OutOfStories

Janus

Genre	Mystery, Horror, Action, Historical, Science Fiction
Content Rating	R
Current Plot Involvement	None
Availability	Varied, By Demand
Contact Preference	Note, STalk, Tell
Okay to Contact for RP?	Yes

Overview

Typical plots will involve a high element of mystery and problem-solving, spiced up with a touch of horror or action as appropriate. More than happy to aid in running quests or personalized scenes for individuals or small groups. Generally preferences will run towards smaller groups, rather than larger plots. Tends to introduce game-like elements to the running of plots to ensure fairness.

Warnings

Brute force approaches to most plots will be met with mostly unpleasant results. Cerebral and creative approaches, on the other hand, are heavily encouraged.
A heavy emphasis will likely be placed on realism in all plots, and stretching realism is liable to be discouraged.
Excessive focus on 'winning' will likely be incompatible with this storyrunner's style.

Past Plots and Logs

A Murder in Supernatural Suburbia (Adventure) - Something foul is afoot in the suburban community of Haversham Hills, and Rockfield Bounties has contracted our protagonists to investigate a mysterious murder. Plunged headfirst into an intricate web of lies, deceit, and betrayal, our investigators sort through the deception to uncover the truth of Anna Davis' murder, and put a grieving father's troubled heart at ease. Logs: Investigation ? Conclusion ?
Cheating Hearts (Quest) - Jason Walker's made it big. He's just been drafted to play for a professional football team, and at a glance, everything's going well. But his wife wants a divorce, and proof that the rookie quarterback is cheating? Well, that would certainly help with the legal issues-- and entitle her to a chunk of his signing bonus. An intrepid private investigator is hired to find out if fame's gone to the young quarterback's head-- and if not, maybe even sure that it does. Logs: Pending PC Death/Consent
Sweet Dreams (Adventure) - The House of Zeus put out a call for volunteers with a background in the occult to aid in an expedition to recover the 'torc of Phobetor' from a recently uncovered archaeological site: 'the Tomb of Icelus'. Once within, the adventurers were trapped in a nightmarish shared dream, fueled by the fear and lust for power of members of their own group. Logs: Pending PC Death/Consent
Dream On (Adventure) - The House of Zeus put out a second call, this time after tracking down another of the set of three artifacts tied to the Oneiroi to a secure research facility on the outskirts of Athens. Once within, the party had to struggle through the dreams of captive researchers trapped within the facility to locate and destroy the artifact itself, all whilst running the risk that one of them might just take the object for themselves. Logs: Pending PC Death/Consent
Monkey Business (Quest) - With accusations in the air accusing the Hanshin Group of committing gross ecological crimes, Chrysalis, with support from likeminded allies, sets out to bring the group down a peg by striking at one of their research facilities, which utilizes chimpanzees in animal testing. Things get a little heated, and Chrysalis bares their teeth, whilst rescuing over a dozen chimpanzees and liberating the facility's research while they're at it. Logs: Pending PC Death/Consent
Cold, Dead Hands (Encounter) - An elderly man is reported missing, and a pair of deputies and a volunteer embark into the misty, cold woods to search for him and his dog. Logs: Here ?

Feedback

Janus is open to feedback and criticism, constructive or not. He's not the least bit insecure as far as his plot running abilities are concerned, so don't worry about pulling punches.

Doesn’t probe for stats and ignores character sheets in favor of his railroad system of roleplay or choose your own adventure type: option 1 or option 2. Seems to detest certain character types as if they are the wrong type and obviously has a subjective standard of good or right play based on his “warnings.” I don’t suggest partaking in his stories unless you have an abandon for your character and are willing to trust to Advance after the fact. I had to wait over an hour after a scene to interact with my character again because I wouldn’t set my trust to Advanced. I asked to be teleported out if I wasn’t going to receive play, but ended up just being told to wait. Over an hour of my time was ignored: that is highly rude and dismissive of another. He also doesn't have a strong grasp of the game and it's mechanics, and his lack of knowledge leads to personal attacks. As story runners go he is bad: disrespects players, lords over others, and has next to no knowledge of the game, mechanics, and powers. A clear mentality of: his way or the highway.
I went on Monkey Business with Janus. I found the time mechanic that he used to be interesting and added an interesting element of tension to the adventure. The pacing for the first half was a little slow for my own liking, but we were also waiting for other players to arrive. All in all I found the adventure to be enjoyable, the SR to be interesting and fair.
I've adventured with Janus twice, and he's hands down my favourite SR. His storyrunning style is always inventive, and he focuses on the collective fun of the group rather than allowing one person to butcher the plot for everyone else. Some may find this off-putting, but I find him to be very fair and even generous in rewarding people on his plot who show more sense and consideration, and I appreciate it when the gloves come off as necessary to cut down on silliness. Obviously, you can't please everyone, but I find this SR shows a preference to pleasing a higher calibre. I recommend him and his plots to anyone who appreciates creative thinking, hard realism and stellar, witty writing. - Saoirse ?