“Roleplay Heavy” games place the focus on the story, the characters, and the world they live within, and tend to lean hard into the various roleplaying elements of the game. These games will frequently find the party talking with NPCs, exploring the personal elements of their backstories, or even having emotional moments around the camp fire. 

Roleplay Heavy

“Combat Heavy” games emphasize the combat mechanics within their systems over roleplay or puzzle solving. There are frequent and longer battles with enemies and a greater emphasis on tactical game play.

Combat Heavy

“Theater of the Mind” uses little to no visuals for scene settings and combat. Instead, the narrative imagery comes from the Game Master’s descriptions and character action and movement comes from Players’ descriptions. 

Theater of the Mind

“Rule of Cool” emphasizes creative story beats over sticking to a system’s rules as written. Players have the ability to push the limits of the rules or even break core rule mechanics at times if the Game Master thinks it is interesting, fun, or cool enough.

Rule of Cool (RoC)

“Realm Building” games focus on the development, expansion, and management of something bigger than a single party, where the characters may find themselves in charge of a kingdom, faction, settlement, or organization. Over the course of gameplay, players might manage resources, make decisions that shape nations, or even guide large-scale conflicts as part of the ongoing story.

Realm Building

Dungeons & Dragons 5e

Gothic Horror

Horror

High Fantasy

Gritty Fantasy

Cosmic Horror

Survival

Eldritch Horror

Dark Fantasy

Espionage

Chris

I discovered D&D in 2023. How it eluded me for so long, I’ll never know. But once I finally sat at the table, something clicked. It rewired me in the best possible way, and now I’m in love.

I enjoy deep, character-driven role-play, emotionally charged story arcs, and intense combat that serves a greater narrative purpose. I’m an intermediate player who has adventured through multiple campaigns and recently stepped behind the screen as a Dungeon Master, running an ongoing home-brew story for my friends.

By day I’m a software engineer. By night I’m an actor, storyteller, filmmaker, and former theatre owner. Each passion fuels my love of creativity, collaboration, and immersive storytelling.

Chris

About me

My preferences