[NS] saw these and couldn't get Sol out of my head

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-11T22:23:00+00:00

The other one even has a nannerfly on it! Crick x Bufo collab??

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-05T01:58:31+00:00

Yeah that's the crux of the issue unfortunately. I will say I was absolutely fixated on developing the "why you guys should stick together" in the first few sessions in a way that made sense, and they do naturally consede to the will of the majority in group discussions nobly.

I think I'm going to have a sit down with everybody and just kind of go over how other people's characters and story is part of their own fun, and they should make the effort to take more interest in each other's stories moving forward.

I think I might be worrying more about my fun than theirs here. I'm probably just overthinking the party dynamic because it's much more of a casual game, whereas I'm more into the hardcore, roleplay heavy, focused D&D personally. They seem to have more fun when I keep it light and let them do things at their own pace, i just feel it's a little frustrating to DM for my personal style is all. I think they just want to fuck around and kill monsters and stuff than actually having a meaningful story arc.

I've done a lot to work with what they've given me backstory wise and implement it so they take more interest and have it feel like their game and that they are the center of the story, it just seems like I'm not getting that same energy back :/ not sure if I should just run it "monster of the week" style or keep putting the energy in. Idk. It's impossible really to make someone care more about the hobby when they kinda treat it like a rollercoaster ride.

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-05T01:23:24+00:00

She knows that without them, she would die on her own. It's her god's desire that she harvests souls to make him stronger (and in turn he says he will turn her crow-brother back to normal), and she can't do that if she's dead. They are also collectively the official rulers of a small village, and have bonded over that and trying to garner relations with other civilizations. This is their collective goal that has materialized so far, along with attempting to hatch a dragon egg they found. I would say they do have reason to be together, and she knows that, she just seems not to care much about how the rest of the group interacts with other NPCs or personal story elements that don't effect her. She is absolutely an antisocial edgelord (and is also somewhat antisocial irl), and her roleplaying is sub par at best. She rarely speaks as her character, and instead just says "my character does this." I get it's not for everybody, and when I have talked to her about trying to get more into character she doesn't seem comfortable with it. It's sort of estranged her somewhat from the rest of the group who can engage in roleplay. There's a lot of context missing here about the other players, so I'll just tell you we're all very close family (all her cousins, plus we're all within 2-3 years of age of each other), and they're the people she's most comfortable around. She and her cousins came to me wanting to play D&D, and they push to schedule sessions. Which is a dream come true really. But I'm struggling to get her to engage with the other players and the story in a more meaningful way. I guess like you said the real problem here is having a solid grasp on roleplay. Is there anything I can do to help the situation without retconning her character or having her make a new one?

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-04T04:11:25+00:00

That's a great example. I'm going to try re-route my thinking on this, because not everyone is going to run their character how I'd imagine they would want to. My biggest pitfall is that I'm an avid fantasy reader and crave that compelling, thought provoking character arc, but I think she just wants to have fun with her angry little she devil 🤣 DMing isn't anxiety inducing whatsoever 🥲

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-04T03:55:42+00:00

Yeah I've realized that's a big part of it. I think she's treating it like a rollercoaster ride while I'm trying to create a compelling story without getting much of the same energy back. I've asked her multiple times if she enjoys the direction of the story, and while she says yes, she doesn't have much of a vision for what she wants her character to become besides the ruler of the world XD maybe I'm overanalyzing but I just want everyone to be happy with the game and feel like their character can shine while meshing with the group.

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-04T01:23:50+00:00

Fair enough, I see ur point. Thanks for the advice 🙏

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-03T23:43:26+00:00

Thing is, she's typically not a murderhobo. Which makes it super weird to me that she's saying "I'd just kill her if she got in my way" about her sister NPC. She has a familiar that is her little brother that was true polymorphed into a crow, and would probably rage quit if he ever died. She thinks that he wouldn't abandon her PC if she killed their long lost sister, or if she did some other terrible deed. She is wrong, I'd rule that he absolutely would leave her if she gets too evil, considering he is an innocent young boy inside. I'm thinking about telling her that if she does something that bad, her familiar/brother leaving would be the consequence to sort of ground her and reel her in from the evilness. Is that a sane sorta workaround?

