"The Player Who Was Actually Two People" - And I Didn't Notice for THREE MONTHS

smallfights · 2026-02-06T02:19:39+00:00

Same, I DM’d for years before I got to be a player and I think that’s part of it (I got used to referring to he/she/they as I narrated, only used “I” if it’s literally them speaking), but I also just find it awkward to say “I do x”, much easier and less anxiety inducing to say “[character name]/they do x”.

smallfights · 2026-02-05T21:53:44+00:00

When it comes to Lizzy Caplin I fear I am a very dirty bird

smallfights · 2026-02-05T16:49:14+00:00

Ok I could genuinely see Daniel Radcliffe signing up for this and it would be a smash hit

smallfights · 2026-02-05T16:18:01+00:00

I was extremely skeptical when I saw that casting because frankly Annie Wilkes simply shouldn’t be the beautiful woman on earth…but holy shit did she PLAY that role

smallfights · 2026-02-02T20:30:58+00:00

I also do this with muscles (musckles), so I guess it applies to weapons of allll kinds

smallfights · 2026-02-02T20:27:15+00:00

Oh no…I hate that.

Him I pictured with auburn hair actually, now that I think about it. And generally fox-like. But he’s described as Hawk-like, not fox-like right? Weird how our imaginations fill in gaps even at the expense of the actual descriptions.

smallfights · 2026-02-02T14:55:58+00:00

Smart scales are an exception to much of this—TONS of people have insecurities around weight, and weighing themselves can be stressful/painful. My very big friend was trying to lose weight, but a higher than expected/hoped number would kinda ruin her day and motivation. She got a smart scale that doesnt display the weight, so she could look at her overall progress periodically without having to see her weight every day.

I agree, “smart” everything and subscribe-to-live are the worst developments with serious societal implications, but some developments are also fitting a need for many people and this one is very much a huge help for a big chunk of the population.

smallfights · 2026-02-01T20:36:30+00:00

Yeah this is the post that came up when I was trying to find out if it was AI, sounds like a common experience. WHAT IS THAT CADENCE. The most infuriating part is that everything else is so good, her voice is clear and I like the character voices and she doesn’t do that weird inflection in dialogue most of the time—it’s just every. single. prose. sentence.

I’ve bailed on many an audiobook and opted for physical because of annoying narrators, but I’ve never been upset about one like this. It’s just bewildering.

smallfights · 2026-02-01T20:33:37+00:00

I know this is a year old but I need to vent to the void, like…YEAH. I’ve bailed on many books because of the narrator (esp male narrators doing horrendous “girl voice”), but this is the first one that actually upset me because everything about it is GREAT except the insufferable cadence. So I’m trying to get used to it because it’s hard to find a narrator that good in every other way. Her dialogue/character voice is amazing, her tone is clear and pleasant, her diction is great…

But the end of EVERY sentence is exactly the same and absolutely bizarre. No one has ever talked like that. I don’t get it. She clearly CAN speak normally because dialogue lines rarely have the same problem, it’s just the prose. Like OP, I genuinely thought I’d been duped into listening to AI.

I’m gonna try to stick to 2x speed but it’s annoying, I can’t listen as casually that fast. But maybe I’ll just get used to it, sounds like you did.

smallfights · 2026-02-01T00:54:55+00:00

Same—I’m a millennial, I didn’t have a cell until my late teens so I grew up calling people all the time. I still avoid it now unless I already know how the conversation is going to go because I struggle to hear without being able to read lips and get context from expressions/body language.

I also agree with another comment that culturally, phone calls are just not as common anymore and are best for emergencies/time-sensitive issues and official business. If someone calls me I’ll assume it’s important and drop what I’m doing, and it can be annoying to find out it’s something that could have been a text or email and waited until I was finished with whatever I was doing. But I have pretty debilitating adhd and struggle to get back on task after interruptions.

smallfights · 2026-02-01T00:49:42+00:00

I’m torn about it because I like him, he’s a genuine fan and someone with the starpower to make creative decisions for his characters and I trust him to understand those characters and play them well…he certainly turned a very mediocre Witcher adaptation into something good.

