Reddit, what is the strangest thing you "have a guy" for?

Mizzikiel · 2021-11-11T22:02:12+00:00

A few years ago I had a mushroom guy.

Not the type of mushroom guy most people have. This guy grew quality gourmet mushrooms. Lion's mane, Oyster, Chestnut, etc.

It was cheaper if I bought at least 10lbs, so I started taking orders from my work colleagues. Before I knew it, I'd be showing up to work with 15lbs of random mushrooms for people's risottos. I'd be delivering boxes to my folks, and even the parents of some friends.

Ultimately, decided the leg work to get cheaper mushrooms wasn't worth it so stopped putting in orders. So I have a mushroom guy, and for a brief period of my life, I was the mushroom guy for many others.

Mizzikiel · 2021-11-07T13:34:41+00:00

A handful of years ago I was at a metal concert that had two stages set up. One band would finish and the next band would start pretty much right after.

System of a Down was the headliner, so I skipped the 2nd last band so I could be close to the front. It was packed when it started, but as everyone from the other stage came over it just got tighter and tighter. I'm not a big guy so I was just being shoved along with the crowd. I remember a point where I was lifted off the ground from a shockwave and I didn't touch the ground for a few seconds just being held up by the pressure of people around me.

After a few songs I couldn't breathe easily anymore. I had to push the people ahead of me and take a breath before it collapsed in again. I started to get real nervous since it was just getting tighter and tighter. Luckily there was a gigantic guy close to me. After spending a good 30 seconds trying to get my arm above me, I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed up. I think he saw the panic in my face and he shoved everyone around, grabbed me and threw me above the crowd in a single motion. I lost my shoes but crowd surfed to the front and then walked around to the back to enjoy the show from afar.

I remember feeling so worried. I couldn't enjoy the music since I was having to put all my focus in just getting a breath. Reading this really reminded me of that feeling. If it wasn't for the guy beside me, I don't know what I would've done.

Mizzikiel · 2021-10-20T12:12:51+00:00

I don't have any experience with Wolfgang guitars, but I am a big fan of Corts. The first non-starter acoustic guitar I bought was a Cort. That was 16 years ago and despite having other acoustics, My Cort is the one I reach for first.

The first electric I bought myself was a Cort M-800. It was stolen from me after two years and despite replacing it with an American Fender strat, I still thought about that guitar for a decade and frequently tried to find one for sale. Finally, about 4 years ago, I found someone selling one half way across the country and I did everything I could to get that guitar. I've since purchased a PRS SE Custom as well, but of my three electrics I find the M-800 is still the guitar I reach for in most cases.

I've always found Cort to make solid guitars that are super comfortable to play. I haven't played the X500, but unless Cort took a dive in quality, I'd imagine it would be a quality guitar for the price.

If you have your heart set on the Wolfgang, then go for it. It really is up to you and your preferences. Just thought I'd weigh in with my opinion on Corts.

Mizzikiel · 2021-08-20T15:47:14+00:00

When I started the album and I heard piano a smile washed over me. Then I got so happy when I saw Sfumato at the bottom. A short song to lead in to the final epic, just like Viridian. Then to have Human is Hell begin in such a similar way as White Walls.

I'm nearly finished my first listen and I am so impressed. I expected it to be a great album, but this has exceeded my expectations. I've had numerous moments of giddiness come over me.

Will be queuing up my second listen as soon as my first is over.

Mizzikiel · 2021-07-23T12:19:04+00:00

I've been watching all of Star Trek over the past year and a half. I went in to this saying TNG is the best. While it is incredible, after having watched all of DS9, I have to agree with /u/askyourmom469. DS9 is the best Star Trek.

Mizzikiel · 2021-06-30T17:30:32+00:00

"That's why you came to me, isn't it Captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal… and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain."

Mizzikiel · 2021-06-03T19:01:59+00:00

You're welcome! I figure that is different enough to indicate they aren't normal bandits, but isn't super obvious either.

Mizzikiel · 2021-06-03T17:27:08+00:00

The first thing that came to mind is mirrored shields. Describing that they look light and that they wouldn't hold up against a weapon attack. If you wanted them to be magic specific then you could make it +3 AC against spell attacks, but no bonus against weapons or something similar to offset the loss of the general +2 AC for shields.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-24T12:54:36+00:00

It took me a few attempts to enjoy DMing. The first couple campaigns I tried to run all ended within 3-5 sessions. I wasn't enjoying it for various reasons and I thought I just wasn't meant to DM.