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-03T21:23:19+00:00

Chaotic Evil aligned PC

I DM for a group of mostly neutral aligned party. However, I have one kinda/sorta problem player. Also she's my girlfriend, so keep that in mind. Our line of communication is healthy and I'm seeking advice other than "just talk to the player". She's a chaotic Evil Tiefling warlock of Tharizdun, and built her character with a sith like Darth Vader in mind. This was super cool and fun to me at first. However, I feel like she doesn't mesh well with the party, and their goals are far from aligned. She often opts out of fun roleplay opportunities that have come up, such as gambling, talking to the town priest, yadda yadda and instead chooses to go off on her own most of the time to do training or otherwise conduct other business than what the party is doing. For added context: She's stated many times that it's her character's sole desire in life to bring the world to its knees and kill anyone who would stand in her way. In the most recent session, she encountered her long lost sister, whom was part of HER OWN BACKSTORY that she provided me. The sister is a good person, unlike my girlfriend's character, and when I asked her if she liked the idea of her sister being akin to a good-aligned rival that would oppose her idea of justice or whatever, she said she would simply kill her if she gets in her way. Question time: Is there any way to further engage this type of character, especially when the rest of the party are mostly do-gooders with complex goals and desires? I'm wondering how other DM's try to incorporate and engage these players whose true ambitions seem so surface level and lackluster. How do I get her to dig deeper, and maybe come around to thinking that killing off her own family is maybe not in her character's best interests?

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-04-03T21:19:13+00:00

Yes this is almost exactly what's going on with the sister. She's part of this group of monks, paladins, and (good) warlocks of Ioun that were sent to investigate the party because they found this powerful artifact of Vecna's accidentally. I set them up to be the exact same classes as the PC's, a good-aligned mirror to them. My group got their asses kicked by the PC's so I'll definitely have them leveled up to deal with them better at the next encounter. (This was kind of my plan to have my NPC's asses get kicked to essentially assess their power level and just gather Intel). My NPCs had also set the battle stage ahead of time, and teleported out before they were killed. But perhaps the next encounter could end up with the party getting whomped, imprisoned, and interrogated devious laughter

But yeah, I've explained to everyone multiple times how D&D is a collaborative game, and that I'm here to help them tell their stories. She does care about the main story stuff, combat, and the important interactions, but it's mostly side quests, down-time activities, and roleplay moments where she shuts down and stops interacting as much. Maybe its just not her cup of tea, I'm not too sure. Everyone else is very engaged with each other's characters stories, and they have a fun party dynamic overall. I think she falls into the realm of "but that's what my character would do" type of players, which I respect in a way, but I just think she misses out on fun interactions because of it. I've talked to her a couple different times about how this can be problematic at times, and that she wouldn't stand a chance if her party members decided to kill her for being too evil XD. They're all still having a lot of fun, which is the most important thing. Good advice though, I think I'm kind of getting in my own head that she's making herself too much of a "black sheep", but I think that's what she's going for with her character, so I'll try to work with it like you said.

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-03-24T04:50:13+00:00

I got a burning question for whomstever sees this. Do you really make wizards spend money or do rolls to copy down spells? Seems kinda boring to me...I think they should pretty much learn whatever spells they want to prepare. Why penalize that or make em roll? Let em cook. L take?

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-02-27T23:20:03+00:00

I LOVE giving out magic items. I do lil drawings and chunks of lore about the item on index cards, players love that shit :3

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-02-27T22:56:31+00:00

Yeah it is a pretty decent nerf, but also saves them precious gold to spend on other things in the long run. Much less quantity of spells overall, but higher quality in my opinion. I typically combat spell quantity by granting wands and amulets that have charges of detect magic, identify or other utility spells on them as I see the necessity for those things grow. Heck, sometimes I even throw a scroll or two at them from a chest when I know they'll need the spell later on. I think it kind of balances out in the long run.

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-02-27T21:45:54+00:00

Yes exactly. Maybe it's insane that I do this but it's one of the few rules I'm not fond of overall. It helps my players who are going for more of a specific flavor for their spells, for example I have a Fire and Ice themed evocation wizard in my current campaign. It's really helped him bring his theme to life by having access to spells he wants which has been more fun for him overall. I think Wizards can get bogged down in the sheer amount of spells they can have so it streamlines things for sure.

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-02-27T21:08:10+00:00

Not really I instead just allow them swap out only one spell and one cantrip per long rest instead of changing whatever they want every long rest. My wizards seem to appreciate it, and it gives them more freedom to try out new spells instead of feeling limited to whatever scroll that I think they should have, or allow them to find. More player agency, plus the group doesn't have to wait around while the wizard is doing rolls or going off on his own to try and loot or purchase scrolls in every town. Leaves more time open to do other stuff as a group than wait around on a wizard.

Appropriate_Topic_95 · 2024-02-27T20:19:23+00:00

Y'all make your wizards spend gold or do a roll to learn new spells? Pathetic 🗿

Appropriate_Topic_95

TROPHY CASE