About Us 

 

Our table top role-play ("TTRPG") family has grown over the past 20 years. Our longest gaming family member being with us since the beginning and our gaming family has a combined total of 130 years of TTRPG experience. At the core of our gaming family is our main Games Master, Martin, otherwise known as StormHeathen.

 

His knowledge, experience and plethora of books have allowed us to have many adventures through different genres, learn new skills and also a lot of random information such as the many, many uses of twine.

Our main games master has 35 years + experience in the TTRPG industry and after much coercion and support, StormHeathen RPG was born.

Below are StormHeathen's key points and back story for all those who want to get down to the nitty-gritty.

The Main Games Master

  • Founder of StormHeathen Role Play Games;

  • Has more than 35 years experience of running tabletop Role-Play Games of various genres;

  • Has more than 30 years experience of Live Action Role Play (LARP) involving improvisation and combat and weaponry expertise;

  • Is a core Games Master with Games on Demand at the UK Games Expo;

  • Has an active enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service Check;

  • Implements the X-Card during public events to provide a safe environment for all.

The Back Story

 

Where It All Started

I started playing tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs") in 1985 with the “red box” Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD") game. I came across this game by accident through a mishap on my father's part.  You see my mother loved puzzles and in particular, those which pictate the fantasy realm, and my father always endeavoured to ensure he could gift her a new puzzle each birthday. 

Well after two years of the box just sitting on the shelf I managed to convince my mother to run a game for me and my school friends.

So yes my first ever experience of TTRPG was sitting around a table with a bunch of encourageable 13-year-olds and my frustrated mother who vowed never to run again. Whilst, not the best experience, it did still invoke the fire inside to continue with this new fascinating fantasy world where the only limitation was essentially a few basic rules and your imagination. So at 13 years old, I started my journey as a Dungeon Master ("DM") which evolved to a Games Master ("GM"), taking up the mantle so the story could continue and continue it did for the next 3 years. I GM’d almost every week for my school friends until alas life intervened and our out of character lives took separate journey's as we went from school life into the realm of College. 

 

The real-life journey through the realm of College and University opened my eyes to other TTRPGs where I would guide my gamers through the universes' of Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2013.  

 

After leaving University and during my travels across the country Rifts, a post-apocalyptic science fiction universe was released to delve into. A year later Vampire the Masquerade came out which, in my opinion, took role-play to a whole new level. No longer was it about a "bash and grab the loot" type of feel, now you had political intrigue and deathly implications for your actions. No longer was it about you being "shiny heroes", a new universe became available that was dark and twisted where you could be the "monsters in the dark". This very quickly became my favourite game to run as a GM.

 

Two years later another dark and twisted game was released by a small Scottish company called Nightfall Games. This was gritty with even more horror in a dystopian world, and its name was SLA Industries. To this day, this is one of my favourite games.  

 

The Mid-Time Adventures

When I moved across the country again (darn, real-life and its interference) I had to find a new group and was duly introduced to DnD 3rd Edition where my passion for fantasy games was reignited. In return, I showed them the crazy over the top world of Rifts and the darkness of Vampire the Masquerade and SLA Industries. I also managed to play...yes play as a character for a full campaign of Vampire the Masquerade run by one of the group.

One last move brings me back to my hometown and another new group (which thankfully had some old friends in it). Back then in the early 2000s the group still wanted Vampire and Cyberpunk 2013, with the occasional game of DnD. It was at this time that I think I finally matured as a GM and began running long campaigns of a year or more in length. 

 

Fast forward to 2016, my old group had started to get smaller for normal real-life reasons (people moved away, got married etc). It had been a while since I’d had a regular group and I was invited to be the resident DM/GM at a games night at the local hobby store. I was amazed at how quickly the group grew with more and more interest in people wanting to play and explore the worlds of Pathfinder, Dark Ages Vampire, Rogue Trader and Star Wars (all games I was running). The group had gotten so large I had to encourage my wife to take up the GM mantle where I experienced co-GMing for the first time. Two separate groups, in the same world, at the opposite sides of the city, in the world of Dark Ages Vampire. Sharing the world with someone else, bouncing ideas off each other. Working out the intricacies, the implications of each group's actions. The collaboration was an amazing experience, one I admittedly, did not think would work at first but happy to admit that I was mistaken. Both groups seem to thrive at the challenge, each having different stories to tell each other, bond over, cooperate and also conspire over. Strangers became friends both in and out of character over two years of exploring and adventuring together each week in the local gaming store.  

 

Unfortunately, real-life hit hard. My wife became seriously ill and our lives got turned upside. With the shock of it all and learning of what was now to come, I, unfortunately, had to relinquish the GM position at the shop to focus on the new real-life journey ahead.

 

What happened to the group..... well I soon realised that the core gamers who came every week were no longer just a group of friends. They had become part of our family and with that, the family and the gaming moved to our home where the stories and exploration continued.  

The More Recent Adventures:

 

I have been extremely lucky to be able to be part of some Conventions such as UK Games Expo as part of the Games on Demand entourage, and also Burton Games Expo, whilst continuing regular weekly TTRPG with my gaming family.

 

Our TTRPGs was going strong right up until the madness of the pandemic started and we are still regularly in touch with each other although through more electronic means these days.  

 

I have even embraced the online TTRPG experience on Roll20 and currently, our go-to games are 13th Age, Pathfinder, Vampire the Masquerade and all of Fantasy Flight games Warhammer 40,000 RPG’s. I have amassed over 400 hours of GMing online in just a year. With an average of 3 games a week I am gaming now more than ever before, and yes I get to play as a character in some. I guess it is a good thing my wife is a gamer too.

 

What is TTRPG to me now...hmmm, well, I guess I have learnt that although the ebb and flow of real-life will inevitably have an impact on your journey through TTRPG. However, the experience you gain through facing difficulties in-game with others, not only teach you more about yourself as a person and give you skills to help face real-life situations but can also show you true friendship and family bonds in the most surprising ways.

 

Written by StormHeathen RPG February 2021