Raistlin

I became a GM because

There has always been a specific goal in my life, and that goal has been to provide entertaining experiences for other people. That's taken many forms over the years, and right now, that for is being a GM every week. I feel very lucky to take on this role and I couldn't ask for a better calling.

My favorite books are

Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis(Surprise I know) Wheel of Time Robert Jordan Storm Thief by Chris Wooding These books have had profound effects on me from being the very source of my birth name to being a part of my experience in meeting my wife. Truly wonderful worlds here.

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

Studying Rulebooks and Prepping for sessions, but that's a given. I love video games. They're these experiences where I get to be the player and run through someone else's world. They've provided great perspective for me and is an endless font of inspiration.

I prep by

considering the narrative arc that each of my players is in and then figuring out what makes sense to develop given whatever material I'm working with. I then mold it accordingly and make sure it somehow aligns with the specific PC's values.

My games focus on...

Reactivity to player input and a strong sense of direction in terms of theming and narrative flow. I want every outcome to feel like the players caused it directly and the best way to do that is to make sure that no matter what happens, it's tied to the actions of players.

Rules are...

useful for telling stories and grounding both results and expectations. I view rules as the means to a narrative. I will always support a cool narrative that makes sense in spite of rules not explicitly allowing for it. That doesn't mean the rules aren't essential, but they are secondary.

I love it when a player

interprets the story I've started with them differently than I do. This gives immediate potential for deciding how to resolve the next thing that happens. It's great when I expect players to move in one direction and then I can successfully catch them and continue on in a new direction with them.

I think metagaming...

is inescapable on some level or another. To an extent, it's even helpful. The main thing to avoid is to consider if what you're doing is explainable in character. If it can't be and it's directly effecting other characters in a scene, then a line was crossed and we need to reexamine.

My table is not the place for...

exclusivity of any kind. Be it experience, background, or capabilities of any sort, my table is a safe space for all. Everyone has stories and anyone can tell them. Everything else is unimportant to the pursuit of collaborative storytelling.