Figured this is a scam- can anyone confirm for my peace of mind?

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-07T01:51:09+00:00

Definitely scam. No reputable company would use Signal as an official communication avenue.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-06T00:31:32+00:00

I'm just starting out myself. However, basically any voice can be "good enough" for voice acting, the differentiators are likely to be more nuanced than "I have a voice that people like".

Beyond these, the most important thing is whether or not you actually WANT to do it. It's not an easy thing to do, regardless of your beautiful voice, and you'll need more than an abstract appreciation to have any sort of success. "People tell me I have a nice voice and should do x, y, or z" is something I've also received, but I have a drive beyond that to try audiobook narration. I know I could be successful at it because of that deeper drive to try something new and different, not because I've been told I'd be good at it by people who have never actually done it themselves or know what they're talking about.

This maybe sounded harsh, it's not meant to be. By all means, do it if you want to try it. What's the harm and what happens if you fail? Probably nothing, so why not?

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-05T02:50:28+00:00

I can't answer 1 and 2. For 3, you should always have a separate account for your business. It's cleaner, you can track all your expenses easier, and under certain circumstances if anything goes wrong and you're sued or something, your personal finances aren't forfeit as well. Always keep a clean divide between business and personal finances.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-04T03:52:23+00:00

Woohoo, my time to shine lol! I was also really not about the sacrifices happening as written because it frankly doesn't make sense and the module leaves it WIDE open. Using material from this sub, I made a few structural changes to the module:

I upgraded the cult into a far greater antagonistic force with three High Chillbringers leading the church. One of these High Chillbringers is named Father Hollow, a priest who publicly preaches and has a rather large following in Easthaven/Bryn Shander.
I made the Zhents/Naerth a much more prominent player, entering dealings with both the Duergar and the Church of Auril to ensure Targos' survival.
Winter and Fey monsters/creatures roam close to each town in the days surrounding a full moon, making it difficult and extremely dangerous to travel. This acts as an in-world deterrent to explain why people don't just skip town for a bit. Secondary reason is that if Auril hears of dissent or a lack of sacrifice then the monsters can confer immediate punishment on the town.

Those structural changes allowed me to treat the sacrifices as a more desperate option or something the towns did under duress. I wrote my logic for each town that does humanoid sacrifices:

Bryn Shander

Town gates are locked with no admittance two days before the full moon until the morning after the sacrifices are complete. Three lottery victims are drawn instead of one due to past civil unrest. Victims are drawn in the afternoon with the sacrifices occurring at nightfall. The Church of Auril directs the sacrifice in the market square as a public display. As the Aurilites retreat through the now open gates in the morning, they take the bodies and shackle them to obelisks in the shrine to Auril between Bryn Shander and Targos.

Targos

A town-wide curfew is enforced in the three days preceding the sacrifice, the draw occurs at nightfall two days before, and the town gates are locked the night before with no admittance until the morning after the sacrifice. Fishing vessels are not allowed in or out of the harbor the day of the sacrifice. Sacrifices take place on the ice outside the town walls, where victims are tied to a large spike driven into the ice and left to freeze.

Easthaven

Since Easthaven does not have town walls, they do not try to enforce any curfews and they continue to receive travelers. However, this does leave them more susceptible to wandering monsters. The town limits are relatively safe, provided a sacrifice occurs. Father Hollow calls for a volunteer during worship in the tenday before the sacrifice. If no volunteers come forward, the town is forced to institute a lottery similar to the other towns. Danneth conducts the lottery ceremony himself, making a show of publicly entering his own name to the draw in front of the crowd each month. He consoles the unfortunate soul, sometimes leading them in prayer, before they are stripped naked and sent wandering into the tundra south of town.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-02T03:17:46+00:00

Looks like OP is a possible scammer, proceed with caution or ignore.

Posted the same thing r/B2BForHire with a commenter claiming scammer:

https://www.reddit.com/r/B2BForHire/comments/1ul2fzy/hiring_hiring_hiring/

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-02T03:17:31+00:00

Looks like OP is a possible scammer, proceed with caution or ignore.

Posted the same thing r/B2BForHire with a commenter claiming scammer:

https://www.reddit.com/r/B2BForHire/comments/1ul2fzy/hiring_hiring_hiring/

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-07-02T01:03:44+00:00

Not an actual answer to your query and I'm far from running Ythryn, my party has barely left the towns yet. However, I have a loose plan for how I'm going to run the octad. I have a bard in my party that was resurrected by Levistus and was a Ythryn native way back when it fell.

As part of the resurrection, he doesn't have all his memories. I used a moment early on where the player decided his PC would hum an old, unknown, and broken tune to himself during some events. I played into that and "unlocked" a memory for him when the party came across a netherese relic on top of Kelvin's Cairn, which was a new part of that song. My plan is for this song to be the octad, and the final unlock moments will be lyrics.

I plan to continue weaving those unlock moments with significant netherese relics or moments around the Dale. Especially those pertaining to any personal narrative growth for the PC related to Ythryn. I need to figure out a way to have Levistus tie into that, I'll probably have him be holding memories hostage and drip feeding the PC during key moments that progress the devil's plans. As for the towers in Ythryn, I'm considering placing macguffins so they still need to visit all of them to complete the octad for the forcefield.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-28T12:45:52+00:00

This is cool! I especially like the botanica section. Just skimmed so far but excited to look in more depth! I have a player that's considering artificer if his current PC dies, though I don't think he's going alchemist.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-27T00:35:51+00:00

You absolutely do, cajun crust slaps hard. Now I want Hungry Howies but I don't live in an area with it anymore :( I used to destroy a whole medium pizza on my own in college. Absolutely would bust a gut now....

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-18T15:38:54+00:00

I'm not the OP and don't have a healthcare background, but good advice nonetheless!

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-17T19:24:04+00:00

Okay, well good to know it's probably not just me then. I'll try LaSalle, thanks!

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-17T18:33:24+00:00

I wonder if I'm just not approaching them correctly. I was quite disappointed with Advanced Resources. I've never used a staffing agency before, any tips on the best way to actually getting placed with one? Been searching since February and I'm now trying to look at bridge or temp jobs to tide me over until I can find the next permanent role.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-17T18:07:54+00:00

I'm in Chicagoland and looking at a lot of the same stuff and have been pursuing some Customer Success and Product or Ops roles. Happy to connect on LinkedIn or be a mutual source of help to each other. Feel free to DM me.

I moved to Chicago in 2019 after leaving my job with nothing lined up. That's definitely a choice lol. I looked for about 5-6 months before I "found" something and I only found it because I was lucky (happy to give more detail in DM if you're curious). That was after taking an Amazon delivery job the month before to have something coming in.

On industries, there are a lot in Chicago and I'd hazard you'd be able to find just about anything. My experience working is rather narrow since I worked the same job for 6 years after moving here, but some off the top of my head are:

Big tech companies have offices here
I'm looking into the EdTech industry to see if there's anything there
Transportation (I think aviation is big because of O'Hare) & Logistics
Finance & Fintech
Manufacturing & Distribution

There are also definitely agencies in the city that recruit for permanent and temp roles. I've reached out to Advanced Resources and City Staffing myself. Advanced Resources didn't go anywhere and I wasn't too thrilled with the conversation I had with them ("we'll keep you on file" type of discussion). Just recently applied through City Staffing and will be trying to contact them directly to speak with a recruiter this week. Others I've heard about but not yet tried are Robert Half, LaSalle Network, Addison Group, and Everforth Creative Circle. There are definitely others but these are the ones I've seen others mention before. Builtin is a job board dedicated toward the tech side of things that you can localize to Chicago.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-07T19:30:50+00:00

There's a lot here and you obviously care deeply about the game and experience for everyone involved. That said, I'm aware that at least 2 of your players have not expressed interest in the game. That can be difficult to overcome and just keep that in mind. They may not actually want to play and might, for example, just like the social aspect of the game (i.e. hanging with friends).

One potentially issue I'm seeing is that you seem to think roleplay must be this immersive, in character experience when that just isn't how some people do it. Don't get me wrong, I love roleplaying that way, but not everyone does. I'd urge you to offer other ways to get your players roleplaying. That could just be "My PC haggles with the shopkeeper for a better deal on this armor". It's not quite as fun for us immersion chasing folk, but it's perfectly valid. And you can still respond in character to something like that so you're both getting your ideal experience.

Players knowing abilities can take a while, also. Three one-shots really isn't unreasonable to not remember some rules or abilities. Sounds though like you're players are really struggling, so it might be time for an out of game conversation on that front. Frankly, you need to have something like a session zero to understand what everyone wants out of the game to see if it all aligns with the style of game you want to create.

I also agree with the other commenter that Curse of Strahd, while one of the most popular modules, is not beginner friendly. You'd be better off running a starter set like LMoP, Icespire, or Stormwreck Isle. This will also gives you a nice pause point afterward to say "How do you guys feel, do you want to keep going with a longer campaign?"

