Of all my jobs, being a professional collaborative storyteller is probably the most fun. I’ve always loved crafting narratives with other people, pushing the worlds we make, developing complex characters, and exploring emotions in a safe environment.
Instead of running a pre-written adventure or playing in an established world like the Forgotten Realms, I work with each group of players to develop the environment of their game. I have led groups through versions of “I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic”, “The Ground Itself”, and “Dawn of Worlds” to craft the universes in which we play.
Below are maps and player testimonials from the games I run.
Edrovic World Map
Emberfell Tourist Map (Edrovic)
Emberfell Map (Edrovic)
“Asher is one of the best DMs I’ve ever had the chance to play with! I’ve only been playing one campaign with them and I’m still not over my disappointment that I didn’t meet them earlier. Their worldbuilding is absolutely incredible and every session leaves me wishing that I could spend hours exploring every nook and cranny of Galo, and each NPC is more delightful, entertaining, and intriguing than the last! As a DM, Asher is wonderful at keeping the atmosphere light and comfortable, asking for and incorporating feedback, and enabling player and character goals. Creating the perfect escapist fantasy playground to cope with the 10th straight month of a global pandemic is a Herculean task, and Asher has somehow made Galo exactly that.”
“I absolutely love the worlds Asher creates. They masterfully weave together the magical and mundane to create colorful, vibrant settings and characters that feel so incredibly real. That dragonborn over there is a researcher that just lost corporate funding after his boss got kind of possessed - oops! Those dryads? They’re trans parents, and they’re really hoping to impress at the PTA bake sale this time around. When playing with Asher, I find it’s these bits of reality tucked into each story that make the whole world special. They embrace the diversity of our world and the diversity of the fantasy world, and the results always impress.”
“Put simply, I overdid my character for our campaign, but every step along the way Asher was right behind me and helping me structure everything to fit into this world. They really honed in on what I wanted to get out of the experience, and that has made this campaign the best I have ever played in. In game, the content has been diverse, structured, and exciting every session and everyone has been included and had their “spotlight” moments. Plus, the concern for everyone’s emotional well-being has been at the forefront of every game discussion. Open to feedback and a good improv partner, Asher sets a high bar for my expectations from other DMs moving forward, and I hope this campaign continues for a long time. ”
“Asher’s got their own unique style going on. In terms of environments, everywhere we’ve gone has been super interesting. From a mall with weaponized security systems, to a pyramid scheme organization run by the daughter of a devil lord and populated by liches, to a pirate bay with a child king, everywhere has been unique and entertaining. [...] Not to mention the NPCs! Not everyone’s there to hold our hands or to be loot boxes for us. Everyone’s got their own their own objectives based on the story events and the other things going on. Those motivations have both been boons and obstacles to use as we bumble our way through this environment. [...] That, and they’ve always been very good at putting effort into making sure players are comfortable with what’s going on, and what’s about to happen. It creates a homey atmosphere that allows everyone to both be comfortable and to really flourish with their own characters and improv.”
Tabletoptober 2021
In late 2021, I decided to forgo my usual October drawing challenge for something brand new.
I’d recently encountered a lot of would-be game masters who were convinced they weren’t creative enough to start running their own games, and I myself was feeling a little burnt out from running my online-only games. I wanted to do something to inspire confidence and creativity, both for myself and others.
So I created a challenge: Every day in October, anyone participating would, based on a prompt, create a brand new item, creature, location, spell, monster, whatever they wanted. I called it Tabletoptober, and Twitter was very on board.
Below are some of the things I created for the event, and in the responses to the tweet linked above, you can see some of the things created by the other participants! I loved running tabletoptober, and plan on doing so for years to come.
