Thanks for joining me for my first ever, blog! Hi, I'm Linda, but a lot of you will know me as Krystaline. I've been playing Table Top RPG's since Wizards of the Coast announced Dungeons and Dragons! Yes, I am that old, but that is another story for a different blog.
Domille of Domille's Wondrous Works fame invited me to join her staff at Rising Tide, and I am happy to give you the good news.. I accepted! But, you probably knew that already. (Thanks Dom for the opportunity.)
For my first blog, I decided to run not one blog, but a series of blogs. Yes, I am an overachiever. I hope you enjoy this new (and first) series. I call this:
Table Top Role Playing Gaming: Before and After
We will be looking into the minds of some very well know people in the table top world; but also, we will be visiting with those who have been deeply affected or influenced by table top gaming. So get your drinks, get your snacks, and for deity's sake, don't forget to get your cup full of dice! Session One is about to commence!
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One of my new friends I have made through the Rising Tide's platform and server is Matthew Pauze. Matthew is a professional Game Master. Yes! He gets paid real money to run table top games! You can find more information on Matthew at: https://startplaying.games/gm/oniwolf
Matthew was young when he first found table top role playing games. At the inquisitive age of nine, he found a second edition of Dungeons and Dragons in a book store. Can you imagine his bright eyes glowing with a previously unknown arcane magic? I envision that he was compelled to reach for and purchase the book. Picture a young reserved boy pouring through the manual. His mind exploded with scenarios and at this point, he experienced his first geas, commanding him to carry out an Advanced Dungeon and Dragons campaign.
Fancy young Matthew growing and developing his gaming techniques as he grew into manhood: drawing crude maps, writing one-shots, writing his first fully home-brewed campaign – most likely including his own creature creations. Storytelling is where his heart led, and he followed.
I asked Matthew, "How long ago did you decide you wanted to create for the table top gaming community (ie. worlds, maps, art, stories)?" He gave an interesting reply: "Decide is a strong word..." Matthew grew into this field of storytelling naturally when he followed that initial command of the geas.
His first venture as a professional was for Level 99 Games for their Mystic Empyrean project. Matthew wrote two different realms for Mystic Empyrean which ended up "on the cutting room floor." He persevered in his freelancing career while supporting himself by working in a factory and then driving truck. He wrote a scenario for another project with Level 99 Games which was published. More freelancing continued until 2019 when he converted some stat-blocks from Dungeon and Dragons 5e to Pathfinder 1e for a different company.
As COVID-19 spread and confined us to isolation, many table top enthusiasts, developers and adventure writers found their footing. Matthew was one of them; he started working as a paid 'storyteller' running campaigns. Since his jump into professional GMing, he has been part of a university community to test the effects of teaching social experiments through TTRPGs. He's also built a collaborative of Paid Storytellers to promote non-D&D TTRPGs. You can find this collaboration at https://discord.gg/warlocksanctum. Most recently, he has been a key note speaker in a class room study of table top games in Europe.
I asked: "Are you where you want to be right now, professionally?" To which, Matthew replied: "I am on schedule of where I want to be. I would love to continue to grow.” Who knows what the future holds for Matthew? Only the deities of TTRPGs! But Matthew's plans include:
Expand into creating subsystems and locations for TTRPGs.
Creating a new world which includes a building system that allows in-game mages to build a chantry to run workshops and experiments, helping the mages' in-game community.
Developing large TTRPG events in a castle, on a train, but most likely not in a box with a fox.
Matthew wants to have a greater impact on more diverse sets of RPGs.
Where will this lead Matthew? I don't know, but what I do know is that Matthew is a supporter of the gaming community. He offers classes and instruction on how to become a paid GM. I still find that amazing that someone could get paid to run a table top game.
Matthew concludes with "I would <encourage others into this field> with the caveat it is not easy, it is real work, but I've never done a job that creates so much joy in others." And what a note to end on.
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Remember, if you would like to be part of this series, head on over to Rising Tide's discord server at https://discord.gg/r8tdsd2F. Send me a discord message there. We are going to have a form for anyone interested in being a part of Before and After. But until then, a message to me will get the fireball rolling. I'd like to thank Matthew for being my first experiment.. err.. I mean guest for Table Top Role Playing Gaming: Before and After!