Jeff

David was fantastic at teaching the Dragonbane rules, and I had an absolute blast from start to finish. He gave me plenty of room to riff with my Wolfkin pit fighter, Bastonn, and introduced the perfect foil (fowl?) to my character: a plate-armored mallard duck who argued with me incessantly. What began as hilarious banter evolved into something surprisingly meaningful — we developed a real in-game relationship, and when it looked like the duck might not make it, I was genuinely stressed about the outcome. What impressed me most was David’s commitment. For a very reasonable fee, we played five full hours — and he even extended the session so we could land at a satisfying narrative stopping point rather than cutting things short. That level of dedication makes a huge difference. If you’re looking for a GM who balances humor, character depth, and strong narrative pacing, I highly recommend David.

Josh is amazing! I’ve played with a lot of pro GMs, and the majority don’t have the magic he has. He’s a natural storyteller, he’s very patient, and he create scenes that are extremely immersive. It was not hard at all to suspend my sense of disbelief. Josh bent over backwards to accommodate our needs and even laughed at our jokes- and his laughter was sincere, not canned. What I liked most about Josh was his humanness - he was both professional and human at the same time. It didn’t feel like a mask or a role- we got a sense of who Josh is, and that made the game so much better. I very highly recommend Josh, for both new players, friends, and gronards.

Mike ran a really fun Monster of the Week One Shot. He is very patient and good at explaining the rules without it interfering with the narrative. He also has a good sense of humor and can improvise on the fly. Play felt very natural and like a good entertainer, he left us wanting more. I would definitely play one of his games again.

I thoroughly enjoyed returning to Call of Cthulhu with Kim GMing. I hadn’t played in yonks and she was flexible and accommodating yet set good gaming boundaries on what could and couldn’t happen. 1. For some reason, I was having a lot of problems with Discord sound. The group was very patient with me. I hated this as I don’t want people to wait on me, especially in a game they’re paying for. Kim was very patient and allowed me to play a speech impaired character (communication through writing). 2. She was very complimentary toward players’ ideas and taking initiative and being compassionate. It was encouraging. 3. Her impersonation of a young 19 year old girl who was developmentally delayed was masterfully superb. Pro actor stuff. 3. Kim knew her rules and when she didn’t, she looked them up- she didn’t pretend to know everything. 4. She was very comfortable with the setting and the adventure and clearly had run this adventure several times. It helped keep things smooth, flowing, and interesting. Kim also allowed the adventure to go on longer than anticipated so we could finish. 5. Kim kept everyone engaged and rotated between characters. Not everyone does a good job at this. Kim does. 6. I would love to play in one of her games again. I heartily recommend her games.

Review for Getting Started as Paid Story Teller Workshop: I am still learning the new editions of the games I used to play and GM decades ago. I used to be a good GM, but have a long way to go before I am ready to run a game, much less turn pro. This was an awesome workshop for someone like me, paddling in the baby pool, watching those far beyond me navigating the deep end. With that in mind, here's feedback from that perspective: - Matthew never spoke down to me. Like many other social communities, the gaming community can sometimes speak down or be less tolerant to newbies. However, I was asked questions and often these were followed by clarifying prompts. This helped me understand what I needed to enhance and what my strengths and weaknesses are. Matthew didn't specifically address weaknesses, focusing on strengths, but that was a logical follow up. - Though Matthew never mentioned business model or research, it was clear he was helping us flesh out what that looked like. - Marketing exposure and attracting players was discussed in depth. - The workshop had a topic driven agenda but was open ended enough to be driven by participant answers. It was never a monologue, and subsequently shaped by both Matthew's and the participants experiences. and beliefs about gaming and work in general. - We covered everything from platforms, different IT technologies, accounting, marketing, and deciding on where to do physical in person GMing, virtual, or catering to corporate team building efforts. - Matthew also stressed how valuable having a collaborative with other pro GM is, with an ethos that there is enough work for all and already has developed such a group and invited attendees to join. Regardless of the very cheap price Matthew charges for these, I highly recommend this and any other workshops Matthew facilitates. He offers a low price as a service to fellow GM and to be of service as others have helped him. Like so many of us in other professionals, he found that people are less likely to attend free sessions they have little investment in. I was honored to be a part of this.