About Us

Written by Phil

Phil was a world-traveler, writing, playing games, and exploring. Now he lives in Toronto and plays D&D, Root, and Terraforming Mars online. Most recently, he has been exploring the asymmetric games by Leder Games. Links to Other Writing: Persuasive Writing; Coffee Website.

Our Philosophy

Thanks for checking us out! As we say in the site sidebar, we want to make D&D more accessible by teaching broad skillsets, showing how the rules work, and explaining the logic behind them so you can easily and frequently run engaging games with your friends.

As such, here’s our philosophy:

  1. We aim to enable people who love games and game design to make things that will maximize both their talents and ambitions.
  2. We make products that can increase the number of players and creators in the world, making gaming as approachable, inclusive, and enjoyable as possible.
  3. We want to use games to improve people’s lives, both through the sheer fun of playing and through the skills and friendships they’ll develop along the way. We want to facilitate these things while expanding people’s horizons about what games can do (starting with 5e/TTRPGs).

To expand on the third point, as some think it’s hyperbolic, we believe that games can be used to allow people to work on particular issues or simply learn about the world. People on the autism spectrum have been shown to do well with things that evoke perspective-taking (Source 12) and other tabletop games do a great job in showing how different natural/manmade systems work (Photosynthesis gives a foundation for how trees fight for light; Leder Games does a good job portraying different political situations and perspectives; Wildcraft teaches you about medicinal plants as you play, etc.).

If this appeals to you, you can contact us at Phil at Makeaskillcheck.com

Our Team

Phil (Webmaster; Editor) has been playing D&D 5e for over half a decade but has also dabbled in Pathfinder and an assortment of other tabletop games. His favorite board games are Root, Photosynthesis, and Terraforming Mars, and is a DM-in-training.

Simo Santini (Game Designer; Writer) has been playing D&D since 2014 and has a continuous world spanning 6 years real time (over 300 sessions). He has a passion for old-school dungeons, particularly the tough ones like Tomb of Horrors. His primary game design focus is making compelling dungeons that provide impactful choices for the players. Check out one of his dungeons here.

Leonardo (Game Designer; Writer) has been playing D&D for over two years, DMing for just as long. He started homebrewing right off the bat and is now publishing original content on the DM’s Guild and itch.io! He’s also a big fan of Rowan, Rook & Decard’s Spire and Heart games.

Ethan (Writer) has been playing D&D for over a year, diving headfirst in DMing. He’s currently working on a fantasy novel and introducing everyone he knows to the world of TTRPGs.

Bob (writer) has been playing pretty much every edition of Dungeons and Dragons since he was 8-years-old, which means he’s got a whopping 30 years of experience spanning all the way back to 2nd ed.

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