About me

Hello! I'm Sam Tillis, proprietor of stillis.gaming. Thanks for reading my profile! I'm going to let you in on a secret right off the bat: I believe that roleplaying games are the greatest form of storytelling. I've been an actor, a director, a writer, and a teacher, so I've told a lot of stories in a lot of different ways, but RPGs come out on top every time. This is because, unlike in movies and plays and novels, we are our own audience in RPGs. We're not creating the story for mass appeal or to reach for some high literary standard, but for our own fun and fulfillment. What we create at the table is collaborative—every player influences the story, often in directions that surprise even the GM!—unique, ephemeral, and fiercely our own, like a shared dream. When a good RPG wraps up, everyone involved has memories that will last them a lifetime. I have been playing roleplaying games since the age of twelve and GMing almost as long. My players have explored kingdoms of legend and lore, galaxies filled with scum and villainy, mutant-filled metropoles, and much more, defeating villains as grandiose as gods or as personal as their own demons. I've done games with elementary school students and elders, soldiers and coders, teachers and therapists and authors and actors. Each has been totally different, unique to those people in that time and place. I look forward to the stories we will create together. Let the games begin. :)

GM style

I love games that put the players' choices and characters front-and-center. Generally my games are open-ended, with players receiving a mission or quest and then undertaking it however they see fit. Scenes that are just character-building roleplay are not uncommon, and combat tends to exist as just one possible means to accomplish a goal. That being said, when the situation warrants, I love an exciting set-piece: a chase scene through darkened city streets, a brawl in a crashing airship, a clash of armies or a faceoff against an epic monster. In my games, these scenes tend to be fast, furious, and action-packed, and players sometimes only make it out on top by razor-thin margins.

Games played

Game platforms used

Social

What's StartPlaying?

Tabletop Roleplaying Games Run by Game Masters