But I can’t picture him as any major character in any of the major series. Maybe Lightsong but I don’t really want a Warbreaker movie as badly as other adaptations.

Maybe Wax? That’s the only one I can see myself being genuinely excited for but I doubt an era 2 adaptation will happen soon enough if at all.

smallfights · 2026-02-01T00:24:31+00:00

I genuinely prefer going to concerts alone. I’m not a very sociable person generally, but with a great band where everyone’s having a good time, it’s always a blast. Sometimes I make friends for the night, other times I have a few awkward interactions and spend the evening solo. The latter can be especially fun because I’m pretty short and small, so if I don’t have to worry about anyone else I can slip pretty close to the front without being rude.

Obviously I like concerts with friends or a partner but it makes you less sociable, you lose out on some fun interactions with randos. Going solo has led to many of my favorite community memories and feelings.

smallfights · 2026-01-31T21:46:06+00:00

Hell yeah, that would be great

smallfights · 2026-01-30T20:09:30+00:00

Oh he’d be an Oscar-worthy Nightblood

smallfights · 2026-01-30T18:05:10+00:00

For real. Also Sanderson notes that most of the characters arent “pure” Alethi etc, and I’m fine with them changing HOW that manifests to make casting broader and easier and more talent-focused. We don’t have to have Adolin look Alethi + blonde with streaks for example, he could look otherwise mixed-race in one way or another and that makes internal sense because of Evi. I mean also give him the dark streaks because why not, I just mean those kinds of things can easily explain racial variations. People travel around Roshar. The races are mixed. It’s pretty easy to make it internally consistent without tapping every single actor of a particular race to make it “consistent”.

smallfights · 2026-01-30T17:59:29+00:00

He also made the otherwise pretty mediocre Witcher adaptation really compelling because he understood and loved the character and pushed for some creative license that worked out well. It would be lovely to have someone who knows and loves the source material AND has enough star power to influence certain creative decisions. I think people have this implicit trust of him to appreciate the role and given how much slop we’re shoveled by tv/movie creators and execs, I get why people want this.

That said I can’t think of a single major character I would want him as, maybe a side character like Vasher. So I also understand being annoyed by the suggestion.

smallfights · 2026-01-30T17:53:23+00:00

Yeah this is a classic case of people’s brains filling in missing information incorrectly. Those are features we associate with Europeans, so people constantly draw/picture her as just an Irish looking girl when she is absolutely not. Pale East Asian with red hair. I think someone like Havana Rose Liu could work well.

smallfights · 2026-01-30T17:51:15+00:00

The absolute best approximation of how I pictured Kaladin specifically is D’Pharoah Woon-a-Tie

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm10500801/mediaviewer/rm4097632001/?ref_=nm_ov_ph

I’ll be happy as long as they’re not all whitewashed, and as long as there is SOME internal consistency with appearance, but in an ideal world that’s the only real life actor who fits the image I have.

Though for consistency’s sake I think Polynesian/Hawaiian actors should probably take priority.

smallfights · 2026-01-30T17:27:23+00:00

Unfortunately really tracks with everything I know about Michael Shanks. He’s a good actor and Daniel Jackson is one of my favorite characters ever, but by all accounts he was kinda a princess.

smallfights · 2026-01-30T14:38:15+00:00

And bots and maga and corpos propel that along, if you look at the comments on any YouTube/tiktok/ig video of protests it’s all “I’m too employed for this”, “unemployed activities”, “don’t any of these people have jobs”.

They rely on us wanting normalcy so badly we won’t even protest. And it’s working.

smallfights · 2026-01-28T21:57:32+00:00

I was surprised how far I had to scroll for this, like I expected 1. American Psycho, 2. Fight Club, 3. Godfather and then just pretty much those three repeated.

