Jon
they/them
5.0
(5)
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Identity
About Jon
When I was ten years old, I bit a radioactive copy of Advanced Fighting Fantasy: Dungeoneer, and it gave me certain abilities, which some may consider... unnatural. My subsequent journey through TTRPGs took me through Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, Call of Cthulhu, my beloved Vampire: the Masquerade, Dark Heresy, and something called Dungeons and Dragons? I also wrangle wargames campaigns! Years toiling in the Narrative Forge have made me unable to not string my toy soldier fights together, and I usually have Mordheim, Necromunda or a 40K Crusade on the go. Would I adapt Necromunda to a TTRPG environment? Absolutely. Why haven't I done that already? And Ravnica... dang, I love an urban adventure. That's a throughline in the games I run: city crawls and urban mysteries, in the Mitteleuropean through-a-glass-darkly style of WFRP or historical VtM, or the dieselpunk dystopia of 40K, or wild political fantasy in my original D&D setting. If that sounds like a good time to you, and you're down for elegant rulings, guided freeform and a certain theatricality... read on.
At a glance
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Storytelling, Creativity
Featured Prompts
I became a GM because
I had the books, I had the ideas, and I didn't mind learning the rules - and then I discovered I love it. Playing a character is one thing, playing the world is something else. You get to build deep, I get to build wide, and together we make something awesome happen.
My favorite books are
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. The Zimiamvia trilogy. The Locked Tomb trilogy. Viriconium. The Master and Margarita. Gormenghast. The Crow Road. The Historian. Alis Hawkins' Oxford mysteries and Laura Shepherd-Robinson's London ones. Anno Dracula, up to about book four.
The three words my players would use to describe me are...
Funny, fair and communicative. If I explain something in character, I check understanding out of character; if I'm not sure what you want from a scene or an action, I'll ask. Everyone gets a go in the spotlight - maybe not every session, but every story. And we have a giggle! Catharsis is important.
How Jon runs games
Roll-first but roleplay-heavy play guided freeform style. Theatre of the mind with proven, functional tools rolled out where they're needed. Efficient, elegant one-and-done, three-and-out rolling with strange and unusual dice pools. Historical research that's as detailed as it needs to be. Black comedy that doesn't sink to edginess: when things are at their darkest for our characters, we the players need to let that go. Devil's bargains and success at a cost: I want your characters to win, but what are they willing to lose? I trained as a teacher - adult and young adult education, in literature, language and drama. I taught the same way I GM - as the first among equals, the ensemble director with the responsibility and power of veto. I want us to learn things, I like to put on a show, and I want you involved in making things happen. When we're wrapping an IC scene, I check understanding OOC. If you've had a quiet session, expect the spotlight next time. I've heard the horror stories about horror games, and I want to prove that we're not all Like That. I will listen to you. I will trust you. I will respect the lines and veils you choose to draw. I will create a story with elements tailored to your characters and, so long as your characters want things and you're prepared to learn some rules, we'll curate that story together.
Featured Prompts
If my games were Movies they'd be directed by...
Guy Ritchie and Armando Iannucci. Script by Warren Ellis and Tamsyn Muir. Soundtrack features Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Marianne Faithful, and every sad girl or post-punk bassist with a Bandcamp account. As producer, I'd burn my budget on licenced diegetic sound.
Rules are...
The G in RPG, not to get all Chris Crawford about it. If we're not using rules why not take an improv class? I like systems, I like using them, but! I also abide by them myself. The same rules I expect you to learn and follow also run my world and my NPCs. No fiat, no fudge: that wouldn't be fair.
When it comes to voices
I'm not a professional actor, but I was a professional drama teacher, and I'll give it the best I've got. Tone and timbre matter to me, I can tour the regions with British accents, and I try to keep my recurring cast consistent. If I can't do an impression, I'll give a reference.
Jon's ideal table
I run a focused session: a short scene for each player or a long one for everyone. The vibe is open information, mutual storytelling, with a steel core: I've never fudged a roll in my life, only offered a devil's bargain to overrule them, and if the NPCs are gunning for you, they're not going to hold back. Players don't need an encyclopaedic knowledge of "the lore" - I'd rather you learned rules. You don't need to go deep diving, but retaining how dice pool is formed, what your Blood Potency lets you do, how your Disciplines and Merits and Flaws work, that's all good. If you're new, you can learn as your character learns - please don't go off and binge read, let yourself discover things. If you're experienced, don't expect complete by the book gaming - I call for weird rolls, and I put my own spin on settings.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
... matches my freak! Make a character who wants something and keep pursuing it, don't ask me for "a quest." Get into the scene, lean into the play. Declare intent - what are you doing, what do you want to happen? Suggest dice pools and cool things that can happen. Run with me.
I think it's a red flag when players...
Turn up with a full backstory full of trauma and conflict that's already been resolved. BO-RINNG! You roleplayed with yourself and now you expect us to read about it? Imagine if you'd left all that potential in your character's future. We could have played through it together!
My table is not the place for...
The Stormwind Fallacy! Creating a well tuned character is a skill, roleplaying that character well is a skill, and those skills, they are not mutually exclusive. I love it when your character is good at what they do, and when you make terrible decisions that get them into trouble so they can do it.
Jon's Preferences
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