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Kevin Helock

Kevin Helock (he/him)

5.0

(10)

Published Writer
Teacher/Educator

2 years on StartPlaying

52 games hosted

Highly rated for: Storytelling, Creativity, Inclusive

About me

Greetings, traveler, and welcome to my lair! (cue maniacal laughter) I'm a published fiction writer who has been running D&D 5e for five years, and I'm looking forward to playing together! Most of what I run publicly on StartPlaying will be one-shot adventures, but feel free to reach out to me directly if you have interest in a campaign. I'm willing to acquire any of D&D 5e's prewritten materials to run for you, or we can talk about a homebrew game if you have something unique in mind! See you at the game table!

GM Style

I like cinematic gameplay with a focus on characters and combat. In my games you can expect meaningful roleplay, careful decision-making, and epic battles that will push your adventuring party to its limits. Whether it's homebrew or prewritten, expect the adventures I run to be tense, lively, and personal.

Game platforms used
Game Master Reviews (10)

Proficiencies

Players say this GM is great at:

Storytelling

Creativity

Inclusive

Chase avatar

Chase

Played 15 sessions

Kevin is great! He's great at putting oomph behind NPC motivations, and treats each as a living (or unliving)/breathing (or unbreathing) creature in the world. He's flavorfull in his descriptions, really helping to build immersion in the world, and doesn't shy away from roleplaying opportunities. Definitely join one of his games if you're tired of the murderhobo style of gameplay that can happen online. You won't regret it!

Adrian  avatar

Adrian

Played 7 sessions

Kevin is an excellent DM! He will always encourage players to explore and role play throughout the sessions, while also providing enough content to make everyone feel included and excited!

Chris avatar

Chris

Played 45 sessions

Kevin’s been great from the start. Very helpful with character creation and working your character into the story. He checks in with players at the start of a session to make sure everyone’s having a good time, and will even drop you a private line now and then to make sure you have no issues and have everything you need. He creates a rich story full of description, mood, fun NPC’s, and always lets the players try something cool while still having an excellent grasp on the rules to keep things on track. I’ve played a one-shot with him, and am now in an ongoing campaign, and I look forward to every week!

Michael Chu avatar

Michael Chu

Played 1 sessions

Kevin is a great GM! This specific one shot was more combat heavy and he really balanced it well. Lots of tactical decisions to be made and opportunity to be creative.

Sydney avatar

Sydney

We would play every Sunday and had a great time, often coming up with insane responses to combat which Kevin always handled without batting an eye. As a total beginner, it was exciting without being too confusing.

tsukkinami avatar

tsukkinami

As someone who appreciates rules management within a narratively beautiful world, I like how Kevin can balance the game mechanics and the creative ideas and solutions that we players come up with. It keeps us honest and fair, rewarding the Rule of Cool only if it can be rationalized both in-fiction and within the rulesets. Player choices have good and bad consequences, but he even makes the bad consequences feel meaningful and exciting. As for world-building, our campaign takes place across several different worlds, and each one is given a unique and detailed story that makes them all interesting to navigate and play in. Character backstory tie-ins are organic and intriguing, and Kevin makes sure not to alienate other players when only one is the focus. Combat encounters are run with care and extensive planning and balancing, making even the long combats fun to engage in the whole time. Kevin is timely and organized and makes sure to give his players creative liberties within reason. If you like a DM with a steady hand and a level head, then Kevin is the right choice for you.

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