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The real question is: Do you actually own a physical copy of The Prince, or did you visit a library to borrow it just for that bit (or did you print out a fake cover and put it on another book)?
Actually, big thumbs up to the DM who developed an entire hilarious yandere subplot instead of pretending that the awful character wasn't there. Also, I kind of liked that insane party composition with Robin, Arthur, Pinocchio and seven dwarves. It sounds like fun! Too bad the DM mistreated the players. Cool story though.
The yandere story was crazy condensed too for the sake of time. She was basically turned into a proto-warlock, and used her infernal pact to bargain a trap for the party. On the 4th corpse they inspected to find her "notes", it triggered a swirling undead trap that forced the party to work out riddles, a mini-boss battle, and a saw style sacrifice brain teaser. They each sacrificed 7 HP worth of blood to get the "good" resolution, but I had contingencies for if they killed each other or their surrendered opponent. She had minions, decorated a disused church in the tackiest wedding decor, the bard got his first kill, and an unmentioned character that'll come up later, Flake, played a pivotal role in her eventual death.
My favorite bit was where Crispy was like "this doesn't seem right, let me google it -- oh, oh no those are very real things the Christian Church did."
I knew they had been doing it, but was shocked to see they were still doing it in 1959. I'd always thought that was a medieval to reformation kind of thing. Then again I recently found the US was still forcibly sterilizing Natives in the 1980s and recently heard Canada is still doing that now. Time to escape to a version of the world run by Tiamat where there's less evil somehow than our real world.
Catholic* church. It's kind of an important distinction from a scholarly or theological perspective since Catholicism has added so much to the religious text that it's honestly barely recognizable as Christianity to an outsider. Lot of very weird rituals and praying to people that aren't Jesus in Catholicism.... Not to mention all the...other child abuses that their denomination seems to have problems with.
@@edwardarnett9815 Child abuse is no more prevalent in the Catholic Church than any other institution that involves children, the reason they garnered a reputation for it is because they just shuffled the predators around and avoid a scandal. That and the fact that Protestants have a habitual need to vilify Catholicism, acting like they're any better. The funny thing is I don't think I've ever met a Catholic who has anything remotely approaching the level of vitriol for Protestants the way Protestants do for them. So much for love they neighbor lul.
@@edwardarnett9815 The catholic church is super weird but other variants are weird in their own right. Like american evangelicals might not pray _to_ other stuff than god/jesus but they sure like to pray _for_ (and give money to) the weirdest stuff, wishing super hard for the apocalypse etc.
@@ArcCaravan My game group is running with this line of thought. Emily is a cleric, has straight black hair with long sides, and says rude things in a polite upbeat manner.
Xavier (the player who couldn't keep appointments) definitely needs to be treated for ADHD, or at least checked. That behavior of not being able to stay still and quiet, interrupting, talking a lot, having trouble managing time, getting bored and unable to just be bored - these are ADHD symptoms.
Also- as a survivor, I sometimes include past s/a trauma in my characters, but ONLY after checking with the dm and group and clarifying that it's something I won't bring up, it just helps me cope by playing someone like me who isn't shamed for it and who gets to be a hero and protect others. (When I'm struggling with the trauma, I'll remember the adventures my character had and think 'if they can do that, I can get out of bed today'. Doesn't work for everyone but it helps me out!) All this is with their consent and as a background element that I do not expect to be referenced or used at all. If someone isn't okay with it, I don't write it into my backstory, period. Creepling here is majorly overstepping boundaries- I know of groups that are perfectly fine with dark themes in backstories, but most aren't. Even if she was doing it to cope with real experiences, consent is important in all situations with any theme similar to this. It's one of those things that hits close to home for a lot of people, and you don't spring that as a plot point or a backstory element without careful checking and prior discussion- and an understanding that if someone says 'I'm not okay with that', you stop. With this group having a No S/A rule right off the bat, that should have been a glaring red flag to stop. Also, people, talk to your GMs. If you want to incorporate a darker theme, say "Would it be okay to have x" or something along those lines. People are nice and most DMs I know will work with you to fit something thematically similar in if your proposal doesn't work. Sorry for the comment rant. I just see something I use to cope with my trauma thrown at other people with no warning, which, if Creepling is using this to cope like I suspect she may be, is very counterintuitive. Dealing with your real-world issues through TTRPGs is a tried and true method, but everyone has to be on board.
The one story with Xavier who's a flake, "We love you X but you have the attention span of a cat (and the memory of a goldfish). We'll be on a pretty strict schedule and each time we play it will be 4 hours long. The game will last for months. You'll hate having to sit still that long, won't like how slow the game is, won't remember to show up for each game, and we'll end up mad at you. So, no you can't do this with us." IE: tell him why he won't like it, why it wouldn't work out for the game or him, and how much of a commitment it is. If the guy has any self-awareness he'll get it. I'd avoid talking about the game in front of him though, that would just make him feel excluded/unwanted after not being allowed to join.
So Xavier has no planning skills, is very forgetful, gets easily bored, and starts goofing off when no one else is. This is the most stereotypical case of ADHD I've ever seen. He will always have those traits, but he would probably benefit from medication and some practical help in planning his days to manage his symptoms a bit better. I'm saying that as someone with ADHD.
I've gotten better without medication(it's forbidden in my country) when things concern dnd :D i like our games so much that i developed many ways to stay focused during them :D now i'm often the most focused and punctual, with small exeptions. Wish i would've that focused on work 😂 So this guy could be better if he wants and his friends would help him)
Yeah, way to punish the entire group for one playler's behavior. That'll win you happy players! I still remember when a GM did that to me when a new player turned to me and asked me what they could do because they were confused by the rules, and I offered a list of ideas--not direction to do any one thing. The GM ruled the new player couldn't take any of the actions because *gasp* they dared to ask a fellow player for advice!
I can relate to that first story. In my first ever campaign, the DM threw in so much content from outside franchises that it broke my immersion like ice at the bottom of a 100 foot drop. I can recall a few examples: Shameless inclusion of Dio from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as a random encounter Actual StarWars lightsabers Big Daddy enemies from Bioshock, accompanied with their Little Sisters of course
If a GM brings in characters, monsters etc from other franchises, they have to make sense in-universe. Like a Predator coming into your dnd game wouldn’t make super duper sense, but if you wanted to bring in a Predator for, say, a Star Trek Adventures game or a Traveler game, that wouldn’t run as much if an immersion-breaking risk.
That makes me think a Bioshock-themed campaign might actually be interesting...but I have no idea how the frik you'd just put Big Daddies and Little Sisters in a game that doesn't take place in the same universe.
@@Pipkiablo I actually have a tradition of having a longer bioshock scenario in my Call Of Cthulhu campaigns, and explaining the origin of ADAM as being mythos-related. COC and Bioshock work really well together I’ve found, especially with Pulp Cthulhu.
The horror story with Creepling sounds PRECISELY like someone I used to be friends with, who was indeed a creepy stalker when she liked someone and who later (after her and I’s bridge was blown into atoms so small that Deadpool himself couldn’t regenerate from) went on to reveal herself as not only a general mega-creep, but a p3d0, too. AND I know she plays D&D now, or least uses HeroForge, so you know, /ew./
I got one player that who’s presence to our once every 2 week game is somewhat unpredictable, so I gave him a cursed item that « is a focus of otherwordly monster summon » means he disappears and reappears from the adventure according to his presence , sometimes funnily, sometimes on a cliffhanger. I encourage hime to describe his summon and subsequent death ending the summon.
That sounds amazing, and reminds me of a campaign I heard from I think a CritCrab video where a character had a manservant that accompanied them they all kept forgetting about, so it became a running gag where once in a while they'd remember him and be like, "Wait, where's X?" and he'd just fall from a tree in front of them or something.
The very first bit about telling your players that no check can be made is something I've run into before and I feel like my solution had the same energy. Play it up 100% in character. Tell NPCs about the indestructible door, build the ballad of the indestructible door into every routine your bard does, months into the campaign just keep mentioning that door like you're talking about the BBEG. Unofficially rename the campaign, the Odyssey of the Unbreakable Door.
Until Xavier shows he CAN AND WILL respect other peoples time he CANNOT be allowed into a game that REQUIRES a time commitment like D&D! If he doesn't get this fact, Xavier is just proving he isn't capable of not ruining it.
