Post by diskelemental on Dec 14, 2014 23:50:57 GMT -7
Who you're Talking to:
Yo, my name is Disk, I'm a nineteen year old Physics student. I've been playing Pathfinder for about two and a half years, GMing for the same. Most of my experience is in Pathfinder Society, but I've played in and ran several home games. I'm currently running a game set in the Shackles in Golarion, which is ~7th level at the moment, with plans to go up to 15th level.
Strengths:
Flexibility. Part of being a Society GM is being able to adapt to groups of all different sizes, and with all different balances. Have your players ever showed up to a dungeon crawl with 6 Bards, a Sorcerer, and an Oracle? Or have the PCs jumped through your antagonist's window while she's changing? Because mine have. I've seen a whole lot of stuff, so I'm comfortable with pretty much anything the players can throw at me.
Challenge. I enjoy powerful PCs and my players enjoy building powerful PCs, so I learned to challenge them. As a player, the fights I enjoy the most are the ones which require the PCs to go all out, unleash all their resources, pull out all their tricks, and play to the best of their ability. So, as a GM, I try to engineer this situations.
Creativity. Before every session, I try to figure out what makes it unique, what moment players will be talking about days, weeks, months, down the line. I've had my share of duds, but when it works, I get players asking about/discussing sessions from months before.
Weaknesses:
Rules. This is the big one for me, I know the rules well enough to run games, but I don't know every single thing about them. I know how characters work, but I don't have every spell, trait, and feat memorized. Which means I will make mistakes. I will make bad rulings. But, if I'm unsure of something, I generally rule in the party's favor.
Length. Depending on who you ask, this may not be much of a problem, but, I enjoy the little moments. I like taking extra time to build the world, characterize the NPCs, and goof off with the players. Which means, unless I really make an effort, my sessions generally run ~25% longer than most other GMs.
Consistency. I'm busy and a bit of a perfectionist, like, really busy, and when I'm not busy, there are times where I just don't feel like writing. Which means, it takes me a long time to write adventures anyway, but when you add in me being a lazy sack, it takes even longer. I've been working on a 10-11 adventure since September. When it's done, it'll be awesome, but I'm still working on it.
Things that are either strengths or weaknesses depending on who you are:
Roleplaying. I love roleplaying, I love skills, I love out of combat stuff. If I just wanted to kill things and get loot, I'd go play Diablo. In general, when I'm not under some other constraint, my sessions are ~70% RP/Skill challenges and ~30% deadly, deadly, combat. Which means, your Int, Wis, Cha 7 Barbarian is going to spend most of the time bored out of their mind, while the Bard is having the time of their life.
Characterization. I also love characters and continuity, which means means most of the NPCs you run across are either old PCs or have their own stories, hopes, dreams, goals, etc. Which I sometimes get carried away with, to the point where a particularly bland group of PCs can get overshadowed by them.
Goals:
Right now I'm working on the designs for a new city-state, built on the remnants of hundreds of older civilizations. So, I'd like to get that finished up, and added to the world.
I'd also like to add a meta-plot about the interactions between the influx of PCs, the Rook government, and the rest of the world. Possibly creating a sub-branch of the military to specifically hunt down evil adventurers.
I'm also a Lovecraft fan, so expect the Dark Tapestry and the Elder gods to show up occasionally.
Thanks,
Disk
Yo, my name is Disk, I'm a nineteen year old Physics student. I've been playing Pathfinder for about two and a half years, GMing for the same. Most of my experience is in Pathfinder Society, but I've played in and ran several home games. I'm currently running a game set in the Shackles in Golarion, which is ~7th level at the moment, with plans to go up to 15th level.
Strengths:
Flexibility. Part of being a Society GM is being able to adapt to groups of all different sizes, and with all different balances. Have your players ever showed up to a dungeon crawl with 6 Bards, a Sorcerer, and an Oracle? Or have the PCs jumped through your antagonist's window while she's changing? Because mine have. I've seen a whole lot of stuff, so I'm comfortable with pretty much anything the players can throw at me.
Challenge. I enjoy powerful PCs and my players enjoy building powerful PCs, so I learned to challenge them. As a player, the fights I enjoy the most are the ones which require the PCs to go all out, unleash all their resources, pull out all their tricks, and play to the best of their ability. So, as a GM, I try to engineer this situations.
Creativity. Before every session, I try to figure out what makes it unique, what moment players will be talking about days, weeks, months, down the line. I've had my share of duds, but when it works, I get players asking about/discussing sessions from months before.
Weaknesses:
Rules. This is the big one for me, I know the rules well enough to run games, but I don't know every single thing about them. I know how characters work, but I don't have every spell, trait, and feat memorized. Which means I will make mistakes. I will make bad rulings. But, if I'm unsure of something, I generally rule in the party's favor.
Length. Depending on who you ask, this may not be much of a problem, but, I enjoy the little moments. I like taking extra time to build the world, characterize the NPCs, and goof off with the players. Which means, unless I really make an effort, my sessions generally run ~25% longer than most other GMs.
Consistency. I'm busy and a bit of a perfectionist, like, really busy, and when I'm not busy, there are times where I just don't feel like writing. Which means, it takes me a long time to write adventures anyway, but when you add in me being a lazy sack, it takes even longer. I've been working on a 10-11 adventure since September. When it's done, it'll be awesome, but I'm still working on it.
Things that are either strengths or weaknesses depending on who you are:
Roleplaying. I love roleplaying, I love skills, I love out of combat stuff. If I just wanted to kill things and get loot, I'd go play Diablo. In general, when I'm not under some other constraint, my sessions are ~70% RP/Skill challenges and ~30% deadly, deadly, combat. Which means, your Int, Wis, Cha 7 Barbarian is going to spend most of the time bored out of their mind, while the Bard is having the time of their life.
Characterization. I also love characters and continuity, which means means most of the NPCs you run across are either old PCs or have their own stories, hopes, dreams, goals, etc. Which I sometimes get carried away with, to the point where a particularly bland group of PCs can get overshadowed by them.
Goals:
Right now I'm working on the designs for a new city-state, built on the remnants of hundreds of older civilizations. So, I'd like to get that finished up, and added to the world.
I'd also like to add a meta-plot about the interactions between the influx of PCs, the Rook government, and the rest of the world. Possibly creating a sub-branch of the military to specifically hunt down evil adventurers.
I'm also a Lovecraft fan, so expect the Dark Tapestry and the Elder gods to show up occasionally.
Thanks,
Disk
