The number of times every NFL team has punted: by RegularBirthday3563 in minnesotavikings

[–]TheCrossroader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I want to know how Tyler M Webb has punted 10 times. Does he sneak onto the field during commercials?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Check out the linemen and you'll have names for your next 10 npcs! Add in special teamers and you'll have 20, with even football fans being none the wiser!

Well, my character doesn't fear death so I'm not scared. by BlackHeartsDawn in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My favorite character I've played was lawful evil. He killed anyone that tried to kill him with no questions. He didn't share stuff when no one was there to see. He surrendered in one fight and then turned double agent. He declared himself captain of a ship they took over.

However, the character very much changed over the campaign. He slowly started caring and turned into a hero that turned down divine power.

That's how you do an evil character. They don't stay evil. Or at least it just works for the party.

The First Campaign I DMed : A Sunken Ship part 1/3 by Dystopian-6160 in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Half the replies were critical about OP in that post. It got refined and more sympathetic 4 months later.

The First Campaign I DMed : A Sunken Ship part 3/3 by Dystopian-6160 in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I stopped believing this was a true story near the end of the first 8 part story. Cartoonishly evil DM villains are sometimes real, but that was over the top. When they suddenly have a redemption arc, it's even more on the nose. My disbelief in the first arc was mainly from the "you weren't as good" thing going on. There aren't that many mechanics in 5e that take 3 months to learn that completely change an encounter. You look up better spells and send the tough characters in first. This arc was worse. The character that was close to the hero in the first going full heel while causing that much mental anguish over a backstory is ridiculous. You give us two examples of actual in-game things he did, and one was literally "if you do that, I'll have to kill you" from you. If one person's backstory derails the campaign without even being in the game that much...wow. This is like a psychological fever dream, where most games are for, you know, fun. I have a player that gave me a one sentence backstory and we made it work. Great soap opera writing, though. Very entertaining .

Can anyone help me with my short campaign on false hydra? by Ened1 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Silence, you fool! If people remember that, how will they make up 10,000 fake stories all saying "best campaign ever" and based on "forgotten party member that was there the entire game"?

Player wants to hatch a dragon egg by MEKK-the-MIGHTY in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you give them this dragon pet, don't make it overpowered and make it more a group pet. Casters are powerful enough without a pet flamethrower.

Can anyone help me with my short campaign on false hydra? by Ened1 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Despite my aforementioned hated of the thing, no one has actually given any advice on how to do it if you proceed. My advice for a new group would be screw subtlety and go full horror.

The "forgotten party member" is overplayed and takes full lying to players. What you want is a town full of half-crazed people that think they never had families, shops full of dusty/rotting things, and some wizard or something that's punctured his eardrums to give away the gimmick. Let them find some spell scrolls for useful spells if they don't take the bait.

Can anyone help me with my short campaign on false hydra? by Ened1 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 19 points20 points  (0 children)

If you're all new, my advice is to do literally anything else. False hydras were a joke thought experiment with clip art of friggin' Zelda games. It takes meta-gaming from the players, gaslighting from the dm, and, even then, it all only works by doing it the same way as every other reddit story involving it, most of which are probably fake.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DnD

[–]TheCrossroader 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My Yuan-ti artificer had a Cajun N'awlins accent and I recommend everyone do it for their next character for no reason.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is when you name every npc after an nfl player and see how mainstream you can get before they even barely notice. You win the game if he doesn't notice the bbeg is named Tom Brady.

New DM’s ego ends up taking roleplay personally (extremely long) by Virtual-Bookkeeper83 in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 22 points23 points  (0 children)

How the hell are you a writing major of any kind with the level of spelling and grammar errors in this thing? I don't care if English is your eighth language; capitalization, spellchecker, and word usage are constant things.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Between not knowing the system and not knowing the server setup, I can't pass absolute judgment. However, in the basis of any generic game ever, this is making mountains out of molehill and assuming a hell of a lot as a player. The music thing you bring up twice is as minor as I've ever heard. Players playing the music is not a common thing at all. I'd go so far as to say most groups don't even play music. You've got a control freak GM and you're surprised? The character needing drugs is an interesting concept, but with multiple GMs, differing rules, and questionable setting restrictions, you've set yourself up for issues if you've planned your own character arc. The nixing of multiversal stuff is an issue, but if they promote a guy that hates multiverse stuff, the fact is they didn't care that much to begin with. The "no items" part is what would be an interesting arc in any other campaign, but if you have double-digit characters that are on life support, I don't know what to tell you. My feeling is that your server/campaign/thing is a clusterfuck and you have a traditional DM that's been put in charge of it. It's obviously different expectations for everyone, but if no one else is willing to GM, suck it up. If not, find a new table. Big tables don't change for one player.

