Rat

he/they

5.0

(9)

Timezone

America/chicago

Language

English

Identity

LGBTQ+

Neurodivergent

About Rat

A note about reviews: Gender identity is a funny thing. When I first joined StartPlaying to run some Pathfinder 2e one-shots, I went by Megan, or the Bearded Lady, and used she/her pronouns. For a bit I went by Luke and used he/him. Having returned to run some campaigns, I go by Rat and use he/they. Older reviews may refer to me by either of those other names. "GMs wear many names, many faces. Different faces, but always the same GM." If you understand that reference, you belong in one of my games. With all that out of the way... Hello! I am Rat, as stated above, and I would love to be your GM. I started GMing about 15 years ago now, cutting my teeth on a fantasy Savage Worlds campaign with my friends, eventually moving on to Pathfinder 1e. I moved on to D&D 5e for a while when Curse of Strahd came out, and today I run a mix of 5e 2024, Pathfinder 2e, Starfinder 2e, and Daggerheart. Overall I consider myself a pretty chill person, getting along well with anyone inside or outside the RPG sphere who isn't T.R.A.S.H. (transphobic, racist, ageist/ableist, sexist, or homophobic). I have a background in creative writing, graduating magna cum laude with an English degree in 2014. While I never sought publication for my stories and novels, it is still very much a passion of mine ("You can write because it is good for you." - Brandon Sanderson). These days, I flex this creative muscle the most with my GMing.

At a glance

3 years on StartPlaying

6 games hosted

Highly rated for: Inclusive, Knows the Rules, Creativity

Featured Prompts

I became a GM because

I had a story idea I wanted to explore, thinking it might make a good novel. Then my friend expressed an interest in playing RPGs and even had a character concept, and I realized it would actually be a perfect fit for the idea. So we gathered some other friends, and began my first campaign.

My favorite books are

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan One Piece by Eiichiro Oda Discworld by Terry Pratchett Ring by Koji Suzuki Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

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

Either reading, petting my cat, playing video games (well, video GAME; The Binding of Isaac is like a drug), or watching 3+ hours long video essays.

How Rat runs games

I GM to tell stories. I've said it several times in this profile, but it is worth saying again. And storytelling isn't something that has to be done alone. Let's tell stories together. I have my setting, which I have been refining over the last fifteen years, and you have your characters. Let's put them together and see how they react to each other. In my early games, I had this idea in my head that every session of an RPG needed at least one good combat. And combat IS important, as so many of the mechanics are based around it, but these days I prioritize good roleplay over trying to fit a fight into every game. These days, it isn't uncommon for me to go two or three sessions without a fight; not because there's no tension, but because that tension is diffused through roleplay instead of resorting to fisticuffs. Finally, an important note: I am not shy about killing player characters. In my tenure, my monsters and opposed NPCs have claimed the lives of ten PCs in my long-form campaigns. This does NOT include deaths that were undone by resurrection magic; that number is in the dozens. In many combats (not all, but many), the goal of the enemy is to kill the PCs, and if they see an opportunity, they will do just that. They might not be satisfied to just knock a PC out and hope they fail all their checks; they may very well take the time to finish the job before moving on to the next target.

Featured Prompts

I once ran a session...

For 10 people. It was the final session of a years-long campaign that would probably have been considered a West Marches game, but I didn't know about that at the time. Players who came and went session-to-session teamed up to take down the final boss, the Sky Queen, and it was... chaotic, but fun.

My favorite trope is...

I'm a sucker for a good found family story, which RPGs really lend themselves to.

When it comes to voices

I do my best. I am no voice actor, but I can do a number of "generic" voices that might be repeated between NPCs; I've got a gruff voice, a wispy voice, a raspy voice, a childlike voice, and so on.

Rat's ideal table

Sitting at my ideal table is a diverse group of people who are ready to be invested in a story, and not just showing up for a game. They are kind and courteous to myself and other players, attentive and engaged even when it's not their turn, and are not afraid to get in character. They don't do things just because "it's what my character would do." They know when to take a game seriously, and when it is time to make lighthearted jokes.