Tim
he/him
5.0
(13)
Timezone
Language
About Tim
Hi gamer, call me Tim! I've been running and playing games since 1981, at home, online, and at conventions. I enjoy bringing a world to life, and get a thrill when a player pull their jacket back on when their character is cold. My players say, they love to hate my villains. I enjoy running monsters that act according to their motivations and intellect. Goading the ogre into putting themselves in danger might be easy, but take more care when dealing with dragons! I've got a good head for math, and can play the game “in 3-D” when the players wish. My NPC's have distinct voices, even if their accents sometimes wobble a bit. My players are often convinced they're headed for a TPK before they pull it out at the last minute. I usually run a serious campaign with some comic relief, but I'll happily run gritty combat-as-war campaign or a goofy romp.
At a glance
1 year on StartPlaying
28 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Knows the Rules, Teacher
Featured Prompts
I got started GMing...
As a kid in the 80's, with my Red Box D&D and later my treasured AD&D 1e hard covers. And yes, Stranger Things is kind of a documentary for those days. I've always enjoyed telling stories, but have grown to enjoy shared storytelling even more.
People are always surprised when I tell them
I'm one of the top-rated contributors to StackRPG Q&A forum about role-playing games. I wrote documentation for D&D 4e in the early days of Roll20, that let DM's easily bump the "challenge rating" of monsters up or down in that system.
How Tim runs games
I enjoy tweaking my style to suit the table. By default: I do serious games with comic relief. Character voices. Villains you'll hate or half-admire. Monsters that use tactics according to their intelligence and motivations — beware cunning dragons, they're more dangerous than dinosaurs of equal power. You can see more about my GM'ing style in my StackRPG profile: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/27529/tim-grant
Featured Prompts
I once ran a session...
Once when I was unprepared for the adventure, I fell back on periodically describing the setting to stall for time: a frozen mountain range. Player after player fetched a jacket or sweater. It was a warm day in May. After the game, people tossed the clothes aside, sweating, asking what I'd done.
Rules are...
Rules are important when the challenge is tough and people want to know what to expect so they can feel they win by their own wits. Too often, GM's ignore or change some rule that imbalances the game, letting some players shine while others are stymied. I know the D&D 5e 2014 rules very well.
Tim's ideal table
People who respect each other's differences, respect one another's boundaries, and don't try to control each other. They give others at the table their chance to shine. They might enjoy moral quandaries in game, or enjoy a good (or terrible) joke that takes a while to get. People who take ownership for their own foibles and don't insist the rest of the table kowtow to them. That is, if you're too afraid of spiders, fine. You don't have to engage with that. But that might mean you're sitting out a little, not that there are suddenly no spiders in the Underdark.
Tim's Preferences
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