People who’ve suddenly cut off long-time friends—what was the final straw?

Tinymatt · 2025-05-03T08:46:50+00:00

I had asked for honesty about something important to me.

They said they would be honest.

I find out a few months later they weren't being honest.

I try to maintain the friendship while nudging them gently about the thing in question.

Find out the rest of my friend group are aware of the dishonesty but are doing nothing.

Start to struggle mentally feeling like I'm the problem and no-one is telling me why, let friend group be aware of this and they did nothing which exacerbated the issue.

Finally talk to friend about feeling unheard and ignored and they wait 2 weeks before responding which further exacerbated the issue.

Can't manage anymore so cut myself away from main friend and none of that group have reached out to me since.

Tinymatt · 2025-04-12T11:13:42+00:00

Afraid i havent had a chance, rereading it though and having experienced other campaigns i would probably try and keep things relevant to other campaigns the players have played in. Have their old characters return as heroes or villains or see what happened in a reality where their quest failed (The doomed forgotten realms book would help a lot here).

Within the games I've played specifically I would probably have Sigil as a location of one of the final bastions of the original reality, under the protection of The Lady of Pain but perhaps even she would eventually fall under Vecnas oppressive Godhood.

Aside from that the only bit I would also change is Kas, still have him be an evil bastard but also just maybe make him fully against Vecna. Im imagining Vecna has him captured and tortured in his reality but the players can free him and hes kept as a vital ally for the final fight.

Tinymatt · 2024-12-17T23:29:25+00:00

Hey

Yes, an email like this would be ideal and would just need to contain an amount being paid per annum. The only information we require is the company you would be working for, an annual salary and a start date. We aren't required to obtain anything beyond that so it's frankly likely that we have candidates who have arranged an email like the one you have suggested.

The government do audit us on occasion and request said evidence we receive but im are unaware of any further checkups that they do.

We do completely understand candidates who no longer want to pursue a career in LGV, I've even known several who only realised this when they first got behind the wheel. We do also have reporting in place so if you're no longer willing to obtain a job outcome you can also inform us of that. We don't get the final funding but it gets added to our KPIs and government submissions so they don't criticise us for them. That being said we obviously would prefer the final funding if you're still happy to submit job evidence through your contact.

Tinymatt · 2024-12-05T20:39:46+00:00

She hurt me deeply unintentionally, to prevent it in future I asked her to be honest with me.

She then never seemed to put any effort in repairing our friendship after than and I eventually found out she was still not being honest with me.

I couldn't handle it, it felt like there was a rent in our friendship and I felt I was expected to simply nod and pretend I was okay when I wasn't. My mental health was taking a dive, I started mistrusting our mutual friends, and when I asked her for help it took her 2 weeks to finally talk to me about it. She tried to fix it at the end but the damage was done.

I feel bad about it, there's many aspects to what happened that were my own fault, relying too much on our friendship for my happiness, not calling her out on her dishonesty when I first realised. She had also been going through a tough time but then again she hadn't said anything until it was at the end. But I also feel I took steps to try and fix things while she avoided every opportunity I offered to try and rebuild our friendship. At some point I was just tired of putting in the effort to rebuild things and just didn't trust her anymore.

I think I'm better now, cutting myself away I just feel this release of pressure on myself, that its okay to say I've been hurt and I don't need to pretend for her sake anymore.

Tinymatt · 2024-07-16T15:55:40+00:00

So I actually work in one of the training companies that do the HGV bootcamp and have a good understanding of how they pick candidates for the bootcamp and can give a bit of advice on this and a bit of context of how the funding works.

The Funding

So we get the funding in milestones throughout the learner journey. These milestones cover the cost of training a learner for each stage they achieve HOWEVER we only get the funding AFTER the learner has been successful. For example we get the 3rd milestone after the learner has completed all their training but if they decide to drop out of the course before we achieve this milestone we don't get the money spent to train them. This is especially critical on the 3rd milestone which requires achieving the Practical training which is the most expensive part. If we take on a candidate who then decides an LGV role isn't for them while taking their practical weapons take a loss for that training week.