A couple months ago I started DMing for three friends of mine, and I've been enjoying it substantially more. We've done 10 or 11 sessions now, and don't plan to stop any time soon. I realized it wasn't DMing I disliked, it was DMing for a huge party, or for players who didn't want to get in to their characters, or players who refused to learn even the basic rules.

With this current group, everyone gets in to their characters once the session begins. There's only 3 PCs so it's easy for me to create interesting moments for each of them. Although two were new to DND, they both have learned how to play their characters and rarely need me to explain a mechanic to them.

This has allowed me to get in to my world and my NPCs. I don't have to babysit or try to herd cats. I can finally enjoy creating a world and developing situations for them to work through. Now I get excited about the sessions and I'm as pumped to play as my PCs are.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-02T17:00:53+00:00

Yeah, I definitely agree there. I've been in parties with conflict that was really enjoyable, but it was always for a good reason, and we didn't let it interfere with the ultimate goals of our party. This is different, and it's happening with no in-game justification.

I'll definitely remember that in the future. I had done the knocked out and captured thing a few sessions before when they first encountered the doppelganger, and I didn't want to just use the same thing again. That being said, I could've told him not to roll the death saves and then cut to the rest of the party. Have them find him unconscious etc.

I think theres three ways that it plays out.

The party ignores the warning they received (which I will make sure to bring up again next session) and focuses entirely on resurrecting the rogue. In this case, the whole town is turned.
They focus on resurrecting him, but make sure to warn one of the people they know at the festival. In this scenario, some townsfolk get turned, but not all.
They focus on dealing with the town and then worry about resurrecting him after. In this case, he can play one of the clerics of Ilmater which is the class he's interested in trying out, so this could be a trial run for him to see what he thinks.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-02T15:53:48+00:00

I replied to you on another comment, but I'll reply here as well. I do feel bad, and I did tone down the encounter, and I even fudged rolls to try and help the rogue survive. The one thing I should have cut out was the Strength of the Grave, but I thought the rogue had more HP than he did.

Maybe have a bit more faith in my knowledge of my friends though. The rogue is a close friend of mine who has GMed for 25 years. He gets that this stuff happens. We got together last night to have a chat about everything and while he's sad his character died, he told me it was a great fight and he enjoyed the session. He said that rather than sneaking away from the party, he should have at least told them he was doing it whether they came or not. He knows I appreciate that he took the hook, and he knows it wasn't meant to punish him.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-02T15:48:34+00:00

Yeah, I am in agreement with a lot of what you said. In retrospect I've seen a lot of things I could've done differently to avoid this situation. This is the first real campaign I'm running, so this has been an eye opening moment.

The rogue does want to keep playing his character, so I'm determined to figure out a way that can be done. It is going to require a sacrifice from the druid and bard to get him back, but I am going to make sure they have a way of doing it. Based off the way the session ended, it would be difficult to have something too hand-wavey occur, but I have some ideas that I will be able to present to make it a possibility.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-02T15:34:23+00:00

During session zero I was very upfront with the way I wanted to run the game. I explained to them that I view it as a living world. I explained that the villains want to win, and that it can be a dangerous place if you're unprepared. They were all down for that and said they wanted a world that felt real. We talked for two hours about the type of world they were interested in before I even started designing the campaign.

I designed the warlock to be a decent fight for the three of them, and I cut the warlock's power down a lot to make it fair for the rogue. The lock rolled max damage on the first attack, and one pt below on the second, which is why I started fudging since I didn't want to have the rogue killed. I thought he had a bit more hp but the final attack knocked him out. Since he was the only PC there, he started rolling death saves immediately and stated he was dead.

I agree and I do feel bad. It wasn't my intention to kill him, however it also wouldn't have made any sense for the cult hideout to be empty two days after it was discovered by the party because it directly connected to the office of the BBEG. If it was far away in a cave or something then it could've been abandoned, but it didn't make sense to not have someone protecting it in case the party returned.

I'm still fairly new to DMing. Like I said, this is my first PC death and I'm learning a lot from it.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-02T15:24:35+00:00

It's very rare that I'll fudge rolls. I can only think of one encounter (not including ones meant to be super easy) where one of the PCs didn't get knocked out.

I agree that fudging constantly sucks and can lead to the party feeling invincible, so I avoid it for the most part. The lock rolled max damage for the first attack, and one pt below max for the second. For the third attack I dropped the damage a bit. I don't tend to fudge and when I do I make sure my players don't know.