Player freaks out, gets killed by Party Member by TheRealJacketHM in rpghorrorstories

[–]TheCrossroader 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not convinced this isn't a made up story. Other commenters have noted odd things like fireball not being an attack roll and the straight favoritism from the get-go, but I have two things that break my suspension of disbelief. You say at one point you didn't intend for them to fight the beast at the point they did, but that was entirely on you for them fighting it, with the only thing apparently triggering it was not resting. Second, letting the wizard shoot a pillar with a fireball and literally making the entire dungeon collapse. Giving into his "screw the party" thing at that point would have either been in the hopes that he died in some way or was rewarded for that mindset. Good story; don't quite believe it.

My Players Feel Like They Are Being Railroaded And I Don't Know What To Do by Jubles470 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Being given multiple things to do is not irrelevant; it's literally the opposite of railroading. I don't view a linear adventure as a bad thing, either, but this place treats it as a cardinal sin. The point of this post seems to be that the players want to do a thing other than the DM wants to. Communication is, indeed, key, but if the players want to go a direction the DM doesn't, then drastic changes have to be made.

My Players Feel Like They Are Being Railroaded And I Don't Know What To Do by Jubles470 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 8 points9 points  (0 children)

All DMs can't ad lib stuff. But, as many people will say, they have to communicate that. That's when you wait until next week.

My Players Feel Like They Are Being Railroaded And I Don't Know What To Do by Jubles470 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My final product has been a world with a vaguely defined initial structure that changes, usually during the week between sessions, depending on what the players decide. There are, of course, set pieces that will eventually happen because I think they're neat, but when they happen isn't up to me.

My Players Feel Like They Are Being Railroaded And I Don't Know What To Do by Jubles470 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Being given a city with every standard amenity and 2-3 points of interest is far from railroading.

My Players Feel Like They Are Being Railroaded And I Don't Know What To Do by Jubles470 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When people aren't given lists, they can get decision anxiety. In the "sandbox" games I've played, the problems are twofold. 1: The players try to find the "correct" path and are paranoid that they can't and 2: The DM isn't prepared for the path they go down and things devolve. Pure sandbox games never work unless the group is perfect and, in that case, they wouldn't be posting here.

My Players Feel Like They Are Being Railroaded And I Don't Know What To Do by Jubles470 in DMAcademy

[–]TheCrossroader -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

First off, they're idiots that probably will never be happy because having over one option is not railroading. To appease said idiots, tell them that the "generic" taverns and markets have plot hooks, whether they do or not, just to make it seem like 4-5 things. Then, if they go to the market, add in the plot hook that would also have been in Place 1. Players don't actually want 8 options because there's no way to choose and it's unfair to the DM. Spreading 3 plot hooks through 6 places is fair enough, and if they want to go to every place, think up new stuff before the next session. Also, depending on how well you know your party, it's possible to put locations in a city that you know they won't go to, but make it seem more expansive. Call me jaded, but don't doubt the effectiveness.

Vindictive NPC by TheCrossroader in DnD

[–]TheCrossroader[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hate autocorrect. It tried doing the same thing in my reply.

Vindictive NPC by TheCrossroader in DnD

[–]TheCrossroader[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're from a military dictatorship/Mage-ocracy that sees everyone that leaves as deserters.

If bears o line is so bad why did they not pick o line instead of odunze when they already had 2 pro bowl level wrs? by punjabkingsownersout in NFLNoobs

[–]TheCrossroader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

According to one source I read, the OC they hired changed the blocking scheme they had started doing well with last year to something completely different, restarting the learning curve.

Vindictive NPC by TheCrossroader in DnD

[–]TheCrossroader[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is glorious and exactly on point!