Yeah like good friend or not, if you constantly act like a flake, you should expect people to not have you around for more commited activities. I just hope Xavier takes it with grace when OP and their friends let him know
@razordraft6103 Xavier can do better though. Especially if he works together with his friends to help manage the symptoms. For example having others make sure to give a friendly reminder when he is getting too much. Or and coopreating about scheduling. Like extra reminders and so on.
My attention span is why I like doing D&D online, if I feel myself getting bored or restless during a segment that doesn’t involve my character I’ll get up for two minutes and listen to music (while muted) or simply walk around while listening to what’s going on. I’ve found it a useful tool for someone who can lose attention easily.
The guy that has commitment issues and is constantly ducking out but wanted to be included, I would let him play personally but make him have some kind of fey patron or curse in his backstory where he gets yeeted into the feywild randomly whenever he isn't around for a session or otherwise needs to leave the table. If he can't focus and isn't meshing with the team then he can just disappear permanently. If he can but still has to see to other commitments sometimes then at least he has an out and can have some entertaining little RP elements recounting whatever shenanigans he found himself in while he was gone as they catch each other up. Maybe the party could even meet their patron when he isn't around and learn about the archfey toying with him like a yoyo between realms.
Sounds to me like a situation where he might be better off playing the team pet than a team member. Let him role-play the familiar or animal companion or whatever on the rare occasion that he's actually there.
The fact someone took a fictional relationship to heart is so disturbing- like, how do you not disconnect reality and fiction?? My now girlfriend actually once had a similar situation when we first met and did a lot od roleplays. We both had our own characters we were super fond of and would roleplay them getting intk a relationship. However- somehow someone else she roleplays with found out about it (likey by looking at my drawings from that time and just assuming) and threw a sort od hissy fit where they said their character was based on their sleep paralysis demon and it was a comfort character and I guess they felt their character was entitled to her character? It was weird as hell, luckily she had cut off contact with them
Xavier is probably undiagnosed ADHD and isn't getting support or learning coping mechanisms, or had ADHD and is refusing to find better coping strategies
I had a DM like that once. He would constantly bring up one situation as a proof of how I play my characters, but the situation was one he created after he compelled my character and proceeded to narrate my character doing it. Then insisted my character derails plots (he derailed his own plot). It got to the point where all his other friends told him. He had to stop bringing it up, because he had done it to himself and had taken the control entirely out my hands!
Ahhh yes the kender in 3rd. I have a fond memory of successfully arguing a kenders magic resistance only applies to known spells and ravenloft spells wouldn't be known in a main campaign. 1 cast of never ending nightmares while the kender was sleeping and I was a happy boy.
That in game marriage things reminds me of that “so you never thought you would meet a girl online” anime, with a girl having difficulties distinguishing fantasy from reality
I can ALMOST relate to the last chick wanting to play a game to be together with their partner in another game. A good number of years ago, I had a similar tendency with my partner. They start talking about a game and I'd notice "Oh hey, a marriage system, you know I could join and we could be together there too. It'll be cute." And it kinda was, but I eventually got justifiably told off. My partner told me, "If you wanna start playing too, I won't stop you, but you don't need to marry me in every game. It's just weirdly sad to go through the process and then have to look at how long its been since you played a game I really like." And I just went "Fair." Stopped doing it. They have their stuff, I have my stuff, I don't need to jam my way into their stuff if I'm not going there to actually enjoy the stuff. It's a folly found in young love, can't really fault it. It's a lesson to learn. An experience to have. A conversation to have. The problem there, though, is that we were in an ACTUAL relationship?? MY Final Fantasy 14 wife has a husband in real life, we barely even speak. We just wanted the sick ass Wedding Chocobo and the glam items. Conveniently, we did try to set up a DND game among our limited friend group years ago, but it never got past character creation due to scheduling issues.
Barely related, but the in-game marriage mechanics makes me wanna roleplay a sham marriage like a gold digger, green card, beard, shotgun, or mutually uninvested arranged marriage.
@@ArcCaravan My old FC leader roleplayed as a Lalafell that married under the pretext of being a sugar daddy. Which he was shockingly capable of, man had more gil than I knew was possible. You're definitely not alone.
There's a funny comic I've seen of the eternal bonding NPC lady being so happy to give a couple their wedding glamour, only to be handed divorce papers immediately after. 😂
To the party that wanted to give their inconsistent friend a chance to play D&D with them, i would have considered it but only under certain conditions that would be made clear to the friend up front: 1) D&D campaigns are different from their usual gatherings as far as commitment and engagement 2) due to their previous flackyness, the friend will be under stricter conditions for continuing play (probation period of sorts until they prove themselves by being there on time or early, staying engaged the whole time, and not missing any games or leaving early without a strictly valid reason and advance notice as early as possible. 3) if any of those rules are broken in the first 3-6 months (1 story arc), the friend is out, no questions asked (friendly but formal ageement so that no feelings have to be hurt) 4) if they succeed at the agreement for the preplanned time period, then they can begin to relax the restrictions gradually to the norm for the group
Regarding Xavier, insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results. He is who he is. You don’t have to include every friend in every activity. It’s not like you’re shutting him out completely.
Kinder: pronounced Kin - der. Theyre from the Dragon Lance Books. They didnt believe in personal possessions and were know for sticky fingers for anything they found interesting
Big kudos on the last story for the party finding an in universe explaination to get rid of the disgraced pc and even more so to the theif that was aboe to RP the experience so well. That is homestly masterful DMing and RPing
Xavier probably has unknown and untreated maximum ADHD. I recognise myself in him. I used to be just like him before I found out I had maximum ADHD. The only thing that made my life livable, was the fact I also have Autism.
I thought I heard Blood for Blood in the background! Glad I was right. Didn't know you were also a David James Armsby fan! Great little Easter egg to hear lol. Anyways, I've recently found your videos and they're great to put on in the background, you've got a good voice for these sorts of videos and good takes and better jokes. Excited to see more! ^-^
I don't play DnD. Never played it but I became friends with some people who do play and I can't get enough of the stories I hear from the DnD campaigns. I am just a lonely drunk in a tavern, listening to every player character retell their adventures... maybe I would like to play it one day... one day...
The second story is so alien to me- in my running campaign we have skipped entire cities (most of the time unintentional-) and our poor DM has to improvise the entire session. My DM's great.
"Players are always going to ruin your plans." Yes.... and as a GM, that's what you want. The challenge for the players is to complete the challenges their characters wish to complete. The challenge for the GM is to keep ahead of the players when they go off-rails. THAT'S THE FUN PART!
The "9th level sleep spell" reminds me of the time I had a DM inform me that my warforged had ben rendered unconscious by poison while the rest of the party slept. I was like "Wait, warforged have advantage against poison and you didn't even give me a savign throw." suddenly it was a special poison made jsut for warforged. "Ok, well how'd they give him the poison?" Well it was a sneak attack and my warforged was surprised. "..I have the Alert feat and cannot be surprised." Well, you trusted these people so you wouldn't have seen it coming "What about your DMPC that you have with us who you already established has a weapon of warning?" Well they weren't attacking him so it didn't go off. Drove me crazy.
I’m always concerned about being a problem player because my sisters the dm and she’s extremely doting. She would not even consider kicking me out if i was causing problems.
A good DM should be flexible and able to adapt to the players reactions not stifle the creativity of the players because "My story". I know sometimes it sucks especially if you spent a good deal of time making it but the objective should always be for the players to enjoy themselves. I hate it when a DM just has a raging murder boner the entire game or obviously favors specific players. I love pulling out my phone and just making it painfully obvious that im no longer interested when a DM starts being a prick. Ignoring abilities that i choose is an easy way to make me lose all interest because what was the point of me making this character if i can't use it like it says in the guide?????
Right, a good DM can make it fit into the story; if that DM really wanted all the players asleep, just knock out the half-elf. I'm sure the witch had a frying pan or something to hit them over the head with, they player could have fought the witch by themselves trying to wake up their friends and stuff while dodging spells and stuff
Sounds like Xavier need some treatment for ADHD. I feel for him in this situation but agree there’s ways for him to keep himself accountable for this behavior
On 'AITA for letting go?' that player sounds like someone with undiagnosed ADHD who needs to talk to a therapist and get some medication. I don't think the author is an asshole, not everything a friend group does is for every member of a friend group, but if you're younger and playing DnD and an otherwise cool friend is having these issues it's good to suggest therapy and offer to help them get it.
