Living 16-year-old Mike's Dream (StartPlaying.Games) (Patreon)

I've taken the plunge and started up as a Professional GM over at StartPlaying.Games. I've been playing TTRPGs for almost my whole life and running them for nearly as long. I was serious about TTRPGs before I figured out how to be serious about writing, hence the title of this post. If I'd known at 16 that "Pro GM" would be a viable career, I might have taken my life in a different direction. But I'm pretty happy with my life now, especially since I can add Pro GMing to my stack of many hats (Author, Podcaster, Actual Play Host, Teacher, etc.)

If you haven't heard of it, StartPlaying connects professional GMs with players all around the world, helps putting together campaign groups easy, plus they handle the billing, all for a reasonable fee (taken out of what the GMs make, not an extra fee for players).

For folks new to StartPlaying, you can get $10 off your first paid session (which would get you one session free for one of my games if you're the 1st or 2nd player) through my affiliate link. 

Here are the two campaigns I'm offering right now. Each will need 3 players to get off the ground with a session zero.

1)

Your Custom Blades in the Dark Campaign - a player-driven campaign - you pick what crew to play, what jobs to pull, and I'll use my extensive experience with Forged in the Dark games and Blades specifically to make an exciting campaign where you get to live the high-risk, high-reward scoundrel's life.

Running Monday nights at 7pm EDT. Starts Oct 10 if we get 3+ players

2)

Eberron: Mourning's Shadow - a D&D 5e game in Eberron with a Pulp Fantasy + Action Horror vibe. The PCs begin as a group tasked with guarding a major road leading to the Mournland and fighting the frequent incursions by Mourning-warped monsters that threaten nearby villages. I'll be focusing on cinematic combat, cool worldbuilding, and high RP.

Running Saturday afternoons at 1pm EDT. Starts Oct 8th if we get 3+ players.


And here are two more games I'm getting ready to offer.

3)
Take Back the Dusk - A Blades in the Dark campaign where the group plays as Vigilantes, fighting back against the city's corruption and standing up for the everyday people of the city. 

How heroic vs. anti-heroic you are is up to you, but you're not just another crew of scoundrels.

4)
Blades of Sigil - 5e D&D in the beloved Planescape setting, specifically Sigil, the City of Doors (aka the City of Secrets).

Play a group unified by ambition as they navigate a complicated web of faction relationships in the wildly inventive city at the core of the Planescape setting.

This roleplay and cinematic combat-focused custom 5e campaign uses a robust faction system drawn from award-winning RPG Blades in the Dark to generate exciting plots, beloved allies, and unforgettable rivals.

If either of the first two interest you, you can use my affiliate link to get $10 USD off your first paid game. And if you're interested in Take Back the Dusk or Blades of Sigil, let me know! Also let me know if there's something else you'd like me to run (Court of Blades, Beam Saber, etc.)

5)
Spelljammer: Light of Xaryxis

I decided to add a campaign playing an official D&D adventure, and I was naturally drawn to the one with major pulp science fiction vibes ala Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon.