Ask Me Anything: Dmbrainiac

Okay, so you’re pretty much THE GM in some circles. My questions are:

1️⃣ Favorite system that you’ve GM’d?

2️⃣ Favorite system that is neither Paizo nor PbtA?

(If your answer to #1 WASN’T a Paizo or PbtA system, remove the letter n’s from question #2.)

3️⃣ What is the most fulfilling part of GM’ing?

And obligatory Orlando-based question:

4️⃣ Which Disney park (or rides) would you transform into an RPG, and within that park (or of those rides), where would the BBEG be?

1. Pathfinder is my bread and butter, so I'll have to choose that, specifically Second Edition. I've been GMing with thr system and campaign setting for so long that it feels like home. Plus, the books and adventures are overall extremely well-written and inclusive, so they make for good reads even when I'm not actively in a game.

2. At the moment, I'd say Shadow of the Demon Lord, again mostly because of comfort and familiarity. But I'm always trying out new systems, so maybe I'll have a new favorite at a later time. :)

3. I love the collaborative storytelling and emergent roleplaying that happens when everybody gets together and fully buys into the game. I like to be the facilitator of that.

4. So many to choose from! I'll pick a fun one and say "Journey into Imagination." A psychic mishap splits Figment into his id and ego, so the player's would literally have to journey into Figment's imagination and fight the evil version of him as the BBEG at the center of his twisted imaginary lair.

(AI Dark Figment. It made him evil by giving him a goatee and a jack o'lantern. XD.)

What is a homebrew rule you can't live without?

What do you think Pathfinder 2e does well that the 1e may not get quite right?

People complain about the news all the time, but they often have little insight into how it is created. What would you like viewers at home to know about news production?

1. I don't know if there's one specific rule, but I do several things for ease of play on PbP, among them:

* I use milestone XP instead of calculating XP for each encounter, so that characters level up at appropriate points in the story.
* Instead of having Hero Points reset to 1 every session, I allow players to hang on to them as long as they like, still keeping the maximum of 3.
* I use theater of mind for about 95% of combats, erring in the players' favor in terms of positioning and turn order. I'll only use battlemaps if it is imperative to the encounter.

2. The main advantages Pathfinder 2E has over 1E are balance and ease of play. Oftentimes at high levels in 1E, combats are either exceedingly complicated or over in 1 round due to player optimization options and poor scaling of enemies. I've run several games to level 20 in 2E now and I am quite happy that a level 20 combat still feels balanced and challenging, and, most importantly, fun for me to run.

3. You can quibble about a news show's content all you want, (I often quibble about the shows I'm directing!), but it takes a team of hard-working producers several hours to gather stories, format them, and stack them in the proper order to create a logical and engaging newscast. Then, it takes a team of technical crew members to successfully get it on the air and make it through a live show with minimal errors. It's not easy! So feel free to complain about the content itself, but don't knock the people behind the show. :D

What's a system that you've been wanting to try for a while and haven't had the chance to? (Or something you've come across recently also fits!)

What tips would you give to new GMs? (It's a question I get often, but I have a hard time answering myself given everyone has such different styles.)

When you first started working, did you picture yourself as a news director? (As someone who's worked in sound for short films, news is something that I never pictured myself doing (and haven't done) but I know people who went in that direction.)

1. I've always been interested in the Cypher System, especially "The Strange," but I've never had a chance to play it until just now! I've been accepted into a Cypher game, so I'm excited to finally give it a try.

2. My biggest tip would be to be flexible and work with your players, not against them. I recently dropped out of a Pathfinder game on another site because the GM was adamant about sticking to the rules to the letter and enforcing every single rule in the book, even when it didn't make sense or negatively impacted the game experience. For example, he ruled that everybody started with their weapons sheathed every combat, even when exploring a dangerous dungeon and knowing that enemies were lurking just around the corner, because there wasn't an exploration activity that "allowed" you to have your weapons drawn before combat.

Roleplaying games are a collaborative experience, and everybody needs to work together to ensure a good time. Accommodate your players' wishes and interests and don't cling too tightly to the rules. They're more like guidelines!

3. Yes, actually! I started TV production classes in high school and knew from that time that I wanted to pursue a career in the industry. I dabbled with a pipe dream of making films, but it wasn't really practical. I studied Radio-TV production in college and got an internship at a local news station in my senior year. I worked my way up through the ranks until I became a director. I've been at that TV station for 18 years now! :D

Amazing job!
Can you tell us some of the weirder news stories your team had to cover? Any cryptids/weird sightings stories?

No cryptids that I can recall. Lots of alligator and bear encounters, though! Oh, there was one time when someone's pet king cobra named Elvis escaped and had the community on high alert. It was found behind a woman's washing machine about a month later.

Ha! Elvis the pet cobra is priceless !
hope not simultaneously! 😁

1. What system did you think you would like more than you did after trying it? What about the opposite?

2. What's the story behind your username?

3. What is your least favorite thing about Florida?

1. The Year Zero system. I read all the Mutant Year Zero books and was very excited to GM it, but the rules never really clicked for me. I then tried briefly to be a player in a couple other Year Zero system games, but I just couldn’t get into it for whatever reason. For the opposite, I’ll say, ironically, Pathfinder 2E! I ran the playtest adventures when they debuted and I found it to be sorely lacking. Fortunately, they cleaned up the rules significantly for the final release!

