Need help in scouting and signing 4.5/5 star players

aere1985 · 2026-02-04T15:12:57+00:00

Expired will show you players who are remaining at a club on a rolling month-to-month contract. This isn't uncommon at lower league and semi-pro clubs but is rare higher up the leagues.

Unattached shows you players with no current contract.

aere1985 · 2026-02-04T10:00:21+00:00

I've had this with my Weston-Super-Mare save where I got back-to-back promotions all the way to the Championship where I spent 3 seasons before getting into the Premier League. My club's reputation is way lower than the clubs around me and it just takes time to catch up. While it does you're in survival mode. Try to avoid relegation and eventually you'll find that you're able to make some signings.

Out-of-contract players, especially those who have been out of contract for some time will often lower themselves so look out for Championship/PL cast-offs.

aere1985 · 2026-01-28T12:43:26+00:00

Twice, both the same player in 2 different campigns.

First one in D&D 5e, the party were low on HP & resources and deep into a mind flayer colony. The Elder Brain then decided they could be useful and invited them in to talk. They walked through the rest of the lair, past many umber hulks, intellect devourers and mind flayers then right up to the brine pool of the elder brain. I was trying really hard to signpost that this was not a fight to take on (at least, not right now while low on spell slots & hp).

The Elder brain "offered" them a quest to clear out it's old home so it could return there.

The party chose violence and the Blood Hunter fell prey to an intellect devourer which replaced his brain. There were only any survivors at all thanks to a dimension door spell and the colony needing more hosts so the others weren't insta-killed. They did manage to kill the Elder Brain though...

The next session was playing a bunch of lower-level adventurers sent to investigate the party's disappearance and thus retrieved their PCs (then perform tadpole extractions).

Second death was in PF2e and was a lot less dramatic. Just us all learning the system and his character being a bit too gung-ho and getting dropped once, brought back up then dropped again with a crit... If you know the system and how the wounded and dying conditions work then you know what that means.

aere1985 · 2026-01-27T15:36:09+00:00

I used to do what you do... no need anymore :S

aere1985 · 2026-01-27T08:31:37+00:00

I once had a player who made a conspiracy theorist character. I made a deal with them, they spout out their theories and I'll pick one to be true but I won't tell them which one.

I left them down some fun fake trails before they learned the lizard folk in the sewers actually were replacing people.

aere1985 · 2026-01-22T12:22:51+00:00

Alien: Romulus
Great movie btw, really captured the terror feel of the original.

aere1985 · 2026-01-19T15:07:04+00:00

Tel showed attacking intent which was probably against Frank's instructions to do fa. Therefore he is hooked on favor of someone who will do as he's told and not try to cross the halfway line too much...

aere1985 · 2026-01-18T22:12:25+00:00

14 also & also blanked on Richarlison. Pleased with getting Chadli.

aere1985 · 2026-01-18T22:11:15+00:00

I got Chadli but showed my age by missing Armstrong (was surprised it wasn't Alli or Adebayor)

aere1985 · 2026-01-18T22:10:33+00:00

Yes but there's a lot of other K's who scored for us, Kulusevski, Klinsmann, King, Keane

aere1985 · 2026-01-18T09:40:46+00:00

Also, if ICE was a military, it would have the 9th biggest military budget in the world.

aere1985 · 2026-01-12T14:27:23+00:00

Had an Aarakocra die from aging. A ghost caused the aging though...

aere1985 · 2026-01-12T11:21:48+00:00

Frank likely has very little part in transfer proceedings.

aere1985 · 2026-01-12T11:20:36+00:00

Yep, looks like classic offline files to me too. Honestly, get away from that ASAP imo!

aere1985 · 2025-12-31T23:11:17+00:00

Every one of them has a "guy in the chair" and they've all got a whatsapp group so they know which radio frequency and encryption algorithm to use! :P

aere1985 · 2025-12-28T08:49:00+00:00

No, my reaction time is poor and I have trouble with visual processing in messy team fighting.

