I’m hoping this blog will provide a resource to new dungeon masters who want to get into role playing games, by examining the lessons I learned running a campaign, but also by providing access to a ton of maps, images and backstory I’ve created over the last three years. I tend to play fast and loose with the rules and care much less about mechanics than I do about telling a compelling story.

I never played Dungeons and Dragons growing up. I loved fantasy and board games, but I had a very skewed idea of what role playing games actually were and wasn’t interested in finding out more. The turning point was actually the D&D episode of Community which I assume you’ve seen if you’re reading this blog and highly recommend if you haven’t. The focus of this episode wasn’t the rules of the game, but the story which intrigued me so when a friend asked me join a new D&D group he was starting I decided to give it a try.

I played a no-nonsense, extremely overweight, druid cook named Dahlia. She’d race around the battlefield as a jackrabbit, leaping at enemies only to revert to her true form. 300 pounds of overweight druid traveling at 40 miles per hour is not a joke. For less extreme cases she always had wrought-iron frying pan within arms reach. I loved the freedom the game provided me to tell a story about this crazy character.

After a year the group broke up, but I still needed a D&D fix. Spencer Crittenden had just started Harmon Quest which made me want to play even more. I started my own campaign with nothing but a player handbook and a lot of enthusiasm. Three years later I feel like I’ve learned enough to write about my campaign.

As far as social media goes I’m on Twitter @writtenplaces and I’m Hepitude on Instagram. Feel free to write me on any of those platforms or email writtenplaces@gmail.com!

I love sharing my writing and art with people. Writtenplaces also has a collection of chapters and excerpts from my current writing projects (as I try to become an author). I’ve been illustrating chapters of Forgotten Rust and posting them when I need a break my completed novel The God of Anthem (which I am currently querying). Most of my writing tends to lean towards science fiction, but my drawing is all over the place and I like experimenting with new styles (even if I’m terrible at them).

I have a ton of half-baked projects in the works. I started a comic way back in the day and have been updating it at www.tritewrite.com. It’s currently on the back burner, but if people are interested I’ll go back to it.