Party Spotlight: Brandon Norfolk

Welcome to the first party spotlight! Remember last month when we introduced the playtesting party for War & Aether? Well, in the weeks to come, we’re going to learn more about each party member and their various experiences with tabletops! This week, we’re highlighting Brandon Norfolk who recently just got done Game Mastering (GM’ing) his first tabletop campaign! Do you have any fun stories from when you were a Game Master? We’d love to hear it! Feel free to put your stories in the comments below!

Q1: What do you like about War and Aether (W&A) over other tabletops?

Brandon Norfolk (BN): The Skill Point system along with the Advancement Talents.

Q2: For your first experience as a Game Master (GM), why did you pick W&A over other tabletops?

BN: I have played W&A the most out of any other tabletop game we have played. I am the most comfortable with the rules and how it plays compared to the other tabletops

Q3: What was your experience being the GM for the first time?

BN: It was fun.

Q4: What was your experience GM'ing W&A? Was it easy or difficult to pick up?

BN: It was easy enough to pick up since I was already quite comfortable with the game. Building creatures and factions was pretty easy as well with the rules for creating them. Most time consumption just comes from creating the idea of the creature or NPC.

Q5: Why did you decide to run W&A in a custom apocalypse setting?

BN: When I first thought about GM'ing the game I intended it to be far more based on combat. With an apocalypse setting it seemed like it would be easier to keep the NPC and roleplay lower, as I was not very good at role play.

Q6: Using the W&A system, how difficult was it to create your own monsters?

BN: Creating the creatures was slightly difficult at first but once I got used to the different Talents and stats it became pretty easy. The hardest part was coming up with the ideas.

Q7: Tell us about your favorite creature you created for your campaign.

BN: Probably the Gourge. It was the first creature I created and I liked its ability to simply rip off limbs by picking people or monsters up and after a couple of turns completely ripping a limb off if it passed all the checks. Also the fact that the party ended up befriending them and essentially recruiting them as they are not immediately hostile creatures.

Q8: During your time GM'ing W&A, what surprised you the most?

BN: The original ideas I had for the campaign changed pretty fast after the first or second session. I also ended up doing far far more roleplay and npc involvement then I had ever intended.

Q9: What was your favorite part about GM'ing W&A?

BN: Creating the creatures and all of the different things I could try to come up with to attempt to make them interesting.

Q10: If you were to GM W&A again, what would you do differently?

BN: I would plan out my world a lot more.

Thank you, Brandon, for taking the time out of your schedule to answer these questions! Do you have any fun stories of when you were a Game Master? We’d love to hear it! Post it in the comment section below and check back for more content related to War and Aether!