About : Me

Born in Germany anno 1976, a PnP gamer since 1988 and GM for various systems since 1993. Happily married, father of a fantastic daughter.

This blogs title stems from my gamer alignment according to my friends: Chaotic / GM. It is an apt description of my GM methods too!

Some bullet points about me, in no particular order:

• Favorite RPG Systems: Barbarians of Lemuria, D00lite, Adventurers!
• Favorite Dice: The D12
• Favorite Settings: Cyberpunk 2020, Cthulhu 1920, Birthright
• Favorite Books: The Song of Ice and Fire, Otherland, Lord of the Rings, A Scanner Darkly, Marcus Didius Falco Novels
• Favorite Authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Lindsay Davis, William Gibson, Philip K. Dick
• Favorite Music: Blind Guardian, Guns ‘n Roses, Loreena McKennit, Schandmaul, Sisters of Mercy, Van Canto, Synthwave.
• Favorite Films: The Matrix, Lethal Weapon, Bladerunner, Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, Aliens, Guardians of the Galaxy
• Favorite Series: Supernatural, Rome, The West Wing, Jericho, Ghost in the Shell, Tudors, Suits, Mrs Fischers Murder Mysteries, Buffy, Stranger Things, Gotham
• Favorite things to do besides PnP: PC Games, Cooking
• Favorite moment as a GM: In days of yore during a fantasy horror adventure, my players where in a remote village hunting a werewolf. I was able to scare them so much by the use of a sound effect of a man transforming into a Werewolf form a BBC effect CD (Thanks BBC!) they started screaming, outright panicking at the table and would not dare to enter the room. It was very immersive and intense. Great times. Sadly such a gimmick only works once!

Do you want to know more?

I love being a GM. I haven´t been a player in a Campaign for decades since I started GMing in 93. Weaving a story, describing events and watching the facial expressions of my players when I give the big reveal or tell a plot twist is just priceless and makes me all gleeful and warm inside.

Of course not everything is only happy shiny. GMing is also hard work sometimes. Personally, since I hate preparation, I quickly developed a pretty loose style. I am at my best when I simply react to my players, do not have a tight script and just wing it along.

I Started GMing with Das Schwarze Auge and AD&D2nd. Later I moved on to 3.5 and GMed the lost “City of Barakus” as a campaign for a while. That was the most epic mapping project I have ever done as I pretty much recreated it completely in Dundjinni for my players to explore. It was a great experience. However that Campaign broke down after Barakus was completed. I have been on a hiatus for a long time afterward. I have bought several RPGs during that time though always looking for something to get me rolling again. Diceless, Indie, new… But nothing stuck.

That has been going on for a few years when I started GMing again with my old group in 2010.  Sadly we all lead busy lives so we meet about once every 2-3 month. At most.

However in April 2011 I “discovered” Fantasy Grounds II for me. It not only makes it possible for me to play with more people all over the world, it also gives me the opportunity to take part as a player again. Which gave me a much-needed refresher and also gave me a fresh perspective on GMing too.

This also somewhat coincided with my discovery of Savage Worlds. And lets just say Savage Worlds has not simply blown me away back then, in a way it actually changed how I approach GMing and the way I want to play RPGs. I felt freed and not restricted by the system. It inspired me more than any other RPG I owned. I have to admit though that the Explorers edition itself was not what sparked it alone but having read the SWEX and afterwards reading the Thrilling Tales book. The way the basic rules moved into place for this setting, were changed a bit and sometimes added to, made me realise I had an amazing toolbox in hand. And a toolbox that would not ask me to take out a calculator to create new content or encounters. One which fitted my play style a lot. Hence I decided to start-up this blog.

A lot has happened since then. I moved and have lots of gamers near me now, but no time due to a long commute home. I run various systems and am not focused on Savage Worlds any longer, as can be seen from my favourite systems list above. I mostly play online via Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds nowadays. Still here though, plugging away.