Bee Prepared

It’s already been five months since the launch of our Curated Play Program! We’ve kept our gaming calendar filled with all your Magpie Games favorites such as Masks, Urban Shadows, Bluebeard’s Bride, and many others thanks to our wonderful GMs! Seriously, we couldn’t have done any of this without them!

We decided to check in with one of the original GMs for the Curated Play Program, Bee Zelda to get their perspective on curated play and learn more about their love for rpgs.

Tell us a little bit about yourself! Who are you outside of gaming?

Hello ~ My name is Bee Zelda, my pronouns are they/them. I’m a non-binary podcaster, streamers, and professional GM. I’m a member of the Broadswords an all women and non-binary actual play RPG podcast. I stream on a variety of channels like @roll20app @saltysweetgames and others, and I run games for Magpie! It is extra dorky if the person I am outside of tabletop gaming is then a video gamer? I play an embarrassing amount of League of Legends. But if I’m not at my computer, I’ll be outside with my dogs, or inside doing yoga. I live in an area with a lot of trails too, so on days that it’s too hot for the dogs, it’s perfect for a bike ride.

What’s your background in GMing? What was the first game you ever GM’d? What’s your favorite?

The first game I’d ever GM’d was a game of Pathfinder for my younger brother Tanner and some friends. I ran a module, or a rather I tried and quickly learned that improv GMing was my preferred style. Up until that point, my only tabletop experience was the Broadswords. After that, I ran some home games of Monster of the Week, and then I had my first show on a small Twitch channel. Since then, I learned that I lean towards heavy narrative games, and Powered by the Apocalypse games tend to be my favorite. On my own Twitch channel of the Broadswords, I ran a few oneshot exploring other systems, but I always go back towards the ones that help tell the best stories

How would you characterize your GMing style? Do you have any inspirations?

I am an improv heavy GM. I do what I can to encourage everyone to tell the best collaborative stories. Because I don’t enjoy prepping for my games, I would much prefer and let everyone at the table help create the story we’re all telling. Of course, this doesn’t work for all systems, which is why I tend to gravitate towards mechanics light games. My inspiration are a few folks that have always captivated me as a player and that's Victoria Rogers and James D’amato. Back when I was still only a player, those two helped shape the way I tell stories.

What’s been your favorite thing that you’ve seen in a session of the Curated Play Program?

When my entire group of Bluebeards Bride shattered, and that shared moment when everyone had to read the ending text together was SO good. I love those shared story moments because they give me the chills. And seeing everyone get as hyped as I felt at that shared moment was so wonderful.

If you could play a TTRPG with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

I really enjoy new players that bring that fresh creative perspective, so like maybe Malala Yousafzai or the author L. L McKinney.

And finally, what’s a game that you would love to GM but haven’t had the chance to so far?

Blades in the Dark, Call of Cthulhu, Wanderhome. There are so many games that I want to run but haven’t had the chance yet.

It’s been a great experience so far, having Bee join us as a Curated Play GM! They have continuously brought the excitement and creativity to each session they run!

Thanks, Bee!

If you want to check out one of Bee’s sessions or any other one of our Curated Play games (with our other awesome GMs) head over to https://www.magpiegames.com/cp-session and check out our latest schedule releases!

-Magpie Games HQ