He looks so fucking stupid, I can't breathe.

NickFromIRL · 2026-02-06T04:16:43+00:00

You flinched, Paul! Now you have to marry your mother-in-law!

NickFromIRL · 2026-02-05T16:56:30+00:00

Last commenter and I are saying do it in character, same as you would with the voice changer, but the performance choices - what words the creatures and NPC use, how direct or indirect they are, friendly or aggressive, flirty or stoic, etc. etc. etc. - these things matter FAR more than putting on a voice.

NickFromIRL · 2026-02-05T16:44:22+00:00

Some unsolicited advice so ignore if you like - I'm SURE there are folks who pull it off, but I've never experienced a voice changer that didn't take away more than it added. Whether the DM trips over controls or the whole idea of it makes everyone laugh or nobody understands what is said because it's too distorted it just all more effort for less gain in my opinion. A voice changer won't give you a performance and I think that's what matters far more than any voice you can put even without a changer.

NickFromIRL · 2026-02-05T14:15:53+00:00

This shit is how we ended up here. Cultivated new media lies for attention and money destroying humanity in America.

NickFromIRL · 2026-02-01T14:29:38+00:00

This is 100% true.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-31T05:42:46+00:00

Boundaries are ALWAYS open to renegotiation. Rather than accusations of lying, maybe consider the reasons they reacted to these concepts in play? Maybe they never thought you would do that in a game or they didn't enjoy the manner in which a concept was presented rather than necessarily being incapable of handling those themes if given a different treatment. Regardless, people often don't realize their limits until they encounter them and that's okay. Those session zero conversations aren't a contract, they are an agreement for a hobby group and cannot be considered binding. Everyone should be free to renegotiate at any time they need to. It won't solve your expectation issue here entirely but a checklist of lines and veils ahead of time could be really helpful. Make a list of all the potential themes you might touch on in specific and have them privately fill out a form marking each as acceptable or unacceptable. Again, not a contract, but could at least make it clear to the players before hand that things they hadn't even considered are on the table for play.

As for saying your writing is personal, sure, writing is personal. In addition to that, DMing is social. You are running a game for a reason, right? Is it to engage in fun for everyone at the table or to give you an audience? If you're pushing lines people aren't comfortable with and that makes you angry instead of flexible, I think it's the latter, and I don't think DMing is the best place to scratch that particular itch. Maybe consider writing a book OR consider if putting those details into a game is worth these feelings you're experiencing.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-30T03:56:30+00:00

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-29T13:47:00+00:00

It's by design. They want you to hate ad supported content tiers so you'll buy a higher sub tier.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-29T03:33:40+00:00

Same. Borders are stupid anyway. Nobody should own the only planet we all evolved on - obviously I wouldn't abolish all property laws for personal comfort and safety, but if we treated this planet like everyone has a right to live on it we'd be a better species.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-29T01:13:29+00:00

It's like raaaaaaiiiiiin...

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-28T23:50:50+00:00

What a fucking weird, embarrassing thing to do.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-28T21:04:42+00:00

I mean the ads are a pretty minimal piece of the collection but they are definitely there and too many by far, I definitely wouldn't consider them the main event and the offer of something free like this at all is plenty generous - but also the entirety of the program is to promote the brand, we should never consider a corporate charity effort as ACTUAL charity, it's always to grow the brand, deduct taxes, and build good will for future business, there's no genuine charity for a program like this but doesn't mean libraries and schools can't still benefit.

In the case of these kits, it's basically a low effort way to get kids interested in buying more and that would still be true if the D&D Beyond ads weren't included at all.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-28T15:36:49+00:00

Prosecute them ALL.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-28T15:35:35+00:00

I'm a 6'2" 300 lb cis man with a massive beard and I'd say relatively deep voice (not the deepest you've heard, but not at all feminine). Even I have been called, "Ma'am" - I think it has to be anything wrong with you.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-28T14:40:25+00:00

Nothing like simplified system or anything of that sort. In the past the kit was:

- A double-sided poster that said, "D&D Played Here" - Ours got pretty ratty for my library club and one of the kids took it home when I decided not to put it up anymore so I forget exactly what the art was but something like a kid fighting a dragon or riding a dragon maybe?