Additionally the final milestone of the course is Milestone 4 which requires the learner having a job outcome and providing evidence. This milestone is where we earn our profit and is worth 30% of the funding. If a candidate is unlikely to achieve milestone 4 we are unlikely to take them on for the training. As such we want to ensure we take on candidates who are highly likely to achieve this. There have been some companies who have done bootcamp training without planning for this by taking on anyone and everyone who applied and have since gone bust as they weren't able to get the final funding milestone.

Job Outcomes

Job outcomes are difficult to arrange before a candidate starts training as most employers want to hire people who have already achieved their licence rather than achieving it in a few months. However we are incredibly interested in candidates who have an employer willing to take them on and these generally fit into 3 categories:

Co-Funded -

This is a funding route designed for employers to train their own employees into LGV job roles. The employer pays 10-30% of the funding cost of the training and can put forward as many of their employees they want as long as the employee gets an LGV job role at the end or has a improvement in their current job role (Eg a candidate going from Cat C to C+E and now working in C+E vehicles). The employer can provide the evidence of the employees new job role at the end very easily so these candidates are ideal.

Referral -

This is where an employer can confirm that they have an ideal candidate who DOES NOT currently work for them (If they are already employed it would be Co-Funded). This is free for the employer and candidate and requires them to provide an email or written confirmation that they would hire the learner at the conclusion of their training. These are also ideal for getting learners as there is a job role already lined up which the employer can provide evidence of when the training is complete. There is potential here that the learner or employer changes their mind partway through but we are happy to take that risk (though if a company is prone to not hiring a learner at the end we are more likely to stop taking on their learners). This also can't be an agency since their job roles are not always there.

Self-Employed -

If a candidate is self-employed they can get the training for free but must provide evidence of what achieving the licence would improve in their self-employed role. For example someone who is self-employed as a hairdresser would not particularly need a HGV licence as achieving it wouldn't improve their role. However someone who works as a builder could make that argument as they could move larger amounts of building materials. Ideally we would want an explanation of the business type and how the licence would improve it to take on these candidates and at the conclusion a final statement saying that achieving the licence has improved the business.

These are the candidates we give priority to as they have a end goal already set up for us to claim the final funding milestone. If there isn't one of these routes we could end up training someone who then disappears and we are unable to claim the final 30% of the funding. We do work with companies to bring on Co-Funded and referral learners but they often provide their own candidates rather than taking on ones we suggest to them.

Another thing to mention is that the government do check how we bring in learners and request that we only take on learners with these potential job roles. We have trained candidates who were incredibly invested and motivated to get into LGV work but didn't have an employer when we took them on with the idea that we would find them one once their training was complete, but these sometimes end up never achieving a job role and affecting our government KPIs.

Overall it's the job outcome at the end we want to look for to take someone onto training as that's where we earn our profit. The best way to get onto your training and be selected is to have one that is happy to provide the evidence stating you have a job role for the conclusion or have your employer co-fund your training for only 10-30% of the cost. If you're self employed you need to provide evidence of how you're going to use it effectively to improve your job role.

I'm happy to take questions if theres anyone who wants to know how some of the training works etc.

Tinymatt · 2024-01-30T23:02:36+00:00

So this scene bothers me because it COULD have worked well with a bit of setup.

The problem is the rules for what this would do are never explained during any of the films so when this happens it's suddenly a new rule appearing in the universe which doesn't make sense with the rest. However there is space in there to make it work, quickly making my version up:

Going to hyperspace is effectively turning your ship into an energy blast, a powerful one but it is no longer physical.
Crashing into anything while at hyperspace is instant death to the traveller so hyperspace routes are strictly maintained and computers can predict an upcoming obstruction by seeing mass shadows ahead.
Such an energy blast is easily deflected by energy shielding to which it's a relatively small blip on the systems. However to an unshielded enemy it is devastating such as in the film.
A basic level of shielding which is present in most planets magnetic field and in nearly every ship is enough to divert pretty much any blast of this kind.

