Frequently Asked Questions

• Running a game as a GM is fun, but it’s also a ton of work. Crafting a truly immersive game world takes a lot of time, effort, and experience.

• Hiring a professional GM ensures that they’ll make the time to create the specific game experience your party’s looking for.

• A professional GM helps establish a play schedule that will be set and honored, so that if you schedule a game, you know they’ll be there and ready.

• You don’t have to worry about purchasing a ton of extra materials or rule books or the like. The only cost is the GM’s time.

• You’ll have someone experienced in teaching the rules. Learning a new game system can be daunting even if you’ve played other TTRPGs before. A professional GM can help you get up to speed and running with minimal homework.

No worries. Players of any skill level or familiarity are welcome. I have extensive experience running games with new players. Learning all the rules before play can begin is not necessary and much of a system can be learned during play. A process for learning will be discussed and agreed upon with all players during pre-game preparation.

Nope! I’m happy to work with players of all ages. The only caveat is, that depending on content, group composition, and other context, I may want to separate much younger players into games with others more in their age range. This can be discussed on a per player/per game basis.

Currently, yes. Playing in person is absolutely a ton of fun and I think most folks generally seem to agree that this is the best case play scenario. But given the current state of the world with the Covid-19 health crisis, as well as my normal work/life responsibilities, I’m only offering virtual play services at this time.

No books, maps, or figurine purchases are necessary.

The only requirements for play are headphones, a webcam, and a computer that can run a modern web browser. All other materials are provided.

I’ve played a bunch of different game systems over the years, but Starfinder is the system I’m currently both familiar with and enjoying the most. Sci-fi is probably my favorite genre so it’s a great fit for me as a GM. Built on top of the lore and universe of Pathfinder, Starfinder presents a rich, expansive universe for players to inhabit and explore.

I personally prefer games that tend to place a heavy emphasis on role-play. I look at each game as a collective storytelling experience that just happens to have a set of rules that define the mechanical workings of the game world. As for the rules themselves, I generally honor RAW (Rules As Written), but the Rule of Cool absolutely applies. In all things, I’m always happy to discuss the finer points of the rules outside of the game, the diplomacy check to persuade me is never unreasonable.

That all said, it’s your party’s game, so we’ll discuss what type of experience you’d like to have during your Session 0 consultation.

Nope! If you’re just one person, that’s not a problem. I’ll help match you with a party to start adventuring with. It may just take some time to gather one, so your patience is appreciated.

If you already have 3-5 friends who want to play, that just makes it even easier and quicker to get your game started.

After you’ve submitted a request to Book Your Game, I’ll reach out to have a very short discussion about the broadest logistics of setting up a campaign. If you’re an individual looking to join a game, we’ll wait until we have enough people to form a full party. If you already have a party, then we’re good to proceed.

Once a full party is formed (4 - 6 players) we’ll set up a free consultation with the entire group. This ‘Session -1’, is where we’ll take some time to discuss the outline of your adventure, the logistics of your campaign, the rules of play and safety rules for my virtual table, and how payment can be handled.

Once we collectively come to an agreement on these topics, players can begin character creation on their own or with my assistance. This is done in preparation for a shorter ‘Session 0‘ where we’ll introduce our character to each other and double check all of our game preparations. This is the first paid session, the cost of which covers the session time itself, but also gamer preparations and character creation assistance.

Finally, we reach Session 1 and your regularly scheduled adventure begins!

The details of my table rules are covered during our Session -1 consultation, but they can generally be summed up by saying “Don’t be a dick.“ The goal of each campaign is for everyone have fun. Anything that goes against that can/should be brought up immediately and discussed by both myself and the appropriate parties so that it can be mutually resolved. If an issue becomes too disruptive to a game and cannot be resolved by discussion, I reserve the absolute right to remove a player from a game at any time. Refunds may be issued to removed individuals per my discretion.

Some hard line rules for my games:

• No sex - Adult content is fine, as long as all party member agree to it, but I have zero interest in role playing sexual situations in my games.

• No PvP (Player vs Player fighting) - Again, I simply have no interest in running games where an adventuring party is fighting with each other. If this is your thing, sorry, I’m not the GM for you.

• No racism, sexism, bigotry, etc. will be tolerated - This applies both in and out of character. Zero tolerance. The Rule of Goats applies here; to slightly paraphrase, the rule states: “If you kiss a goat, even if you say you're doing it ironically, you're still a goat-kisser”. “I was only being ironic“, or “I don’t think this, but my character does“ does not fly.

• No “Strong Silent Types“ - This can be discussed during character creation at the beginning of a campaign, but generally I’m not interested in this trope at my table. I like to run a role-play heavy game and this tends to put too much onus on the other players to move the narrative forward.

I use safety rules at my table to ensure that we can collectively set the boundaries of what type of content and interaction each party is comfortable with in their campaign. During your consultation Session -1, I’ll provide a short questionnaire to allow players to specify their comfort levels with various situations in the game world. After all players submit their surveys, we’ll collectively discuss any boundaries they place on gameplay content. We will not proceed forward to Session 0 until all parties come to agreement on these boundaries.

Safety rules also include systems to allow players to privately indicate to me if they become uncomfortable at any time by the game content, other players, or even myself. These issues will be addressed immediately and gameplay will not continue until they are resolved. For myself, my goal is to be as accommodating as possible with my players. In conflicts with other players, if the issues cannot be resolved outside of the game, I reserve the absolute right to remove a player from a game at any time. Refunds may be issued to removed individuals per my discretion.

While details of this process will be discussed in detail during your free “Session -1” consultation, all game sessions must be paid for in advance.

Payment for each session is required the day after your previous session.

The cost for each session is a fixed price. Pricing specifics can be viewed on the Services page.

Bulk advanced payments can be discussed and arranged upon request.

Payments will be accepted via a common online payment system.

Rescheduling a session is never an issue as long as it’s done at least two days in advance of its normally scheduled time slot. Payment for a session that’s rescheduled will be transferred to that new session.

Rescheduling within two days of a agreed upon time slot is non-refundable. Having such little notice makes it very difficult for me fill that time slot with another game and means I’ve already done the prep for for that session, not allowing me time to prep another game even if I can fill that slot. I feel my time and energy are valuable, so giving appropriate notice is required.

When discussing your game during your “Session -1” consultation, we'll determine what your party wants to do if one or more players cannot make a session. Some parties would rather reschedule the entire session, and some will still want to play, even if they’re one or more person(s) down. If a session is rescheduled more than two days in advance, there’s no issue other than scheduling (see the above question for more info). If we run a session one or more players down, the session rate is still remains a fixed price.

During the "Session -1" planning session, each party will decide on their player number requirements before rescheduling a session is required.

If a session needs to be canceled, the payment for that session can be transferred to the next session. Payment can be refunded if requested, as long as it is requested at least two days before the next session.

Refunds are not available if requested within two days of their session, or for sessions that have already been played.