About me

I have been running a game for my friends online for over a year and a local game for two years.

GM Style

Role-playing games are, at their heart, collaborative story telling events. The protagonists are challenged and must rise or falter as they strive to change themselves and the world around them. Whether they are motivated by the pursuit of power, the acquisition of wealth, or the betterment of their fellow beings, there is nothing quite like progressing towards and accomplishing goals. This is the GM's secondary purpose. To challenge your character so that one day they can accomplish their goals. The first, of course, is to help you have fun. I believe that both objectives are best achieved through frequent communication. After all, your character can't roll around in their filthy lucre a la Scrooge McDuck if they never go anywhere nicer than quaint country hovels or help those in need stuck in a jungle for months on end. NOTES ABOUT MY GM STYLE 🅐 Rules For any social interaction to succeed, there must be rules that everyone agrees to follow. Fortunately for us, role-playing games provide us with most of those rules with the remaining ones set as a group or explained below. While my purposes as a GM are listed above, my job is to enforce these rules so that everyone can have fun worry-free. 🅑 Role-playing As this is a role-playing game, it makes sense to start here. There is a very real gap between you and your character, which in a lot of ways is part of the appeal of these games. The "larger than life" aspect of your character is only magnified by the feats they are able to accomplish, whether physical, social, or mental. While some players will revel in what this allows them to do, others like to blur this divide and try to embody their character as much as possible. The degree to which you want to take this "oneness" is what I refer to as your level of role-playing. ¹ To help players feel comfortable and have fun, I allow players to set the level of role-playing they want to do and will, as per my job, then enforce and adjudicate the player's (and character) decisions based on the selected level on a player-by-player basis. 🅒 The Three Pillars of Adventure I firmly believe in "The Three Pillars of Adventure," namely that there are three types of encounters. ① Social Encounters These are the encounters that most naturally (but not exclusively) are solved through social actions (usually Charisma based). These encounters are run based on the level of role-playing chosen by the player. ¹ ② Combat Encounters Sometimes, your characters will have kicked the proverbial hornets nest and will have to choose between fight or flight. These encounters are run using a zone-based combat system. ² ③ Exploration Encounters These are the encounters that most naturally (but not exclusively) are solved through Intelligence and Wisdom. Examples are puzzles, traps, riddles, and woodcraft. These encounters are run based on the level of role-playing chosen by the player. ¹ Please let me know if you really want a specific type of encounter. ----------------------------------------------------------- The following examples follow the exploits of the Merry Misfits: ⯈ Roland, the human male fighter as played by Cassie. ⯈ Glenda, the half-elf wizard as played by Greg. ⯈ Keith, the gnome rogue as played by Keith. ⯈ Fiona, the half-orc bard as played by Sara. ¹ Levels of Role-Playing In short, how much does your "real life stats" affect your game play. ① Level 1: Players describe their actions (either in first or third person) and allow the dice to wholly affect the outcome. ⮞ Sara: "My character is going to try and distract the guard" ⮞ GM: "OK, roll a Performance[Cha] check please" ⮞ Greg: "I am a bit stumped about how to open this door. I want to search for any clues that may help" ⮞ GM: "Great, please roll an Investigation[Int] check to help assist." ⮞ Keith: "Keith will try to disarm the trap" ⮞ GM: "Sounds like a plan, roll a Thieves' Tools[Dex] to disarm the trap." ② Level 2: Characters are bound by characteristics that affect their in-game decisions. Examples of characteristics are personality traits, ideals, bonds, flaws, and religious beliefs. ⮞ GM: "Keith is distracted by the large displays of wealth, ripe for the stealing. Everyone else, please make a Perceptions[Wis] check." ⮞ Cassie: "As Roland is deathly afraid of spiders, I don't know how he would react to the sight of a drider (half-man/half-spider) ⮞ GM: "That is a good point, please roll a Wisdom saving throw against being frightened" ③ Level 3: Players articulate the actual words that they want their characters say without it affected the outcome. ⮞ Cassie: "Roland wants to try and get the lich's attentions by saying "Yo lich, your mother never loved you." ⮞ GM: "The dragon open's its mouth to eat you" ⮞ Sara (as Fiona): "My, what white sparkly teeth! I know you probably hear this all the time from your food, but you must bleach or something 'cause that's one dazzling smile you got there! And do I detect a hint of minty freshness?" ④ Level 4: The players real life choices affect the difficulty of the roll. ⮞ Cassie (as Roland in an attempt to distract a guard): "Hey, your shoelaces are not tied" ⮞ GM: "Roll for deception" (Higher DC than otherwise) ⮞ Keith (as Keith in an attempt to distract a guard): "Help guard, there is a fight that is happening one street over and one of them has a dagger." ⮞ GM: "Roll for deception" (Lower DC than otherwise) --- ² Zone-base Combat This type of "theater of mind" style allows more creative and cinematic combat. ⮞ Cassie: "Can there be a chandelier hanging from the ceiling? I want to cut the rope holding it up to try to drop the chandelier on the villain's head?" ⮞ GM: "Yes, but you will need to do it as a ready actions to wait until the villain is below it." ⮞ Greg: "I want to cast fireball" ⮞ GM: "Great, if you don't mind hitting Roland in the blast you can encompass all 5 bandits; otherwise you will only be able to hit 3 of them"

Games played

Game platforms used