Figured I'd post a correction to the last story: Hack 4th is its own game system, and Tieflings were not a PC race within it. It's an old archaic system and homebrewing a balanced tiefling would be pretty difficult. Also, the whole "wouldn't fit the setting" thing. So, I was wrong, They existed, just not in the system I was using. My bad.
"I'm immune to magical sleep effects." "The spell works anyway because it's ninth level." That's not how immunity works. If I have a second level character who is somehow completely immune to fire damage, and the enemy wizard is casting a fireball which intensity rivals Hiroshima, I would still be standing there, completely unharmed, even though everything and everyone around me was totally destroyed. However, a workaround does present itself in the story. Since the witch provided food, which the party evidently accepted, the DM could state that the food was laced with a subtle toxin that lowers or negates immunities and resistances. The DM in this story is clearly an asshole, but in this instance he just lacked creativity.
The entire campaign seemed to be a badly planned/thought-out version of Dimension 20's "Neverafter". Is there anything wrong with doing your own version of a D20 season? Not at all, but if you're gonna do it, at least do it well and don't railroad your players into stupid encounters that are way too high level.
My friends would refer to each other as "wife" pretty often, but that was jokey best friend stuff. Not creepy I have no boundaries stuff. I can see how I would ignore that too
As a dm, i love having npcs from my other campaigns connect and weave through the newer ones, i have this human warlock who travels through the planes in an attempt to find his way to his home plane(maybe one day he will) but each time he shows up he forgets everything until the device connecting him to patron can be found again, its always a small quest around the beginning of the game the item is a book of poems so nothing the players can use nor one that they can even access the abilities of cause there can only be one warlock of the patron at a time. Its a fun quest alor of my players like doing especially if they already seen him before cause well hes like Waldo, they find him, the find his book, give rhe book back, he tells them about rhe last party he met in the form of a poem, then gives them a thing that will only really be useful later. Hes just a fetch quest but it love running him.
Just based on the very specific nuances described about Xavier (person X)'s mannerisms when being inattentive or unreliable; it does sound like they may have ADHD (though I don't know them and I am not going to try be a doctor here) As a sufferer myself, and making the huuuuge assumption I'm right, I agree there must be consequences; without consequences, it's very hard for ADHDer's to actually employ some level of executive functioning. Big ups to that friend group for being able to combine that tough love while maintaining their friendship. It's hard!... Never mistake an ADHD'ers apparently inattentiveness or poor organisation and/or lateness as disrespect or a lack of care or desire to participate: To most, it seems like a simple matter of willpower, but to them it's just an impossibility. They're missing large amounts of the neurotransmitters Dopamine and Norepinephrine in their brains which means their pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for executive function and attention, just doesn't work so good; and no amount of willpower can change that. Consequences are good, but only if they're not too harsh, a healthy amount of stress is often all it takes to kick start an ADHD'er into focussing. It's not that we can't pay attention, we just can't regulate our attention ourselves - which is where the whole thing about hyperfocus comes in, but that's a whole different can of worms for another day.
The start of the second story reminds me of one of my earliest games, if not my first. Plot was solving a disease, yada yada, plot stuff and cults. Our cart gets ambushed by orcs hired to kill us off. We kill them all save for one which we later found out was called 'Special Eddie' who talked exactly like you thought he would. The whole game was a wash for the few sessions I was there from visiting a house in the woods owned by a rat man who looked after four young Tortle. Yes, you're right about this one. Especially the fact they ambushed us without any chance of escape only for them to let us go because "Boys will be boys"., all the way down to an actual Tortle who acted as an old man figure who could once - just once - turn into a young buff guy who could kick any one's ass and somehow had the blicky when we made jokes about turtle soup. Cut to being ambushed by a cult who wants this boy we're trying to look after, the brother of.... Eddie, wanting him back. We do so but not before finding out whilst we let him sleep things off in the wagon and we set up camp, did he masturbate himself into covering the walls, the door, the ceiling, himself, everything like that one South Park meme about Randy. I ended up becoming a DM after that because I thought even i could do better.
Regarding the AITA guy, my immediate thought was that the guy has ADHD. I'm all about people accommodating that friend (I have ADHD), but it's okay to draw boundaries around something like that if the person isn't being respectful of other people's fun either. Even if they mean well. When I've had players like that, I gave them a role where they could come and go without damaging the story and let them participate when they were there.
So just something I noted and already disapproved of for the Creepling story before she even started playing (besides the character creation part, that was quite a flag). For me, her verbally chiming in during a session. I’ve joined many an ongoing game and done some sit-in observation sessions ahead of my own introduction. I find it absolutely rude to chime in during a session that you are there to observe while it is ongoing. Sure, write down questions for the dm or players to clarify later, but those should absolutely wait until a break or after the session is over to be addressed. If you are to speak up during a session, do so only if the dm or players address you themselves during their session. This excludes of course talking to them during breaks and after. Feel free, that’s one’s time to feel out if you vibe with the people, not just the characters and story. But yeah, the interrupting already struck me as rude and off putting. I guess in the moment it could be excused if with some disgruntlement but it’s still not a good sign to me. Anyway, yeah, the whole thing was…not good, but I just wanted to mention this part as already setting me ill at ease for that story pretty early (and again, already doing so because of those issues mentioned during character creation).
omg that slow fade into goldshire tavern xD all of us old wow players(pre-lich king) that dared to create an alliance character are traumatized from that tavern.
At the beginning, I’ve done that a few times. I had a player who made it a habit to try to peak behind the dm screen to see my notes or during combat they’d, google the stat blocks of enemies. I told them to stop multiple times, but they just kept doing it, so eventually I stopped telling the group the hit points of the enemies (which I was doing before), or I’d add another goblin or cannon fodder enemy, and said it was because of metagaming. My players are now very serious about not metagaming and will get upset with people who do. I think I did too much because they’re very aggressive about it, but so far it’s worked
Okay, so Creepling caused me to double down even more on my N.P.C.s only policy on in game romances for D&D. That was a lot, way too much even. Also, can anyone visualize "aggressive" hand holding? I'm having trouble doing that.
Its like aggressive kissing where you do it whether or not they asked and way too strong, like you're trying to draw blood via squeezing. And not releasing for a few seconds after youve been asked to. A-at a guess, i mean.
Maybe grabbing the hand and swinging back and forth violently could be aggressive hand holding? The DM in Thrilling intent described someone as aggressively lying down and when asked how one does that he said they were on their stomach hands on their cheeks and kicking their legs back and forth. So. Back and forth seems to be the key.
For some reason the Half Elf Sleep spell really got to me. The idea of saying "Nuh uh," to your player when they finally get to use a niche ability is so frustrating. Imagine playing a Cleric and the only time the party ever goes against an undead the DM just says "Nah". Like, why? Let them have a cool moment.
Fun little horror story of my own inspired by the last one. So I will start by saying Problem Cleric was a problem for more than just his behavior here, but this was my first time playing ever so all the other stuff kind of went over my head and this was when i realized he was kind of terrible. So the campaign was inspired by musical theatre, basically every session's conflict was inspired by a different musical or two, with the overall villain being the Phantom of the Opera. It's therefore not surprising that we only had two guys in the party and one was very gay (most of the girls were queer too, but that’s less relevant.) I don't remember how it started, but sometime in like the second session, we started jokingly shipping the two guys characters together. Teifling Rogue's player was straight, but you don’t last long in musical theatre as a straight man if you're homophobic, so he went with it. So Tiefling Rogue and Problem Cleric start having this cute little flirtation in the background, but neither character has actually made a move. They're not in a relationship. Problem Cleric also has a tendency to be like "oh yeah btw guys not gonna make it this week, play without me" the day of session, which is annoying, but the rest of us are still making it work without him so we let it go. One of these sessions is the revolution session where the casts of Hamilton and Les Mis are the NPCs, and Tiefling Rogue spends the whole session mooning over Enjolras before Samuel Seabury falls in love with him on sight and they hookup. I jokingly say to Problem Cleric that "dude, you can't miss next week, or Seabury's gonna steal your man for good!" And he just explodes. How could Tiefling Rogue betray him like that, yadda yadda yadda. These characters have not kissed, have not discussed feelings, have not done anything more than awkwardly flirt in what was admittedly a pretty cute way. But Cleric is acting like his boyfriend just cheated on him. We end up kicking Cleric out of the group a few sessions later because he's just becoming impossible to work with, and Seabury joins the party as a Bard so we got some heals still.
