TTRPGs have been around almost 50 years. In that time many different games and styles of play have emerged. If you are going to be playing in one of my games, you're probably wondering what kinds of games I run and what player expectations are. If you're new to the hobby or have only played a single game such as D&D 5E you may not even know that different styles of play exist.
My style depends on the exact game we are going to be playing, but in general these are the aspects of play that I value. Many of these are OSR inspired, but I don't agree with all OSR concepts or solely run OSR games.
When I say OSR, I mean Old School Renaissance and not Old School Revival. I view the term Renaissance as being a romantic reinterpretation and modernization of older styles of play rather than trying to fully replicate old styles of play.
There's also debate over whether Old School Revival is actually a revival or not of how these games were actually played. This is fascinating history but outside the scope of this article.
In the games I run combat tends to be quick and lethal. It is possible for you to encounter enemies that you won't be able to kill. To me this adds excitement and higher stakes to encounters. I don't set out to run meat grinder campaigns. If a situation is dangerous I'll do my best to telegraph that to you. Your character can die with a few bad decisions or dice rolls. If this happens, we will get you back in the game as soon as possible.
I tend to give out experience for surviving or achieving goals, not necessarily for killing monsters.
I tend to run games that are lighter on rules. I want you to be able to try out whatever you want and not feel limited to what is on your character sheet. If you want to try something not explicitly stated in the rules that you think will give you an advantage, go for it.
The NPC's I run have motivations and feelings of their own and if you insult them to their face they probably aren't inclined to give you a discount.
I tend to be on the side of challenging the players rather than the characters. To me, this is more immersive. I view TTRPG's as existing on a spectrum between being Games and being Stories. They're sort of both and neither at the same time. I understand the argument that you should not have to be charismatic in real life to play a charismatic character, or be a super genius to play a Wizard. But these are also games, and games require skilled play to be good at.
I encourage you to play an interesting and flawed, but realistic character. TTRPGs are inherently funny. There will be laughter and jokes at the table and this is welcome as long as it does not derail the session. We are at the table to play, but breaks and socializing are fine in moderation.
Please keep cell-phone use to a minimum, checking a text quickly is fine, scrolling through your phone half the session is not.
Please do not make a meme character or pop culture clone unless I specify otherwise.
I do my best to make fair rulings, but I'm not perfect. If you feel there is a circumstance that would change one of my rulings, feel free to let me know. If I feel that you make a good point I will rule in your favor. Arguing with me for extended periods slows the game down and my rulings are final (story games are obvious exceptions).
You should always feel safe at my table. If a scene makes you uncomfortable you can always call for a "fade to black" or a break, no questions asked. For some horror games we will have a safety contract that prevents certain things from happening or things that can only happen off screen.
I run a lot of horror games. These games are meant to make us uncomfortable. If you dislike horror altogether, we shouldn't play that genre together.
My golden rule as a game master is to run the kind of game that I would want to play in myself. My goal is to provide the most fun possible but that sometimes means that me and other players are incompatible- and that's ok.