I’ve been running tabletop RPGs since late 2019, where I got my start by watching Matt Colville’s Running the Game series and reading the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Player’s Handbook twice over cover-to-cover.
The map of Aleria, my first ever DnD world
Since then I’ve been running at least one game a month and have moved on to play and run many RPGs other than 5e. I’ve designed worlds, drawn out dungeons on pencil and paper, made colorful maps with GIMP, and even attempted to create a couple RPGs of my own.
One of my earlier dungeons: a library with kobolds, mimics, a collectible book puzzle, and a suit of animated armor possessed by the spirit of a long dead knight
None of my prep work is fit for publication, although over the years I’ve attempted to refine the style a bit. I made it all for my table. Holes and missing threads litter the lot of it, but all of it worked, so I didn’t need any more.
If you’re at all curious to peer into insanity, or maybe you’re one of my players from a previous campaign that wants to see just how much was smoke and mirrors, here is a link to my drive folder of RPG notes.
This is not a comprehensive folder. Plenty of my notes, like every other GM’s, are physical. Moves and time have swept them away from me. It’s sad, but also emblematic of what makes this hobby special. The magic happens in a moment with you and your friends around the table. No session of a TTRPG is the same as another.
Below are more photos of my physical notes and a couple videos from my more recent Shadowdark sessions. Enjoy!
The hex map of the Weald, my Shadowdark campaign setting. I use maps as brainstorming tools as much as I use them for player navigation.The map of the Bastille Saint-Enys, located on Lake Werelight within the Weald. The left page portrays the island from a 45 degree top down exterior view. The right depicts the dungeon as a flowchart.It looks insane, but this is the best way I’ve found to lay out a murder mystery for a TTRPG. Each collection of bullet points is a character or location and its relevant information to the conspiracy. The arrays show relationships between significant elements.The map of Tallyrand, my first ever DnD settlement. Located in the Kingdom of Deumond in Aleria. Drawn in 2019.The town of Stoneshear, located in the Golem Mountains northeast of Tallyrand. The populace here fell under the power of an ancient mutagenic worm virus. This is the beginning of my first extended dungeon.Inside of the Stoneshear Mines. The miners are more obviously infected than the townsfolk. The dungeon spirals down into the earth.At the bottom of the Stoneshear Mines lies the Hypogean City, the stronghold of the Worm Cult and the Cathedral of Ythun-gul, the Worm that Shall Swallow the World.The world map of Vaedris, created for my second great campaign in 2021. Done digitally in GIMP over 30 hours. Vaedris would see my tables through years of adventure, though we only ever visited a handful of its corners: the forests of Asluria, the jungle swamps of Lysanthir, the volcanic badlands of Vroserin, and the icy mountains of Krokhasho.Hand-drawn map of Lysanthir on Vaedris’ southwestern coast. This would be the site of a Morrowind-inspired campaign, the players taking on the role of prisoners set loose in an alien land of giant frogs, a civilization of lizardmen, and a colonizing force of the Aurumean Empire.A very simple dungeon for the Lysanthir campaign. The players needed to find a smuggler hiding out here.The sequel campaign to the Aslurian campaign in Vaedris took the players to the future, where the good guys lost, the heroes scattered to the fringes of society, and demons ruled the material plane. Our Lady of Hope Infirmary, named after the Fallout 3 dungeon, was my attempt at making a more contemporary dungeon in a DnD setting (although by this time we’d switched to Pathfinder 2e).Dwarven Reactor No. 9. Part of the original Vaedris campaign. Look at how ugly it is! But this is easily the most my players ever enjoyed a dungeon. We spent SEVEN sessions in here and each one was better than the last. Good to keep this map around as a reminder that looks aren’t everything.Here’s one example of my 2021 in-session notes. This is three sessions, all taking place inside of the Dwarven Reactor. My play notes have always been focused on necessity rather than robustness, to the detriment of my nostalgia. What else happened in Session 29?!Shady Grove was a small settlement in Dead Vaedris I designed for a 12-hour marathon one shot. It’s heavily inspired by Twin Peaks, having the players play inquisitors investigating the murder of a young girl that might have been related to demon worship. I wanted the town to feel real and dynamic. Every location fleshed out. Every NPC with opinions, allibis, and day-to-day movements. I only gave myself a week of development time. A surefire recipe for burnout.
I’m lucky to have some video from my Shadowdark campaign (still running as of February 2026). Here, the wizard Histo, played by my friend Shawn, attempts to persuade the Battlemage Bethalas to leave the field of battle and aid the Queen in her escape.
In the next session, Histo tries to fool the queen into sacrificing herself, but fails his check and pays for his treachery.
Found footage from our 2023 Lysanthir campaign starring Patrick, Cole, Michael, Will, and Braden. Kweeki Da’Cog (Will) draws the ire of a demon, and I learn that checks are more fun when the players know the DC.