The letting go one make strikes me as similar to someone having some add or adhd problems and they haven't found the coping mechanisms needed to rein it in yet. Still great call to not including him if he hasn't figured that bit out yet. That unfocused saiyan one had some really fun ideas that should have been mentioned at character creation undercut by what seems to me like inexperience(ascendant race forms sound fun) . First game i ran to completion was similarly referential but involved a multiverse level threat so i could squeeze them into my own narrative cause i needed some rehooking oomph post 9 month hiatus. That said I asked my players which villains they wanted to see summoned as avatars of sin that culminated in the god of all evil gaining full power, and what heroes they wanted to summon to hokd iff the wvil army alongside the existing nocs characters. If you're gonna go that wild, do it with the peeps at the table so everyone has fun with it. I look back at that game as a mechanical mess but there was a shaky but functional narrative through line with a nice payoff at the end. And without my goofy kinda bad game we wouldn't be nearing the end of the long 4.5 year long epic I've run so far. Point is if that gms out there learn from the mistake dude dont give up ya had cool ideas just let other people share in them too my dude and learn the execution. It takes trial and error to get there but when you nail it oh damn is it a good feeling.
I mean, whether we like it or not, that first piece of advice is quite literally how any society functions. It's not like most people have taken the time to ponder on a philosophical level why certain actions are wrong; society drills that in through the use of peer pressure. Without written law, most people still wouldn't commit crimes because society itself has its own countermeasures to keep us working together and surviving. Now, trying to control that as an outside authority can backfire, which is what happens in Full Metal Jacket between Private Pyle and Sergeant Hartman.
Unpopular opinion, your game won't be Dimension20 or Critical Role. Having a character who is a DMPC half the time isn't going to destroy your campaign. Giving a friend a try and then disinviting him because he kills the vibe at the table is not the end of the world.
The _Dragonlance Chronicles_ are some of my favourite books ever. I read them as they came out, collected the AD&D modules, artbooks, etc... Who the _fk_ thinks Kender are explosive and occasionally non-corporeal? What? Immune to fear, unconscious kleptomania, but... incindiary?
for the story of the guy who cant keep appointments, gotta center the party around the dependable players, but also allow for a random character. maybe he wont come into play every session, and can just be a kinda "mad wanderer" type whos friendly with the other players. maybe your fighting in a cave, and out of the blue comes Maddy, picking for gold through a wall! or maybe your doing diplomacy stuff and he has to leave early, he can just be like "wait, theres no point in me being here!" or even just let him break the fourth wall and mention hes got an appointment, while being dodgy about specifics that way he can have his fun whenever he can make it, get some chatty quips time to time, but otherwise the difficulty is centered on the players thatll actually be around for the full story.
Maybe it's down to how I run things, but I've never gotten my head around the whole "Players always ruin things!" claim. I do not plan for things to go in any specific direction, I simply setup locations, monsters and NPCs. What then happens is entirely down to how my group act/react to a given situation. As an example, the Shrine of Savras from Dragon of Icespire. My group got through that entire quest without any combat. One of the characters is playing an orc, he used that fact to peacefully approach the shrine and talk with the orcs there. It was agreed the party would help the orcs retake Icespire hold in exchange for the party being able to explore the shrine without any altercation. Seemed an entirely reasonable thing to happen in the specific situation, so I rolled with it. Still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to orchestrate a fight between 12 orcs, 2 ogres and 4 level 6 players, but I can deal with that when that session arrives.
“This is exactly like that one movie that Drew Gooden made a video about it a year ago - exact same thing! …That probably doesn’t sound very sane.” Wait…then am I also insane if that made perfect sense to me?
*Two Hour Standing Ovation* You said a Japanese phrase correctly, Crispy!!!! Saiyan can pronounced as you said it like the Western fanbase says it in reading the story. The Japanese pronunciation of Saiyan is "Cyan" . So you said it correctly both ways.
Wait, you only have 50k subscribers? How? I'm honestly astonished to realize it's not ten times that, you're very easily in the same league as the other big D&D Story Readers like Puffin et al.
To be clear I am not offended by people using the many horrible things religion has done in stories...but am I asking too much to not include the forced castration of children? Isn't genocide enough?
The dude who was worried about excluding a flaky friend. You should have realized by now that your group of friends isn't a priority to that guy but an after thought. If he wanted to he would be on time and show up to stuff. Probably best to just stop inviting that guy to stuff and let him spend more time with the people he does want to hang out with.
The friend group with X should give him a probationary role. He can show up to every session and play as extras. If he actually shows consistency in being there and paying attention then he may be allowed to make a character to join the group at their level. If he doesn't, the DM plays as the extras like normal and there's no harm done from him being late or not showing up.
I get it's common in the OSR community, but I really despise the character creation used in the hackmaster story. For me, I play TTRPGs as a story first, so I want my character to be what I want, not what luck gives me.
I don't know why this obsession of putting to sleep the party, the elf included. Isn't it easier just to sneak attack them and make them unconscious? I mean, it's sill a crappy way of railroading, but at least all races are vulnerable to getting knocked out.
I had a good laugh over the in-game relationships, but that's usually a valid point. I had some unfortunate obsessive behavior from a guy when I was first learning how to RP. Now though, I'm actually married RL to a guy I met online in a different game, LOL. We do still RP online, sometimes as an in-game couple. But yeah... just online RP does not a RL romance make! Cheers!
This reminds me that in all the online games I've played in the last couple of _decades_ I've never done an in-game marriage. Ever. I just never had a desire to
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The real question is: Do you actually own a physical copy of The Prince, or did you visit a library to borrow it just for that bit (or did you print out a fake cover and put it on another book)?
That's a lovely ad from DnD Shorts himself. Lovely!
"The DM was super lenient with revives and just brought everyone back with no consequences."
Yep, that sounds like Dragon Ball Z.
The DM is just shimron without the dragon balls 😂😂
Actually, big thumbs up to the DM who developed an entire hilarious yandere subplot instead of pretending that the awful character wasn't there.
Also, I kind of liked that insane party composition with Robin, Arthur, Pinocchio and seven dwarves. It sounds like fun! Too bad the DM mistreated the players. Cool story though.
The yandere story was crazy condensed too for the sake of time. She was basically turned into a proto-warlock, and used her infernal pact to bargain a trap for the party. On the 4th corpse they inspected to find her "notes", it triggered a swirling undead trap that forced the party to work out riddles, a mini-boss battle, and a saw style sacrifice brain teaser. They each sacrificed 7 HP worth of blood to get the "good" resolution, but I had contingencies for if they killed each other or their surrendered opponent. She had minions, decorated a disused church in the tackiest wedding decor, the bard got his first kill, and an unmentioned character that'll come up later, Flake, played a pivotal role in her eventual death.
@@LucyBean42 That's much fun!) And a good conclusion for a crazy character.
My favorite bit was where Crispy was like "this doesn't seem right, let me google it -- oh, oh no those are very real things the Christian Church did."
I knew they had been doing it, but was shocked to see they were still doing it in 1959. I'd always thought that was a medieval to reformation kind of thing. Then again I recently found the US was still forcibly sterilizing Natives in the 1980s and recently heard Canada is still doing that now. Time to escape to a version of the world run by Tiamat where there's less evil somehow than our real world.
Catholic* church. It's kind of an important distinction from a scholarly or theological perspective since Catholicism has added so much to the religious text that it's honestly barely recognizable as Christianity to an outsider. Lot of very weird rituals and praying to people that aren't Jesus in Catholicism.... Not to mention all the...other child abuses that their denomination seems to have problems with.
@@edwardarnett9815
I keep forgetting there's a difference between the two
@@edwardarnett9815 Child abuse is no more prevalent in the Catholic Church than any other institution that involves children, the reason they garnered a reputation for it is because they just shuffled the predators around and avoid a scandal. That and the fact that Protestants have a habitual need to vilify Catholicism, acting like they're any better. The funny thing is I don't think I've ever met a Catholic who has anything remotely approaching the level of vitriol for Protestants the way Protestants do for them. So much for love they neighbor lul.
@@edwardarnett9815 The catholic church is super weird but other variants are weird in their own right. Like american evangelicals might not pray _to_ other stuff than god/jesus but they sure like to pray _for_ (and give money to) the weirdest stuff, wishing super hard for the apocalypse etc.