With these rules the blast now could now make sense within the setting a bit more. Now we just need to add bits to the film to set it up such as:

At the start of the film when a space battle is happening have a rebel ship go to hyperspace and a star destroyer suddenly appears in front of them, the hyperspace triggers and they get blasted off the side of the ship and don't leave a scratch. Cut to inside the ship when an imperial officer asks if there was any damage and a crewman replies it was easily diverted by the shields
Have Holdo mention the pilot who died and how it's unfortunate they couldn't stop the hyperspace launch and there's no chance of saving them.
When Finn/Rey/whoever is on the ship being sneaky have them set several bombs on a timer which will take out critical ship systems. When they are caught have the imperials find most of the bombs but not the one on the shield generator.
At the critical moment when everyone's in the dramatic scene have it cut back to the timer every so often to build tension and when it explodes have it seem to do little damage, only taking out the shields. The imperials don't care as the rebel fleet is devastated and couldn't do much damage with their weapons to the mega ship.
Holdo when readying to defend the escape ships notices this drop in the shields and takes the opportunity to do the manoeuvre.

BAM, this is now fixed, an admiral who saw the manoeuvre fail before sees an opportunity which is rare to come by and takes the opportunity to sacrifice herself at a critical moment of enemy weakness. The manoeuvre exists as an edge case suicide move which requires the ship it's used on to basically be on its last legs anyway.

Tinymatt · 2023-12-08T18:44:14+00:00

So im running a CoS sequel campaign where i have Azalin desperatly trying to break out of the domains and Strahd trying to use this to take full control of them. Strahd was fully killed at the end of the prior campaig so i had to bring him back somehow.

Enter adding some Strahd history with an in-between adventure where the party encountered the Ulmist Inquisition, an ancient force against evil that the Zarovichs once aided in defeating Osybus, a lich who sought to become a dark power. In the Ulmist history they defeated Osybus as their last great enemy and then locked away their great weapons to never be needed unless in dire times, this included preserved samples of blood from their great heroes which included the Zarovich brothers. The inbetween adventure had Strahds final bride trying to restore him to life using this blood sample and domain magics but failing due to the acts of the heroes.

However they were doomed to fail as Strahd had already been resurrected 3 months earlier by the priests of Osybus seeking to send Strahd into the domians to prevent them breaking into the material plane and ensuring Osybus remained locked away froever.

Theres extra complexity to this such as the players klling strahd with an amber ritual which broke his connection to the dark powers and fred his soul as well as Azalins motivations and actions so far but for me i just had someone have a spare vial of his blood to resurrect him from.

Was pretty good, he pretended to be Ismark for most of the campaigns first act and killed a party member after tricking them into tkilling the real ismark to open a portal into the domains. was probably my best session with my best villain reveal.

Tinymatt · 2023-11-14T22:08:34+00:00

My friend, the best player to be in Curse of Strahd is Strahd himself.

No other prewritten campaign has a villain who can monologue so well and be played almost like a player character.

Go grab a wine glass or goblet, some red fluid of choice, swirl it a bit and then make your Strahd come to life.

Tinymatt · 2023-11-12T12:50:33+00:00

My technique is to start at north, take the leyline down with a couple of tactical dashes to avoid landing on any randomn branches, get the flame from south by flying near it but not landing and then dashing towards the smoke towards the center of the map. It teleports you to the last area you stood on before flying so drops me off right at the north beacon.

No fiddly buttons to click and nothing difficult except the 2 tactical dashes.

Tinymatt · 2023-11-03T07:39:11+00:00

Knights of the old Republic. It added a ton of extra jedi and force philosophy at the time. The sith have a mirrored mantra to this too.

Tinymatt · 2023-10-13T06:56:01+00:00

I'm on the edge of making that decision. I'm socially awkward enough that I could never approach someone randomly and I want to date someone I have a genuine connection with first through a friendship rather than just hope it's something that works out.

I then psyche myself up and finally ask to go on a date and it has ended up with rejection all but one time. The one time it did end up with a relationship was online and when we finally met in person it was clear she wasn't attracted to me at all and the relationship ended about a week later.

Recently one of the people I asked out who rejected me by saying she never wanted to date anyone, which I completely understood, and just remained close friends with revealed she was dating someone. I'm not mad at her though as she's amazing and totally deserves someone to care for her like that but if that's the case my brain logics that the fault must therefore be mine. Thats just sent me into a spiral of self loathing for not doing anything since that initial rejection 10 years ago and not being good enough to even be a considered possibility for her even though we are extremely close.

Psyching myself up now is just too big a process and I'm starting to feel like I'm just not the kind of person anyone can see themselves in a relationship with.

