Join us as we sit down with Ryan Smith, a talented TTRPG map maker and professional DM!
Jared: First off tell us a little about yourself?
Ryan: What is there to say. I’ve always been a lover of games ever since I was a kid. Playing board games with my family, everything from chess checkers, Chinese checkers, backgammon, all that good stuff in the beginning and then you know the game of life, risk, strategy type games, all of that was just amazing fun for me as a kid and I carried that passion for gaming into being an adult.
When did I get started in tabletop games. That started when I was pretty young I think no older than 13 years of age where I found some sort of white dwarf magazine and made my way to a chapters store where I found the box set for dungeons and Dragons I didn’t know anything about the game and I hadn’t even heard of it up until then but I suppose that was the beginning of my journey in ttrpgs.
J: What made you want to make content specifically for tabletop games?
Ryan: I suppose at the time I was making content for my friends and family. Playing dungeons and Dragons became a wicked source of entertainment for my whole friend group and in fact it attracted other people to the table and sharing that experience with others sharing that collaborative storytelling experience was one of the most rewarding things I had experienced up until that point and I kind of continue that passion today.
J: Next tell us about the beginning of you making maps for tabletop.
Ryan: Well that started the same week that I picked up the books as a kid. The dungeons and Dragons starter kit box set had a large scale foldable square grid map along with a pile of tokens doors chests enemies that kind of thing and that was really fun at first especially coming with the prebuilt adventures that it had but that quickly became not enough and I kind of let my creativity off the chain and just kept making more elaborate encounters just for the challenge. I also really enjoyed drawing isometric maps in the beginning and I still do that to this day.
J: Next tell us about the beginning of your Professional Dungeon Mastering career.
Ryan: Not exactly sure where the line blurs between being a professional dungeon master and a casual one. Ever since I picked up the hobby I’ve been D Ming weekly. For the last 25 years I have hardly missed a week where I didn’t host at least one session with friends old and new. If the difference between a casual and professional is being paid then the beginning of my professional career began about 10 years ago when a group of people hired me to DM them online and that was the first time I had been paid for my skills and the experience was infinitely rewarding but the idea of becoming a full time professional DM was still a foreign concept.
J: What can people expect coming into the website/social medias etc?
Ryan: Well the future is always uncertain lol. All I can say regarding that is that creating battle maps both simple and complex and continuing to develop my skills as a professional DM are the main priorities in my career. I am exploring developing 3D maps and creating map packs for sale on Patreon so people or fans can look forward to seeing more of my content in the near future. Those who want to follow along I am dabbling in updating my website with my process tips and hints for other DMS that are looking to benefit from the experience of others and of course I don’t consider myself an expert I just hope that my experience can lend themselves in some positive way to those who are looking for advice on running their own tabletop games.
J: What do you see as your future both as a DM and as a map maker? Goals?
Ryan: I feel like the last question kind of answered that but my goal is just to continue growing increase the social media following share my content with as many people as I can and hopefully introduce as many people as I can to this amazing pastime that continues to be a rewarding experience for myself and something that I hope to share.
J: What projects do you have coming up?
Ryan: I have a few projects with other creators. People can look forward to seeing some interesting content being published in 2027 fingers crossed. My personal projects of course are still concentrating on developing a YouTube channel where I can post videos or clips about the experience of being a DM, the experience of developing battle-maps and my process during game design and development which I look forward to sharing with the world.
J: Anything else you would like to add?
Ryan: I have been doing this the thing I do for a long time now and it’s nice to see that the stigmas about dungeons and Dragons and tabletop RPGs in general have changed over time of course there are always new issues new problems that come up and I just hope that the community as a whole continues to have forward progress and continues to be the amazing inclusive community it is for anyone looking to benefit from an afternoon of escapism.
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