I made Emily about 2 years ago, and then Baldur's gate 3 came out... the Shadowheart comparisons are 100% coincidence, I swear it!
Lies
You don't have to lie, clearly the creators of Baldur's Gate 3 stole your character.
@@ArcCaravan My game group is running with this line of thought. Emily is a cleric, has straight black hair with long sides, and says rude things in a polite upbeat manner.
Yeah! Archetypes are a thing, and original characters will stumble into them whether you seek to use them or not.
@@LucyBean42 Your group stills playing that campaign? Honestly I would have loved an npc like emily
Xavier (the player who couldn't keep appointments) definitely needs to be treated for ADHD, or at least checked. That behavior of not being able to stay still and quiet, interrupting, talking a lot, having trouble managing time, getting bored and unable to just be bored - these are ADHD symptoms.
This!!! Someone get this poor child an Adderall prescription. It will make their entire life so much less difficult.
Came down here to say this. I was this guy until about 4 months ago. Adderall literally changed my life.
I was feeling really bad for him as I've done all of those things, dude definitely needs a check up
@@sydneymetscher2562 adderall doesnt fix everything
It's the most clear-cut description of ADHD I've seen in a random description of someone's friend online so far. So obvious. Feel bad for him.
Also- as a survivor, I sometimes include past s/a trauma in my characters, but ONLY after checking with the dm and group and clarifying that it's something I won't bring up, it just helps me cope by playing someone like me who isn't shamed for it and who gets to be a hero and protect others. (When I'm struggling with the trauma, I'll remember the adventures my character had and think 'if they can do that, I can get out of bed today'. Doesn't work for everyone but it helps me out!)
All this is with their consent and as a background element that I do not expect to be referenced or used at all. If someone isn't okay with it, I don't write it into my backstory, period. Creepling here is majorly overstepping boundaries- I know of groups that are perfectly fine with dark themes in backstories, but most aren't. Even if she was doing it to cope with real experiences, consent is important in all situations with any theme similar to this. It's one of those things that hits close to home for a lot of people, and you don't spring that as a plot point or a backstory element without careful checking and prior discussion- and an understanding that if someone says 'I'm not okay with that', you stop.
With this group having a No S/A rule right off the bat, that should have been a glaring red flag to stop. Also, people, talk to your GMs. If you want to incorporate a darker theme, say "Would it be okay to have x" or something along those lines. People are nice and most DMs I know will work with you to fit something thematically similar in if your proposal doesn't work.
Sorry for the comment rant. I just see something I use to cope with my trauma thrown at other people with no warning, which, if Creepling is using this to cope like I suspect she may be, is very counterintuitive. Dealing with your real-world issues through TTRPGs is a tried and true method, but everyone has to be on board.
Agree with you 100%
The one story with Xavier who's a flake, "We love you X but you have the attention span of a cat (and the memory of a goldfish). We'll be on a pretty strict schedule and each time we play it will be 4 hours long. The game will last for months. You'll hate having to sit still that long, won't like how slow the game is, won't remember to show up for each game, and we'll end up mad at you. So, no you can't do this with us." IE: tell him why he won't like it, why it wouldn't work out for the game or him, and how much of a commitment it is. If the guy has any self-awareness he'll get it. I'd avoid talking about the game in front of him though, that would just make him feel excluded/unwanted after not being allowed to join.
So Xavier has no planning skills, is very forgetful, gets easily bored, and starts goofing off when no one else is. This is the most stereotypical case of ADHD I've ever seen. He will always have those traits, but he would probably benefit from medication and some practical help in planning his days to manage his symptoms a bit better.
I'm saying that as someone with ADHD.
I've gotten better without medication(it's forbidden in my country) when things concern dnd :D i like our games so much that i developed many ways to stay focused during them :D now i'm often the most focused and punctual, with small exeptions.
Wish i would've that focused on work 😂
So this guy could be better if he wants and his friends would help him)
Thank God someone called it out i hate when clear ADHD cases are just forgetful and disruptive
Yeah, way to punish the entire group for one playler's behavior. That'll win you happy players! I still remember when a GM did that to me when a new player turned to me and asked me what they could do because they were confused by the rules, and I offered a list of ideas--not direction to do any one thing. The GM ruled the new player couldn't take any of the actions because *gasp* they dared to ask a fellow player for advice!
It won't make the players happy, but it will give the jerk a scapegoat some will fall for.
I can relate to that first story. In my first ever campaign, the DM threw in so much content from outside franchises that it broke my immersion like ice at the bottom of a 100 foot drop. I can recall a few examples:
Shameless inclusion of Dio from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as a random encounter
Actual StarWars lightsabers
Big Daddy enemies from Bioshock, accompanied with their Little Sisters of course
If a GM brings in characters, monsters etc from other franchises, they have to make sense in-universe. Like a Predator coming into your dnd game wouldn’t make super duper sense, but if you wanted to bring in a Predator for, say, a Star Trek Adventures game or a Traveler game, that wouldn’t run as much if an immersion-breaking risk.
How on earth do you denigrate dio to a random encounter jhe is an arc villain at the lowest
That makes me think a Bioshock-themed campaign might actually be interesting...but I have no idea how the frik you'd just put Big Daddies and Little Sisters in a game that doesn't take place in the same universe.
@@Pipkiablo I actually have a tradition of having a longer bioshock scenario in my Call Of Cthulhu campaigns, and explaining the origin of ADAM as being mythos-related. COC and Bioshock work really well together I’ve found, especially with Pulp Cthulhu.
you thought you were going to have a unique and compelling storyline, but it was....! no, it's too easy...
The horror story with Creepling sounds PRECISELY like someone I used to be friends with, who was indeed a creepy stalker when she liked someone and who later (after her and I’s bridge was blown into atoms so small that Deadpool himself couldn’t regenerate from) went on to reveal herself as not only a general mega-creep, but a p3d0, too. AND I know she plays D&D now, or least uses HeroForge, so you know, /ew./
sis, i'm invested and need more information! spill the tea
I got one player that who’s presence to our once every 2 week game is somewhat unpredictable, so I gave him a cursed item that « is a focus of otherwordly monster summon » means he disappears and reappears from the adventure according to his presence , sometimes funnily, sometimes on a cliffhanger. I encourage hime to describe his summon and subsequent death ending the summon.
That sounds amazing, and reminds me of a campaign I heard from I think a CritCrab video where a character had a manservant that accompanied them they all kept forgetting about, so it became a running gag where once in a while they'd remember him and be like, "Wait, where's X?" and he'd just fall from a tree in front of them or something.
The very first bit about telling your players that no check can be made is something I've run into before and I feel like my solution had the same energy.
Play it up 100% in character. Tell NPCs about the indestructible door, build the ballad of the indestructible door into every routine your bard does, months into the campaign just keep mentioning that door like you're talking about the BBEG. Unofficially rename the campaign, the Odyssey of the Unbreakable Door.
Then the players mine out the wall around the door, and then affix the door to a battering ram.
@@Douglas-zl6yh my new tower shield.
Until Xavier shows he CAN AND WILL respect other peoples time he CANNOT be allowed into a game that REQUIRES a time commitment like D&D! If he doesn't get this fact, Xavier is just proving he isn't capable of not ruining it.
Yeah like good friend or not, if you constantly act like a flake, you should expect people to not have you around for more commited activities. I just hope Xavier takes it with grace when OP and their friends let him know
Fun fact Xavier most likely has ADHD and cannot change these in the future
@razordraft6103 Xavier can do better though. Especially if he works together with his friends to help manage the symptoms. For example having others make sure to give a friendly reminder when he is getting too much. Or and coopreating about scheduling. Like extra reminders and so on.
My attention span is why I like doing D&D online, if I feel myself getting bored or restless during a segment that doesn’t involve my character I’ll get up for two minutes and listen to music (while muted) or simply walk around while listening to what’s going on. I’ve found it a useful tool for someone who can lose attention easily.
I love the sketch comedy in these videos! It's very fun to see you taking these situations to their illogical conclusion.
When a story includes a high-power DMPC and a kender you know it's going to be a very bad into for a new player.
Or its the original Dragonlance novels or adventure modules, and therefore a very good time!
Hopefully.
That first DM sounds like a nightmare.
Man love the new work schedule, I tend to show up at home the moment you post!
