Jesse 4
Name chosen to reduce confusion later in case there is another Jesse DM or Weaver. It's a thing.
Rules Options/Variations Used
Usually uses hex-based movement for combat.
When using grid-based movement, each square is 5 feet of movement, regardless of it being orthogonal or diagonal movement.
When using hex or grid based movement, spells with areas-of-effect may be freely placed. As long as a hex or square is more than half-covered by the area of effect, creatures on that hex or square are affected.
Equipping a shield is a bonus action, not a full action.
The Disarming, Marking, Overrunning, Shove Aside, and Tumbling options from the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) are allowed.
The Cleaving through Creatures option from the DMG is allowed.
The Massive Damage option from the DMG are allowed for weapon attacks.
For some adventures, a short rest variant may be used where the first short rest of a day takes 5 minutes, the second one takes 30 minutes and all subsequent ones use the full time. This will normally be used for combat-heavy sessions or sessions that are the end of an arc where the stakes are a bit higher.
Inspiration should be flowing freely. If you don't already have inspiration, assume I'm looking for something cool from how your character behaves to show up. I run inspiration straight out of the the PHB. d20 that you can use in the future after rolling an ability check, save or attack.
Session Arcs and Elements "In Play"
I generally like to have a few options available for a session to run to be able to tailor something more to the group that is there. If you want to do something and I don't know much about the area, I might avoid it. If it requires minimal prep (“Let's go kill some undead in the Dark Forest area”), I'll be fine to jump on it.
Things that I may happen to be able to run more off the cuff, however, include:
The Dreamscaper
Grumble Dan and his brother Vaan
Undead in and around the Dark Forest
Red Sash goblins, although I don't know much DEEPER than anyone else
Guild-related stuff, within reason