Poetics has been playing in and running role-playing chronicles for more than thirty years, including a fifteen-year stint heading a series of troupe Vampire: the Masquerade LARPs for literally hundreds of players. He has a degree in theatre and spends much of his work-week doing public speaking and presenting in one form or another.
More than anything, he views role-playing as an opportunity for players to come together and explore a new world (the game setting), developing their own individual stories even as they discover the greater overarching plots put in place by the DM/GM/ST. His aim is for the characters—and players—to enrich the overall gaming experience of everyone around the table by involving character backstories and goals into the adventure, rather than merely have players roll their way through through a static tale. To him, each of the stories being brought to the table is important to bring to life, and worth telling.
Very few of Poetics’ campaigns are short-lived affairs, with most chronicles extending multiple years of regular play. He likes to set expectations early and make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to what they want out of a campaign, and the types of stories they want to experience/help tell. In his experience, this helps foster the best role-playing environment for everyone, and it’s important to him that everyone involved gets what they’re looking for out of a game he runs.
Regardless of the mechanical system being used, he wants to encourage others to grow and develop their own stories within the world. To him, he has succeeded running a game when the players still talk about their characters, memorable NPCs, or in-game events even years afterward.
Pawns of Prophecy represents a new challenge for him on multiple fronts: it will be only his second foray adapting non-D&D material for a table-top campaign, and the campaign is designed with an open-ended metaplot where many of the key elements and story beats—that he so regularly likes having sketched or at least planned—have not been fleshed out at all before starting.
Multiple hurdles, but he is excited to see not only what each individual player brings to the game, but also how their characters and the group as a whole approaches the many key decisions and challenges which await them as they strive to understand their role in the greater story tapestry, and perhaps even turn the tides of fate away from the looming darkness which seems to grow with every passing night.
A huge, huge thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in having Poetics run either a game in general or this game in particular, and he has no doubt it will be a great experience for everyone.
Thank you, and happy gaming!