About me

Hey! I'm Tom. I'm a PhD candidate, lecturer and an almost-forever DM! Chances are you're not super interested in the nitty gritty of my DMing CV - so let me give you some highlights and we'll skip to the important stuff in the 'GM style' section below: - I've been DMing since my teens (a bit of 2e, 4e, mostly 5e) - I run a live weekly ongoing campaign over on twitch (twitch.tv/sleepiest_) where you can catch some VODs of me in action if you fancy - I've organised and DM'd for multiple live charity fundraising events, where donations were incentivised with game interactivity (for Mental Health Foundation and Black Girls CODE; the last was Animal Crossing/DOOM themed!) - I'm big on inclusivity, and am LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent and phobia-friendly - The games I run aren't streamed by me, but can be streamed by you if you bring your own consenting group! My banner was illustrated by @sleepiestdesigns

GM Style

The focus of my DMing is to ensure all players feel welcome, involved and valuable, whilst facilitating your character's development on your own terms. I aim to make sure my groups get to play their characters the way they imagine them, whilst providing memorable moments and challenging combat. I'm a cheery, laid-back guy - but I like a splash of serious with my goofy. :) What this means is: *Collaborative storytelling I won't be pushing my narrative on your character. If you're a master at swordplay, you're probably not going to slip on a banana peel because you rolled a natural 1 (unless you say so :D); we'll work together to figure it out - or I can take the reigns if you prefer the backseat. *Valued team members Unless you prefer to be more passive, I will seek out opportunities to get you involved in roleplaying moments, encounters and character development *Fleshing out your character I like to ask my players questions about their characters as we play - which helps others at the table learn more about them, and gives you a chance to develop your character in the moment. What does your magic look like? What's your character's favourite item? *Tough, but fair and dynamic combat I prefer to run fewer combats, but ensure that they facilitate cool Heroic moments. In my mind, perfect battle encounters feel tense, but not unbalanced - and give you the opportunity to think outside your usual combat actions. As a DM, I'm not a rules-lawyer - though I lean towards rules-as-written for spells and attacks, I reward my players for thinking outside the box: my #1 homebrew rule is the option to use player inspiration as a 'DM favour', where we find a way to make your cool (but maybe not entirely rules-bound) idea work. I tend to homebrew my monsters a bit, because there's no fun in knowing exactly what a fantasy monster is capable of! I use Roll20, and mostly use grid-based combat, with a bit of theatre-of-mind if that makes more sense. I tend to avoid difficult puzzles unless they're a fun side-activity. :)

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