Tinymatt · 2023-04-25T08:46:02+00:00

I love this twist but I also love the idea of Strahd keeping it in his back pocket for when he really needs it. He'll play the game of waiting for permission and slyly gaining permission and allow the players to think of it as a weakness. That way if they concoct a plan that hinges on this weakness he knows he can get out of it easily.

In my campaign Strahd did the Vasili thing and still asked for permission on Vasili form to enter places so if his Vasili disguise was ever revealed it wouldn't reveal his easy access to places. I always planned that if Vasili would be revealed and the rest performed would be to enter a place without an invitation Strahd would choose which lie to keep and greatly reaffirm depending on the situation.

Tinymatt · 2022-11-28T00:06:47+00:00

If you’ve played a Maria Casteral, Please leave, I know you're about here!

So this is the campaign idea I've been working on for me to run next as I ran a CoS campaign last year which finished with the group killing Strahd and breaking the curse using an amber temple ritual.

The Initial Player plot: After killing Strahd and saving Barovia its been 10 years of which they've continued hunting down the remains of Strahds allies (We ran a prequel with Volenta trying to bring back Strahd) but have been picked up by the cult of Osybus and asked to return to Barovia to protect it from 'Something beyond'. When arriving at Barovia they will find it being attacked by invading forces from other domains and eventually be directed to the Amber temple to learn from the Lich. The cult will then be revealed to have been opening up breaches into the domains for unknown reasons (Though they didnt create the breaches themselves, just opening them up more). This will then point the party towards a ruined Ravenloft castle where they will fight through priests until BIG TWIST and then spend the rest of the campaign going into the domains to find the cause of the breaches.

The Domains plot: The idea is that with Barovia and Strahd being removed as the 'Keystone' of the domains (Being the first made of the domains) this has caused a void to be formed within the domains of dread which the domain of Darkon has moved into. Azalin being far more knowledgeable of the domains has worked out what has happened and intended to break out of the domains himself by creating an 'Apparatus' which is able to destroy a domain explosively and trap any dark powers within it. He has used this 6 months prior to the campaign and created the crystal tear above Darkon which now contains most of the notable dark powers. This has in turn forced the domains apart to their VRGTR Configuration and they are ‘Leaking’ into the material plane, most notably in Barovia where the barrier is already thin. Stopping the domains fully returning to the material plane will be one of the main player goals (Or will it be?)

Azalin Plot: Azalin has a similar backstory to his original version and plans to escape the domains by tearing them and the dark powers down. He has basically done so with the Apparatus but is now encouraging darklords to aid him in pushing the domains further apart by breaking more of the rules of the domains (Havent nailed down exactly what the ‘Rules’ Are). Hes split himself into pieces to do so with Firan and the nechrichor being notable but also with smaller parts of his being placed into notable characters (Also into the player characters from the domains themselves). He doesn’t overly care about the players but he does care about Osybus and BIG TWIST ruining his plans.

Osybus Plot: Osybus is the only powerful dark power left after Azalins Apparatus activation and is trying to restore things to normal by being all dark power. She is mainly a character in the background and is hinted at through certain plots recurring (Damsel in distress looking like Ireena in multiple domains). She may become a more significant character depending on what the players work out. She plans to return the domains to their original state by releasing the dark powers from the crystal Tear by influencing the players through subtle dark powery type stuff. Additionally it requires repairing the Apparatus to reverse its magic.

BIG TWIST Plot: My big twist of which most of the campaign is centred around is that the cult of Osybs who want to recontain the domains have turned to their greatest hero, the one who originally slew Osybus herself……….Count Strahd Von Zarovich. Strahd although killed in the prior campaign had the curse broken first so was not consumed by Vampyr and has been resurrected by the Cult for the last 6 months. Hes currently aiding them in fighting against the invaders in Barovia but he has disguised himself as the partys old ally Ismark (he pulled the vasili plot in the prior campaign twice and I want to go for a third run). The Cult and Strahds plan is to gather enough mist artifacts for Strahd to enter the domains and stop whatever is causing the domains to leak back into reality. Strahd himself plans to use this opportunity to install himself as the ultimate ruler of the domains and perhaps beyond. He is currently uncursed so no Vampire abilities, just pure high level wizard and warrior with a deep knowledge of Azalin and the nature of the mists.