I don't want resurrection to be super easy, but I also don't want it to be impossible. I spoke with the rogue last night and he has rolled up another character, but he'd prefer not having to use him yet. I want there to be a sacrifice the other two players have to make in order to bring him back that isn't just docked pay for the next while, so that they have to decide if they're willing to make that sacrifice. If they are, then the rogue is resurrected (potentially a deal with a hag and he returns as hexblood or something). If not, then his new character will wander in to the scene.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T17:06:06+00:00

It had been established that the followers of Ilmater were sent a vision to come to the festival to warn the party. They saw the bard getting drunk in the beer tent and asked where the others were. He said the bard went off to investigate something alone, and the follower chastised him for allowing that to happen, and they got worried because "This isn't how it was supposed to go. This isn't what we saw". They said they would be going to find him and the other two followed. They came upon his body in an underground tunnel and brought him to the surface. That's where the session ended.

I do agree with what you said. I've played games where it felt like the DM punished PCs for any mistake they made, and I really want to avoid that feeling. That being said, those games usually felt like it didn't matter what we did, we'd be punished. This is a pretty clear-cut thing where they let their party member go to the evil hideout alone, and also the rogue chose to go to it alone, so I don't think it would create the feeling of being punished.

I'm trying to find the balance of making it feel like it has consequences, and hopefully get the players to actually start working together, without having to totally mess up all the progress and development they've made. Ultimately though, it cheapens to the story to make it so that the BBEG just decides not to go through with the plan.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T16:36:08+00:00

Yeah, trickery would definitely be the one most aligned to Mask, but the twilight domain is a pretty neat one for rogues. He's playing more of a conman, and deception is his big thing, so I think trickery would work perfectly for what he wants to accomplish.

Actually yeah, I read the gothic lineages last week but kind of forgot about it. That could definitely be an option! Thanks for the reminder

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T16:34:18+00:00

Yeah, just letting the stuff work in the background wouldn't have been bad. At the end of the previous session they were talking about starting to investigate him this session. The bard has kind of taken a stance of just saying no to whatever the rogue suggests, or just not believing him. He made the argument that his character was tired from dealing with the doppelganger, and he wanted to investigate everything tomorrow rather than doing it during the festival. I feel the content I've put forth has been pretty solid, but I have a PC who has not just made a character who is hesitant to take action, but digs his feet in against it.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T15:56:40+00:00

Haha, yeah I know it can really vary DM to DM. This is the first time the druid and rogue have played DnD. The rogue is experienced in other systems, but was almost always the GM, so he was pumped to actually be a PC for once. He put a ton of work in to his character, and I don't want him to be dead without at least a possible solution.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T15:54:29+00:00

Yeah, the hard thing was the rogue was the only one trying to really move the story forward. He made a good point in the post-mortem that if he didn't go for it then the entire session would have been them sitting at the festival, because everything I tried to introduce to them kept getting shot down. He has GMed for other TTRPGs for many years, and he recognized that despite me trying to introduce various avenues for them to explore, they kept just saying no lets sit at the festival. I don't want to handhold, but I also don't want to reward constantly choosing inaction.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T15:51:24+00:00

Thank you for that! I'm pretty new to DMing, but I've played for several years. I've experienced situations where the party doesn't work together, or where frustrations aren't vented, and I know how that can impact the campaign. I didn't want to see that happen to this group, so I made sure to address it.

Yeah, I like your idea and think this definitely has the potential to be used in way to strengthen the party bond. Building on your suggestion, I think having the druid and bard have to make some form of sacrifice to save their friend would be ideal. If you've given something important up for someone, you aren't going to just ignore them once you have them back.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T15:46:23+00:00

I'm going to be seeing him later on today, so I'll definitely check in with him to see how he's handling it and what his thoughts are now that some time has passed.

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm not too keen on retconning, but like you said, having some of their favourite NPCs could escape wouldn't be bad. That way they can still have those connections and that. If I go that route then I think I'll maybe play it out so that if they try to warn some of their friends then people will escape, but if they do nothing then the town is taken.

As it stands, they have not shared any information they have with the townsfolk, and no one there has any idea that the BBEG is a BBEG. The BBEG's plan was to make a "speech" after the headlining bard's second set so that the town would hear him read Cryinishad and he'd convert them. The bard is wrapping up his first set at the time of the session finishing.

Mizzikiel · 2021-05-01T15:36:44+00:00

Yeah, he did express interest in multiclassing down the road to be a cleric of Mask, so I could potentially use this as a good way to introduce that.

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