It’s kinda crazy for me to think about. Story time! Otherwise just ask me anything :)
Around 11 years ago, I sat in the lounge that the Video Game Club occupies once a month on college campus. I looked over and saw a group of gamers go into one of the meeting rooms attached to the lounge - but instead of laptops or gaming consoles, they had books and dice and paper. I scoffed and thought they were too nerdy and cringey - I then went back to munching Doritos, chugging MtDew, and playing Borderlands/Skyrim/Pokemon for the next 12 hours lol.
Thankfully I was saved from my misguided views. A member of the VGC invited me to try out DnD, his group had an open spot. I was hesitant, but I craved more creativity in games that just couldn’t be supplied. So I decided to try it out.
Ended up not having a great time. One player was entirely checked out for 80% of the time and was a scumbag during the 20% he was engaged. The DM either was very new, or just had some very questionable calls. There were of course some fun moments but not a great impression.
I knew the game had potential. And I knew I could run it better.
So 10yrs ago today, my Players Handbook arrived, which is when I really began my journey to learning the rules, how to make characters, and how to run the game.
I’ve since had a few successfully completed long term games, including one that was over 5 years. I’ve ran a game at a convention, I’ve done some paid birthday parties, in person and online long campaigns, even some very successful afterschool programs while I was a teacher for a few years.
At my peak, I was running 4 games weekly. Since then I’ve slowed down a bit more and focus on two good weekly games.
Willing to share tips or stories for any who ask :) otherwise I just wanted to share this milestone.
Have you DMed for any other systems, and how was it?
Only very briefly.
I tried to run both of the major Pokémon tabletop games (PTA and PU, I think). Personally they were too “crunchy” for me, and the spreadsheets needed to track all the Pokémon was pretty intense and overwhelming.
It was short lived though. The time with my friends, we all just got overwhelmed and it fizzled out before we even started playing. The time I tried online, honestly one of the players was disturbing and another was a major complainer so I just full on ghosted (the only time I have). In those games, the trainers can fight alongside the Pokémon - like you can be a Karate guy and kick a Pikachu or whatever. This guy went into detail describing how he used his mind powers to torture a Weedle into submission. The other kept complaining when each encounter WASNT a skitty.
Other then that, I briefly started to learn the Genesys system because I was interviewing for a game design position at Fantasy Flight Games, and part of their process was creating a creature and encounter, etc. Personally the system was terrible lol. I did not get the job unfortunately.
So I just stick with good ol DnD 5e / 2024.