Swapper (they/them)
5.0
(5)
2 years on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Inclusive, World Builder
About me
Hey everyone! I'm Swapper, your friendly neighbourhood abomination that's totally not a vampire who solely subsists on tea, I swear. You wanna know the way I run my games? Above all, I value enjoyable, safe games where everybody can come together and tell a story. No posturing, no my-numbers-are-better-than-yours, no murderhoboing, just a good, enjoyable story. I've been a gm for about four years now and if there's one way I would describe my games it's this: Everybody wants something. The barkeep, the player characters, and even the horses. I've played enough videogames to know the feeling when the game lets you down because an NPC didn't react to something they - by all rights - should have reacted to. That's what I want to avoid in my games, those brick walls of "Sorry you can't do that" and "That's not what's supposed to happen right now".
GM Style
I love it when there are emotional stakes attached to the situation, not just because of death, but because people the PCs might like could be upset with them, or in danger. Something that, admittedly, happens subtly but surely, in the style of game that I run. If there's one genre I really like, it's mystery-horror. Because I can't count very well and also I could never really pin myself down to just one genre. Every action should have consequences, good ones or bad ones. I do my best to make every NPC believable and fun to interact with, without taking away the player's role as the protagonists of the story. I can easily navigate the rules of every system I run, although I don't really like deep-diving into them. Nor do I love binging through 500+ pages of rules and restrictions cause "actually, that feature is only available to that race", or "the lore on page 2312 actually states that...". Instead, I will make up a coherent solution on the spot and retcon later if necessary. It mostly isn't, though.
Game platforms used
Game Master Reviews (5)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Storytelling
Inclusive
World Builder
Ive had the pleasure to be a player for Swapper and so far its been an incredible experience! They do an amazing job at setting the tone for each session and it always feels like an unique experience. The worlds they create are very interesting and unique and are a treat to explore and find out more about! But most importantly Swapper is super accommodating and is willing to work with the players which is what i find to be the most important thing for a DM to be able to do.
Swapper allows their players to truly immerse themselves in not just the incredibly atmospheric homebrew world but, above all, in the characters they're playing. I love nothing more than obsessing over my player characters, writing essays on their inner lives, creating an infinite amount of background characters with elaborate backstories and complex relationships – and Swapper is right there with me, matching my excitement about delving deep into the characters and how they're affected by the events of the campaign which, by the way, are truly epic and bursting with skillfully employed symbolism. Swapper is a master of narration, not only offering vivid and beautifully phrased descriptions, but also knowing how to create tension as well as moments of intense gratification for their players. Finally, while there is a clear focus on RP with Swapper, at least in my experience, the combat is always original, challenging, and entertaining. 10/10 would recommend
Swapper is a fantastic DM with focus on expanding the possibilities of what you can do as a player and what can happen beyond the standard options. Things naturally occur on the course of a campaign in a more gritty world, and it is a very fun experience to have them actually affect the characters and setting rather than just being nullified by a macguffin or simple spell. For example, want to use an unknown and unstable artifact with your force of will to sever an avatar's connection with the god of war and slaughter, thereby making them mortal and able to be killed? You better hope you roll well, because rolling poorly means the several city blocks are annihilated and the party is dragged into that god's domain of slaughter, and has to fight a pitched survival campaign to get out! Willingly become a lycanthrope to gain more strength on your quest for revenge? I hope you're ready to fight against the psyche of the wolf as the curse continues to strengthen its hold, granting you more strength at the expense of causing supernatural weaknesses and feeding the desire for revenge even as the character himself grows and tries to move on. Smash an artifact that makes your patron feel rage? Congrats, it held a soul inside and now a 10 year old boy is possessed by the spirit of a high level spellcaster with unnaturally high charisma and persuasion skills, and the boy's mother is EXTREMELY pissed. Swapper is excellent at adapting to things on the fly, taking the most absurd decisions what characters make in stride with a facepalm and chuckle, and bringing about consequences in ways that challenge the characters in ways that I've rarely ever seen in a D&D campaign, but never seem unfair or impossible to overcome. Their combat scenarios can be tricky and surprisingly dangerous, keeping the players on our toes but never blindsiding us or outright feeling like it's the players vs the DM. Everything is in service of making a grand adventure in a dangerous world that pushes the characters to their limits, and dealing with the trauma and consequences of living in a situation where few people are entirely good and trustworthy, and everyone you encounter has their own agenda. Whether it helps your party at the time or not, there's always a lot of opportunity for talking your way through dangerous situations and playing a game of politics and deals with the varying people you'll encounter in your adventures under Swapper's tyrannical rule.
They are amazing at immersing you into the moment whenever you're in the narrative thick of it. Because of the way they worldbuild and describe the scenes you are in, you feel immensely rewarded whenever you figure out either a puzzle or a secret. When portraying NPCs and BBEGs, the gravitas they carry really makes you take the brushes with them seriously, like there is an actual threat to messing with some of them. Their treatment of the X card is second to none. An entire massive plot point was waived away when it had too close of a connection to a personal issue I had, yet they made up for it like nothing was lost at all. When it comes to RAW AND RAI, they are very much "We can make house rules so that these situations make sense" such as for grappling or disarming. One of the best DMs i've ever been able to play with during all my time in the RPG sphere
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