Hire a Dungeon Master

The kind of game I run

I build worlds, not railroads. The world reacts logically to your choices, not conveniently for the plot. Go anywhere, try anything, and live with what happens. The map has edges, and past them it says "here we stopped knowing."

High stakes, fair odds. Characters can die. There is no plot armor, and that is exactly why the wins mean something. I am not your enemy. The world just doesn't pull its punches, and I don't fudge the dice to save you from a choice you made on purpose.

A poor man's game, on purpose. This isn't a production or a podcast. It's the oldest thing people do: gather around a table, or a fire, and make a story together. Anyone can play. I'll reach for a sack of coins as miniatures and graph paper for a map before I'll reach for anything too sleek and perfect to feel real. Strip away the lights and the set dressing and the expectations, and what's left is the part that always counted. Our ancestors built gods and monsters with nothing but a fire and their own voices. We still don't need more than that.

The night beats the numbers. Nobody tells the story of the optimal build. They tell the story of the night someone did a stupid voice and the whole table lost it for ten minutes. I run for those nights.

Not just D&D

I run Dungeons & Dragons, but I am very much not a one-system DM. Two decades buys a deep shelf. Tell me what your group already loves, or tell me the kind of story you want and I'll bring the system that fits it.

Fantasy and old school: D&D 5e and earlier editions, AD&D, B/X, Old-School Essentials, Castles & Crusades, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Dungeon World.

Horror and the weird: Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Sci-fi and cyberpunk: Lancer, Cyberpunk 2020, Traveller, Star Wars D6, Metamorphosis Alpha.

Story-forward and oddball: Fabula Ultima, Paranoia, Bunnies & Burrows.

New to all of it? Good. I'll teach you at the table, and then the world will try to kill your character anyway.

Sessions I run

One-shots. A complete story in a single night. The easiest way to try a system, run a one-off with friends, or see if the table likes the taste of blood.

Ongoing campaigns. A recurring table and a world that remembers what you did last session. Long arcs, real character growth, seasons of story that pay off the stuff you set up months ago.

Private events. A planned, hosted game for your group, a game store, a bar night, a library, or a convention. You set the occasion; I build the night around it.

Where

Based in Muncie, Indiana, running games across East Central Indiana: Yorktown, Daleville, Albany, Anderson, New Castle, and the Ball State crowd included.

I can come to you, your home or your group's usual spot, or help line up a table at a local game store or community room. A little outside the area? Ask, and we'll work it out.