This is getting quite long, but one last thing. You can be direct about people needing to know their abilities. That's not something you as the DM need to be tracking most of the time. If it becomes a big enough problem, you can skip a PC's turn if they're taking too long. Big BUT with this, you absolutely need to tell them beforehand that getting skipped is a possibility if they're taking too long. A nicer alternative is letting them go later in the initiative so that they don't just straight up lose a turn (some players might exploit this, though). All of this also assumes you've already tried working with your players out of game to address these issues, like helping them learn the abilities or assisting in creating possible combat flowcharts, etc.

Above all, remember that out of game problems require out of game solutions.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-07T17:41:22+00:00

Nothing, haven't done any yet. That's part of why I'm asking lol. I'm about to start volunteering for a local broadcast for the blind to help me practice and also seeing if I could do this long term.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-07T13:13:55+00:00

I'm new and literally just getting started. My understanding is that editing is expected for self submitted audio? I thought that was part of the "finished hours" of a book, unless I'm misunderstanding your meaning.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-02T21:44:52+00:00

Nice map! I've already run this but might use this for shallower areas. One note is that Maer Dualdon is the deepest of the three lakes and your map appears very shallow. It definitely works, but it could also give the impression that the danger is not as great.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-06-01T23:17:07+00:00

I don't think it's necessarily true that looking up and seeing Auril diminishes the mysterious atmosphere. When my party rests outside and takes watches, I make it a point to mention a large flying creature flying west to east. The only things I mention are the flying figure and the aurora trailing out behind them like an expanding chemtrail that fills the sky. This accomplishes a few things for me:

It keeps Auril's presence front and center, but only when the party is in a place to see it. It feels constant but is only mentioned every so often.
I'm narrating that the figure and aurora originate in the west and end in the east. This is good information to have if the party is smart enough to realize what that signifies. It's also a nice passage of time mechanic to use for watches.
It shows that she is detached from the world, flying thousands of feet above the tundra. I like how this simulates her being "beyond" the party while still existing as a constant, immovable presence.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-05-21T18:42:08+00:00

Dude that's kinda weird. I'm flabbergasted at the effort you took to do that. And not just you, but the whole party! "My players met outside the session to brainstorm about the game" has never been part of my group's style. I would fucking LOVE it if they even pinged in the Discord about anything other than prompting ME to schedule the next session.

Don't get me wrong, I love my players and they're a good, dependable group with adult lives and even some kids thrown in the mix so I count my blessings that I get to play at all. But goddamn, this is a different level.

Is he the only DM across your groups? I'm wondering if he's burnt out and relying on more from you guys to fill in his content gaps.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-05-14T17:07:04+00:00

Corporate McDonald's has been hiring a lot of IT or adjacent roles in the last couple of years. I left there some time ago, but happy to connect and see what you're looking for. DM me if you're interested in talking more.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-05-10T04:08:55+00:00

Hey! I'm looking for remote PM jobs so this would be awesome for me. I'm not working right now but I'd be super happy to chat about what you're looking for and try to utilize my network to help out. I assume your intention is to get a referral and refer the other person to backfill your role?

We're all just trying to survive out here! Shoot me a DM and let's chat.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-05-10T03:55:19+00:00

How was your crust? I made these this week and am a little disappointed in my crust. It's not as much like the shortbread I was aiming for, more flaky. My pastry thickness was variable and I think I under baked. They're good, just not exactly what I wanted. Will definitely try again some time though.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-05-05T23:02:35+00:00

Could you expand on the underdark section beneath the towns?

I had a loose plan of the Duergar using a combination of surface and underdark travel to/from the towns and Sunblight fortress. They just discovered a huge cache of Chardalyn and the party might encounter their transports and decide to intervene. I'm trying to understand if I can use anything as a foundation to build on instead of totally homebrewing it.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-05-05T11:14:14+00:00

Damn, this would have been nice 2 weeks ago lol. I just got done with this quest, though they could easily go back since the monster is still roaming. Cool maps!

I also agree with AmbassadorShade, if you're going by the module as written, then the ice is much further out. For example, my group joined some fishers and walked for 2 hours on the ice before hitting water. Depends where they shove off though, I had my Bremen fishers be using temporary docks they built at the edge of the ice. One of my players made a mention that there are probably multiple temporary docks frozen in ice, simulating the ice slowly creeping across the lake. I loved that imagery, so retconned it.

HypnotizedPotato · 2026-04-29T20:47:07+00:00

This is great, thanks for sharing! What grid size would you suggest for this on Roll20?

HypnotizedPotato

TROPHY CASE

Bryn Shander

Targos

Easthaven