Subsections of About Me

GM Profile

This is the same information I use on StartPlaying.Games. But I have it here for reference.

Introduction

My Introduction to tabletop games happened when D&D 3.5 came out. This big display was at my favorite Borders I visited on my work break. I bought a special edition with the player’s guide, GM guide, and an entire campaign in a box that included maps and tiles you could use to change and expand them.

I learned two things that year. The first was that I naturally gravitated toward a GM role. The second lesson I learned was that I don’t care for the genre of high-fantasy, dungeons, or dragons.

I found other systems for building scenarios in other genres like FATE and sometimes GURPS, but I have recently fallen in love with Powered by the Apocalypse games and am using every excuse to buy them, run them, and play in them.

Helping players navigate these fictional worlds and their challenges is one of my favorite past times, followed second only by joining games as a player myself.

I prefer fictional engagement games to system engagement games which is why PbtA and FATE are my gotos for playing games. However, I also have plenty of love for VtM and WtA.

GM Profile

Hello, welcome to my profile. I have been game mastering since I first got into TTRPGs in ‘03; most of my time with TTRPGs has been spent being a game master.

I started with the release of D&D 3.5. and quickly transitioned to mostly running GURPS as my favorite system since it was more flexible for playing my worlds. However, I have long since moved into preferring games based more on fictional engagement than system engagement.

I prefer to run Fate Core for heavy powers & awesomeness and Powered by the Apocalypse games like Thirsty Sword Lesbians and Monster of the Week for messier and more emotional games. It is unusual to find combat-oriented games at my table as I prefer mystery, thrillers, horror, and politics to any brawler. I adore indie games and am always interested in fun, wacky, and zany one-shots or short campaigns. I always have far more games that I have backed or purchased than I have been able to play.

Outside of games, I am an avid roleplayer and love collaborative storytelling and writing. Navigating fictional worlds and exploring characters and their challenges is one of my favorite past times. I hope you will join me for it!

I use Roll20 as the virtual tabletop and Discord for chat, audio, and video. I prefer “video on,” but I understand and respect when that is not desired. I live in Las Vegas and am also available for in-person games.

Safety tools are essential to me; All games start with Lines & Veils and have the X Card. I also support using Script Change and Open Door, which ensures that someone can leave or take a break for any reason without being judged.

I am a queer & trans woman, and this shapes the worlds I help create with players. While not all games I run are themed around queer liberation, you should expect the normalization of queer, PoC, and differently-abled lifestyles. Themes like sexism, racism, ableism, and various phobias will generally not be included unless villanized.

My Table Rules

I am extremely consent focused both as a game master and a player. I put both the safety and fun of players above any other game rules or consequences of any die roll. To help enable this I set up several safety tools at the table.

Disclaimer: I didn’t invent any of this, I only have my own take on each thing. I stand on the shoulders of giants. For more information on safety tools check out the free TTRPG Safety Toolkit Resource Site.

The X-Card

The X-Card is a callout that allows any player to remove any content from the game on the fly without having to explain or justify themselves. If they want something removed, they tap the card or signal for an X-Card and we move on.

Script Change

For details check out the official resource. But as a summary it has a series of “cards” that anybody can call out to change what is happening? This is similar to the X-Card but makes it clear that everybody at the table is helping write the story and they can change the narrative by pausing for a break, skipping things, slowing it down to savor a really great moment, or take a do-over.

The cards are as follows

  • Pause
  • Fast-Forward
  • Rewind
  • Instant Replay
  • Frame-By-Frame
  • Slow Motion

Script change also brings in the concept of the “Rating System” based on the MPA film rating as a guideline.

My upper limit for most games is Hard R. If the second Matrix movie can have a sex scene, so can we, but let’s cut to the rave during it.

Lines and Veils

Lines and Veils are a safety tool I use in all games that I participate in.

  • A line is something that doesn’t exist in the game world at all. Nobody every thought of it, it never came up, it isn’t even a concept.
  • A veil is something that can still exist in the world, but not in the campaign that we are playing in. It is something that can happen, behind the veil or in the past, but not actively.
  • We usually add the Excited For at the end of this to highlight what people are at the table for, not just what they are not for.

Below are my personal lines and veils, these are the baseline for any game I am in. When I GM I send out an anonymous google form for people to fill out in advance when applicable.

My Lines

  • Child & Animal Abuse
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Suicide/Intrusive Thoughts

My Veils

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Ableism
  • Explicit Sex
  • Plague & Disease
  • Drug Abuse/Control with Addictive Substances

I maintain hard out-of-game limits for any player-versus-player conflict; No character can adversely affect another character without their player’s consent.

This includes but is not limited to;

  • You cannot charm or dominate your fellow companion if their character doesn’t agree.
  • You cannot roll persuasion or deception checks against another character expecting the character to behave a certain way when it fails unless the other player is good with it.
  • You cannot fireball your fighter friend no matter how many cultists of Talos they’re surrounded by unless they say “do it”.
  • You cannot steal another character’s stuff unless that character’s player is good with it.
  • You cannot attack another character unless both players are into it.

No Lines, Veils, or Excited For supersedes this rule.