Bob Ursini (Grey Area Gaming Press)

he/him

Timezone

America/los Angeles

About Bob Ursini (Grey Area Gaming Press)

I'm a lifelong writer, gamer, and Sci-Fi nerd. I'm excited to tell some amazing stories with help from new collaborators whose unique experiences help shape the fictional settings we create together. My goal is to create a fun, safe, and inclusive environment in which you, my players, have a blast and feel comfortable even while the characters you portray face mortal peril and horrors beyond comprehension. I've been running and playing TTRPGs since 1992, back when I used to run D&D 2E and Palladium Rifts one-shots for my fellow fifth grade students during indoor recess. Over many years since, I have played or run over a dozen systems, including every edition of D&D since 2E, Rifts, Gurps, Pathfinder, WOD, Mutants and Masterminds, Hero System, and others. My all-time favorite system is Savage Worlds, as it provides just enough crunch to tell compelling stories while providing a versatile tool kit designed to handle any kind of story imaginable. Pinnacle Entertainment Group has also adapted a few of my favorite modules and settings from other systems, published several amazing ones of their own, and licensed their system to several great third-party publishers. These are the stories I plan to run for you while continuing to work on my own gritty space opera setting powered by Savage Worlds and published under Pinnacle's Ace Licensing program — once the first books are finished, I hope to have the opportunity to run my setting for you as well!

At a glance

2 years on StartPlaying

How Bob Ursini (Grey Area Gaming Press) runs games

I am a huge fan of the philosophy behind Savage Worlds, striving to make my games Fast, Furious, and Fun for all participants. The Bennies mechanic takes what would otherwise be a highly lethal system and lets me reward clever ideas, cool stunts, and epic narrative descriptions with increased character survivability and the chance for overwhelming success against all odds — in other words, it gives you, my players, the opportunity to be heroes! Similarly, the Savage Worlds rules are flexible enough that adhering to the Rule of Cool seldom requires bending or breaking them, and the Bennies mechanic eliminates the need for the GM to fudge rolls or pull punches to keep the story going or avoid ruining fun for everyone at the table. As I love gritty science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror, the stories we tell together might occasionally take us to dark places and explore mature themes when doing justice to the source material requires it. This requires a level of maturity and personal accountability on both sides of the GM screen, but making sure everyone at the table feels safe and comfortable always takes priority over everything else, even the story. Safety Tools will always be accessible in the event someone needs them, and I will do my level best to offer content warnings for games exploring themes that might make some players uncomfortable.