About GM DarkLightHitomi
Will GM for money.
My style:
I favor milieu over mechanics and use mechanics as a way to communicate about the milieu. I.E. A DC 50 is beyond what any real world human has ever overcome, and beating that requires a supernatural, almost demi-god, level of performance.
I also favor the dnd 3e concept of encounter difficulty in that encounter difficulty will vary greatly, often being easy, but you can also run into things that you should absolutely run away from or at least diplomance rather than fight. Additionally, more difficult encounters will often be groups of lower level creatures working together with tactics and strategy rather than single monsters of high CR (though there will still be a fair number of these as well). The point is that high level stuff is rare, but low level stuff in big enough groups with tactics, strategy, and preparation can be just hard as high level stuff.
And I skew towards combat-as-war rather than combat-as-sport, so yes, you should stack the deck in your favor (in character stuff, like planning and tactics and getting allies, not mechanically).
I generally favor giving players more freedom and less handholding. When running APs, I'll generally give players some extra ability or method to in-character get a clue on what to do next should players start feeling a bit lost (sandbox is a wonderful thing, but those not used to it sometimes have trouble adapting at first).
PAY: I'm a tad expensive, but I'm at work 12-16 hours a day 7 days a week. Therefore, it has to cover what I'd otherwise be making with work or else I simple can't afford the time off. It also means I charge by time rather than by player, so the players can split the cost however they like. I'll readily take up to 6 players, or up to 9 with the agreement of the players.
I charge $30 an hour ($20 an hour, but with +50% more time that I spend on game prep. Gotta actually earn the pay after all), and I'll run sessions up to 12 hours long. +50% cost for in-person games (DFW area in Texas) to cover the price of building up things like minitures, maps, physical handouts, extra dice, etc, and gas of course. I don't have any of that stuff right now, but I'd need a budget to get it, which is what the extra cost is for.
Summery:
$30/hr total for all players
6 players cap, or 9 with group acceptance
Schedule is negotiable, day or night doesn't matter (gotta work around my security job though, first come for serve on my time).
sandbox or somewhat directed play
combat-as-war
somewhat simulationist
A 4-hour session with 6 players evenly splitting the cost would be $20 for each player.