2. I was in advanced classes when I was in school. I was always a year ahead in English and two years ahead in math. I won almost every school spelling bee, even competing in the National Spelling Bee when I was in middle school. I graduated in the top 10 of my class in high school. People always called me the "smart one" so I assumed it as my identity, going by Brainiac online. When I started running PbP games, I added the DM title to it. Thus, DM Brainiac was born.

3. The summer heat and humidity! I can’t go outside for more than 2 minutes before immediately being drenched in sweat. Ugh!

What to TV/Movies get right about your job, and what do they get wrong about Florida?

What reasons would you give someone to not try DM'ing?

Any comics or video games that you think would make a good movie?

(also, when do you have time for video games???!!)

1. The job can be hectic, especially during breaking news situations. Also, sometimes the anchors can be goofballs who read everything off the TelePrompTer without even processing it if it’s incorrect, a la Anchorman!

Florida is not populated entirely by rednecks and criminals! Only about 90% of it is! :D Orlando specifically is like a bubble of friendly, liberal and accepting people in a sea of right-wing Trump supporters. I like staying in my bubble.

2. It can be very challenging to adjudicate a game and keep it moving while keeping numerous players entertained and engaged. It’s stressful a lot of times, and I often have to take breaks for a day or two to refresh my mind.

3. Comics: Rat Queens would be awesome if they could do it right!
Video Games: Mass Effect is up there, just change the ending! ;)

(I don’t really anymore! I used to play a lot more before we had kids. Now, I’ll play maybe one or two games a year.)

1. What RPGs have you always wanted to play in or run, but have never gotten around to them?

2. What upcoming games are you excited about that haven't been released yet?

3. What are some of your favorite things about Florida?

In that case, it’s
✏️QUIZ TIME🕰️

---

1️⃣ Fill in the blank with the correct word(s).

Mario gets Question Mark Boxes.
S. and H. got __________ Baskets.

---

2️⃣ How many hints did you peek at before posting your answer?

A) 0.
B) 1.
C) 2.
D) 3.
E) All of the above.

---

QUIZ OVER

1. The Cypher System, which I mentioned earlier. BESM and Mutants & Masterminds always seemed like fun, too, but the complicated point system for character creation threw me for a loop so I never really made headway with either system.

2. Shadow of the Weird Wizard. Other than that... I'm not really sure what's coming out, I just find out about them after they've been released. :D

3. The weather every other month besides the summer. The close proximity to beaches and cruise ports. The theme parks. No state income tax! My parents living only a few hours away.

***

@Legendary_Sidekick: Um, is it period baskets? Second guess is exclamation point baskets. I looked at all the clues and I'm still not certain of the answer. Maybe because it's 4 a.m. and I only got about 3 and a half hours of sleep last night. :D

Your first guess is correct!
🏆

Well, now I know!

I'll run a game of that after we finish Tales.

Have you ever run or worked on an alternate media production (such as a vlog or podcast) about gaming or PBP gaming?

I have not. Thus far, I’ve kept my work and my hobbies separate. Aside from posting in PbP games at work during downtime, of course. :D

What, are you afraid your supervisor is on this site too? 😂

One can never be too careful... 🤔

Tough question:
What was the worst PC death in a game you had run?

Ye Mass Effect endigns were luckluster. I expected something more epic. I really picture Florida as colourful as in GTA Vice City, CSI Miami and Fast and Furious 2. Is it true? Or just Miami? I also feel like it has infinite everglades, have you used any of those special airboats?

It depends on what you mean by "worst." If you mean death in the worst manner, then the first one that comes to mind is a fighter in a "Shattered Star" campaign climbing up a staircase and opening a door at the top. A redcap was hiding behind the door and got a sneak attack in with his scythe. Critical hit, x4 critical multiplier. The poor PC was dead four times over.

If you mean death in the lamest manner, then I'll go back to one of the times I ran "Shackled City." One of the PCs was trying to cross a rope bridge over an underground chasm. Critically failed the Balance check to cross the bridge, fell to his death. We didn't want to waste time in the session, so the player quickly brought in another PC with the exact same stats who was the first PC's brother. Tried to cross the bridge, critically failed the Balance check, fell to his death as well. But the third character! The third one made it! :D

***
Ha! Well Miami is pretty colorful, in the city and along the beaches at night. Orlando, too, with all of the tourist attractions and theme parks. The rest, not so much.

Yes, I've ridden on airboats several times. They're loud as hell but fun. I've gotten up close to alligators and other wildlife in the 'Glades before when I was younger. Nowadays, I tend to stick to the urban areas, except occasionally when camping.

Haha…! Playing his own brother! Ha, what a… well… uh. Yeah, I mighta prob’ly played my own brother the first time I died in an RPG.

(It was a LARP in my case, and I had already mentioned my brother’s arrival in-game. My brother was gonna play my brother, but given the circumstance, we decided I should play my own brother since I bore an uncanny resemblance to the guy who died. I dare say we would have passed for twins.)