About the founder & our approach
Rob, engineer and GM
My background is in engineering leadership, cloud architecture, security and software delivery. Recap Raven brings that experience to the table.
I’ve played D&D for years, and I currently run a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign for people I’ve played with for a long time. Being behind the screen gave me a fresh appreciation of how much a GM has to keep in their head.
I also know how much anxiety can come with running a game. You put hours into preparing and get very little feedback afterwards. Your players say they enjoyed it, and you’re glad, but you can still go home wondering whether the session worked as well as you hoped.
Wanting feedback I could trust was a big reason I built Recap Raven. I care about my table, and as a data nerd I wanted to understand what a good session looked like: where players got involved, when the pace dropped and what I could try differently next time. I wrote about that uncertainty in Am I a good Dungeon Master? The numbers give me something specific to discuss with my players, alongside what they tell me.
When my players told me I talked too much, I used Recap Raven to look at how we shared the conversation. I wrote about it in How much should a DM talk?
Visit our Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign.
Why I build it this way
At the table, I want to listen to the players and react when they do something unexpected. Afterwards, I want to prepare from a record of what actually happened. I’m an engineer: I care about data and accuracy, and that carries through to how I run my games. If a recap invents a decision or gets an important detail wrong, it’s not fit for purpose. I built Recap Raven for me and my table first. I wouldn’t share something I wouldn’t want to use myself.
A missing detail in your notes is frustrating. A confident account of something that never happened can send your next session in the wrong direction.
Engineering qualifications and continued learning
These are the qualifications and courses I’ve completed in cloud engineering, delivery and AI, alongside a career spanning more than 20 years in engineering. I take pride in understanding best practices and putting them into practice. Building and running Recap Raven gives me the chance to keep my engineering skills fresh and continually challenge myself.
AWS Solutions Architect – Professional
Certification
Designing cloud services with attention to reliability, security and recovery.
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
Certification
Connecting cloud services and controlling access between them.
AWS Cloud Practitioner
Certification
Understanding cloud services and the responsibilities of using them.
Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)
Certification
Automating checks and releases, then learning from the running service.
Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
Certification
Assessing system designs against security and operational needs.
Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
Certification
Managing access, monitoring services and maintaining infrastructure.
Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900)
Certification
Understanding what AI can do, where it can fail and how to use it responsibly.
Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
Certification
Understanding Azure services and shared cloud responsibilities.
Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)
Certification
Making improvements in small steps and responding to feedback.
APMG International: AI-Driven Project Manager
Certification
Using AI in project work while people remain responsible for decisions.
AWS Well-Architected: Proficient
Training badge
Reviewing reliability, security and the practical trade-offs in a system.
Team Topologies: Effective Enabling Teams
Professional learning · provider logo
Helping engineers learn and apply technical knowledge.
Team Topologies Distilled
Professional learning · provider logo
Keeping responsibilities clear and complexity manageable.
DeepLearning.AI: Safe and Reliable AI via Guardrails
Professional learning · provider logo
Checking AI results and handling cases where the system gets something wrong.
DeepLearning.AI: Prompt Engineering for Developers
Professional learning · provider logo
Writing clear AI instructions and testing the results.
These are my professional qualifications and learning history. The product’s testing, evaluation and review practices are described separately below.
How I build and run Recap Raven
If there’s something you’d like to know about how Recap Raven works, come and ask in our Discord. Questions from other GMs help me see what needs more explanation or more work.
Rob K.Founder of Recap Raven