I had several unfinished games on my laptop which recently went kaput so I’m somewhat back at square one. However in terms of what, or who, I want to create, I’m trying to create more GM’s, gamemasters, in general. I’ve been running local workshops/lectures in Vancouver (the Canadian one) to teach people how to GM. It’s less about having a list of things to own or do to checkmark off, but about teaching the right mindset. I plan to take my presentations and lectures on the con circuit. I’m out of commission till July but if anyone wants me to guest at their con. 😉
I have a website: thedicequeen.wordpress.com, but mainly I want to promote my twitter: Di. (dice infused).
I work as a freelance editor and I’m studying to be librarian. However, at the end of the day I’m a GM and it’s in the job description to constantly be thinking about the next game.
How did you get into tabletop gaming?
I met a random group of friends playing league of legends because I was apparently a nightmare as an enemy. They invited me to hang out more. Eventually they invited me into their 3.5 campaign. It’s kind of wild imagining that without this completely random happenstance I probably wouldn’t be in tabletops for many years later.
However the key part of this is that my high school friends, not even a week after my first session, asked me to run dnd for them since “I had an in.” I barely knew how to play but I was dunked head first into the icy waters of gamemastery and I swam. Hard.
At this point, years later, can I honestly say I’m more GM than player as I’ve spent many months and years not playing, but I’d find it difficult to point a time where I wasn’t involved in some capacity as a GM for even a week.
What do you love about tabletop games?
My heart lays in GMing and what I love the most is gripping people into my own reality. I like drawing people in to care about their characters in a deep way and creating stories they’ll likely be talking about for years in the future.
Have you overcome any obstacles in tabletop gaming?
Good lord, I have. I’ve been playing for a while and I really like playing both locally as well as online. I’ve regularly had the “Oh the GM is a girl? That’s new.” The amount of times online where I get propositioned to RP out erotic scenes is also absurdly high I feel. I don’t really have a frame of reference what is ‘normal.’
I’ve GM’d for literally every sort of nightmare player and moreso. I’ve especially had people talking down to me, assuming I don’t know rules, or talking over me as I’ve come to notice men often do over women.
What would your advice be to women who are interested in tabletop gaming?
Do it. Don’t let anyone stop you. Play a quirky system if you can. Everyone seems enraptured with 5e lately but there’s so many games out there that deserve love: Savage Worlds (oh my god, Savage Worlds).
What kind of characters are you drawn to play?
I have two speeds: emotionally distant and damaged, or reckless and spirited. Play what you know and all.
I don’t get to be a player very often so when I do I try fairly hard to play pacifistic or cowardly characters. I’m sick of murderhobo’ing as a GM and I don’t want to perpetuate it as a player.
Is there a woman in tabletop who you think we should highlight?
I’ve been a fan of Avery Alder for quite a while. I admire her interest in finding connections with others and honestly when I first saw Ribbon Drive my heart skipped a beat. I care a lot about the intimacy behind tabletops and that game probably set me on the path to being a metamodernist in the years to come.