Jon Horry
he/him
5.0
(14)
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About Jon Horry
Indie Game Developer of Pathways To Adventure, a TTRPG with 30 Classes and over 200 Abilities, including martial combat Maneuvers. Professional DM with 6 years of experience, 2 years of which have been spent running my own homebrew campaigns of Lost in Paradice and Paradice Lost. In 2022 I ran 4-hour weekly in-person sessions for 4 to 5 groups of players, ranging in size of 4 to 9 players each. In Paradice, all groups participate asynchronously in reality, but their characters exist simultaneously in the universe. My past year of players played in Paradice together with interwoven storylines and collaborative (well, usually!) goals they struggled hard to achieve together! We even merged groups for huge Raid events against the most powerful forces in the setting, and they went very well! Streams of two raids can be provided upon request. One event had 31 participants and was quite a spectacularly fun session. I hope that you, too, may someday become Lost in Paradice to rediscover the special fun and excitement of last year's cohort!
At a glance
3 years on StartPlaying
41 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling
Featured Prompts
I got started GMing...
... as a new, forever GM, rather than as a player with 5E. I have played a few games as a player over the years now, but I was originally thrown into the lake to sink or swim as our group's DM!
My favorite system of all Time is
Pathways to Adventure, my own indie TTRPG I've spent years thinking about and a year designing! I really love sharing the experience of my unique system with new players and seasoned veterans alike.
The three words my players would use to describe me are...
Creative. Player-Agency-Focused. Inclusive.
How Jon Horry runs games
My best strength is improvisation and prepping story beats that players can dynamically interact with to change the entire narrative of the story. I write my content to have many features and set pieces, and I force myself to react to my players by giving them exceptional agency in their choices. I do voice acting, love to get deep into the weeds of the world building lore, and borrow many skills learned from watching the majority of the content creators on YouTube, with a special nod to MrRhexx, Dungeon Dudes, and Dungeon Dad. I excel at running large table games and have a year of direct experience as noted above. I keep combat snappy, but also interject role-playing into combat whenever appropriate. I treat combat, exploration, and role-playing as equally important Pillars and refuse to separate them out during a session. A good session should incorporate all three, and simultaneously whenever possible. I consider myself a huge rules junky for 5E and I'm always willing to incorporate play test rules from One DnD as well. I believe in a combination of RAW and RAI that I call RAD: Rules as Defined. A good rule should incorporate original design intention and rewrite the RAW to define the original intent where ever possible, so they become pretty darn RAD. I always seek to challenge my players, teach them neat combat tactics, help them work on build optimization ... and then make my encounters as difficult as possible to rise to meet the skills of my players! I also challenge my players to try to derail my campaign plots. Bring it on you would-be plot-smashers, I bet I'll improvise my way out of any shenanigans you bring my way!
Featured Prompts
I once ran a session...
... in which my mother's character, Betty Off-White, created an illusion of several cannons that "fired" upon an orcish stronghold, causing them to flee outside to address the "artillery" attacking them. The party was able to flank around and catch them unaware, with a sweeping victory!
I prep by
... creating a lot of interactable points within the world and seeing how my players interact with them to move the plot forward. I love setting up settings and seeing how players, with their full agency, address the challenges.
Rules are...
... Important, but should not overly limit what players can do. Rules should focus on player agency as their priority, and provide safety rails to keep the experience fun for everyone. I am a rules-lawyer at heart, and love it when players can correct me and find any kinks the the rules to fix!
Jon Horry's ideal table
I am a very permissive GM, so my tables often have a "can I do this?" and my response is usually "yes, but!" and we see where the dice and player agency take us. I love to give tactical advice to new players who are learning their character, and encourage (but don't require) roleplay and finding your character's vibe. Also, as a neurodivergent, I strongly welcome other NDs, and I have a therapy degree in counseling aimed specifically at helping other NDs build social and coping skills at the table!
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
Corrects me! I am not perfect and I love when someone "um, ACTUALLY"s me about a name I messed up, or a rule I got wrong (in my own game I designed no less!). I fully enjoy players feeling confident and willing to speak up, and I don't mind any corrections that are made.
I think min/maxing...
... Can be really enjoyable, and isn't just limited to the "hyper players" that read every minute detail. I love helping players find ways to bring out their character's potential and help their group succeed against challenging opponents and scenarios.
My perfect party mix is
... a party in which everyone has at least one moment in which they shine. I love parties that combo together to pull off impressive feats and overcome obstacles that first would appear impossible! My game tends to have very balanced party compositions by the design of the classes; diversity is fun!
Jon Horry's Preferences
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