The guy that has commitment issues and is constantly ducking out but wanted to be included, I would let him play personally but make him have some kind of fey patron or curse in his backstory where he gets yeeted into the feywild randomly whenever he isn't around for a session or otherwise needs to leave the table. If he can't focus and isn't meshing with the team then he can just disappear permanently. If he can but still has to see to other commitments sometimes then at least he has an out and can have some entertaining little RP elements recounting whatever shenanigans he found himself in while he was gone as they catch each other up. Maybe the party could even meet their patron when he isn't around and learn about the archfey toying with him like a yoyo between realms.
Sounds to me like a situation where he might be better off playing the team pet than a team member. Let him role-play the familiar or animal companion or whatever on the rare occasion that he's actually there.
The fact someone took a fictional relationship to heart is so disturbing- like, how do you not disconnect reality and fiction??
My now girlfriend actually once had a similar situation when we first met and did a lot od roleplays. We both had our own characters we were super fond of and would roleplay them getting intk a relationship. However- somehow someone else she roleplays with found out about it (likey by looking at my drawings from that time and just assuming) and threw a sort od hissy fit where they said their character was based on their sleep paralysis demon and it was a comfort character and I guess they felt their character was entitled to her character? It was weird as hell, luckily she had cut off contact with them
Xavier is probably undiagnosed ADHD and isn't getting support or learning coping mechanisms, or had ADHD and is refusing to find better coping strategies
oh my god, first to a crispys tavern post? amazing. I love your content btw!
🎉
This only makes sense to 14 players, but i like to think the dungeon Creepling wanted to run was Tam Tara (Hard)
That's friggin' funny right there, I don't care who you are.
::snorts:: Probably. 8'D
I had a DM like that once. He would constantly bring up one situation as a proof of how I play my characters, but the situation was one he created after he compelled my character and proceeded to narrate my character doing it. Then insisted my character derails plots (he derailed his own plot). It got to the point where all his other friends told him. He had to stop bringing it up, because he had done it to himself and had taken the control entirely out my hands!
Crispys skits are comedy gold holy.
10:32 at that point, I’d just say they’re using *Wish* to cast an immunity-bypassing sleep spell.
I love the baldurs gate 3 fanart for the thumbails!
Ahhh yes the kender in 3rd. I have a fond memory of successfully arguing a kenders magic resistance only applies to known spells and ravenloft spells wouldn't be known in a main campaign. 1 cast of never ending nightmares while the kender was sleeping and I was a happy boy.
The narrator kept taking me out of the story by mispronouncing kender.
That in game marriage things reminds me of that “so you never thought you would meet a girl online” anime, with a girl having difficulties distinguishing fantasy from reality
I can ALMOST relate to the last chick wanting to play a game to be together with their partner in another game. A good number of years ago, I had a similar tendency with my partner. They start talking about a game and I'd notice "Oh hey, a marriage system, you know I could join and we could be together there too. It'll be cute." And it kinda was, but I eventually got justifiably told off. My partner told me, "If you wanna start playing too, I won't stop you, but you don't need to marry me in every game. It's just weirdly sad to go through the process and then have to look at how long its been since you played a game I really like." And I just went "Fair." Stopped doing it. They have their stuff, I have my stuff, I don't need to jam my way into their stuff if I'm not going there to actually enjoy the stuff. It's a folly found in young love, can't really fault it. It's a lesson to learn. An experience to have. A conversation to have.
The problem there, though, is that we were in an ACTUAL relationship?? MY Final Fantasy 14 wife has a husband in real life, we barely even speak. We just wanted the sick ass Wedding Chocobo and the glam items. Conveniently, we did try to set up a DND game among our limited friend group years ago, but it never got past character creation due to scheduling issues.
Barely related, but the in-game marriage mechanics makes me wanna roleplay a sham marriage like a gold digger, green card, beard, shotgun, or mutually uninvested arranged marriage.
@@ArcCaravan My old FC leader roleplayed as a Lalafell that married under the pretext of being a sugar daddy. Which he was shockingly capable of, man had more gil than I knew was possible. You're definitely not alone.
There's a funny comic I've seen of the eternal bonding NPC lady being so happy to give a couple their wedding glamour, only to be handed divorce papers immediately after. 😂
To the party that wanted to give their inconsistent friend a chance to play D&D with them, i would have considered it but only under certain conditions that would be made clear to the friend up front:
1) D&D campaigns are different from their usual gatherings as far as commitment and engagement
2) due to their previous flackyness, the friend will be under stricter conditions for continuing play (probation period of sorts until they prove themselves by being there on time or early, staying engaged the whole time, and not missing any games or leaving early without a strictly valid reason and advance notice as early as possible.
3) if any of those rules are broken in the first 3-6 months (1 story arc), the friend is out, no questions asked (friendly but formal ageement so that no feelings have to be hurt)
4) if they succeed at the agreement for the preplanned time period, then they can begin to relax the restrictions gradually to the norm for the group
>goldshire footage
desire to know more and the horor at the possibility of knowing intensifies.
Regarding Xavier, insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results. He is who he is. You don’t have to include every friend in every activity. It’s not like you’re shutting him out completely.
Kinder: pronounced Kin - der. Theyre from the Dragon Lance Books. They didnt believe in personal possessions and were know for sticky fingers for anything they found interesting
The phrasing you use to tell these stories is fascinating. Thank you for all your hard work, it's very cool.
Big kudos on the last story for the party finding an in universe explaination to get rid of the disgraced pc and even more so to the theif that was aboe to RP the experience so well. That is homestly masterful DMing and RPing
Xavier probably has unknown and untreated maximum ADHD. I recognise myself in him. I used to be just like him before I found out I had maximum ADHD. The only thing that made my life livable, was the fact I also have Autism.
I thought I heard Blood for Blood in the background! Glad I was right. Didn't know you were also a David James Armsby fan! Great little Easter egg to hear lol. Anyways, I've recently found your videos and they're great to put on in the background, you've got a good voice for these sorts of videos and good takes and better jokes. Excited to see more! ^-^
YES! I was worried no one would get it. I'm a huge fan of his work.
But… but… what about using an Ethereal Mummy “which always strikes by surprise, naturally” or “blue bolts from the heavens”??? 😉
I don't play DnD. Never played it but I became friends with some people who do play and I can't get enough of the stories I hear from the DnD campaigns. I am just a lonely drunk in a tavern, listening to every player character retell their adventures... maybe I would like to play it one day... one day...
The second story is so alien to me- in my running campaign we have skipped entire cities (most of the time unintentional-) and our poor DM has to improvise the entire session. My DM's great.
"Players are always going to ruin your plans."
Yes.... and as a GM, that's what you want. The challenge for the players is to complete the challenges their characters wish to complete. The challenge for the GM is to keep ahead of the players when they go off-rails. THAT'S THE FUN PART!
The "9th level sleep spell" reminds me of the time I had a DM inform me that my warforged had ben rendered unconscious by poison while the rest of the party slept.
I was like "Wait, warforged have advantage against poison and you didn't even give me a savign throw."
suddenly it was a special poison made jsut for warforged.
"Ok, well how'd they give him the poison?"
Well it was a sneak attack and my warforged was surprised.
"..I have the Alert feat and cannot be surprised."
Well, you trusted these people so you wouldn't have seen it coming
"What about your DMPC that you have with us who you already established has a weapon of warning?"
Well they weren't attacking him so it didn't go off.
Drove me crazy.
I’m always concerned about being a problem player because my sisters the dm and she’s extremely doting. She would not even consider kicking me out if i was causing problems.
With the whole “Arthur” story I’d railroad the DM. Think about it, he’s making up stuff than so would I
Using peer pressure to control your players.
Communication: what the fuck is it?
Kinder? I wonder if they meant Kender.
Probably misspelled it and didn't proof-read.
A good DM should be flexible and able to adapt to the players reactions not stifle the creativity of the players because "My story".
I know sometimes it sucks especially if you spent a good deal of time making it but the objective should always be for the players to enjoy themselves.
I hate it when a DM just has a raging murder boner the entire game or obviously favors specific players. I love pulling out my phone and just making it painfully obvious that im no longer interested when a DM starts being a prick. Ignoring abilities that i choose is an easy way to make me lose all interest because what was the point of me making this character if i can't use it like it says in the guide?????
