Steven

Featured Prompts

How Steven runs games

[Philosophy] I want everyone to have fun and get along. First and foremost, my table is a space for players, then their characters. I tend to pull punches when the characters are on the ground. Sometimes I try to go in, telling myself I am going to run the NPC intelligently and use its abilities to the max. Then, after 5 rounds, there are 2 players on the ground, one bleeding from their ears, and another trying to keep the rest alive. Which leads to fudging rolls and having the enemy trip over the shoelaces on their sandals… Someday, I will work up the courage to kill a character. [Style and Genre] I tend to favor High Fantasy above all else. I grew up on Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Page Master, Dragon Lance, Miyazaki, DuckTales, Dragon Ball, cheesy Kung-Fu movies, and Inuyasha. To which my games tend to reflect alongside my love of JRPGs, Anime, and LitRPG. However, I am not a big fan of tabletop memes; I generally expect down-to-earth roleplay, light humor, immersion, and embodying the characters. So, when a player tries to be the Horny Bard, Edgy Lone Wolf, Simpleton Barbarian, or Kermit the Frog, it just kinda ruins it. [Voices] Platform and in-game: Discord for audio (possibly Stoat or Fluxer in the future) and Foundry VTT for tactical maps. I use curated music playlists, built-in ambience, and sound effects where needed (and when I don’t forget). In-game voices will tend to be the same voice with the occasional tacky accent thrown in for “flavor”. [Rules] I prioritize momentum. If a rule is unclear, I make a decisive, logical call in the moment to keep the action moving. I do not halt gameplay to debate mechanics or scour the manual, if players start to devolve into arguments or debates, it will be stopped and we can review the RAW (Rules as Written) post-session and adjust for the future, but at the table, we will use RAI (Rules as Intended) and if needed, BISS (because I said so). Rules are the skeleton, not the soul. They provide structure, but the fiction takes precedence. I view the system as a toolkit, not a scripture. I will bend or break a rule if strict adherence undermines the narrative logic or the dramatic weight of the scene.

Steven's ideal table

Down-to-earth adults who wanna enjoy Tabletop like it used to be. Objective and Story first while maintaining a semi-serious in-person RP, but more alive and full of in-game humor and respect for the setting. They would work on their characters outside of sessions for leveling, backstory, learning their abilities, and not only during the game, never touching their sheet unless it was time to play the session. People who have jobs, kids, a family, and just wanna escape from the dumpster-fire of the world for a little bit. Like-minded individuals who don't take things too seriously when it comes to humor and light-jabbing between friends. They would look forward to the game every week and, while not putting the game before their life, wouldn't cancel or skip at the smallest inconvenience! I have played with too many players who "love the idea of Tabletop, but not the commitment of playing in a Tabletop Game", where every obligation, even last-minute ones, were a higher priority than the game. My ideal table would have none of those players.

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