MarkOfTheDragon

♦♦ BIO ♦♦
I'm in my 40's, have reliable internet, solid audio, and HD Cam if needed. Discord preferred. I stream on Twitch; so I have a decent AV setup going on.

I've been playing various flavors of RPG's since I was a kid; though primarily Computer Based(TSR GoldBox, BG, ToEE, IWD, NWN, etc). Reading the AD&D Handbook at the library before even knowing D&D was a thing was a common enough diversion. Waaaay too many M. Weiss/T. Hickman, Modesitt Jr, and Salvatore novels... you get the idea. I'm a generally helpful person in-game and out. You'll see my name popping up occasionally in the Specific Use forums and in the Pathfinder/DnD Reddit subs, though not nearly as much lately. I've also had some teaching experience, working adjunct at a college, so showing folks how a system or Roll20 tool works is no problem. I live solo and have a pretty respectable audio rig, so familial / environmental distractions during a game are pretty non-existent.

♦♦STREAMING♦♦
I generally post all my sessions live on https://www.twitch.tv/markofthedragon and then upload them to YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/markofthedragon) for longer retention. The groups I'm in have found it to be pretty useful to be able to refer back to a previous session for things like missed NPC names, highlights, what happened last session, etc while also being able to link back to show someone what this thing we called TableTop gaming is. It's also a great feeling to see 40+ sessions later how far you've come since Level 1 :) If anyone in a group is uncomfortable with recording, that's obviously a non-issue to forgoe streaming/recording.

♦♦ EXPERIENCE ♦♦
The last few years have been mostly focused on Pathfinder with some D&D 5e on the side. I've GM'd both along with a few 4e games as well. I've played a few sessions of Shadowrun, and LOVE the lore, but dear lord it's a crunchy system, no matter how much I love the setting.

I have 6100+ hours under my belt in Roll20 (and a fair bit in FoundryVTT) and have finished Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords, Carrion Crown, Shattered Star, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Out of the Abyss, most of Curse of Strahd, and a good chunk of Reign of Winter and Crimson Throne. I'm currently in a few homebrews and pre-written adventures, along with Wrath of the Righteous, Return of the Runelords, and Decent into Avernus. I've played a ton of one-shots and a bit of Starfinder campaigns like Dead Suns, along with some playtest packages, and homebrews. I've had a spattering of ShadowRun games as well, which have unfortunately been short-lived, though. (I don't have an additction problem. Really I don't. I can stop playing D&D any time I want!)

♦♦ PLAYSTYLE ♦♦
I'm a tactically minded combatant, but I make a point of trying to be useful out of combat too (I love playing Skill/Knowledge/Utility classes like Rogue, Ranger, and Wizards). When I play casters, I'm generally more of a disabler or buffer than a blaster... I prefer to make life easier for the Martial's to do their thing instead of just blowing heads off; it's a lot more fun for everyone that way. I do tend to avoid the mechanically annoying spells and abilities that make you adjust stats, roll a dozen times, or hamper other players, though. I'm VERY organized, when it comes to character sheets, spells, inventory and abilities. I'm well practiced at seperating player and character knowledge and will often gleefully walk into an issue that I, as the player, know is a bad idea yet the character is blissfully ignorant of.

I generally avoid min-max'ing for the most part when avoidable(you probably won't ever see a stat below 8-10), but I do enjoy the mechanical synergy of combining class features, feats, etc. to a particular focus. I never build a completely useless character; making sure I can either contribute directly or at least support a party member's awesomeness, instead of just sitting there when a fight breaks out. I'm more of a climb-through-the-window type than kick-in-the-door type, unless the character is intentionally that straight-forward. I do however often struggle with interrogation encounters...not always knowing what questions to ask or what to DO with someone after you've caught them(a bit like a dog chasing cars, actually, now that I think about it...) As far as winning vs failure, I say 'Embrace the Fail'! I lean full forward into epic failures during a game rather than getting frustrated. After all, folks remember the hilariously epic failure more than they do casually winning all the time.

Regardless of the mechanics of a character, the largest emphasis is always on personality and RolePlaying the character throughout both combat and not. The only time the RP tends to suffer is when combat is dragging on and we're just looking to push through it and finish as quickly as we can, or when literally no one else is bothering.

♦♦ FLAVOR ♦♦
Personality-wise, I'm always toying around with voices and quirks for my characters. Some groups and characters draw me out more than others, of course...For example a Dwarvish Scottish Brogue is hard to maintain, but a stiff backed (bad, but in a good way) Posh accent or Ricardo Montalban wannabe I can keep up all day and really get into. I rarely play purely 'silly' or deeply serious characters, but instead try to keep a sense of humor about them. I always try to come up with some particular behavioral trait for uniqueness...a verbal tick, an obsession over a certain ale, habits to ward away bad luck, etc. Just the little things that make a character memorable.

I try to describe actions in (brief) flavorful detail when I find the right kind of group that reciprocates(Sometimes a given group just doesn't try very hard to be descriptive, but others flourish). I find it makes for a much more engrossing experience for the group than, "Attack 22 vs AC for 20 dmg" vs. "I swing my blade slicing at my opponent leaving a 20 HP gash.". When combat is dragging on though, I'm very quick to just get my rolls out and add them up for everyone's convenience.

♦♦ TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE ♦♦
I've used Roll20 extensively, and have become very proficient with macros, templates, drop-down queries, and abilities(Some of my examples can be found in the wiki I wrote up: https://wiki.roll20.net/Macros_-_Pathfinder_Examples ). I enjoy helping folks out, so I'm open to questions or suggestions if anyone needs a hand with their setup.

I have a very good head for game mechanics and chime in now and then to ask if someone remembered to add a bonus from this or that, or similar tidbits. Any contradictions or questions I might have of the GM, I usually use a private whisper instead of interrupting game-play, unless it's majorly game-changing. Every GM I've played with has mentioned at one point or another that they appreciated the helping hand with their games. I do just as well sitting quietly if preferred.

I'm usually the first person to ask the GM for a Quest Notes and Party Loot handout so I can keep track of the group's trinkets, selling off to merchants, major quest points, and other book-keeping that goes into a longterm campaign. I get a little lazy about the quest notes, admittedly, but I'm fastidious with inventory management and making sure everyone's collective "stuff" is kept track of. I've been known to pull out some trinket from session 5, 30 sessions later :)

♦♦ MISC and AVAILABILITY ♦♦
It's extremely rare for me to miss a session; I'm VERY consistent. However I do run an IT Helpdesk team and sometimes folks just refuse to have issues on a predictable schedule :) On those rare occasions, I'm usually only away for a short time while directing my engineers what to do, rather than having to deal with the issue directly. On the very rare occasions that I know I'm running a little late or won't be able to make it, I ALWAYS post to the campaign forum or Discord with as much advance notice as I can manage so everyone is aware.

I host a Discord (https://discord.gg/8qWpWzc) server for all of the games I play in or GM for. It's proven time and again to be a great resource to chat and organize between sessions. The audio quality and ease of use is also leaps and bounds beyond what Skype or the built-in voicechat has to offer.