Jonathan Baldwin

Jonathan is a firm believer that the best way to make friends is to game with them, and that nearly any problem can be surmounted with a well rolled d20 and a sense of humor. Regrettably, his professors do not agree with him, which leaves him with the challenge of balancing his gaming habits with his studies.

• Jonathan is a Staff Member
• Joined Stuffer Shack: 11/5/2010
• See his article portfolio
• Join him on: Facebook
• Follow him on Twitter: @Xarathos
• Location: California
• Also, check out his personal gaming site: Powergaming for Dummies

Playing Style:

Somewhere between role-player and tactician, depending on the needs of the group. And my mood. That is to say, I’m not all THAT interested in being a tactician unless that’s something my character is good at, and my decisions TRY to focus on what my character would realistically do given what he knows. Not that I can avoid meta-gaming entirely, but I try.

I’m a big fan of describing my actions in detail and tossing mechanics aside in favor of fluff: occasionally this is boiled down to a vivid gesture. I feel it’s even better when the players do most of that describing based on the mechanics, especially if they describe their failures in just as much detail. Something like this:

GM: Your attack hits. He takes a level of damage and he’s dazed. What happens?

Player: I launch into him with three quick punches to throw him off balance, then finish with a blow to his stomach, batting aside any attempts to block. He staggers backward clutching his stomach, and I close in after him to press the advantage.

Favorite systems:

• Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition
• I like the IDEA of FATE, but haven’t had the chance to do much with it.

Favorite genre:

Anything that was ever in a comic book: sci-fi, fantasy, and super heroics are all fair game.

Favorite movies:

• Iron Man
• Sherlock Holmes
• X-men: First Class
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• and the new Star Trek movie

Favorite video games:

• Mass Effect 2
• Terraria
• the Portal franchise
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Assassin’s Creed
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

The coolest thing:

Find Nextwave and read it. Then you’ll know.

Nextwave: yes, THIS is what awesome looks like.

What makes me smile:

• Hard earned happy endings
• Technobabble
• And almost anything that Tali’Zorah vas Normandy ever said. Good grief, so adorable.

What irritates me?

Character derailing retcons. And hearing DMs say, “no, you can’t do that,” without a good reason. If I wanted arbitrary limitations I’d play a video game. See my article on Saying FUN to your players.

What my three favorite things to do are:

1. Drawing
2. Photo manipulation
3. Tabletop RPGs

The activities that make me lose track of time:

• Games (all variations except the boring ones)
• Drawing
• Tvtropes.org

What makes me feel great about myself:

Knowing something I’ve done was useful to somebody.

Who inspires me most:

Shepard, probably.

If I could have one superpower:

That depends. If it includes all required secondary powers, I’d want teleportation (as long as my clothes also teleport, and ideally if I can teleport other people I’m touching). If it doesn’t, then I’d say either mind control or the ability to rewind time by up to 60 seconds and do things differently.

What I’m naturally good at:

Understanding what people are feeling (I’m an empath, or as close as you get without superpowers, anyway). Half the time I can tell what someone was feeling when they TYPED something, which at times borders on spooky.

What do people typically ask me for help in?

Their computers.

If I had to teach something, what would I teach?

Magic, probably. Because that would mean I was a wizard. Score.

What I probably shouldn’t share:

I’ll let you know when I decide I should share it.