Right, a good DM can make it fit into the story; if that DM really wanted all the players asleep, just knock out the half-elf. I'm sure the witch had a frying pan or something to hit them over the head with, they player could have fought the witch by themselves trying to wake up their friends and stuff while dodging spells and stuff
Sounds like Xavier need some treatment for ADHD. I feel for him in this situation but agree there’s ways for him to keep himself accountable for this behavior
On 'AITA for letting go?' that player sounds like someone with undiagnosed ADHD who needs to talk to a therapist and get some medication. I don't think the author is an asshole, not everything a friend group does is for every member of a friend group, but if you're younger and playing DnD and an otherwise cool friend is having these issues it's good to suggest therapy and offer to help them get it.
Grats on 50k dude!
My Duergar has had a few "Nah that doesn't work due to my advantage/resistance" it's actually kind of nuts how beefy those dwarfs are
Figured I'd post a correction to the last story: Hack 4th is its own game system, and Tieflings were not a PC race within it. It's an old archaic system and homebrewing a balanced tiefling would be pretty difficult. Also, the whole "wouldn't fit the setting" thing. So, I was wrong, They existed, just not in the system I was using. My bad.
"I'm immune to magical sleep effects."
"The spell works anyway because it's ninth level."
That's not how immunity works. If I have a second level character who is somehow completely immune to fire damage, and the enemy wizard is casting a fireball which intensity rivals Hiroshima, I would still be standing there, completely unharmed, even though everything and everyone around me was totally destroyed.
However, a workaround does present itself in the story. Since the witch provided food, which the party evidently accepted, the DM could state that the food was laced with a subtle toxin that lowers or negates immunities and resistances. The DM in this story is clearly an asshole, but in this instance he just lacked creativity.
The entire campaign seemed to be a badly planned/thought-out version of Dimension 20's "Neverafter". Is there anything wrong with doing your own version of a D20 season? Not at all, but if you're gonna do it, at least do it well and don't railroad your players into stupid encounters that are way too high level.
My friends would refer to each other as "wife" pretty often, but that was jokey best friend stuff. Not creepy I have no boundaries stuff. I can see how I would ignore that too
As a dm, i love having npcs from my other campaigns connect and weave through the newer ones, i have this human warlock who travels through the planes in an attempt to find his way to his home plane(maybe one day he will) but each time he shows up he forgets everything until the device connecting him to patron can be found again, its always a small quest around the beginning of the game the item is a book of poems so nothing the players can use nor one that they can even access the abilities of cause there can only be one warlock of the patron at a time.
Its a fun quest alor of my players like doing especially if they already seen him before cause well hes like Waldo, they find him, the find his book, give rhe book back, he tells them about rhe last party he met in the form of a poem, then gives them a thing that will only really be useful later. Hes just a fetch quest but it love running him.
Just based on the very specific nuances described about Xavier (person X)'s mannerisms when being inattentive or unreliable; it does sound like they may have ADHD (though I don't know them and I am not going to try be a doctor here)
As a sufferer myself, and making the huuuuge assumption I'm right, I agree there must be consequences; without consequences, it's very hard for ADHDer's to actually employ some level of executive functioning. Big ups to that friend group for being able to combine that tough love while maintaining their friendship. It's hard!...
Never mistake an ADHD'ers apparently inattentiveness or poor organisation and/or lateness as disrespect or a lack of care or desire to participate: To most, it seems like a simple matter of willpower, but to them it's just an impossibility. They're missing large amounts of the neurotransmitters Dopamine and Norepinephrine in their brains which means their pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for executive function and attention, just doesn't work so good; and no amount of willpower can change that. Consequences are good, but only if they're not too harsh, a healthy amount of stress is often all it takes to kick start an ADHD'er into focussing. It's not that we can't pay attention, we just can't regulate our attention ourselves - which is where the whole thing about hyperfocus comes in, but that's a whole different can of worms for another day.
I want the ryoko's guide but my money is all tied up right now.
The start of the second story reminds me of one of my earliest games, if not my first.
Plot was solving a disease, yada yada, plot stuff and cults. Our cart gets ambushed by orcs hired to kill us off. We kill them all save for one which we later found out was called 'Special Eddie' who talked exactly like you thought he would. The whole game was a wash for the few sessions I was there from visiting a house in the woods owned by a rat man who looked after four young Tortle. Yes, you're right about this one. Especially the fact they ambushed us without any chance of escape only for them to let us go because "Boys will be boys"., all the way down to an actual Tortle who acted as an old man figure who could once - just once - turn into a young buff guy who could kick any one's ass and somehow had the blicky when we made jokes about turtle soup.
Cut to being ambushed by a cult who wants this boy we're trying to look after, the brother of.... Eddie, wanting him back. We do so but not before finding out whilst we let him sleep things off in the wagon and we set up camp, did he masturbate himself into covering the walls, the door, the ceiling, himself, everything like that one South Park meme about Randy.
I ended up becoming a DM after that because I thought even i could do better.
Regarding the AITA guy, my immediate thought was that the guy has ADHD. I'm all about people accommodating that friend (I have ADHD), but it's okay to draw boundaries around something like that if the person isn't being respectful of other people's fun either. Even if they mean well. When I've had players like that, I gave them a role where they could come and go without damaging the story and let them participate when they were there.
So just something I noted and already disapproved of for the Creepling story before she even started playing (besides the character creation part, that was quite a flag). For me, her verbally chiming in during a session. I’ve joined many an ongoing game and done some sit-in observation sessions ahead of my own introduction. I find it absolutely rude to chime in during a session that you are there to observe while it is ongoing. Sure, write down questions for the dm or players to clarify later, but those should absolutely wait until a break or after the session is over to be addressed. If you are to speak up during a session, do so only if the dm or players address you themselves during their session. This excludes of course talking to them during breaks and after. Feel free, that’s one’s time to feel out if you vibe with the people, not just the characters and story. But yeah, the interrupting already struck me as rude and off putting. I guess in the moment it could be excused if with some disgruntlement but it’s still not a good sign to me. Anyway, yeah, the whole thing was…not good, but I just wanted to mention this part as already setting me ill at ease for that story pretty early (and again, already doing so because of those issues mentioned during character creation).
omg that slow fade into goldshire tavern xD all of us old wow players(pre-lich king) that dared to create an alliance character are traumatized from that tavern.
At the beginning, I’ve done that a few times. I had a player who made it a habit to try to peak behind the dm screen to see my notes or during combat they’d, google the stat blocks of enemies. I told them to stop multiple times, but they just kept doing it, so eventually I stopped telling the group the hit points of the enemies (which I was doing before), or I’d add another goblin or cannon fodder enemy, and said it was because of metagaming. My players are now very serious about not metagaming and will get upset with people who do. I think I did too much because they’re very aggressive about it, but so far it’s worked
First Story: My server literally has an rp that allows characters from nigh on any franchise
And even I'm going, "...Wait what?"
Kender is one of the only races I ban at my table and I refuse to play in a game where they are allowed.
Omg I heard about Inceleric from our Crab King! The name is so much funnier when read. 😆
Okay, so Creepling caused me to double down even more on my N.P.C.s only policy on in game romances for D&D. That was a lot, way too much even.
Also, can anyone visualize "aggressive" hand holding? I'm having trouble doing that.
Its like aggressive kissing where you do it whether or not they asked and way too strong, like you're trying to draw blood via squeezing. And not releasing for a few seconds after youve been asked to.
A-at a guess, i mean.
@@BloodSonicFlux Okay, that sounds like it would be accurate.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Maybe grabbing the hand and swinging back and forth violently could be aggressive hand holding? The DM in Thrilling intent described someone as aggressively lying down and when asked how one does that he said they were on their stomach hands on their cheeks and kicking their legs back and forth. So. Back and forth seems to be the key.
@@marybdrake1472 haha you're welcome
Look up “Chowder hold my hand NOW” I think that’s a good example of aggressive hand holding
For some reason the Half Elf Sleep spell really got to me. The idea of saying "Nuh uh," to your player when they finally get to use a niche ability is so frustrating. Imagine playing a Cleric and the only time the party ever goes against an undead the DM just says "Nah". Like, why? Let them have a cool moment.
