Bridget

Wow-what can I say about Cinder? He has been DMing games for me for the last three years. I would say that his combination of collaborative story-building and focus on play and imagination make for such interactive games. There's always a lot of buy-in from his players because he is so committed to keeping the campaign theirs, not his own. That being said, It is always a welcomed addition to a game when Cinder can step into an auxiliary character's role and you can see his performance skills- it really encourages you to do the same and creates a space in which you can feel vulnerable enough to engage in embodying your character as well. I never feel ashamed when I have to ask questions about the dynamics of play or about my character sheet. I think Shiah is a great DM for me, a novice, but also can see him being wonderful at facilitating games with groups of "strangers" and games for the more skilled/ practiced set. I've played all femme games with him as the DM and one thing I really respect is that he tries to defy gender roles and binaries in his world-building. He has such a skill for this work and I wouldn't want to play with another DM ever, no matter what their reviews are. He is just perfect as a DM.