Jared Cassady

he/they

5.0

(9)

Timezone

America/chicago

Language

English

Identity

LGBTQ+

Queer

Disabled

Neurodivergent

Teacher/Educator

About Jared Cassady

I've been GMing for over 30 years, proficient since I was a gradeschooler. My day job is as an elementary teacher, so I try to keep a lighthearted energy and am experienced with (and always happy to) take on new players and teach games, as well as accomodate player creativity and homebrew as necessary. I can go into deeper and more mature subject matters as players desire to create drama and pathos, and can guarantee weekly sessions of 3~4 hours or more. I do have some minor disabilities, so things like providing handdrawn maps will be areas I'm weak in. Friendly and accepting of all personality and culture types and demographics, as long as they're respectful of others.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

8 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Rule of Cool

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

I fell in love with games as a six year old and immediately asked my cousin how to do what he did. Before the year was up I was running my own games. I won't claim to have been a master by then, but by the time I was 12 I was already considered a good GM by people twice my age.

My favorite system of all Time is

Anything OSR, or failing that rules-light. I really enjoy when procedure and dice create something even I didn't see coming, and I houserule so often that often I frankenstein games. The game I've most run in the past ten years by player request is Castles & Crusades.

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

Always consuming new fictional media for ideas; I always have a GM notebook in my lap.

How Jared Cassady runs games

My policy is to let the story be emergent, greater than the sum of our parts. I don't write plots, so much as create situations to prompt interesting decisions. Whether it's a survival horror dungeoncrawl or a political drama, I strive to make tables where not even I know what's going to happen next. My preference is towards low-power characters encountering the weird and fantastical and getting by on their cleverness or internal virtues, so that when they become powerful and superheroic, it feels accomplished. I can, however, run the gamut. Games of Gods are not off the table any more than the Trials of Worms.

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

Polite, empathetic communication. If an issue can't be resolved in a couple minutes, I say I have to make a call to respect people's time, but invite for discussion after the session is done. If need be, I'll retcon the decision.

My favorite trope is...

Uncontrolled magic. Wild surges, strange alternate dimensions, unintended spontaneous intelligences... Magic is wondrous, and it's not science, so the dreams and feelings of mortals cast shadows longer than their lives.

Rules are...

Guidelines. I'll change them or ignore them, but not arbitrarily. I believe that games DO need rules for structure and fairness, and think that the result of following procedures can be better than what we just came up with adhoc.

Jared Cassady's ideal table

I tend to put both comedy and genuine emotions in my games. I want my players to be friendly with me and each other, if not outright friends. I homebrew and change things to facilitate people's ideas, and expect my players to be engaged enough to speak up for themselves. I don't require my players to stay "in character voice" at all moments, but I want them to try to feel what their characters do.

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

Takes notes and shares them afterwards; I give bonus XP for it (or some other metatoken if not an XP-based game).

I think it's a red flag when players...

can't share the spotlight. I want to hear everyone's contributions, and want everyone to feel heard.

My table is not the place for...

Excessive PVP. A bit of drama is fine. Even full on conflict where characters don't like each other personally. But you are a party, and even if you're evil, you must have a reason why you're ride-or-die with your fellow party members.