My Resume

Recently, I was hired on as a storyteller by Phoenix Outlaw Productions, the game designers responsible for developing Dresden Lives. I'll be assisting them at DexCon this week.

For those of you who have been keeping tabs, why yes, I have been dancing like a fool. Why do you ask? I've told the story before, but Dresden is (in a convoluted way) how I got into larping, so to have this rebound back to me means so much. This will also be my first non-MES gaming convention. For the good part of a week, there will be gaming 24 hours a day, with a bunch of larps doing one shots. Chris Amherst is doing Prison again, which I played at the Living Games Conference. The people at Eschaton Media have unleashed their Chronos card system for theater larps, and with it their games Ex Arcana, a steampunk Mage game; and Devil Days, a 1950's game about greaser demons corrupting a world of squares. They'll also be using the system for the College of Witchcraft, a Harry Potter themed game set in the Sleepy Hollow school in the US; and finally, for the Pacific Rim Larp 'Rise of Tiburon', which I'm already slated to play and have just gotten my characters profiles.

All of this has made me think about myself as a gamer and a storyteller. How do I identify as a gamer, what's my style and type? So I started thinking of it as a resume, or as a job interview. So here's what I've got.

As a player:

Game Experience: 

- Mind's Eye Society 2010-Current
   - Vampire The Requiem: 2010-Current
      - Vincenzno Taglia D'Venezia, Mekhet Priscus, Ordo Dracul, 2010-2013
      - Owen Asteria, Mekhet, Circle of the Crone, Prince of New York, 2013-Current
   - Mage the Awakening: 2011-Current
     - Rhys, Acanthus House of Ariadne, 2011-2012 (Retired)
     - Ides, Thyrsus Silver Ladder, Keeper of the Covenant (Inactive)
   - Changeling the Lost: 2012-Current
      - Declan Loch, Wizened Author, Spring Sovereign, 2012-2013
      - Jin, Wizened Soldier and Smith, Western Emperor, 2013-Current
   - Combined The Accord: 2013-Current
     - Rhys, Acanthus House of Ariadne, Curator of New York, 2013-Current

- Dystopia Rising: 2012 (Inactive until funds improve)
   -Ruh, Rover Tinker, September 2012 (retired)
   - Jacob Rude, Retrograde Tinker, June 2013 (retired)
   - Walker Blackforest, Accensorite Priest of the Final Knights, In Development
   - Carter Wall, Yorker Jones, In Development

Play Style:
- Favors Narrativist Explorer approach, experiencing the game world and experiencing the Meta Story of the game.
- Somewhat favors emotional and immersive scenes but only in settings and with people he trusts.
- Favors support characters. Information gathers, crafters.
- Prefers being engaged in roleplay or plot.

Problem Areas:
- Learning curve with Mechanics.
- Doesn't like combat.
- Characters tend to take a similar form of sarcasm. Hard to maintain stoic PCs
- If not engaged, often slips out of character. Needs to focus more.

As a Storyteller:
Mind's Eye Society
 - Vampire the Requiem
   - Assistant Venue Storyteller 2011-2013
- Mage the Awakening
  - Venue Storyteller 2012-2014
 - Mage Regional Storyteller 2013-Current
Phoenix Outlaw
- Dresden Lives: Empire State Chronicle
   - Battlegrounds (DexCon 2013)

Storytelling Style:
- Favors Narrative/Immersionist stories: Focus on creating moments that players can explore the setting and their characters.
- Specialties in World Building, NPCs, Meta-Plot.
   - Chekhov's Gun style of storytelling, with the guns being hidden in the landscape. Like's mysteries, conspiracies, and interconnecting plot points
- Promotes Player generated plot and worldbuilding
- Likes to work with players.
- Likes mediation and phys. reps over pulling chops
- Able to Improv plot

- Can write scenes and descriptions very well.

Weaknesses:
- Risk of railroading if player enthusiasm is low
- Has a hard time with combat.
- Low experience with personal plot, would like to improve
- does not take kindly to games lawyers and munchkins
- Sometimes is a better writer than talker.