Fun little horror story of my own inspired by the last one. So I will start by saying Problem Cleric was a problem for more than just his behavior here, but this was my first time playing ever so all the other stuff kind of went over my head and this was when i realized he was kind of terrible. So the campaign was inspired by musical theatre, basically every session's conflict was inspired by a different musical or two, with the overall villain being the Phantom of the Opera. It's therefore not surprising that we only had two guys in the party and one was very gay (most of the girls were queer too, but that’s less relevant.) I don't remember how it started, but sometime in like the second session, we started jokingly shipping the two guys characters together. Teifling Rogue's player was straight, but you don’t last long in musical theatre as a straight man if you're homophobic, so he went with it. So Tiefling Rogue and Problem Cleric start having this cute little flirtation in the background, but neither character has actually made a move. They're not in a relationship. Problem Cleric also has a tendency to be like "oh yeah btw guys not gonna make it this week, play without me" the day of session, which is annoying, but the rest of us are still making it work without him so we let it go. One of these sessions is the revolution session where the casts of Hamilton and Les Mis are the NPCs, and Tiefling Rogue spends the whole session mooning over Enjolras before Samuel Seabury falls in love with him on sight and they hookup. I jokingly say to Problem Cleric that "dude, you can't miss next week, or Seabury's gonna steal your man for good!" And he just explodes. How could Tiefling Rogue betray him like that, yadda yadda yadda. These characters have not kissed, have not discussed feelings, have not done anything more than awkwardly flirt in what was admittedly a pretty cute way. But Cleric is acting like his boyfriend just cheated on him. We end up kicking Cleric out of the group a few sessions later because he's just becoming impossible to work with, and Seabury joins the party as a Bard so we got some heals still.
The letting go one make strikes me as similar to someone having some add or adhd problems and they haven't found the coping mechanisms needed to rein it in yet. Still great call to not including him if he hasn't figured that bit out yet.
That unfocused saiyan one had some really fun ideas that should have been mentioned at character creation undercut by what seems to me like inexperience(ascendant race forms sound fun) . First game i ran to completion was similarly referential but involved a multiverse level threat so i could squeeze them into my own narrative cause i needed some rehooking oomph post 9 month hiatus. That said I asked my players which villains they wanted to see summoned as avatars of sin that culminated in the god of all evil gaining full power, and what heroes they wanted to summon to hokd iff the wvil army alongside the existing nocs characters. If you're gonna go that wild, do it with the peeps at the table so everyone has fun with it. I look back at that game as a mechanical mess but there was a shaky but functional narrative through line with a nice payoff at the end. And without my goofy kinda bad game we wouldn't be nearing the end of the long 4.5 year long epic I've run so far. Point is if that gms out there learn from the mistake dude dont give up ya had cool ideas just let other people share in them too my dude and learn the execution. It takes trial and error to get there but when you nail it oh damn is it a good feeling.
I mean, whether we like it or not, that first piece of advice is quite literally how any society functions. It's not like most people have taken the time to ponder on a philosophical level why certain actions are wrong; society drills that in through the use of peer pressure. Without written law, most people still wouldn't commit crimes because society itself has its own countermeasures to keep us working together and surviving. Now, trying to control that as an outside authority can backfire, which is what happens in Full Metal Jacket between Private Pyle and Sergeant Hartman.
Unpopular opinion, your game won't be Dimension20 or Critical Role. Having a character who is a DMPC half the time isn't going to destroy your campaign. Giving a friend a try and then disinviting him because he kills the vibe at the table is not the end of the world.
The _Dragonlance Chronicles_ are some of my favourite books ever. I read them as they came out, collected the AD&D modules, artbooks, etc...
Who the _fk_ thinks Kender are explosive and occasionally non-corporeal? What? Immune to fear, unconscious kleptomania, but... incindiary?
Noooooooo not the goldshire! the horrors I've seen there! THE HORRORS!
for the story of the guy who cant keep appointments, gotta center the party around the dependable players, but also allow for a random character. maybe he wont come into play every session, and can just be a kinda "mad wanderer" type whos friendly with the other players. maybe your fighting in a cave, and out of the blue comes Maddy, picking for gold through a wall! or maybe your doing diplomacy stuff and he has to leave early, he can just be like "wait, theres no point in me being here!" or even just let him break the fourth wall and mention hes got an appointment, while being dodgy about specifics
that way he can have his fun whenever he can make it, get some chatty quips time to time, but otherwise the difficulty is centered on the players thatll actually be around for the full story.
Maybe it's down to how I run things, but I've never gotten my head around the whole "Players always ruin things!" claim.
I do not plan for things to go in any specific direction, I simply setup locations, monsters and NPCs. What then happens is entirely down to how my group act/react to a given situation.
As an example, the Shrine of Savras from Dragon of Icespire. My group got through that entire quest without any combat. One of the characters is playing an orc, he used that fact to peacefully approach the shrine and talk with the orcs there. It was agreed the party would help the orcs retake Icespire hold in exchange for the party being able to explore the shrine without any altercation. Seemed an entirely reasonable thing to happen in the specific situation, so I rolled with it. Still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to orchestrate a fight between 12 orcs, 2 ogres and 4 level 6 players, but I can deal with that when that session arrives.
the real horror story is that it takes them 40 minutes to run a dungeon in ff14 💀
Is that the Rivendell LEGO set I saw in the background of the first sketch? Nice.
Good eye
Story 4's solution: DnD with Subway Surfers.
my players just created an empire after selling the water from a natural spring of holy water. Let your players do things.
“This is exactly like that one movie that Drew Gooden made a video about it a year ago - exact same thing! …That probably doesn’t sound very sane.”
Wait…then am I also insane if that made perfect sense to me?
Omg I literally just heard about MOASS today. xD
Folding Ideas? I have high expectations and he exceeds them EVERY time.
2 1/2 hours long, but always worth the whole trip. All my apes, Homeless
*Two Hour Standing Ovation* You said a Japanese phrase correctly, Crispy!!!!
Saiyan can pronounced as you said it like the Western fanbase says it in reading the story. The Japanese pronunciation of Saiyan is "Cyan" . So you said it correctly both ways.
Japanese for it is Saya jin tho. That said minus the suffix that's about right.
Its Kender. As in KEN DER. Theyre from krynn, have an incredibke wanderlust, are fearless and accidently pick up everything they see.
Wait, you only have 50k subscribers? How? I'm honestly astonished to realize it's not ten times that, you're very easily in the same league as the other big D&D Story Readers like Puffin et al.
To be clear I am not offended by people using the many horrible things religion has done in stories...but am I asking too much to not include the forced castration of children? Isn't genocide enough?
Being fine with genocide but red lining the mutilation of children seems reasonable to me. I don't think historical precedence is really a factor.
Sounds like a case of gratuitousl graphic crimes just to be edgy compared to letting a villain do palatable yet horrible crimes for viewers.
Wow, I wouldn't have allowed a single race that he mentioned someone played
The dude who was worried about excluding a flaky friend. You should have realized by now that your group of friends isn't a priority to that guy but an after thought. If he wanted to he would be on time and show up to stuff. Probably best to just stop inviting that guy to stuff and let him spend more time with the people he does want to hang out with.
NGL, a dungeon thats actually the insides of a kaiju-sized mech sounds kinda cool
The friend group with X should give him a probationary role. He can show up to every session and play as extras. If he actually shows consistency in being there and paying attention then he may be allowed to make a character to join the group at their level. If he doesn't, the DM plays as the extras like normal and there's no harm done from him being late or not showing up.
It makes me really uncomfortable that a mix of gnome and halfling is called 'kinder' because that means children in German
I get it's common in the OSR community, but I really despise the character creation used in the hackmaster story.
For me, I play TTRPGs as a story first, so I want my character to be what I want, not what luck gives me.
I don't know why this obsession of putting to sleep the party, the elf included. Isn't it easier just to sneak attack them and make them unconscious?
I mean, it's sill a crappy way of railroading, but at least all races are vulnerable to getting knocked out.
Giving a problem player the Shadowheart treatment 👌 *chef's kiss*
I had a good laugh over the in-game relationships, but that's usually a valid point. I had some unfortunate obsessive behavior from a guy when I was first learning how to RP. Now though, I'm actually married RL to a guy I met online in a different game, LOL. We do still RP online, sometimes as an in-game couple. But yeah... just online RP does not a RL romance make! Cheers!
This reminds me that in all the online games I've played in the last couple of _decades_ I've never done an in-game marriage. Ever. I just never had a desire to
Pretty sure planescape torment had tiefling characters in the 90’s. They existed in 2003
My fave part was the Giant spider singing in itsey bitsy spider
*that's sick*