The Gayme Master: My Journey into Gayming and Tabletop Narrative

Welcome to "The Gayme Master"!

And now that you're here, what exactly is the Gayme Master? More importantly, WHO is the Gayme Master?!

Hi, my name is Josiah Sweetnam! I have grown up in small towns around the interior of British Columbia. I've studied Acting in Vancouver. And I LOVE Tabletop Gaming, movies/TV, books, podcasts, and just about any other form of media that can deliver me a satisfying narrative!!

I'm glad you found this blog, and I sincerely hope you find some of my writings helpful, or at least inspiring!

By no means am I the most experienced gamer/writer/storyteller out there. But this passion of mine has truly changed my life! And if nothing else, I just want to share that passion with as many people as possible, in the hopes that it may also bring you the same joy it has brought me!

My first ever gaming group. Some of my favourite Dnd memories to this day come from this table! Yes, there is a story behind this photo, but let's save that for another day...

A Storytelling Journey

Ok, so I've met many TTRPG gamers out there who started their tabletop journey at a young age. I, however, didn't start that part of my journey until a little later. For me, it started simply, with a love of story!

My Dad used to read to my brother and I practically right out of the womb! And when he wasn't reading, he loved making up stories for us on the spot about a couple of little bears who lived in the forest, and got into all kinds of trouble with their forest friends. Of course, this quickly led me to creating my own stories!

I used to cut up magazines and calendars to make little story books. I'd write my own "stage plays" for my friends and I to act out! (I guess that might be considered my earliest "GMing" experience!)

I joined drama clubs, read lots of books, watched tons of movies and TV, and wrote my own short stories. Honestly, if I didn't grow up in small, overly conservative towns, I probably would have found games like Dungeons and Dragons MUCH sooner!

When I was in elementary school, my family opened up a small general store. It has grown and evolved over the many years as my family has grown and evolved, and has seen many shifts and changes in what it does.

This led me to opening my own store after high-school in a new city! This new business started off as a kind of gift store that sold toys, ornaments, decorative collectibles, and eventually games and nerdy things! And it was in this store, that I got connected with our first local Comic Convention!

We were hooked! Over a couple of years, we went from that first yearly Convention, to FIVE! And this in turn also started shifting our regular stock in a more Nerdy direction. Two years in, we decided to take a chance on a new area of products; dice and TTRPG accessories. Boy, I had NO idea how much this was about to take over my life!

The Slippery Slope

At our second Convention of selling these new products (products for which I knew incredibly little about!), a kind person approached our booth as we were setting up. She was very excited to see the dice and spell reference cards we were selling, and I took advantage of this moment to ask what the HECK these things are, and how do I sell them to people! Over the weekend, she visited our booth several more times with helpful tips and information, sharing stories from an actual play podcast she plays with her brother and some friends, and I was incredibly intrigued by what she was telling me. (And yes, because of what she taught me, I was able to sell plenty of our products in the end!)

Well, at the end of the event, I had to ask her what the podcast was so I could listen and learn from it at home. She then tells me that her online name is Monty Glu, and she is the DM for a group called the 'Unexpectedables'!

Well, I started listening on my way home from that event, and that is where my spiral into the realm of TTRPGs began!

It wasn't long before I ended up connecting with some friends from high-school again, and we started our first ever D&D party!

We played fairly regularly for about 2 years, and some of my fondest Table Top memories come from this table. (Someday I will share some of the stories from this table, and the adventures of my first character, Malcer Greyraven!)

Looking back, I laugh at some of the mistakes we made, the hard lessons we learned, and the knowledge I now take for granted! (Like why we don't roll D20s to determine Attribute scores!)

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and I ended up having to move cities. Thanfully we were able to bring the main story of the campaign to a conclusion, so those characters have some kind of happy ending.

However, it was after moving to a new city, that we connected with a local group, Called CB Productions that ran Charity livestreams for Extra Life 4 Kids. With much guidance, and under their umbrella, we decided to give it a go ourselves! We planned out a 13 hour livestream filled with lots of games and entertainment, and plenty of opportunities for donations. As we planned out our ideas for the segments, being inspired by my love of The Unexpectables, I offered to run our First live Dnd game!

That continued to branch out and grow further until I was running other event games, Charity Livestreams, participating in games on stages at conventions, creating plenty of adventures, and now writing this blog!

Born to Perform

As I got more and more into Tabletop Roleplaying, a somewhat unexpected (to me at least), but inevitable reconnection to an older passion started to occur for me.

Acting, and Improv!

However, the reconnection came in a way that I hadn't really considered previously.

Watching lots of these talented people play brilliantly online, I started to notice a pattern. Many of my favourite players and GMs had one thing in common. Nearly all of them were Voice Actors!

This started a neurodivergent dive into a rabbit hole around everything that would entail. After months of consideration, and hours of research and practice with whatever cheap mic I had available to me at the time, I bit the bullet! I had just sold my car, so I took some of that money and invested a couple hundred dollars and bought my first XLR microphone setup!

I started playing around with it right away, messing around with different voices, doing vocal exercises regularly, practicing these voices at the Tabletop, and learning everything I could about Voice Acting online! It wasn't long before I had jumped onto Casting Call Club to start sending submissions for some indie projects to begin gathering experience. And wouldn't you know it, the first project I gathered the confidence to submit an audition for was for a character called Ernest on an online series called Transportation Station! (Watch it now on YouTube!)

Of course this continued to snowball. Through one of the Comic Cons I went to, I connected with an acting school, and after much support and encouragement from family, I applied. That step changed my life in ways I could never have predicted! I learned many useful lessons, developed and refined many integral skills, and built the confidence I needed!

But most importantly, it was while at school that I really learned that my main true passion in life was storytelling! And how to pursue this passion in ways that will bring me joy and fulfillment through it!

Now We're Here

Ultimately, I have always loved storytelling because it was how I have learned to experience the world. Everyone and everything has a story attached to it. Story is how generations have passed down lessons and ideas for millennia! Story lets us explore concepts and ideologies in safe ways in order to learn and grow and challenge one another.

I have taken many journies in life, and explored many things, and I owe much of my self discovery, acceptance, knowledge, and passions to the friends, family, and connections I have made through the safe spaces of TTRPGs, acting, and nerdy communities!

So to answer the question, "Who is the Gayme Master"? (other than "it's ME" of course!)

I am a queer neurodivergent nerd who loves acting, voice over, performance, story, and philosophical exploration! And this blog is just the next way I'd like to share the journeys I've taken, and the lessons I've learned along the way :)

-Josiah Sweetnam, a.k.a. the Gayme Master