Rachel
she/her
Timezone
Language
Identity
About Rachel
I've been a professional DM since 2018, when I began teaching on a similar platform for youth (Outschool). My creative writing classes were popular but what my students really wanted was actual D&D gameplay - so I began running games for teens. I love providing teens with an affirming, safe place to play Dungeons and Dragons. New players are welcome in my games, which are always friendly to LGBTQ and neurodiverse people. Most of my players stay with me for years! However, since Outschool is meant for youth, that means that my players eventually age out when they turn 19. I'm excited about branching out to StartPlaying, and hopefully some of my former students will be able to join me here as well! As a shy, awkward person who knows how to fake it (most of the time), I totally understand how nerve-wracking it can be to join a new group and I know how difficult it can be to speak up in a crowd. My goal is to make fellow socially anxious people as comfortable as possible, which means being flexible if things get overwhelming, and checking in often, giving quieter people openings to join in when they want. I've taught 1221 learners in the 7 years I've taught on Outschool, with 411 reviews averaging 4.9 out of 5 stars, and I'm in the top 10% of earners on Outschool. You can find reviews on my teacher profile: https://outschool.com/teachers/Rachel-Raum
At a glance
3 years on StartPlaying
Featured Prompts
My favorite books are
My favorite books are Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Lately, though, I've been reading a lot of TJ Klune's books and I've been enjoying them a lot!
My favorite shows/movies are
I tend to prefer comedies like Ted Lasso, The Good Place, Schitt's Creek, The Office, and Parks and Rec. However, I also love darker shows like From, Evil, Silo, Midnight Mass, and Yellowjackets. My taste in movies is pretty similar.
When I'm not running games I'm...
Spending time with my kids and pets, traveling, crafting, reading books, and watching TV.
How Rachel runs games
My goal is to run immersive games that challenge players to craft satisfying stories. I aim to provide a good balance between roleplay, combat, and exploration, with frequent opportunities to lean more heavily into roleplay. The most important rule in my games is that we're all responsible for each others' fun. Your fun should never come at the expense of another player. That means no PvP (combat as well as stealing and other aggressive behavior) without enthusiastic consent. Working against the party's goals is not cool. While I prefer to run pre-written modules vs fully homebrew campaigns, I do add a lot of extra content to each module. I also love incorporating characters' backstories and doing character-driven side quests. My NPCs are often quirky and multi-faceted. There's always more beneath the surface if you take the time to get to know them. My games tend to be light on technology. I will share a D&D Beyond campaign so you can have access to the content I've purchased. Otherwise, we use Discord voice chat and MapTool. For those who don't want to download MapTool, I screenshare. I do create my own maps and almost always have a map available during gameplay.
Featured Prompts
Rules are...
Important to provide a fair experience for everyone. I run my games as close to Rules as Written as possible, though I do occasionally ignore rules when it makes sense. I also use some of the more common homebrew rules, like flanking.
When it comes to voices
I do voices and accents imperfectly, but enthusiastically. At the very least, I try to emote well.
Rachel's ideal table
Players who care about their characters, build relationships with other players' characters, and get invested in the story are going to have a great time at my table. While it's important to treat the game with respect, there's always a lot of laughing at my table. Often the most memorable moments come from failure, whether it's a bad roll or a plan gone wrong. It's important that we don't take ourselves too seriously in a game that's got a lot absurdity built into it. In the best D&D groups, the players support each other, celebrate each other's wins, become involved in each other's personal character arcs, and take turns allowing each character to have their moment in the spotlight.
Featured Prompts
I think it's a red flag when players...
Try to exploit the rules to create overpowered characters. To me, this signals that they're not interested in cooperative storytelling. Having one character who is vastly more powerful than the others leads to frustration and hurt feelings.
I think metagaming...
Ruins the game for everyone. Those who metagame miss out on the suspense of not knowing what's going to happen next. Other players find it frustrating because they don't want the plot spoiled for them. People who play D&D a lot are going to know statblocks, but it's easy to avoid using that info.
Rachel's Preferences
Systems
Platforms