Tristan
he/him
5.0
(3)
Timezone
Language
Identity
About Tristan
Link to my discord server: https://discord.gg/A8BETfwf8X Howdy! My name is Tristan, and if you're here, it means I very well may be your GM in the near future! I, like many awkward teenage nerds, was initially inspired to dip my toes into the tabletop world by Dimension 20's Fantasy High series and finally took the plunge with high school tabletop clubs. These places were… valuable learning experiences, shall we say (I’m sure many can relate). After my “education”, I turned to online forums like /r/lfg for my gaming fix. I went on a number of adventures and made a great many friends this way, and after a few years of Dungeoning and Dragoning I was inspired to check out some of these other systems I’d heard good things about. Urban Fantasy has always been my favorite genre and setting for fantasy stories, so Vampire: the Masquerade and I were quickly acquainted, and soon after I fell head-first into everything else the World of Darkness had to offer. But when my old forums dried up and my burgeoning addiction for the vitae grew, I saw no choice but to enter the fabled crypts of StartPlaying… and I’m really glad I did, because I’ve had nothing but great times from this fine collection of Storytellers! Now, I'm looking to throw my own hat in the ring and tell some stories with some illustrious groups of players.
At a glance
1 year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Knows the Rules
Featured Prompts
My favorite books are
Anything in the Cosmere, but especially the short story The Emperor's Soul (which won a Hugo Award, if that's any indication of how fabulous that piece is). I'm a sucker for the Dresden Files any day of the week. I really liked Joanna Sokol's "A Real Emergency" and quote that book constantly.
My favorite system of all Time is
Werewolf: the Apocalypse (W5). I love werewolves and war stories, and this system is a fantastic blend of both. It's not perfect, but I love it.
When I'm not running games I'm...
A full time Doctor of Pharmacy student, a Hospice Volunteer, and (with what little time is left) an avid reader, writer, and video gamer!
How Tristan runs games
Roleplay is always front and center at my table; my goal when sitting down at the table is to tell collaborative stories that are really unique to this medium of storytelling. My favorite people to play with are those that create characters that feel plausible and then inhabit those characters through narratives designed to make the most of their creativity and ideas. I try my damndest to create an environment that allows them and their characters to shine.
Featured Prompts
I once ran a session...
In which my players - through three ludicrously high Persuasion checks and some other tomfuckery - successfully convinced a Wild Western town that they were the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of Christianity.
My favorite trope is...
A person whose life has been committed solely to a single master, a single purpose, a single task, discovering that they can have more and having to fight to claim even a smidgen of it.
Rules are...
The conduit we use to construct these stories; the jumping post and foil of our protaginists alike.
Tristan's ideal table
My table is - if I can help it - a group of buddies all hell-bent on helping each other have a great time and telling a story together. Players who enjoy a roleplay-first experience that rewards digging deep into their characters and their place in the world around them, and want to cultivate the same for their fellows, are the kinds of people who would fit right in.
Featured Prompts
I love it when a player
Loses themselves in their character or a moment, and - just for a moment - lives in this fictional world we've created together.
I think min/maxing...
Weirdly can be fun? Especially in non-combat focused RPGs, having a character really good at combat is something that can be interesting, especially if they fit in a party comp that fills different niches. It can be annoying, but characters that are very good at certain things have their place.
My table is not the place for...
Murder-hobos or drag-and-drop characters. There are games that can accomidate both, but my table typically serves them poorly.
Tristan's Preferences
Systems
Game Mechanics