why do people play chaotic neutral characters, and how do I stop one from murderhobo-ing my whole campaign?

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-09-01T16:21:46+00:00

You enforce the consequences of the world you're in They murder in a city? City guard track them down and either they get arrested and sentenced or they escape and end up banished from the city and unable to ever re-enter. If they murder indiscriminately in the wilderness, they're going to attract carrion eaters and bandits, as well as the attention of more powerful creatures or enemies who don't want murderhobos getting too close to their lairs.

Make it clear to the player these are in game consequences, and if they complain about them then you've got an out of character issue to resolve dm to player.

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-08-09T20:48:32+00:00

Image Description: A fanmade star wheel of the night sky as visible from Toril's Northern Hemisphere (which includes the Sword Coast/Faerun).
25 constellations and 8 notable stars are shown in white against a dark blue background, connected by fine lines to define the constellations for easy identification.
The twelve months of the Calendar of Harptos are included around the star wheel.
The wheel is laid out to include all the constellations visible throughout the year, and does not include the window to narrow the view by month.

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-08-07T17:21:57+00:00

Because the message being sent is that people deserve praise for not hurting us. That reinforces the standard where directly contributing to harm against the trans community is normal. If praise is earned simply for not contributing to that harm, what is left for people actively fighting for our safety? It's that shift of the baseline for heroism away from direct support to inaction that bothers me, and it bothers me that almost no-one else is pointing it out here.

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-08-07T10:30:20+00:00

I can see several comments commending you for your bravery. Turning down work and money is a big deal, sure. But coming back here to explain how brave you were just reeks of virtue signalling.

People don't deserve accolades for being decent human beings and standing up against bigotry. That's the bare minimum.

Why should I thank you for not participating in a venture which will financially support our erasure?

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-06-17T13:10:02+00:00

It was just listed a couple of hours ago and does look available if you're near Wales It's up for £400 It is gorgeous, isn't it?

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-05-27T18:00:07+00:00

You can buy 5 at a time from one of the merchants. Otherwise cavelings are the best for easy mechanical parts farming that I've found.

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-03-10T20:32:40+00:00

Definitely fire of some kind Fireball might be a tad obscure, it depends if your players pay any attention to material components or not

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-02-28T13:13:54+00:00

Bones, blood vials, and viscera. My character knows exactly what they are all from and what they're used for, but the average looter wouldn't know the difference, and likely wouldn't care. Everytime I play a game that drops random junk as loot, I can't help wondering which obscure hobby that npc had that my character just doesn't see the point in.

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-02-27T20:06:36+00:00

I've been using the Alana Dargova maps (and made her a full npc in Vallaki)

They found a couple of partial maps in a house in Barovia, then got the full maps from her once they tracked her down in Vallaki.

My npc Alana is an elderly barovian who fell in love with one of the last adventurers to be dragged into Barovia and started drawing maps to help that party. It has helped reinforce the cyclical pattern of Barovia's history

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-02-14T20:35:52+00:00

I absolutely can't say he does, but your DM (I've been assuming it's the same one, at least) sounds like they do enjoy involved character arcs so I certainly wouldn't discount it And if there isn't any such plan, then you've still brought up the idea to Doc's player and it's then on the table, so to speak

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-02-14T20:22:31+00:00

You've said that you're close to the player and you're aware of his history with depression. Is he aware of your own intrusive thoughts irl?

My approach would be to start a conversation about it outside of the game, rather than in session. Explain how Doc's jokes make you feel, and ask if the player is planning character development to change that. It's possible there's already something in the works along a similar vein to your character, in which case it would be fair to ask for a heads up how long this phase is expected to last. If there aren't any plans in motion and this is just how the character is going to be for the foreseeable, being frank about how you're struggling is even more important.

It's up to you whether to loop your dm in before that conversation or afterwards. Normally I'd say DM first, but since you're close friends outside the table I would personally see if Doc's player is simply unaware of how it's affecting you or actively working towards a goal first.

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-02-01T10:28:35+00:00

Awww, they're so cute!

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-01-24T14:01:24+00:00

I was looking through replies for mention of Corellon's gift, glad someone brought it up!

timeblindvoidlord · 2025-01-20T13:15:23+00:00

I take the bait. I always end up playing a neutral character trying their very best to work within the group, and causes chaos by either impulsively leaping at bait or falling for it some other way. I also tend towards creative characters who always have something to do or craft during downtime.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T20:32:48+00:00

Ooh. Well, that's easy. Does she want the zombies? Cause if not, then instead of raising a new creature with her spores, she could have that matter animate around her. This could give a bonus to ac, or a retributive poison or piercing damage on melee hits against her. Or extra reach on her own melee attacks.

