, visceral, high-stakes adventure. It's the best fit for people who want to participate in a good story, and are patient enough for the plot to develop and allow for unexpected, explosive moments and moments of shock and awe. I think overall, if you like your characters to have time to be fleshed out, have amazing intricate backstories that weave into the world, and then spend time exploring that world and having a major impact on it, this is the table for you. So many times I see people inspired by their favorite podcasts or live plays, and they want that experience. But then they sit at a table and don't allow for that to happen - they're restless, they don't allow for the small interactions that really bind the characters to each other in a group, or bind them to the world and other NPCs. They treat the game like a video game, a tactical tabletop game like the Warhammer 40k miniature game, or a board game like Gloomhaven. They just want a gameboard and combat. Well, that's not D&D or tabletop RPGs to me. If you want an experience that feels immersive, everyone needs to put in the effort, patience, and commitment for those epic stories. At my table, you can always expect me to lead the way by giving my all, and encouraging others at the table to contribute in their own unique way!

Featured Prompts

I think metagaming...

I think metagaming is impossible at my table! So much of my world is homebrew, and I almost NEVER use classic stat blocks without some kind of modification. I like to keep my players on their toes! Table talk is fine, it represents downtime chatter among the characters and innovation as players.

I think min/maxing...

I think min/maxing should be kept in video games like MMORPGs. In video games you have almost no impact on the story or world, so you may want to maximize your chance to experience it all. In tabletop RPGs, you invest in a shared storytelling experience with others, where you shape the outcomes.