User:YouMayFireWhenReady
| Reddit Username | [1] |
|---|---|
| Timezone | GMT-4 |
| Country | Canada |
| GM Level | 1 |
| GMP Tracker | [2] |
Characters
- Alkaios the Cretan - Ex-Hellas Navy Special Forces Marine. A Cretan minotaur who is badly disfigured and recovering from severe brain trauma, he seeks to leave the world around him better, one run at a time.
Questions for the Gamemaster
Question: What should we call you?
You can call me YouMayFire, or David, or YouMayFireWhenReady if you really want!
Question: What is your biggest weakness as a GM?
Probably crunch familiarity? There are a lot of books, as we all know, and I’m not as familiar with every mechanical subset as I ought to be. It has been awhile since I’ve played Shadowrun 5e so I’m slowly getting rid of the rust and reacquainting myself with all the minutiae.
Question: What is your biggest strength as a GM?
Being patient, I would venture. Or maybe that I’m story-focused, and have a degree that says I sometimes Do Story Good. You will either like my style a lot or really find it's not for you and that’s 100% okay. I will never take it personally!
Question: What is the most important stylistic thing we should know about you as a GM?
I almost always run games as Theatre of the Mind. I rarely use Roll20 or battlemaps (though I do usually incorporate visual aids!) I recognize that this is not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s totally okay! Just know that if you’ve specialized your character in such a way that counting meter/squares on a map is an important part of your enjoyment you’ll likely not get that with me. I am much more story-focused than anything else. I roll dice to aid in telling a cooperative story, not that I tell a cooperative story so that I can roll some dice. If there are rolls you want your character to make in-game that I haven’t called for please, feel free to mention it! I like to GM as cooperatively as possible. No railroads at this station!
Question: Do you ever run street level or hooding runs?
Do I ever! I’m definitely a person to come to if you want to request either/both types of runs! I don’t GM them exclusively but I do really enjoy running them at my table.
Question: Are you okay with players applying to jobs their character has a high chance of declining at the meet?
Answer: It depends on how you define “high chance”. If you know for certain that your character would never ever take the run, I’d prefer you didn’t apply, but if there’s some ambiguity I’m all for allowing the space to roleplay one's character!
Question: Are okay with players applying to jobs their character will actively attempt to thwart or derail?
If it makes sense for the character to feel the need to actively join and then sabotage a mission, at the risk of earning Notoriety and potentially the ire of the other runners on the mission…sure! If it’s a character-based decision and the player is okay with the consequences I don’t mind if things go sideways, and fast.
Question: What are your views on realism and seriousness of the setting?
Answer: I’m definitely a creature of earlier editions, first and foremost, so I tend to lean towards running Mirrorshades-type runs: grim, serious, and realistic according to old-school cyberpunk tropes. That said I’m more than happy to run the occasional zany run, or one that goes full-in on Pink Fauxhawk tropes: but I’ll be sure to mark if a run is a departure from my usual style. All that being said I’m okay with players joking around, and even their characters! It is only that I approach the themes and consequences from a “serious” perspective.
Question: What are your views on consequences and failure?
Answer: I’m all for consequences and failure. I think narratively consequences and failure are interesting, and promote character growth and roleplay opportunities. I never go out of my way to make sure that runners fail missions, or suffer consequences that are extreme to the point of death or permanent imprisonment. While I try not to run my games with safety rails there’s no part of me as a GM that relishes in “gotcha” moments, springing unavoidable or undetectable traps or consequences on players. I try to give players at my table as much freedom and room to plan and strategize as possible, so that if things go wrong in a mission hopefully it never feels punitive or mean-spirited. As a GM I “win” when the players have a good time and I recognize that sometimes, for players to have a good time, sometimes the characters need not to!
I will always endeavor to list content warnings in a run posting if I believe it may be sensitive to potential players. If anything comes up in play please know that I take player safety very seriously and will pause or end a run if given any notice, public or private, of discomfort.