Jeff

he/him

5.0

(6)

Timezone

America/los Angeles

Language

English

About Jeff

I've been playing RPGs since 1980; I ran my first D&D adventure when I was 12 and ran "Palace of the Silver Princess" for David, Kevin, and Ruthie. My family moved cities and I found another group, some I'm still friends with today. (We often went to GenCon; I've been to 35!) We played AD&D 1E, then 2E, for years, along with Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Paranoia, Elfquest, Cyberpunk, GURPS, Traveller, and Champions. Then I changed cities again, for college. I joined the campus RPG club and fell for Shadowrun. I founded yet another gaming group, a couple of whom I still play with 30+ years later! Again I moved, to the SF Bay Area and another gaming circle. In 2000, we bought hard into D&D 3E, then 3.5, then Pathfinder 1E, and (most recently) PF2E. My current group is 10 folks; we rotate four GMs, run two alternating in-person games at a time, and have been playing 40+ sessions a year for over 20 years. I still love exploring other games: five feet from me are my most recent and favorites I haven't yet mentioned: Mutants & Masterminds, Daggerheart, Mothership, D6, ALIEN, Blade Runner, Fate, Kids on Bikes, and Alice Is Missing. I like to run systems with good tactical options, but with a big caveat: I love dramatic roleplaying at least as much as I love combat, and I love when players just tell me what they want to do, and I let them know how. I don't like "Rule of Cool" as most understand it; I think every game worth playing allows doing cool things within the rules.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Storytelling, Knows the Rules, Beginner Friendly

$8 per session

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

... I'm a control freak. That's the raw truth. Of course there's more to it: I'm a writer, with an intuitive sense for plot, characterization, pacing, and prose. But, really, even in games I'm genuinely enjoying a lot, I'm never not thinking, "Hmmm, I think I would have handled that differently."

I got started GMing...

... with a coverless copy (found in a schoolbus) of the D&D Expert rulebook. I had to reverse-engineer the rules to run games for my friends until my mom bought me the Basic Set for Christmas.

My favorite books are

Neuromancer, William Gibson Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury Tam Lin, Pamela Dean Salem's Lot, Stephen King The Complete William Shakespeare (hey, it's technically one book!)

How Jeff runs games

I like systems with good tactical options, but with a big caveat: I love dramatic roleplaying at least as much as I like combat. I love when players just tell me what they want to do; I let them know how. I don't like "Rule of Cool" as most understand it; I think every game worth playing allows doing cool things within the rules. My goal is to facilitate every player in my games -- whether I'm a player or the GM! -- in having fun. I actively share and pass the spotlight, and I try to give every PC a chance to shine. I run mature games, with the equivalent of an R-rating, and I find it difficult to curb my tendency toward (cheerful) profanity. Dark themes do come up in my games, including murder, betrayal, and other nastiness. I draw a line at any form of sexual assault (including verbal). These exist in my worlds, but (at most!) are vaguely alluded to. It won't be on-screen or even talked of directly. I feel similarly about any other abuse or bullying, though I'm more willing to show those things ... always as villainy. I'm absolutely okay with romance, but heavily veiled (mostly because I'm bad at RPing it). Consensual RPed sex will also be veiled. Depending on feelings of the players (discussed before playing), innuendo and adult joking may happen, but if it gets to the point of distraction or discomfort for any player, I'll stop it. I use Roll20, but only for maps and rolls. Players use physical character sheets. (If players like, they can even use physical dice.)

Featured Prompts

If my games were Movies they'd be directed by...

Ridley Scott Kathryn Bigelow Christopher Nolan Damian McCarthy Michael and Danny Philipou

Rules are...

... the difference between an RPG and "Let's Pretend." I think they're important. We all remember the kid, when we were playing "Let's Pretend," who always got their way, right? The rules in a well-designed RPG (in concert with a GM with good judgment) makes sure that EVERYBODY gets time to shine.

When it comes to voices

... Remember that "voice" in an RPG can mean both the auditory quality AND the projection of character and personality that comes with what someone says. "Doing a voice" consistently is HARD. I try, but I'm not great at it, and I don't expect it of players. But giving your PC a VOICE? Yes! Please!

Jeff's ideal table

My table style is a mix of my very good knowledge of the rules with my love of "do your best to think like your PC" roleplaying. I like to run a game -- including combat -- with pace, and I really like and admire players who get into the game and don't need much in the way of prompting. I'm descriptive, but not to the point of boredom, and I'm by-the-book, but not to the point of total inflexibility. In short, I think every well-designed RPG's rules allow a player to have their PC do really cool, dramatic stuff, and as GM I will go out of my way to help a player realize that potential. But I also believe that "dice tell a story," and I encourage players to also -- sometimes! -- let their PCs fail when they take big swings, and really learn to enjoy it.

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

... relaxed between players, both between themselves and me (the GM). I run a PG-13/R table, with most subject matters potentially on the table, subject to lines and veils. Consensual -- consensual! -- tension between PCs is fantastic, but it can't spill over into the real world, or into PvP stuff.

I love it when a player

... does stuff! For me, the best moments in RPGs are when a PC, existing within the bounds of how the players sees them, doesn't wait to be directed or prompted, but just DOES STUFF. And if they drag along other PCs, including those being run by shyer players ... you will be my heroes.

My table is not the place for...

... wackiness and silliness, unless it's a fit with the game and circumstances within the game. For example, I'm not at all a fan of "joke characters." Note that I love humor -- even inappropriate humor -- as long as it's not mean-spirited. (I'm cursed with the juvenile mind of a 12-year-old.)