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Cost Per Player

$20.00
Michael

Michael (he/they)

5.0

(7)

LGBTQ+
Queer
Hispanic/Latinx
Neurodivergent
Teacher/Educator
Game Designer

Less than a year on StartPlaying

29 games hosted

Highly rated for: Storytelling, Inclusive, Creativity

About me

Not to sound too cliche right off the bat, but I just really love games, y'all. I started at a way-too-crowded D&D table of rowdy teenagers back in high school, cut my teeth on freeform forum roleplay, and made my way back to tabletop games in college. Since then I've met so many amazing people, made so many incredible memories, and had so much fun exploring this interesting and innovative space. I just want to keep doing that and share this hobby that I love so much with more people. So let's craft stories together! One of my favorite things to do as a GM is to turn dials and tweak campaign details to center the player characters and their stories, to really tie them into the world of the adventure. I want to see your characters have dramatic, fulfilling arcs. I want to see them struggle and overcome adversity, and while failure is always an option, it should be a chance to tackle things from a different angle. I'm the president of your character's fan club, but also the heel that will needle them so we can all cheer when they win. I always strive to bring a high level of system mastery to my games. Forget a rule? No problem, we're all always learning, and my brain loves to hold onto minutia like that. Can it remember the birthdays of my loved ones? Nope, gotta save space for the fact that you can drown someone back to life in Dungeons and Dragons 3e. I'm part of the Chicano, neurodivergent, and LGBTQ+ communities, so it's important to me that my table always be a safe place for everyone regardless of race, ability, gender, orientation, age, religion, etc. We don't tolerate intolerance here.

GM Style

Every system and every table is going to have different needs and preferences, so I try to be flexible with my GM style. I can run a multi-hour slugfest of high-stakes tactical combat, a lighthearted beach episode full of in-character conversations and interpersonal drama (though I admittedly am not very good at voices; I do try my best), and anything in between. While I pride myself on mastery across a variety of systems and my mind for rules minutia and definitely believe that System Matters(tm) in terms of certain games being better-suited for certain narrative- and play-styles, I also think that 'roleplay vs rollplay' is a false dichotomy and both should feed into and complement one another. Roleplaying games are about both the roleplaying and about the game; that's why we're doing RPGs and not just RP or G. It's very important to me that everyone feel safe at my tables. To that end, I always employ a number of safety tools in my games like the X Card and Lines and Veils. Even when we're incorporating elements of horror into a game, it should only ever be the characters who are feeling horrified, not the players.

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