About me

I'm Dan. Also known as RPG Van Winkle. I live just outside of scenic Burlington, Vermont with my wife, two young kids, one older kid #paynorent, and one incredibly spoiled displacer beast... er... cat. My D&D bonafides go back to the 1980s. I grew up in a small Western Pennsylvania town not so different from Hawkins in Stranger Things. I owned the original B/X edition and all of the Advanced D&D books. But, times were different. D&D was not cool. I got involved with other stuff and just drifted away from TTRPGs altogether for a couple-few decades. The temptation of playing D&D with my younger kids drew me back. Unsatisfied with their lack of commitment, I put together an IRL group of young strangers, 20s and 30s, and ran a year-long campaign. It was pretty epic. Handmade terrain, homebrew magic items with fancy cards, incredible props... Also... I am a digital creator and game designer. Mostly I make Toolkits for Dungeon Masters. You can check it out at www.rpgvanwinkle.com

GM Style

MY APPROACH I like to approach being a DM as a performance artist. Careful preparation is key to keeping the actions moving and the tension high. My goal is to immerse you as thoroughly as possible into the game during the session. My games are built around the players and characters. Collectively, we will create our game world and tell our story together, as we play. Telling a great story makes the game come alive. So, role play is a big part of my games (yes, I do voices and accents) but don’t be intimidated! You do not need to be a professional voice actor to role play and have fun. And, of course, it’s not a game without dice and obstacles. It’s important to me that everyone’s play style is honored in the game. Whether you prefer exploration, solving puzzles, negotiating, or kicking some monster ass… I’m there for it. I will try to give you a complete D&D experience in every game session. PHILOSOPHY ON RULES As far as rules go, I lean somewhere between RAI (rules as intended) and ROC (rule of the cool). I never want to be looking up something in a book during a game. Buzzkill. If the answer is unclear, we will roll dice or I will make a reasonable ruling and keep the action going. Rules lawyers need not apply 😉 VIRTUAL GAMING ENVIRONMENT I’m a bit old school. I don’t want it to feel like a video game. I like D&D best when it’s pencils and paper on a real table. I am still experimenting with virtual tools, I am hoping to stream IRL terrain and minis into the VTT with a separate camera. SAFETY TOOLS I am committed to running a safe and comfortable game for every player. Each player will complete a detailed survey ahead of the game, and we will discuss the combined limits of all responses anonymously. There will be a “social contract” so we are all in understanding of the agreements we are making in service and respect to each other as humans.

Games played

Game platforms used