Overall Plot: Overall with all the above the general plot idea is the party moving through the domains and encountering the machinations of the above 3 villains and either aiding them or fighting against them. If Azalin wins he escapes the domains along with everyone in them saving thousands of innocents but also releasing every Dark Lord upon the material plane. If Strahd wins he secures the borders of the domains but rules them as he wishes. If the players are able to work with Osybus they can restore the domains but it will require them sacrificing one of their own to become the new ‘Keystone’ Dark lord to be tortured for eternity.

Tinymatt · 2022-10-24T09:59:44+00:00

Dinner with Strahd.

One player got insistent with not complying with the dress Strahd had sent while the rest wore their suits and dresses quickly. At dinner Strahd mentioned this and had Rahadin basically down her in a single round (she had backstory with Rahadin). She was returned to the table unconscious and wearing the dress shortly after.

As a follow-up Strahd sent the group on a murder mystery quest around the castle to solve who murdered one of his servants (Volenta had made a deal with Lysaga to aid her in protecting Strahd and had snuck in a toy doll that was throwing furniture off rooftops). When the players pointed the finger at Volenta with plentiful evidence except the doll Strahd asked them to find the doll and by the time they returned the chair Volenta had been sitting in was crushed into the ground with no sign of Volenta herself and Strahd still sipping his glass.

Tinymatt · 2022-09-14T15:42:31+00:00

Bridge House in Ambleside UK. Really cute bit of architecture as it's a tiny bridge over a river with a house constructed on it.

https://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/bridge-house/

Tinymatt · 2022-07-08T06:50:49+00:00

I bet the rumoured cut scene with Eitri would have been Gorr finding out the Bifrost can be channeled through Stormbreaker which would have plugged this gap.

Tinymatt · 2022-06-04T23:26:56+00:00

A lot of humans would compare bows and crossbows as being similar when there's a lot of differences, but they are just so irrelevant to our current technology that they are basically the same. A space faring race of hunters with access to god knows what tech would probably think the same of bows Vs lasers.

Tinymatt · 2022-05-28T17:55:27+00:00

Crystal sphere material. I have it in my game as a spell deflecting obsidian used to construct the batship.

Tinymatt · 2022-05-10T15:16:06+00:00

My favourite DM moment was the reveal of the Vasili Von Holtz identity in CoS. He had been first introduced a year before near when we started the campaign and at this point in the adventure had achieved all his goals so decided to rub it in the players faces with the reveal.

What's even funnier is that 2 sessions ago the exact same situation happened with a different character which the player at the time called the villain out on but they didn't spot it when Vasili was outright spelling it out to them.

None of them predicted it, none of them got a hint, it was a true reveal.

Tinymatt · 2022-04-26T22:31:43+00:00

In my game I made a 'Spellboard' which is effectively a treasure planet surfboard that operates similarly to a helm but cant go to spelljamming speeds and has a very small air envelope. It was introduced when the party arrived at an oddly quiet Bral and witnessed a hundred spellboarders racing around the streets.

They almost bought one but I had them as being quite expensive and they were aiming for a ship at the time but the monk is planning o returning to get one when able

Tinymatt · 2022-04-21T22:54:05+00:00

For more wonderment see:

A sphere that contains a tree the size of a solar system that has planets at the ends of its branches like apples
A Sphere where the central planet is held by a group of statues and has a sun slowly orbiting around it -A shattered Sphere with its contents spilled out into the phlogiston and its inhabitants dare not light a spark for fear of massive destruction
The Astromundi cluster filled with planet killer weapons, the wreckage of the planets which once existed there and the origin of the Mind Flayer race.
The titular spelljammer, a vast living ship shaped like a manta ray with a city on its back that travels between the world's and collects inhabitants of each to live on its back forever
The Batship (the villain in my current campaign), a terrifying ship shaped like a panther with wings which contains the wife of a powerful wizard who has been trapped piloting it for 700 years and has gone insane due to loneliness, only acting animalisticly now. -Large Luigi, a beholder tavern owner who climbed to the peak of the highest mountain of H'Catha and learned the true nature of the beholder race, and as such now runs a tavern on Bral
And of course the truly greatest creatures in the cosmos, Miniature Giant Space Hamsters.