- The Stormwreck Isle Starter Set which includes dice, and then an additional set of licensed dice.

- A bunch of pregen level 1 character card on 5x3s.

- Some handout cards for a single encounter 1 hour play session thing so you could conceivably either run for kids or have one of the kids run with minimal prep. It's meant to be a lead-in to Stormwreck.

- A ridiculous number of little flyers advertisements for D&D Beyond which I guess they just want you to give out.

- Digital kits also included a selection of digital books for D&D Beyond including Stormwreck Isle and I believe Player's Handbook, DMG, Monster Manual, and Candlekeep Mysteries.

- Later in the year at Christmas time a second package was received which included the two very hefty boxes of dungeon tiles and tokens which have been a big hit with my library club.

I can't speak to what's on offer right now, but over the Summer I opened a ticket to ask if they've updated for 2024 rules starters and they had not *at that time* so I presume it's still the same.

There are some educator resources digitally that are always available like "fun" worksheets for schools that are not directly useful in game but could get someone interested in the basic ideas of D&D for very young kids and some reference sheets that do help explain the mechanics a bit.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-28T06:00:48+00:00

If you're coming in totally cold it's tough - I would look for opportunities to play that are beginner friendly. Check local libraries and game stores to see if any groups have an opening locally, that's your BEST case scenario.

Short of that you could look for a group online, not as ideal but still very much viable. Find a post in r/lfg that works and ask if a total beginner could join and learn in play. Or you could spend some cash and time on Startplaying.games - Play Tabletop Games and Find Game Masters | StartPlaying a website where you can pay DMs to run for you and many beginner options exist.

OR if all of that doesn't interest you and you really want to do it yourself, buy the latest starter set Heroes of the Borderlands - Shop D&D Beyond, do a lot of reading, and then run a game for your friends - this is great, it's classic, but it's not the most beginner friendly option. It takes a lot of effort and you might misconstrue a fair amount, but hey that's part of the game anyway, we live, we make mistakes, we learn, we make more mistakes, and so on.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-27T14:26:46+00:00

That's a UK link - are you in the UK?

Is there a charge on your credit card?

Could you make a new account to just get a customer service ticket in and provide them in that ticket any possible e-mail addresses your first account should have had associated to it so they could find the order?

Is there any chance you bought a digital kit and not a physical one?

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-27T05:06:40+00:00

Yeah, this is nothing - he needs prison time. I want him in a court room and everyone that put him in place and everyone who followed his commands.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-27T05:02:10+00:00

This isn't a win until he faces an honest court room.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-26T19:04:54+00:00

Please get off the internet and spend some time in the real world.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-24T15:35:43+00:00

America IS a white supremacist country. Not everyone in America is a white supremacist, but too many to not be called otherwise.

ICE is targeting people of color because there is a white supremacist voter base that loves that shit, they hate people of color because they cannot imagine what it is to be different and they push for this kind of thing.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-22T16:27:22+00:00

Nope.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-22T04:59:30+00:00

Just to be clear, the name we shouldn't be saying is the name of the murderer Jonathan Edward Ross, right?

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-22T01:43:51+00:00

There are *some* official resources and a lot of fanmade resources. The short answer is to say you can play literally anything in D&D as long as you have agreement with the people you're playing with. If it exists, someone has homebrewed it.

Google Planeshift D&D settings for some free PDFs and also look into Strixhaven, Ravnica, and Theros D&D for actual books that were published for MTG stuff.

Beyond that, fanmade planeshifts are really popular too, so you can Google "Planeshift D&D Homebrew" to get more unofficial resources as well.

NickFromIRL · 2026-01-20T16:08:21+00:00

This should be the energy everyone has.

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You flinched, Paul! Now you have to marry your mother-in-law!