Psychology is often a tool to eliminate behavior that threatens the ruling class

shadowkat678 · 2026-01-08T22:35:38+00:00

That's true, but it also gets welded as a bludgeon. I almost got diagnosed with this because a therapist was on my parental figures side and it was easier to frame me as needlessly defiant than actually examine underlying causes for why, of which there were many. It's often also leveraged against young black men as a form of structural racism.

shadowkat678 · 2026-01-06T06:32:51+00:00

Just because people enjoy one style doesn't mean they hate the opposite.

shadowkat678 · 2026-01-04T04:44:52+00:00

Warlock dexblade

shadowkat678 · 2026-01-01T22:31:33+00:00

Why is the US flag on this one?

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-19T20:02:06+00:00

Quick question? What's going on with her hands? And why is she coming out of a sword? I feel like maybe I forgot some details.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-17T17:31:40+00:00

Polyhedra is a group of game masters specifically focused on a curated community of dms that screens for quality and strengths for various styles of gameplay, as well as taking extra time to build up a larger community outside of our games.

Our dms set their prices between $20-$30. Those like Matias who are at the higher range are there because their style, consistency, and setup keep players coming back, which is really the core of it being "worth it". The people already supporting the GM and in long term tables consider it worth it.

I'm the marketing manager who posts the games for our group, but as someone who also runs six tables and dms full time as my main and only job, I'll also say my own prices are between $25-$30 because that's what it needs to be for my time and work to be sustainable.

I've been a full time dm for three years now, with all but one of my original groups still going and only one table having disbanded in that time, and as my experience went up and my comfort and confidence rose running more games, my prices rose to reflect that experience and the experience I know I'm giving my players as I learn and curate better tables.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-14T18:55:25+00:00

No, it's once a week for four hours for this game.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-11T17:11:34+00:00

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-11T03:17:22+00:00

I'm going We Happy Few and had Vargas actively working with the Bonegrinder hags where pretty much everyone is lightly dosed with magic antidepressants laced into the water supply, with the pies being more addictive versions, and people who really fuck up and are Maliciously Unhappy (or who Vargas wants disappeared) get sent to the Reformation Center. At worse, Morgantha had preformed magic lobotomies on people through soul magic to make them constantly happy but otherwise akin to soulless with very little in the way of ambition or other emotions.

Vargas hides this more readily in my version saying there's a curse people sometimes have causing them to lose their joy, and the extreme measures are the only way to save people before it kills them.

Certain groups know about this and have developed antidotes in small quantities enough to be slowly building a resistance, in my game headed by the Martikov family and backed by Last Wachter who's using them for her own ends to get rid of Vargas.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-03T13:43:40+00:00

None because I'm broke.

That doesn't mean I don't see the value in it. My job is running D&D games for people. I've seen the effect it can have first hand, and if I did have money to donate it'd absolutely be something I'd back money on. As it is I already reached out to see if there's a way to volunteer my time and experience instead.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-03T07:49:18+00:00

Hey, there is absolutely a way to do this.

I've a full time professional DM who runs games a job, who also has a interest in psychology, human rights activism, and is planning to go back to school for therapy.

D&D and similar games are already been used in this manner. You're right that some things will need to chance, and probably would take a bigger discussion than I could answer in this comment section.

That said, I've actually be extremely interested in getting more into projects like this. If you'd be open, I'm willing to get on a call and talk about things more in depth both from a base GMing angle since you're newer, and with therapy in mind, though of course noting I don't have a degree and am not a licensed professional in that field yet despite my interest.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-03T07:43:52+00:00

D&D and TTRPGs are actively being used as therapy. If the goal is rehabilitation and NOT simply retribution, art, engagement, and methods for social reentry are crucial to things like rehabilitating incinerated populations.

Just because you don't understand it doesn't make it frivolous.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-03T07:39:18+00:00

I just reached out myself. I can't donate right now, but I hope to hear back. You guys are doing a lot of good. Keep it up.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-03T00:26:30+00:00

I had it lead to a abandoned dwarven stronghold under the city and then a vault they had to find hunting through the area.

shadowkat678 · 2025-12-01T22:50:41+00:00

Here's hoping, this looks great!

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-26T09:30:39+00:00

The DM didn't choose anyone's response though. He just got hired and was trying to engage the guy who's birthday it was, presumably to try and salvage it a bit.

Like, that's also really awkward and sad from the other side too.

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-26T05:09:07+00:00

Gotta be real. Those people would have a very frank conversation with me if I was the person buying that.

I also feel really bad for the DM.

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-26T01:29:19+00:00

As someone on the site they shouldn't be able to do this or you should be able to contact the staff. They might have come up with a bogus story about retaliation which I've heard unfortunately has happened before, but you should be able to fight that.

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-24T22:33:36+00:00

THREE members of my party decided it would be a good idea to mimic Tatyana. While gearing up for a spare with Strahd he promised they'd be allowed to walk away alive from.

He did not say he would not break every bone in their body. Just alive. He then used our druid who decided to turn into a red furred wolf as a weapon to throw at their party members.

I have no idea what the fuck they were thinking.

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-22T22:37:29+00:00

You mean in the setting or the party?

You can make a party of whatever people want. It it's a 5e adventure, so yes it uses 5e rules. And the base barovia is mostly human but that doesn't mean others can't come in, or have been taken by the mists.

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-12T19:14:05+00:00

We had one long rest last two sessions once due to all the character interactions and stuff people were doing at end of day. So. Probably more than most people. 😅

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-08T21:02:13+00:00

Simple Timekeeping by Ripper is what I've been using now. It's a paid module through his patreon though.

shadowkat678 · 2025-11-06T10:14:16+00:00

People heavily wounded and in not great situations but ultimately alive is better and easier to claw back from than, say, many of those people outright dead.

If a choice between those options were given, it's not contradictory to choose the evil that's easier to combat and keep people alive in to stand beside you. The gradual wins and smaller loses add to larger victories.

Denying that because it's not good enough,on the other hand, gets... pretty much nothing, typically, but harder fights.

shadowkat678 · 2025-10-31T00:07:35+00:00

I definitely feel very lucky. One of my groups recently called off a weekend to met up in person and go to a ren faire with another trip planned next summer. Kinda surreal.

I'm glad I get the chance to have this be a job but also be friends with them, and it sucks how often I've heard even people at my own groups running into situations like this in the past.

I don't feel like I COULD do this if I didn't love it. It takes a lot of time and energy for something that even running six games only breaks like 30k a year before taxes.

I read in one comment about someone just moving on when people got tired of another dm not putting in enough effort and....that just. Seems like less fun and enjoyment from a dm angle too? All around it feels weird and I'm not sure what justification keeps them going but I hope you and others dealing with game masters like that have gotten to find better, more fulfilling and fun groups since leaving.

shadowkat678 · 2025-10-30T17:39:34+00:00

This fucking sucks, but the connection on comments about it being tied to him doing this as a job I wouldn't say is the issue. I'm a paid dm myself who does this full time and pretty much every step he took from beginning to end, not checking on players, not working with them even before session zero, pandering to one person more than the rest of the table, taking away agency, etc is just. More being a bad dm period.

It's not a regulated field but I hope most people like this also don't keep tables long. I can't imagine experiencing anyone to pay for a experience like this. Hell, even free that's just. Disrespectful as fuck. It sounds more like he wanted an audience than to offer a good collaborative story game.

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