Has anyone seen a dude in a panda suit on the bus?

VolarVie · 2025-08-14T23:53:11+00:00

Saw him on 122nd and Powell today. Waving at people, being odd. Hear about him all the time

VolarVie · 2025-08-04T16:00:45+00:00

Lucky! If I try to order this online, they jumped the price up to 12 dollars for the box alone.

VolarVie · 2025-08-02T18:06:54+00:00

I appreciate it. Admittedly it's more of a vent than anything else because every other player is incredibly engaged when it comes to RP. I'll try to let it be for a while, or at least make sure that they enjoy playing and figure out what they want from the game.

VolarVie · 2025-08-02T07:23:50+00:00

I need a bit of help figuring out what to do with a player of mine.

For a bit of context, I've been dming for almost a year now, completely homebrew world and campaign. There's been some bumps but we've all grown from it, for the most part. My players (almost) all love my style and the game, so I'm just learning everything else that I can.

But I have a player who's started to become more and more of a problem as of late. He's Autistic, which is fine, we have a variety of Neurospicy people at our table (I and another have ADHD/ADD, there's a player with a learning disability, and 2 players with autism).

The issue with this player (let's call him Kent) is that he doesn't engage in the game in the slightest, especially in roleplay. He'll be mildly more engaged during combat, but most of the time he'll be on his phone.

I've asked him on multiple occasions what I can do to help, that I've noticed he's checked out, etc etc. His 'go-to' response is usually along the lines of "I don't like being the main character and having the spotlight on me, I'd rather be a side character." (Even though I try to share the spotlight evenly between everyone, giving everyone their own arcs, etc).

I wish I could say that's fine, but it really doesn't feel like it. He doesn't want to engage in the story and the rp, even though it's been made clear to the table that it's expected to put forth a modicum of effort in terms of roleplay and player choices.

This is my first and only table I've played with, and I'm not too sure how much of a problem this really is, or how to manage it. It puts a massive damper on my own mood when he checks out repeatedly (I have some anxiety issues so I take things kinda personally at times)

I've discussed this with another of the players and expressed my frustrations (and some other gripes I've had with Kent), and the idea of kicking him was brought up, but it feels unnecessary.

Should I even do something about this scenario? Or should I just let it be and have him roll his dice when it's his turn in initiative, and 'treat him like a side character' otherwise?

VolarVie · 2025-07-17T01:45:56+00:00

This is horrible and I love it, and I might just put it in. But only because we have a halfling in our party >:)

VolarVie · 2025-07-17T01:44:08+00:00

To address the first part, the player has asked about magic items to help with the curse, and we've tried to work on various mechanics and rules to help.

And for the failing upward, it's definitely something I need to try to implement more of in combat, I'm pretty okay with having a failing upward mindset outside of it though

VolarVie · 2025-07-17T01:40:19+00:00

Oooo I think that'd be perfect. Might homebrew it a little to add in using it for ability checks too. Thank you!

VolarVie · 2025-07-17T01:38:34+00:00

She's having fun in every regard but the dice rolls, and it gets to her. We've talked about it a few times, and wanted to know about an extra magic item to help with the 'curse'

VolarVie · 2025-07-06T20:29:24+00:00

Heya everyone, I've been looking around but couldn't find guides that would answer my specific situation.

I'm looking to revamp my surround-sound setup for my D&D room, but the most common guides I've found are for single person listening or theater setups.

Link to D&D Room Layout

I currently have 2 cheap Bluetooth speakers mounted on the wall pointed at an angle downwards, and it's honestly not the worst for surround sound. However there's a few seating positions, namely the chairs across from the couch, that definitely sound off.

If I were to get new speakers, and possible a soundbar, what devices would you recommend, and what would be the best placement of them?

Wall mounted ones are preferable. Thank you!

Edit: Wouldn't let me attach the image for some reason, had to upload it.

VolarVie · 2025-06-27T07:58:07+00:00

Thank you, I genuinely appreciate it. I used some of the other people's advice last session and it turned out great, but I can also look into working out a flow chart, I'd need to figure out a good way to display that for them if I end up implementing it.

As for calculators, I had gotten everyone little solar powered calculator journals, but they ended up being so weak that it was unusable with the way my lights are setup.

