Shannon - Tabletop Shenanigans

she/her

5.0

(8)

Timezone

America/los Angeles

Language

English

Identity

Neurodivergent

Women/Femme Identifying

About Shannon - Tabletop Shenanigans

I'm a bit of a legacy TTRPG-er with 30+ years of experience as both a player and a GM. My dad played old school D&D and Traveller back in the 70s during his college days, and started my siblings and me out with Hero Quest pretty much as soon as we could read. He taught me that the characters can have an epic story while the players crack jokes and laugh their way through the adventure, and that continues to be the kind of game I try to create for my players. While I got my start with the ol’ standbys such as D&D 3e and GURPS, these days my husband and I collect and explore a wide variety of systems, and have even created and run a system of our own devising. But I will admit that most recently I spend most of my TTRPG time running and playing D&D 5e. Whatever the system, I run games supported with the structure of RAW gameplay to keep everyone on the same page and push players to be creative within the bounds of the worlds they find themselves in. I always root for my players but don’t pull my punches, because I want those wins to mean something.

At a glance

Less than a year on StartPlaying

Highly rated for: Beginner Friendly, Inclusive, Visual Aid

$20 per session

Featured Prompts

My favorite books are

fantasy world builder series and mystery. Most recently Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books, N. K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth, Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean series, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Cinder Spire series. I also keep going back to Terry Pratchet's Discworld.

The three words my players would use to describe me are...

organized, knowledgeable, and supportive.

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

spending time with my husband (often still roleplay related) and three cats, listening to audio books, or playing computer games like Valheim, World of Warcraft, or any one of a number of CRPGs.

How Shannon - Tabletop Shenanigans runs games

While I prefer to run published adventures over homebrew campaigns, I make the effort to bring enough life into them for the players to be able to feel invested in the choices their characters make. I find a good session has a mix of combat and roleplay opportunities, and that good combat should challenge the players enough that they feel there are real stakes at play. I root for my players to overcome the obstacles I put in their way, but I also want them to feel like they've earned the win. If the players can find a way to roleplay their way through what would have otherwise been a combat, that's still a success in my book, and can often lead to a more engaging story. Overall, I view the role of DM as being the structure behind a shared story-telling experience. Whether my players are veteran gamers or just starting to learn the ropes, I'm happiest when everyone is working together toward the shared goal of making a game worth remembering.

Featured Prompts

I prep by

obsessively gathering materials and researching the setting so whichever way the players jump, I can work out the consequences of their landing.

Rules are...

meant to serve us. They are there to provide an equal baseline understanding of what is and isn't possible in a game, not restrict creativity. If someone can present a logical case for why something they want to do fits within the rules (without overly disrupting a session), I'll probably agree.

When it comes to voices

I am not a professional voice-actor, but I do have almost a decade of choir training behind me, so I have enough control over my pitch and vocal mannerism to provide distinct voices for the NPCs.

Shannon - Tabletop Shenanigans's ideal table

My games stay relatively lore consistent, but don't require deep knowledge from my players. Any information needed to follow the action can be provided in game. I follow the lead of my players on how much of the minutia of inventory management and shopping to cover, as I'm happy to get into the number crunching myself, but am also fine glossing over it to get to the "exciting" parts of the adventure. The players that will best fit at my table are those who have a good sense of humor and are inclusive of all types.

Featured Prompts

I love it when a player

actively seeks to share the spotlight with their table-mates.

I think metagaming...

should be limited to keeping the characters involved in the adventure and not use when it comes to details. Sometimes a character might need to make choices they wouldn't necessarily have made without a little meta-knowledge in order to keep them from bailing on the party, and that's fine.

I think min/maxing...

is boring, but fine if that's what makes you happy. I much prefer seeing a character with an interesting concept even if it's not the "best" build.