Josh Vlk
he/him
5.0
(5)
Timezone
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About Josh Vlk
I've been playing TTRPGs for 18 years and mainly DMing them for 8 years. I prefer running the game to playing. I started with D&D 3.5 and now run Pathfinder 2E. I've also run F.A.T.E, MÖRK BORG, Deadlands, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. I've played Call of Cthulhu, Vampire the Masquerade, Dungeons and Dragons 4th and 5th editions, and a handful of other systems. I have almost all of the PF2 books and I do my best to be as familiar with the rules as possible, but there's a lot so there are moments I have to look things up. I love introducing new players to the game! For longer running campaigns I expect players to be familiar with their character sheets and the related rules so they don't cause slowdowns during play. I run my main group in person with set pieces and minis, but I also run a weekly game online using Foundry. I also ran games remotely a ton during the pandemic (who didn't). I like 3D printing and painting models, but I also love taking time to set up Foundry to provide a great experience for players. I love gritty dark fantasy and one of my favorite settings is Dark Sun, which I ran a D&D 3.5 version of for over 2 years. No matter what setting I am running little bits of Dark Sun will slip in. I am also in love with Pathfinder's Golarion and spend many hours pouring over the Lost Omens books. If something is remotely related to the game I am running I will read every scrap I can get my hands on.
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
2 games hosted
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Creativity, Rule of Cool
$15 per session
Featured Prompts
I got started GMing...
With D&D 3.5 back in 2009ish. I ran an adaptation of Temple of Elemental Evil. It ended after 3 sessions in a TPK, which is expected with that module. I found that I loved reading rules and lore and driving the world more than I enjoyed playing as a single character.
My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be
Pathfinder 2E Dungeon Crawl Classics FATE
My favorite books are
- Dune - Elric of Melniboné - The Once and Future King - The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Hobbit - Rama Revealed - Conan the Barbarian
How Josh Vlk runs games
I run games that focus on the mechanics of the system while allowing room for as much or as little roleplay as the group wants. I stick to RAW, but I make judgement calls to bend them when needed. I don't hold back in encounters and characters often die in my games, including a few TPKs. If there is no chance of failure, why roll dice? I love setting up encounters that will push your character to the limit. Enemies will use tactics, the environment, and all of their abilities to try and kill your character. Sometimes they don't want to kill you, maybe they want to take you prisoner, rob you, or scare you away. If a monster is hungry and you go down, it's going to drag you away to feast and not stick around to let your friends have a fair fight. I do enough roleplay to set the stage for characters, and I try and setup each scene with a description that goes above just what is listed in the book. If a player wants to slow things down and strike up a conversation with a shopkeeper while in character, I am happy to engage, but I also don't force it and I have players who rarely roleplay or speak in character. If you just want to dungeon crawl, kill monsters, and pickup look that's fine with me. I almost exclusively run Paizo's PF2 adventure paths due to time constraints as an adult, but in the past I have run fully homebrew campaigns. If I am not running PF2 it will be something like Mork Borg or DCC and you can almost guarantee that half the characters are dying.
Featured Prompts
I prep by
re-reading the adventure to go over what I expect the party to do this session while listening to fantasy music. This includes planning out encounters based on monster abilities and re-checking rules that will most likely come up.
My games focus on...
Combat and tactics if I'm running PF2. Some of my favorite moments are when the party almost wipes and a player gets a good roll and saves the day. Survival is also a big theme in my games. It's one of the reasons Dark Sun is my favorite system. I also like dark settings.
Rules are...
the backbone of tactical games like Pathfinder 2. It takes a huge load off being a GM when I don't have to make things up. You want to be a goblin riding a poodle into combat with a lance? Cool, there are rules for that. I do enjoy rules lite systems for some things, usually some flavor of OSR.
Josh Vlk's ideal table
My table is fun and not too serious, but I don't like things to be goofy or have joke characters. I like to keep things moving as much as possible. I mostly tell the story as the narrator and go into details about the lore, the characters, and the locations, but I don't usually do that as a character. I will speak as characters frequently, but it's not the bulk of how I give out information. I don't force any sort of role playing and I have players who never really speak in character or just describe things in the third person. I will jump in and try and keep up with role playing if a player is doing it. I run adventures usually by the book making only minor modifications to respond to the players actions, but don't expect a personalized plot for your character. I like to run challenging games, and player death does happen. If there is no chance of failure, why bother rolling dice? If you go into the "valley of certain doom" you will most likely meet certain doom. I don't hold back, fudge or alter roles, or ignore a dice roll once it's made. If it's a roll of high consequence I often tell you what the result needs to be before I roll it in front of you, for example "If this is above a 12, you are dead.". I want players who are engaged with the story and understand the mechanics of the system and deeply understand their character sheet. When it's your turn in combat, you should know what you are doing quickly. You don't need to know all of the rules, that's my job, but you should know how your character works. You will enjoy my table if you like: - Tactical play and frequent combat encounters - Using system mastery to create unique and powerful characters - A game where dice rolls determine the outcomes of character interactions and combat - A game that is challenging and the chance of dying is real
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
knows their character. That means that they have come up with a concept for a character and created their sheet to match, and then they have to act they know what action they are using, what they need to roll, and they know the rules related to it.
I think min/maxing...
a good thing that rewards players for system mastery, but some systems need to be modified to not allow them to break. In PF2 min/maxing doesn't break the system, while in 3.5 you had to forbid known things that broke the game.
My table is not the place for...
My table is not for you if you want a game focused heavily on role play and will ignore the rules to tell the story you want. I will have you roll for just about everything, and the "rule of cool" does not mean just allowing something to happen, it means I will allow you to roll for it.
Josh Vlk's Preferences
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