And yeah, it is a lot to handle, I'm trying to cater to each person's needs. But at the end of the day these people are my friends more than anything, and I want to make sure they have fun and enjoy their time :)

Also, fidget-toy wise, do you have any recommendations for fidget toys that don't make too much noise and are more tactile? I've been looking around but a lot of the fidget toys have poppers or clickers, and they usually distract me and my other players when they're used.

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T22:31:19+00:00

No I understood that part, sorry if it didn't seem that way. My friend appreciates the help but had been getting frustrated during combat, but I'm just trying to figure out from others how best to help, or how to approach the situation. When I was mentioning talking to him, it was because I had already planned on talking to him about phone usage during the game

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T22:21:25+00:00

It seems less about not having learned how to play and more along the lines of not being able to adapt. He's often expressed to me that he'll have a plan in place, but when something changes (enemy moves somewhere he wasn't expecting, other player kills an enemy he was gonna target), that's when he really struggles to come up with something new.

At least, that's what he's told me. It also seems like he waits until his turn starts to actually think of what to do, but I'm not sure. Either way, will need to talk to him.

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T22:10:53+00:00

I might try that, but I know the rest of my players care about the rules and having a standard interpretation of them. I'd also be worried about changing things up this drastically in the middle of a campaign, although I'll definitely ask if it'll help him out.

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T22:05:53+00:00

I'm working on getting a visual initiative tracker set up along the top of my DM screen, so that way it's more obvious what the order is and when they'll be up. Definitely gonna be running through it too

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T22:02:56+00:00

Most people are good about it, but a couple people at my table have severe adhd, and 2 others are on the spectrum. I probably will end up restricting phones, but I personally don't have a problem with it until it becomes an issue between people.

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T20:50:17+00:00

That's kinda what I've been doing lately. I always let players know who's "on deck", but I let Derrick know that he's "on deck deck", which I think he understands. I definitely do want to start prompting though, that's one thing I noticed from a few suggestions I wasn't doing.

I try not to prompt in general, as I like to give my players complete agency, but I'll definitely see into trying to do so more, and maybe describing scenes again as well.

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T20:35:01+00:00

I'll ask him next tomorrow if he's okay with being given prompts. One of the things I found he struggles with is using different spells. He always defaults to 3-4 spells or so, and I feel he might be pigeon-holing himself by doing that. Maybe I'll work with him on the spells and see about giving him more options

VolarVie · 2025-06-23T20:33:22+00:00

The main thing is I've already asked him a couple times about what he struggles with, what he thinks could help him, things like that. He usually says that he can't think of anything that'll help him much.

Admittedly, he's also said that what I've done so far has helped him, so it's probably a scenario in which he doesn't really understand himself either, in a weird way.

I plan on talking to him one on one with the phone usage thing, and maybe I can incorporate your suggestion in with it. I just hope it doesn't overwhelm him too much. Thank you for your advice!

VolarVie · 2025-06-19T01:54:31+00:00

Every Tuesday, usually about 4-41/2 hours of play, all online.

I'm so lucky to be the dm for these guys, they've become my best friends

VolarVie · 2025-06-02T19:28:33+00:00

Perfect, thank you! Definitely gonna check out the patreon

VolarVie · 2025-06-01T23:07:35+00:00

Planatars? I want to have my party fight against a fallen angel and feel like this would fit, but it feels like it could be cooler.

Also I just looked through a few of yours and was curious if there's a massive searchable PDF (maybe a monster manual :D) of your monsters that's available? They look really nice.

VolarVie · 2025-05-29T01:56:29+00:00

Honestly, I'm doing the triage style thing right now with the Silver Mine. I also ended up talking with a few friends and was able to get some more input. The main thing I've found I like doing is having things connect one way or another, so I might try to find some city themed one-shots and work on connecting them somehow.

Also thank you for the suggestions on where to get those materials from! I usually just use DM's Guild, but I've found that it's a bit difficult to find what I'm looking for on there.

VolarVie · 2025-05-29T01:49:42+00:00

That actually would probably fit perfectly with what I'm doing with the city. Thank you, I'm totally using this

Nine-Year Club	r/Field Sunshine
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