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$18.00
Michael
Professional Game Master
Michaelhe/him

5 Reviews

Neurodivergent

Player for
20 years
GM for
2 years
Hosted over
28 games

About me

I've been playing TTRPGs online since ye olde days of AOL and ICQ. Whether it's been Dungeons & Dragons, Earthdawn, World of Darkness, or something else, I've always been a huge fan of creating and developing characters, then setting them loose to interact with - and ultimately be changed by - the players around me. The main thing that's kept me from GMing more games in the past (apart from only-recently-diagnosed ADHD and the ever-present specter of imposter syndrome) is that it's hard to justify the kind of time and energy that has to be poured into a good game when I still need to, you know, help support my family and generally exist in the world. Somehow the idea of solving this problem by actually *getting paid* to GM only occurred to me recently. So here I am - a long-time gamer and theater nerd, ready to have a fun time with my fellow gamers over-thinking the antics of fictional people we invent in our heads. Join in, it'll be fun! (Note about GM Experience: Wasn't sure what to put since, while I've GM'd games as long ago as the mid-00s, the vast majority of my experience during that time has been as a player, and it would feel improper to claim I'd been GMing that *whole* time when it's really just been here or there, so I'm just counting from when I started running a proper campaign for my current D&D group, which was my most recent and focused stint as GM.)


GM style

I like to think I have a fairly flexible GMing style, usually focusing on a core dramatic storyline but heavily leavened with opportunities for comedy and fun throughout. I greatly enjoy finding a fun voice for my various characters and playing them to the hilt (and I do have some professional dialect training!). For games like D&D (which, I suspect, is what will be most in demand), I try to keep combat as meaningful as possible - "random" encounters should always serve some narrative purpose beyond "well it's an RPG so we should fight something now, maybe some owlbears I guess?". Now, that narrative purpose could well be something simple like "remind the party they're not out of danger yet" or "enjoy a comic interlude against easy/bungling opponents to cut the tension after last session got dark" and nothing more, but it should still be at *least* that justified. Similarly, while I'm happy to design a dungeon crawl if it suits the story, it's not really going to be my first instinct in most cases. That said, my primary priority is to make sure everyone's enjoying themselves, so having a thorough Session Zero in which we set expectations about what we're all looking to get out of the campaign is going to be a must (unless we're playing something like Fiasco where the tone is pretty much baked-in to the premise from the start). I have quite a few ideas and frameworks bouncing around in my head, but at the end of the day, I think a proper game is best built in conversation between players and the GM. Balance is key - leave too much to the GM, and it becomes little more than an extended novel in which the players are amusing but ultimately interchangeable side characters; leave too much to the players, and the plot can easily become aimless and unclear. Overall, I'm an actor and entertainer at heart, and I hope to add to everyone's enjoyment whichever side of the DM screen I'm on!


Games played

Game platforms used

Player reviews (5)

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