1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
The only thing I really had to fine tune, but got to work pretty well was a D&D 3.5e Skill Challenge. It could use a little tweaking, but it wasn't unbeatable and it reflected the player's skills and abilities to complete tasks.
2. When was the last time you GMed?
Last Sunday I ran my small group.
3. When was the last time you played?
While we met to play online last night, we were unable to play since we are at a point where we need everyone present. I think it's been a little over a month since I've gotten to play just because of the holidays and me getting sick for a couple weeks.
4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven’t run but would like to.
Our heroes are met with gearing up and enduring the cold of the frozen north in order to defeat the Cryomancer that is slowly pushing out the boundaries of cold and snow causing nationwide food shortages.
5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
As a GM, I plan out the oppositions next move and then wait to hear what the player does. As a player, I try to strategize my turn and then see how I can supplement that with other players' actions.
6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
I usually don't eat while I play, but I tend to drink pop, coffee (for the longer sessions) or water.
7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
There are times that balancing out your day-to-day and planning out a session just gets overwhelming, but you know that people are counting on you. As a result, there are times where you'd rather just take some time from GMing and decompress, but when you actually get to GMing you do get to decompress as your plans finally get rolling.
8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
One of my favorite stories to this date of one of my characters was a level 6 or 7 Lumi Cleric watching as the rest of his party divided and attacked each other. My character decided to not get involved, despite lighting the proverbial fire that started this combat, and rather to document this encounter on top of his carriage until the guard arrived when he rode back into town.
9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
My players generally are good about taking serious moments serious and mixing in some less serious elements into the campaign. It adds a little more fun to the campaign sometimes when something absurd or silly is suggested.
10. What do you do with goblins?
I honestly don't think I've used goblins all that much ever. In my mind, goblins aren't this mindless minion, but rather more of the magic the gathering style siege engineer sort of race with their hang gliders, dirigibles, and whatnot.
11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
I'm on the fence of whether I'm adding it or not, but the wheel that Davy Jones uses in Pirates of the Caribbean to summon the Kraken was an idea I'm rolling around in my head to potentially add something similar.
12. What’s the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
In my mini group, I had a Poinsondusk Lizardfolk Druid who only spoke in "Derp-Common" (only could be understood 25% of the time) and they got on a train to travel in search of a cult. A conductor confused by him got upset leaving the Druid to cast create water over the conductor's head resulting in 60+ gallons of water to drench the man. He then ran and summoned his Dire Bat to help which ended up breaking the train leaving their car stranded in the middle of nowhere and killing the party's 6th Donkey, Honus VI
13. What was the last game book you looked at–aside from things you referenced in a game–why were you looking at it?
I was looking at the Tomb of Horrors 3.5e because I was considering incorporating it into a campaign. Mwahahaha
14. Who’s your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
I had to Google 'RPG illustrations' to even come close to an answer, but I found the art style of Nicolas Rix to be really cool. It seems deeper than just your standard cartoon illustration. Dunno if this counts, but it's the answer I've got.
15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
I can't say that it was genuine fear, but there have been situations where fear of the unknown or fear of the surmised was roleplayed as it should have been.
16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn’t write? (If ever)
The only time I've used book material to run an adventure, I used a portion of a book whose title escapes me, but the adventure took place in an aqueduct that had Gelatinous Cubes that cleared out obstructions. While the party was fleeing an aggressive G-Cube with an unconscious party member over shoulder, they got trapped between the cleaner G-Cubes and the aggressive one and barely managed to escape. It was entertaining to me, but I can't say the party felt the same.
17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
My large group runs their campaign using a large TV as the map and as the source of ambiance and background images and the player sit facing each other with me at the head of the table and the tv at the foot. Everyone can see everything and actual dice rolling and face-to-face interactions happen which is something that isn't quite the same with online campaigns.
18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
I've always wanted to get a set of metal dice, but I don't want to spend $25-30 on a set of dice. The other thing I'm determined to get/find is a large pull-down map of the forgotten realms (liek the style of the big world maps in elementary school).
19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Many of my ideas stem from the Legend of Zelda series. I grew up playing those games and they really got me into that adventure-style RPG and as a result, a handful of things I incorporate have ties to the games.
20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
I love having players that are willing to roleplay their characters. Instead of going off of the majority, having a character that is willing to get messy and try things outside the box is always great. I also enjoy when players try to think of outside the box solutions to problems because they keep me on my toes.
21. What’s a real life experience you’ve translated into game terms?
One of my fraternity brothers and I tend to explain things to each other in D&D terms quite frequently and while it's amusing to us, it's even better when people don't get what we mean. More often than not, our go to is "______ failed their [applicable skiil] throw".
22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn’t?
I really wish that there was a Google Maps equivilent for the D&D world maps. Instead of guessing how long a journey could take on the roads, it would be great to have an online resource that would say, if you take the roads it'll take 52 hours to go from Waterdeep to Neverwinter.
23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn’t play? How do those conversations go?
I have tried to get my Fiance to play on multiple occasions, but she doesn't really want to. However, she is willing to help me with plot ideas if I'm stuck, but I have to try to keep my backstory of leading events short since I know she doesn't care all that much about the backstory.
The GM Questionnaire
While reading through some other D&D blogs, I came across a questionnaire for GMs. While I have the IWADM article which asks a couple different questions, I figured I would do a different one to give a little insight into my DM/GM life.