Louise Harris

I will preface this by saying that Rich is my husband, so I am of course quite biased! However, I have both played with and observed a number of other GMs and have a decent amount of experience so, hopefully, there is some objectivity in my review. The main things you need when getting started with TTRPGs is a GM who is patient, kind and, above all, interested in making sure you have a really good time. That is Rich all over. When we first started playing D&D together, we learned from someone who, although they had a lot of experience, was completely hopeless at teaching beginners. They were detached, seemed quite disinterested and never asked any questions about whether we needed help or if we understood things. They also didn't intervene at all when other players were domineering or, on some occasions, behaved in quite problematic ways. Rich is exactly the opposite. He is completely dedicated to making sure players feel safe, comfortable and, above all, are able to have fun and really enjoy themselves in the game, even if they're playing for the first time. I've seen him teach young children, older kids, grown-ups, absolute beginners, players with ASD, players with ADHD and, in every case, he's able to connect with them and help them feel comfortable and happy so they have a great time. I've even seen him convert someone who really wasn't interested in TTRPGs at all to someone who was clamouring to finish off an adventure. Outside of this, he is a natural storyteller and, bluntly, a bit of a showman! I've lost count of the number of walks we've been on where we've talked through ideas for stories or spotted natural locations that have sparked an idea for an encouter. He is ALWAYS thinking about running games, making up stories and planning interesting things for his players to do or discover, and he is very entertaining as a GM (and very funny). Basically - and, as I say, I am course a little biased - but he's an absolutely fantastic GM and a really gifted storyteller who I am confident you will really enjoy playing with.