Michel

he/him

5.0

(9)

Timezone

America/toronto

Language

English

French

About Michel

Hey there! I'm Michel Mayhew—a lifelong gamer, world-builder, and dice-slinger with nearly 30 years of tabletop experience under my belt. My journey began back in the days of D&D 2.5 Edition, and it's been a wild ride through dungeons, starships, and haunted cities ever since. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons back in the early 90s and have played a bunch of different games and systems since. I tend to always be the GM at least in more recent times and I do enjoy it quite a bit. I've played other games like the classic white wolf games (vampire, etc) as well as many different smaller games like Slay industries and Deadlands. Most recently I've been GMing a mix of Pathfinder / Starfinder 2e games as well as DnD 5e and most recently Daggerfall. These systems are great, easy to use and allow a wonderful framework for telling stories.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Visual Aid

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

Back when we had 3 friends and someone had to DM, I tend to raise my hand and have been doing so since then. I love to dream up wild rides for my players to take and love adapting to the many hard left turns my players can present. I love to build worlds and unique scenarios WITH my players.

My favorite books are

When I was younger I loved the dragonlance Twins Saga. As an adult with kids I now read anything Fantasy / Scifi with a big focus on LitRPGs and Progressive Fantasy with dark gritty worlds. I love the Wondering Inn, Dungeon Crawler Carl and the Immortal Great Souls books.

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

Painting mini's or spending time with the Dog and family. I love art, being creative and getting out. I am a big fan of exploring creative things to do and exploring all the wonderful creative hobbies out there.

How Michel runs games

I tend to be a GM who is Tactical with high stakes combat and characters you love to hate, or just love, or maybe again just hate. I like a blend of RP, combat and some light brainwork at my games. My true love however is interactive maps and effects. I love audio and visual queues that can lead to secrets or queue players in on traps in the area or upcoming monsters. I tend to spend a lot of time of details maps and worlds for my players to enjoy, with a high amount of automation which allows everyone to focus on the game and keep things moving.

Featured Prompts

My games focus on...

Fun! That being said I like to have a good mix of combat, RP and player agency. I try to ensure my players and I drive a story and a game that is satiating as well as interesting not just in the long run but at the end of each session. I want both of us to be excited for next week!

Rules are...

Are a guardrail to guide the game but not something to stub your toe on. I like fluid and fast combat and making audible calls for rule debates that we can dive deeper into after the combat is complete if there is a disagreement.

When it comes to voices

I have a decent bag of them to pull from, mostly they may all eventually turn into a bad Scottish or British accent when given enough time. I encourage players to RP up to their comfort level if they want to do voices but they are not required at my table.

Michel's ideal table

My ideal D&D table is all about having everyone engaged and involved, a space where the vibe is fun and exciting, but with a serious commitment to learning characters and game mechanics. I love players who dive in with curiosity, and I'm right there to help them grow. I love show new players how wonderful TTRPGs are and the fun of creative storytelling. While the stories are the framework which we build in, the combat are the spice that adds flavor and risk to the world. My games tend to have lots of combat or at least lots of high stack scenarios. Not every conflict or scenario needs a sword to solve, except maybe undead skeletons. They really do just want to eat you at their core.

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

I am all about having players who bring their own curiosity and motivations into the game world we're crafting together. It's all about blending their personal goals with the core of the campaign and making sure everything fits together seamlessly.

I think metagaming...

Is silly, as a GM I will intentionally take know monsters and change up their look and feel to keep you guessing. I ask my players to use their imaginations more than google when dealing with monsters. I do think it's important to build characters in a way that mechanically makes sense.

My perfect party mix is

My dream party mix is where each player picks a distinct character and class that really stands out, making sure there’s not too much overlap. That way, everyone gets to shine with their own unique flair. Not everyone has to fit a perfect mold of roles, and you don’t need the full holy-trinity setup