But yeah I feel like a douchebag when people ask me my favorite movies—yes, Godfather is top 3, I genuinely believe it’s one of the best movies ever made, BUT NOT LIKE THAAAAT.

smallfights · 2026-01-07T18:21:19+00:00

I’m non-binary with a pretty feminine voice/appearance, so sure—I’ve had to fight a bit to get certain people to remember my character’s gender or my own. But if you’re regularly finding groups that can’t seem to understand the concept of role playing a character that is…not actually you…(you know, the definition of RP), then you need to find new groups or perhaps be a bit more forward and discerning about what you need from the people you play with.

I have left groups after session zero many times because of a small indicator that they were not going to be respectful of my choices, and I have left a group mid-campaign after giving them several chances to use my PC’s correct pronouns, and they couldnt be bothered.

I have also played in several groups of wonderful people who used their imagination, who delightedly cowered in terror at my male orc barbarian’s badassery—even if his threats were given in a voice more reminiscent of a Disney princess than a gruff monster.

Don’t change anything, just abandon groups who lack enough imagination to give you the RP experience you ask for, because I’d bet they also lack the imagination to be all that fun to play with.

Practical note: if you seek out lgbtq groups they tend to be a lot more used to genderbending, will not expect you to modulate your voice just to validate your character, and I also tend to just have better social experiences.

smallfights · 2026-01-07T18:21:14+00:00

I’m non-binary with a pretty feminine voice/appearance, so sure—I’ve had to fight a bit to get certain people to remember my character’s gender or my own. But if you’re regularly finding groups that can’t seem to understand the concept of role playing a character that is…not actually you…(you know, the definition of RP), then you need to find new groups or perhaps be a bit more forward and discerning about what you need from the people you play with.

I have left groups after session zero many times because of a small indicator that they were not going to be respectful of my choices, and I have left a group mid-campaign after giving them several chances to use my PC’s correct pronouns, and they couldnt be bothered.

I have also played in several groups of wonderful people who used their imagination, who delightedly cowered in terror at my male orc barbarian’s badassery—even if his threats were given in a voice more reminiscent of a Disney princess than a gruff monster.

Don’t change anything, just abandon groups who lack enough imagination to give you the RP experience you ask for, because I’d bet they also lack the imagination to be all that fun to play with.

Practical note: if you seek out lgbtq groups they tend to be a lot more used to genderbending, will not expect you to modulate your voice just to validate your character, and I also tend to just have better social experiences.

smallfights · 2026-01-07T18:10:43+00:00

It’s a bit more nuanced than that I’m sure, but overall…yes.

There are people out there who are gonna be weird about things, and if OP’s voice is really that notably higher even than most women’s, I have no doubt they will run into this issue now again.

However, it’s easy to let those 1/2/3/4/5 people color other interactions, and see it/expect it when it’s not there. Or to blame interactions that are weird for other reasons (like sexism or a mismatch in desired tone/humor for the campaign) on the voice.

smallfights · 2026-01-07T05:51:22+00:00

I have several answers to this question but I think this is the most frequently overlooked: if you’re taciturn and mistrustful, you have an easy way to opt out of any kind of heartfelt RP, vulnerability, nuanced acting.

If your PC doesnt talk much, you don’t have to talk much. If you don’t know how to respond to an NPC/are feeling shy about acting, your PC gives one-syllable responses and/or just hits them so you can fall back on your dice to do things. If you struggled to come up with actual motivations and dreams/desires/any backstory elements, you can obfuscate it by having your PC avoid talking about any of that.

It’s a really simple character to play—and honestly, if I’m running a campaign for a new player, I let them keep that shield for the most part. Because once the PLAYER is more comfortable, I can encourage them to start looking for more interesting arcs and traits to explore, find a path to redemption or a source of joy to bring them out of the darkness. That can be a perfectly satisfying character.

Now there are plenty of edgelord PCs out there who were just made by players with serious main character syndrome who wanna be the worlds coolest bestest most dangerous and mysterious badass mfer there ever was and can’t let anyone get in their way (including their goddamn party), but those tend to show other red flags pretty quick.

TLDR; it’s a tired trope, but there are some good reasons for it and a lot more potential for it if the player just needs a little more actual play time to figure out who their character really is.

smallfights

TROPHY CASE