u/valkrik

About Me + System

Hello! My name is Luke (he/him), I am 28, and I have pretty consistently been running Dungeons and Dragons 5e as a DM (first 2014, more recently 2024) for the past ~6 years. Great system, I still enjoy it and play it, but I am looking to explore some more systems. I am really interested in running and trying out Pathfinder 2e to see if combat can be a bit more engaging than 5e. I am certainly not asking that everyone who volunteers be familiar with Pf2e, but I am asking that you be open to learning (and be open to giving a bit of patience to me as I work through the kinks of running a new system).

My day job is teaching High School English, so I have a passion for both stories and teaching! I like to think that I’m at least fairly decent at clearly explaining new systems; I have taught new groups 5e, Blades in the Dark, and Vaesen in the past. 

Time Availability

Being a teacher, my upcoming summer will be pretty open, which is when I’m ideally looking to run the campaign. If the group works out well and our schedules align, we can always continue past the summer as well!

I’m located in the US on the West Coast, so I’m in Pacific Time. It would be cool to set something up during the day (as early as 9 AM PDT up to maybe 12 PM PDT). If you’re also a teacher with an open summer schedule, this might work super well for you!

This availability for me starts the last week of June/first week of July. I recognize I am reaching out quite a ways in advance! If schedules align, we could always start a bit earlier: my Wednesday and Thursday evenings (~6:30 PM PDT) are typically open, but we would likely have to miss a week occasionally if we met evenings.

Type of Game

While I want combat to be strategic and meaningful, I do not tend to enjoy running dungeon-crawl style adventures. Rather, I like something that tends to be a bit more RP-focused. I like games where the players have buy-in and where main conflicts intersect with personal conflicts, allowing for ethical quandaries and difficult moral decisions. I would hope to include elements of political intrigue, mystery, and class conflict. 

I would ask that, as a player, you would be willing to put in some time up front to answer questions regarding characters goals, desires, relationships, struggles, etc. I want to use elements of these to design the overarching narrative. 

“Table” Guidelines (Virtual Table, that is)

I run games that are LGBTQIA+ friendly. You should be someone who is accepting of all, regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. Additionally, during Session Zero, we will go over content that we do not want in the campaign, what content we are okay with happening “on-screen” vs. “off-screen,” etc. 

Conflict between characters, especially in service of the overall narrative, is encouraged. However, conflict between players should be immediately addressed and resolved in the moment; the purpose, after all, is to have fun!

Setting

I have a homebrew setting that I have run a couple of campaigns in before. It is largely inspired by Victorian-era England, taking place in an industrial city with options to explore smaller towns in the countryside. 

Many historical issues that surrounded this era are also present here: labor strikes, class disparity, corrupt law enforcement, and unfair labor practices on the side of the factory-owners are just a few that are present. Conflict within the city is typically between humanoids; any monster conflicts tend to only occur out in the wilderness of the countryside. 

With the fairly recent perfection of the printing press and cheap production of paper to disseminate information, printed spell “pamphlets” are being produced with spells that help productivity in factories. These are largely non-damage dealing spells, but there are weak fire spells to help with the burning of coal and other materials. 

Lore

I personally like to keep lore a bit on the minimal/flexible side. I’ll give you a bit more context if you end up playing, but I will essentially focus on building lore that relates to the characters. I have found, in the games that I have DMed, players are more likely to find lore interesting if it directly pertains to their characters’ goals. 

Logistics

I own a Foundry VTT license, so we would play through that. Once a group is set, we can start a Discord channel and communicate there!

Ideally, the party would be four players. I have run larger groups and smaller groups, but I personally find four to be the sweet spot. 

Depending on how we are all feeling, this could be just a ~10-12 session campaign, or if folks are enjoying it and have the schedule availability, it could have the potential to go further.

I Want to Play! Now what?

Great! Please fill out the Google Form below, and I will try to get back to you soon. If there is a lot of interest, you’ll likely hear within the week or sooner.

Application Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc70LQURQ2EI1JEEtgQY9pX66gbyuccpVS_l75WhYYWRBwYmg/viewform?usp=publish-editor