William

he/him

5.0

(7)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Spanish

Identity

Neurodivergent

About William

I've got what you call a "GM itch" which makes me antsy if I'm not running any games. I've been GMing since middle school and now it's just something in my blood; playing RPGs is fine and dandy, but running them has always been my preference. I basically like entertaining people and telling a good story. I guess I've got a lot of experience, but I've never thought of myself as a professional. I find it personally fulfilling and challenging which has always been my primary motivation.

At a glance

4 years on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Beginner Friendly, Storytelling, Rule of Cool

$20 per session

Average response time: 1 hour

Response rate: 75%

Featured Prompts

I ran my first game...

...with my buddy Colin, in his mom's basement, with nothing but graph paper and the 2e Monster Manual for reference.

My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be

...Savage Worlds (for its flexibility and speed), Pathfinder (for the sheer volume of content), and GURPS (for a reason I find hard to articulate)

My favorite books are

...Song of Ice and Fire, Slaughterhouse 5, but I don't read nearly as much as I used to.

How William runs games

I am pretty flexible, I've run dungeon crawls and sweaty backroom intrigues. Of the RPG of pillars of combat-exploration-interaction, I've always leaned more toward exploration and interaction, but I can't play a game with no combat whatsoever. I rarely shut players down. I let people try regardless of whether they are working off genius or making a terrible mistake... there is always a chance you'll get lucky! I am forgiving enough that I do not try to catch players out, but not so forgiving as to be toothless and let people get away with being careless.

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

...resolving them expediently, then looking up afterward what the rules as written are.

My favorite trope is...

...in the Dark Crystal, the Skeksis were the evil castoffs of the Mystics who sought purity. I'm obsessed with the idea of characters who transform themselves by splitting their own personality.

When it comes to voices

...of course! How can you not do voices?

William's ideal table

My ideal group plays to character, comes up with weird uses for mundane spells, and whose character's interpersonal dramas we laugh about after the game. I think one imperfect character is worth 10 optimized ones. I've been lucky to have a very diverse table over the past decade or so, so I'm not sure what my ideal table looks like.

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

...solves a problem with a seemingly useless ability.

I think min/maxing...

...is complicated. I think some optimization is inevitable, but I don't want to be in an arms race with my players. Those optimizations that rely on how abilities are worded and make no sense in a logical context are my least favorite.

My perfect party mix is

...chex. No! Sorry, it's Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Neutral, and Neutral Evil.