JAY

he/him

4.9

(11)

Timezone

America/los Angeles

About JAY

Hello! My name is Justin but all of my friends and family call me JAY. I am 28 years old and I grew up in Riverside California. When I turned 18 I moved to Oregon where I got my BArch in Architecture and I now practice in the bay area. I have played TTRPGs off and on for 6 years and I've been a DM for 3 years. I have played a few formats but I mainly run DnD 5e campaigns. I have a huge capacity for creativity and story driven narratives. I find enjoyment in letting players run through my world and stir up all sorts of chaos. I enjoy given as much player freedom as possible, allowing the players to decide where the story should go. my world moves with or without the player so it is up to the party to determine what to intervene in. I work best in my own chaos so a majority of my worlds, locations, lore, etc... is homebrew so I can quickly give explanations, backstory when it comes up. As a DM I value communication and safety above all else. DnD is not and should not be a one size fits all game. I take criticism, suggestions and advise very well. If you ever have concerns, feel uncomfortable, or don't enjoy the direction the campaign is going I welcome an open discussion about it.

At a glance

1 year on StartPlaying

37 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, World Builder, Inclusive

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

nobody else wanted to become a GM in my group so I decided to take on the roll originally. I didn't know I would love it so much! back then we would use marbles on grid paper to describe distances and number of enemies. It's crazy how much its changed since then.

My favorite shows/movies are

Supernatural, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and a bunch on nerdy ones.

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

Studying for my architectural license! I'm also boxing and going on adventures with my wife.

How JAY runs games

My DM style is balanced between roleplay, puzzles, and combat as I enjoy each one individually. I gear the sessions towards the players. A chatty group that likes roleplay might have more of an opportunity to do so. A group of combat ready mercs will have more combat. I find the game to be most enjoyable when it's constrained by rules. I've been known to not pull punches and make really tense and dramatic moments where characters can die and TPK's can happen. With that being said I also love rule of cool and reward players for thinking outside the box. Your utility and options are never limited to what's on your character sheet!

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

making the best judgment and researching the rules after the session. I don't like to stop gameplay to research rules. I'll make a judgment call based on my knowledge and move on. If others like to put their input it's also appreciated!

My games focus on...

you! I love proactively gameplay with having a robust main story that is designed for you to explore and mess with as much as you like. I enjoy when my players create and seek out goals for their characters.

Rules are...

Important! The game only feels real and interactable with the rules. It creates a good baseline to keep myself and my players grounded. But let's be honest, sometimes they don't make sense and you want to do something really cool! alright,let's break from the rules and think about this cinematically

JAY's ideal table

I love all sorts of players but the ones that best fit at my table are those wanting to interact with the world and have it respond to them. I like proactive players that help me build the world. this is a collaborative story telling game and although I am the one setting up threats, encounters, and the world. I am not writing the story! I am finding ways for the world to react to your story!

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

is proactive about their character and creates their own goals. The more you describe your narrative and what your character wants to do (whether in session, in background, or in private DMs) the more I can tailor the game to you and the party to make sure you get some limelight.

I think metagaming...

only hurts yourself and your enjoyment. I'm not surprised seasoned players know abilities but telling everyone else and playing around it just ruins the fun for everyone. I also run a lot of homebrew creatures and content so metagaming might be difficult...

I think min/maxing...

has a lot of mis-interpretations on the internet. We will cover this in session 0 but this is a game! you're allowed to play it and create optimized builds! what you cannot do is find broken combos online and try to break the game or be consistently way more powerful then the rest of the party.