Neal Z

he/they

5.0

(34)

Timezone

Asia/yerevan

Identity

Streamer

Published Writer

Teacher/Educator

Voice Actor

About Neal Z

Hello! I'm Neal, and I've been playing and running RPGs since high school. I love roleplaying and entertaining, and I've pursued a career in adjacent fields such as theatre and education, but with the rise of online gaming I've decided to take my hobby to the next level. I was born and raised in New York, where I worked in the theatre industry throughout my 20's until I decided it was time for a more radical change in scenery. I moved to the country of Georgia and became a teacher, drawing on my theatre experience to teach subjects such as Design and Drama. After more than a decade teaching, the pandemic showed me that remote work was definitely my jam. I've been running games online for about four years now and I love the experience. I've set up a discord server and a cloud-hosted Foundry VTT installation, which I've tailored to my DMing style using a variety of add-on modules. My games are designed to be approachable and beginner-friendly and to foster meaningful roleplaying experiences in which player characters have an important place in the setting and players have the opportunity to add to the world with creative input.

At a glance

3 years on StartPlaying

580 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling

Average response time: Under 1 hour

Response rate: 100%

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

I couldn't get enough roleplaying by only playing in other people's games

My favorite shows/movies are

Star Trek (especially DS9), Buffy and Angel, Stargate, Fringe, Person of Interest, and lots of other sci-fi/fantasy shows.

How Neal Z runs games

I love improv and humor, collaborative storytelling, and not letting the system get in the way of a great time. I like to run player-driven campaigns where players' decisions drive the outcomes and actions have a real impact on the world and the story. I run fast combats and I'm very open to flexible builds and optional rules. I enjoy creating homebrewed settings, monsters, items, spells, and situations, and I also enjoy running high-quality published adventure modules. I like exploring ideas and ethical questions and having player characters experience the full range of consequences for their choices and actions. I always adapt my games to the play style of my group, and I like to collect feedback after every session so I can tailor each experience to the players and make sure everyone gets their time to shine.

Featured Prompts

I deal with rules issues by...

putting myself in the players' shoes and asking myself what is the most fun and the most fair. If a rule is broken or unclear I prefer to give the player the benefit of the doubt and figure out how to fix the rule later so the game can keep flowing smoothly.

My favorite trope is...

NPCs who appear simple but have a surprising amount of knowledge, intelligence, sensitivity, or skill in their particular area. Think Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove stepping into the kitchen.

When it comes to voices

I often get compliments on how my voices and accents bring NPCs to life