Mara Holmes

She/Her

Mara is the Dungeon Master for the popular UK D&D actual play Highrollers. You may have also seen her appearances on Critical Role's Mighty Nein Campaign as Calianna, or in Thresher as Betty, as well as various other appearances in the TTRPG world over the last decade.A professional TTRPG writer and designer, Mara wrote the Price of Beauty adventure for Wizard of the Coast's Candlekeep Mysteries, as well as contributing to MCDM's Flee Mortals, as well as producing her own Campaign Setting; Altheya the Dragon Empire, with Roll and Play Press.

Game Style

Mara describes her game as a classic High Fantasy All-Rounder, balancing strong narrative roleplaying and storytelling, character voices, dynamic and interesting combat encounters, and an overall sense of fun, engaging, gameplay. For inspiration she draws from action/adventure movies (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Mummy) superhero movies (Avengers Assemble) as well as many video games and book universes (World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, as well as Stormlight Archives, Six of Crows, etc).

  • balanced mix of exploration, combat and social encounters.
  • inclusive & Safe Environment, especially for LGBTQ+ players
  • combat Encounters are mechanically dynamic and interesting. Players will be expected to make characters that can contribute to a combat encounter, and work as a team to complete combat objectives (often beyond deal lots of damageand kill everything).
  • creative play and character background design are encouraged, especially to work within the world setting of Altheya.
  • focus on positive & action orientated experiences. PvP is heavily discouraged.
  • roleplaying is encouraged and Mara's table is a safe place free of judgement, but you are not expected to do voices or anything you are uncomfortable with.
  • adventures are typically high prep, with room for improvisation but the focus is on a more structured & crafted experience.
  • character Death will be an option for players who enjoy stakes, but there will be options for players who do not like permanent character death.