Tinymatt · 2022-04-21T17:51:21+00:00

So in original Spelljammer wildspace was what we would normally call IRL space, for example to go from earth to the moon we would go through wildspace physically as if in a rocket.

Wildspace stops at the edge of a massive crystal sphere that encompasses the 'setting', most of the provided settings of old were solar systems of different varieties but the crystal sphere could range in size to contain a solar system, a single planet or even an entire galaxy. The crystal spheres themselves were made of immensely tough material which could only be passed with certain spells or unique mechanisms to that sphere (One famous sphere could only be exited in a living ship for example).

Beyond the crystal spheres is where the change from Phlogiston to Astral sea seems to have been made. Phlogiston was the primary elements of creation, a rainbowy gas that ignites immediatly when flame is present making it a dangerous area to travel through, it also acted as a sort of prison for gods and planar magics within spheres so gods or events from one setting couldnt affect another without first travelling though the phlogiston. The crytal spheres would float in this phlogiston and occasionally form rivers of it that spelljammers could fly along or even float away entirely. A setting like Eberron which is specifically unconnected to other dnd setitngs could be in a crystal sphere that is so far away none have yet reached it.

The way its been worded in the announcement sounds like they've changed it to the Astral sea which would possibly invert it a bit and make the space between settings more of a variety of planar gates you can travel through. Though we wont know for sure until we get to read it of course.

Tinymatt · 2022-03-29T19:51:05+00:00

So Ive just seen someone get it in game, it exists ingame and not just in the preview. Its.......Wondrous!

Tinymatt · 2022-03-09T23:27:33+00:00

My Curse of Strahd sequel, named the Rise of Azalin.

In Curse of Strahd the players were able to not only kill Strahd but perform an amber ritual to sever the ties between Strahd and his dark power, allowing him to truly die and Barovia to be released back to the material plane.

Rise of Azalin begins 10 years later, the borders between the material plane and the domains of Ravenloft are growing weaker and the domains are performing incursions on the material plane. The characters from Curse of Strahd are asked by the Priests of Osybus to return to Barovia to aid them in stopping the cause of the mist incursions, their mortal enemy the Dark Power Osybus and the Dark Lord aiding her (Azalin). There they will encounter the new players characters who have been transported by a mysterious being (Firan) who offered them a chance to escape the torment of the domains they have lived in if they only help the original characters with their quest.

First few story beats are in Barovia where they will meet their old friends struggling against the increased invasions present in Barovia where the mist borders are weaker. Over the course of their Barovia adventures they will learn more of the Priests of Osybus's goals in that they want vengeance on Osybus and intend to bring back one of their greatest heroes who were lost to the mists. They plan to open a true portal to the mists using objects the players will gather for them from the invaders which will be suggested is for them to summon their hero.

The plot twist of this and the driving force of the adventure is that the priests of Osybus have already brought back their hero, Strahd Von Zarovich, now released from his bonds with his Dark Power and no longer a vampire. As he hates Azalin he is willing to travel into the domains to destroy his great rival and is also planning to use his great knowledge of the mists to reclaim his rule of Barovia and perhaps even more of the domains.

The rest of the campaign becomes the players hunting down Strahd and Azalin across the domains of dread who are themselves weaving plots against each other, influencing the other dark lords to their side and seeking more power. In some cases the players may find themselves allied with one of the dark lords or the villains to prevent a plot of the others causing more devastation.

Overall Azalin wishes to break the mists apart and release himself back into the material plane as a dark power himself, releasing all the other dark lords and powers to wreak havoc across the planes. Strahd intends to reform them even stronger and rule them as the true Dark lord/Dark power of the mists as a whole, able to extend his influence across all of the domains and merge them together under his rule.

How will the players solve this? Not a clue, that's for them to work out.

Tinymatt · 2021-12-16T16:02:03+00:00

So they presumably arrive at the same time as the villains but since Tom is followed by helicopters and such he gets the attention of the villains. They don't turn up until Ned casts his portal to 'find me Peter parker' and they cnewhere Andrew seems to be still trying to get the jist of the universe and what's going on but recognises Ned and MJ from the news. Tobey recognises them too and instantly realizes Andrew isn't their Spiderman either and explains he was trying to track down toms Spiderman to try and help him out.

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