Introduction
The Developer is a GM archetype recognized by Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Perceiving traits. You are a flexible thinker who finds enjoyment in unconventional approaches to everyday life events. You have a unique perspective because you value intellect and uniqueness. You often pursue the unlikely and explore new ideas.
You delight in considering each outcome with colorful detail
Some say you are lost in your thoughts, pondering the world’s mysteries and trying to develop theories that contradict one another. For you, it isn’t about finding the answers but about the process of discovering possible solutions. An unstoppable curiosity and robust imagination drive you to seek answers to every question, turning the world around you into an exciting puzzle with many solutions. Anything is possible, and with a philosophical mindset, you delight in considering each outcome with colorful detail.
Game Mastering Styles
You are comfortable in a system or setting that relies on reason and logic to explain things. Even magic must follow laws or some otherwise defined rules. However, this does not deter your creative and playful nature despite your interest in structured mechanics to establish building.
Even magic must follow laws or some otherwise defined rules
You spend much of your time thinking about ever-expanding worlds, considering the avenue of possibilities and clever narrative branches. However, the most helpful content is the one that gives you the knowledge you wouldn’t otherwise have. You are fond of supplements and settings that take traditional fantasy elements and twist them into something new. You love stories about dragons protecting their hoards from adventurers, cultists hunting down eldritch secrets, or vampires navigating modern society.
To ensure a low-pressure environment in which your players can explore philosophical and intellectual concepts, you should establish an intimate and safe table.
Storytelling Style
You love puzzles and the challenge of figuring out what makes things tick. In addition, you have a Sherlock Holmes-level knack for observing little details that others miss. Your insight means you’re less likely to be caught off guard by the unexpected in your adventures. Finally, you intend your delivery to be as grand and expansive as your imagination, expressing the elaborate system of interconnected storylines.
The intricate thread of a finely crafted history is within every location, character, and conflict, each detail built by irrefutable facts. Facts drive your story, and as much as you love making established notes, there is a special joy that comes from the players discovering a way to contradict the status quo.
...the details you give are critical in a way that you have pride in
For all the rules you know, it ultimately comes down to your imagination to find the most meaningful ways to apply them. You may not always give your characters the most eloquent dialogue or descriptive surroundings, but you try to make the details matter. Your players are surprised as they discover themselves at the center of your narrative since your most significant investment is exploring human nature.
Table Management
The table can be significant for you, as one with a curiosity and love of learning, because you and the other players get to teach and learn from one another. You encourage players to think independently, seek knowledge beyond themselves as characters, and push them to stand by their narrative. You know there are rules, and support the players who wish to focus on that aspect. However, you encourage players who want creativity without breaking the system.
You are not likely to follow the rules as written
You are not likely to follow the rules as written, instead using them with loosened interpretations so that it is understood up front: creativity is the law. You prefer avoiding being the judge, enforcing the rules, and encouraging players to determine their wants. It is easier to see what someone wants and adjust it to be fair rather than risk stifling independence.
This carefree approach can bring problems, as conflict may arise from a table, and not everyone will agree on a solution. On the other hand, you are ready with good ideas for a given moment. It’s not so much a set of rules you call upon but a precedent that helps establish consistency. Session zeroes are your best friend.
Session Resources
You have many interests and explored dozens of ideas to enhance your table. The variety of options available offers players a flexible choice. For example, you are willing to experience the full power of theater of the mind, describing the intricate visuals in your mind. On the other hand, should you desire more interactive elements, you are more than willing to oblige. For example, a library of favorite audios that you have in mind, prepared since you thought of the session in the days leading up, or quick visuals from a haphazard mood board to inspire the mood you wish to display.
Having an area for players to communicate and drop details or discussions is ideal
The challenge comes with the players’ level of involvement with the story. You are not likely to reach out to a player and ask for their help or more details on their backstory, but you may have been deep in thought regarding a concept and already considered which character it connects. Therefore, having an area for the players to communicate and drop details or discussions is ideal. That way, you do not have to have the conversation directly and can instead pickup up the cues in their forum.
The more time you can spend exploring new ideas, rather than previous readdressing events, the more enjoyment you derive, and the more your games thrive.
The Game Master's Toolbox
- World Anvil: A worldbuilding program that helps you create, organize and store your setting with detailed wiki-like organization and interactive maps to store your notes.
- DnD Beyond: An excellent place for digital character creation and creating a campaign group for easy roll shares and sheet management.
- Notion (TTRPG University Notion Templates)
- Evernote
- DnD Beyond’s Encounter Builder: I’ve heard it’s helpful. You can build an encounter and determine its difficulty level based on math.
Role Generator: You can randomly generate everything from cities, to magic items, to herbs, to NPCs. https://www.rolegenerator.com/
- Inkarnate: For fantasy world and city maps. Yearly subscription.
- Wonderdraft: For fantasy world and city maps. One-time purchase.
- Dungeon Scrawl: For creating flat and isometric dungeon maps. Completely free.
- Dungeondraft: Building and Dungeon crawl maps, full color.
- Azgaar Github Fantasy Map Generator
- Dungeon Fog: Free map-making tool
- Dungeon Map Doodler
- Spotify: There are so many D&D playlists to choose from, or, pick your favorite video game tracks to play.
- Syrinscape: With Syrinscape, you can control the master playlist and players can decide their preferred volume from their end.
- YouTube Premium: Put on a 3-hour ambiance video without commercial interruptions.
- Google Forms
- TTRPG University Google Forms to Copy
- DMs Guild: A place to find supplemental guides and campaigns to enhance your official D&D content.
- Drive Thru RPG: The all-TTRPG sister of DMs Guild.
- The Monsters Know: A book series about monster tactics and strategies to help enhance gameplay.
- Point Buy Calculator: Doing a character sheet from scratch? This will help so much with the number crunching. https://chicken-dinner.com/5e/5e-point-buy.html
- DnD Beyond: The best place to build a digital character sheet. Fully connected to all the official D&D content. Makes leveling up take about 30 seconds.
- Wild Shape Tracker: Super helpful for druids. https://arcaneeye.com/apps/wildshape-tracker/
- Character Backstory Template: https://arcaneeye.com/dm-tools-5e/dnd-character-backstory-template/
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything: I use this particular book ALL the time to help build my character backstories. There are roll tables in the “This is Your Life” chapter.
- Google Dice Roller: Super simple. Go to Google, type “dice roller,” and you have a dice roller.
- Roll Dice With Friends: You can give your temporary room a custom name, share the link with your friends, and all roll together!
- Owlbear Rodeo (straightforward and intuitive)
- Canva (DIY, simplified VTT)
- Roll20 (complicated learning curve)
- Foundry VTT
- Norse Foundry
- Shard
- Tablespire
- Tabletop Simulator
- Fantasy Grounds