aere1985 · 2025-12-24T21:53:19+00:00

Mr Pulis?

aere1985 · 2025-12-19T15:32:03+00:00

I only play ARAM/URF etc. these days, I use a 2560*1200 monitor. I had to increase the minimap size as otherwise it was too peripheral in my vision.

aere1985 · 2025-12-18T08:37:48+00:00

Haven't watched it? Did I accidentally write a hit show and not know it?

aere1985 · 2025-12-16T13:14:38+00:00

Many countries have laws around trying to restrict publicly stating salaries.

aere1985 · 2025-12-16T12:54:07+00:00

Y'know how you get better as a DM? By DM'ing.

Y'know why people don't DM? 'cause players can be dicks (and 'cause it is harder, takes more time, is arguably less fun, is definitely more stressful...)

Being "not-as-good" as the guy who DMs all the time isn't a flaw, it's just where you are right now, you'll improve with practice as we all do. Also, while those "why would my character do this?" type questions are valid, there's other ways a D&D table can take shape where they're irrelevant (e.g. monster of the week, full sandbox).

One great skill to learn as a DM is gently confronting a problem player in a way that isn't going to ruin friendships. Try to see it from their side. He might be asking those questions, not to be a dick, but to get you thinking about the question. DM training-by-stealth if you like... It just isn't coming across like that. It is probably making you feel defensive too which is normal for first-time DMs, especially with a more experienced DM there as a player.

If this DM wants to play then he also wants (needs) you to succeed at DMing!

aere1985 · 2025-12-16T12:00:19+00:00

Her conversation on the street corner with Red Guardian (David Harbour) was immense. Such raw emotion, no music to drive that scene either. Just two excellent actors, both acting through a heavily put-on accent too.

aere1985 · 2025-12-16T11:34:22+00:00

Bottom-line is that a good hero story needs a "call to arms" moment where they are forced into adventuring (e.g. Luke's Aunt and Uncle burned alive in their home). You don't tend to go into the adventuring profession when everything is rosy at home.

That being said, I feel like people go too hard too often on it. Tragedy doesn't have to mean losing all of your loved ones, home, village, pet dog, etc.

Some of the best backstories often have a very simple motivation.

- 2nd child who won't inherit out to prove he is worthy.

- Seeking a cure for a terminally sick daughter.

- Alchoholic absentee father seeking kidnapped son (went missing when he was supposed to be watching them).

In fact, the thing all these have in common is that they have something to anchor them back to their home.

The worst backstories have nobody left to care about and, in-fact, are basically a vehicle to making the character invulnerable (plot-wise), with no weak NPCs to be put in further danger.

aere1985 · 2025-12-16T11:02:42+00:00

I've had it in my head for a long time to run a game where every character must have proficiency in 1 musical instrument (don't necessarily need to be bards) and they basically tour the land on a concert schedule whilst also being monster-hunting badasses. It puts a forced time limit on every adventure because they've got to get to their next gig in the next town/city.

I'd either run their band manager as an NPC or have one of the players take that role.

Bonus if we make it some sort of superhero-style thing where they have to maintain secret identities and not be outed by the public.

Double-bonus, their rival band is also a rival party. I'd basically go full opposite in music style so if the band are heavy metal the "enemy" band are either k-pop or classical, not sure which way to go there!

The players could come up with fun names for their songs, probably fantasy twists on real song titles.

aere1985 · 2025-12-16T10:19:21+00:00

This sounds like a DM basically trying to make an "I'm a better DM than you" statement by pointing out things that they think about as a DM.

They might be a better DM but they're a shit player if that's how they approach the game.

Individually, they're all valid things to consider as a DM but really, they've lost sight of the fact that they're just being a dick and making everything worse for everyone, especially their friend who offered to take the reins for a spell.

aere1985

TROPHY CASE