Nishaant

he/him

5.0

(7)

Timezone

America/new York

Language

English

Hindi

Identity

Asian

Teacher/Educator

Game Designer

Multi-lingual

About Nishaant

Hey! I'm Nishaant! I've been playing Roleplaying games for my whole life and properly Game mastering for 12+ years! I'm a game designer, writer but I am best known as a storyteller and there's nothing I love more than weaving a wonderful tale for my friends at the table! I've played quite the swathe of different systems and games and I'm always looking for new and interesting games to pick up, anything with a strong system/storytelling core I can get down with.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

2 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Rule of Cool

Featured Prompts

My favorite books are

The discworld novels! Especially the Night Watch series, the blend of comedy and commentary is excellent. I also have a soft spot for the Witches series, magic's place in society and practicality clashing are always a hoot!

My favorite shows/movies are

Shows: Samurai Champloo! Psych! Castlevania! (The first 2 seasons!) Daredevil! Raja, Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniyaan (Indian food history Docu-series) Most Nature Docu-series! Movies: Knives Out! Hot Fuzz! Princess Bride! Annihilation! The Thing! (1982)

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

Designing Games and Playing Bass!

How Nishaant runs games

I have a strong core based in Improv and Storytelling, I tend to avoid overly crunchy systems (because I prefer theater of the mind) but if it's got strong enough emotional beats I'll happily get the maps and grids out. I also love giving the players more agency when it comes to world building, giving them more opportunities to guide the story in ways they find the most compelling, letting them come up with encounters, roleplaying as NPCs and other things like that.

Featured Prompts

I prep by

Daydreaming! I start with an overarching story that I dream up but I leave the details up to the day of play. I love being emotive in my descriptions of setting and character and letting players create the hooks themselves, then I weave those hooks with plot threads to make the world feel alive!

Rules are...

guidelines put in place to cultivate a feeling! If a rule gets in the way of the story I won't hesitate to ignore it! because at the end of the day if you feel like you had a proper adventure even if it's not exactly rules-as-written I've done my job. Well written rules serve the vibe of the story.

When it comes to voices

I try my best! But convincing (or consistent) voices are a weakness of mine, I do my best to convey tone and emotion in my own voice and a characterful accent can add a lot to an NPC but I often find myself picking one or the other, and I almost always choose to convey feeling over a good voice.

Nishaant's ideal table

I'd say I welcome all kinds of players to my table, I love newcomers and veterans, as long as everyone knows what the campaign is going to be like gameplay and theme-wise. I tend to favor roleplayers more than wargamers, as I have more faith in my storytelling and improv chops rather than my encounter balance and strategic mind. In fantasy games I try to keep a light hearted and jovial vibe, I don't mind distractions, out of context jokes and other goofs that players often love, in more Sci-fi and Horror I try to enforce tone a little more but if I laugh at your joke I'm not gonna hold it against you for being distracting.

Featured Prompts

I am for a vibe that's...

feels like a home game! I try to engage with the players as much as I can to give them the feeling that their choices matter and their story is in their own hands. I'm not trying to TPK your characters or railroad you into a style, I want you to have fun! The same what you run things for your friend

I love it when a player

takes risks! I strongly believe having weaknesses is what makes playing a role complex and interesting. So attempting a dangerous action that's not optimal because it's what your character would desire is always exciting for me because it adds so much tension!

I think min/maxing...

is pretty cool! If you are taking the mechanics of the game seriously and trying to get the most advantage out of the systems that's pretty admirable. As long as you're NOT using your sick combos to brute force parts of the game meant to test different skills or overshadowing other players.