Matthew

he/him

5.0

(5)

Timezone

Etc/gmt

Language

English

Identity

Streamer

Disabled

Neurodivergent

Cosplayer

About Matthew

Hey folks, I'm a GM from the UK who fell backwards into TTRPGs about twenty years ago having been introduced to the works of R.A.Salvatore and learning of Faerûn, Dungeons & Dragons, and eventually the mechanics that powered the TTRPG phenomenon. After a few awful first games, my own first PC a dual wielding Drow Rogue that never hit a thing, I found myself in the GM chair and never looked back, running tables through systems like D&D 3.5, 4.0 & 5E, Pathfinder 1E, Mutants & Masterminds, d20 Modern, PBTA, E20 and countless more!

At a glance

3 years on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Inclusive

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

Because I wanted to bring the level of fun I had to other people, my first game might have been awful in terms of my character not being able to hit a thing (turns out an LA+2 Drow Rogue who dual wielded Scimitars with a high Dexterity was AWFUL) but he was enjoyable! And I love to tell stories!

My favorite books are

They change a lot, mostly because I read so much, but at the moment I'd say Mistborn Era 2 and The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson, and Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Did you know that the latter is getting a TTRPG!?

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

Generally I'll be reading - fiction, nonfiction, or game systems - or working on the small collection of side projects my ADHD brain bounces back and forth between like a squirrel hoarding nuts.

How Matthew runs games

I prefer to find a balance between roleplay and crunchy combat games, somewhere in the 60/40 balance, because a lot of the popular TTRPGs are designed around fighting things at the end of the day and whilst being able to completely talk your way out of an encounter can be fun, being able to use your class features is always a good option too! I tend to favour the "rule of cool" a little more than the "rules as written", the latter provides a framework to ajudicate everything in general but there's almost always a specific exception where things can be interesting to deviate from in order to help tell a fun story. My favourite thing to do is to weave character backgrounds into the story, integrate them as best and as much as possible, and to make the events important to the characters not just to the world as a whole!

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

Making a decision at the time to continue the game, and then check afterwards. It's more important to carry on with the game and have fun in the moment than to stop, derail the time and spend five or ten minutes arguing mechanics. If everyone agrees, maybe it becomes a house rule.

When it comes to voices

I do try to give the important NPCs voices, or at least change mine up a little, but it's not one of my strong points. I'm working on improving at it!

Matthew's ideal table

My ideal table would be one where different voices with different experiences come together to tell a story that is greater than the sum of their parts. Where everyone feels safe enough to engage fully and wholly without judgement, and laughter is in abundance!

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

Adds to the worldbuilding! Develops an NPC, throws out little details that makes the world really shine, anything that adds to the world as a whole and enhances all of our enjoyment of the game!

I think it's a red flag when players...

Cheat. You're at the table to play a game and have fun, if you're cheating, you're cheating yourself out of that fun! Instead of doing so, let's talk about what's causing you to cheat, maybe there's a different system you'd enjoy instead! It's not all about that dreaded d20 :)