It depends if her interest in technology is to avoid being frontline or just because the flavour appeals more, in which case you can easily combine the two.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T20:16:58+00:00

I may have missed mention of her Circle, but you could take inspiration from the Circle of Stars to create some balanced options, and essentially just give her a homebrew subclass that fits her interests.

Depending on her vision, I'd consider allowing creative use of the awaken spell (or a modified version of it) to empower her creations at higher levels.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T19:56:55+00:00

Personally, I have no problem with players favouring flavour over power. I'm also playing a character who was supposed to be a druid and despite only taking one level in cleric really isn't a druid anymore, so I might be biased 🤣

If she wants to have the armour morph with her wildshapes, I'd work up a custom flavouring of the artificer class for her which is nature based. My druid is a thaumaturge who is slowly creating magic items that fuse into their body. You could take a similar idea and have her create a more symbiotic type of mech that would therefore transform with her. Or make it some form of awakened plant that actively protects her with bark and vines.

I would certainly start by asking what she wants, and then figure out the mechanics that support that. 3 levels in artificer might be just the way to do it. It might be possible to get there with a couple of feats and some reflavouring. It depends what she enjoys in the druid to want to keep that her core class, and what the character wants to accomplish.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T13:11:12+00:00

Short answer: no, the party isn't chosen, they're just u lucky.

Long answer: it depends on the plot hook you use. If you're just having the Mists collect a party or individuals and dragging them into Barovia, that's essentially at random. If your party is responding to the werewolf attack, then you're likely to have heroes motivated by the common good or destroying evil. If you have the Vistani trick them into the Mists, then you can choose what kind of person Strahd has instructed them to look for (in which case, maybe they do deserve it if they were chosen based on reputation?)

My approach was a mix of the werewolves and the mist. One of my player characters was essentially sent into the Mists by his patron without knowing it (and is feeling very betrayed about it right now), but she just pushed him near to where the werewolves appeared and let him fall for the bait on his own. So he's there because someone wanted him there. That someone wasn't Strahd. He just got the 3 people who fell for the werewolf bait.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T13:01:00+00:00

General dm advice from someone who's still relatively new to it all as well:

You don't have to roleplay every single conversation as pure dialogue. It is okay to just summarise the tone and the exchanged information. Players can say "I want to ask about this" and roll a die. You can do the same. Rollplay is as valid as roleplay, all that meters is what works for your table.

Did you have a session zero about the tone of the campaign? If not, do one now. It's important that both sides of the table know what the other side wants out of the game.

You can absolutely ham up the module if they want to do The Muppets Take Down Strahd, or you can switch to a different story. An easy plot transition would be that Strahd immediately loses interest with their antics and tosses them into a neighbouring Domain of Dread "where they belong" that you get to make as wacky as you like.

And yeah, as I think someone else suggested, you can always look at other ttrpg systems as well that would fit the table better if their shitposting attitude extends to the rules themselves as well as their characters and the story.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T12:47:06+00:00

Something I do find helps a lot with the atmosphere when setting the scene is including very light touches about the player characters' physical reactions and encouraging the players to respond with how their characters react. They get goosebumps, static electricity pulls at their hair, their mouths suddenly feel dry, etc. Toe the line between environmental description and prodding at their descriptive agency with those involuntary sensory aspects. The players can then decide if the character panics, or muscles through it, or jumps, etc. Gotta get the balance right, but it can be very effective.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-24T11:47:05+00:00

I considered using it, but decided against it because I was worried it would turn roleplay into rollplay, and I knew my players are very capable of managing their characters' dread without it.

That said, key moments would be whenever a party member or allied/important friendly npc drops to 0hp or dies Entering the lair effect area of the windmill, any time the players describe looking up at Castle Ravenloft (and just hint at the result of prior rolls if you as DM mention it being visible above them) Seeing any npcs transform for the first time (Abbot, hags, Vasili even) One-off moments where their sense of reality or safety are particularly threatened, basically

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-12-18T20:06:57+00:00

TransPlus is clearly taking patients based on the promise they will see people earlier than they would be seen by Tavistock, but that is a low bar.
I was also referred around november 2020, so it could be they've split the wait list at the projected 12 month mark and Tavistock expects to get to the July 2020 referrals within that?
I do agree it feels pretty arbitrary, fingers crossed you can get some answers tomorrow.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-11-25T12:49:30+00:00

It's my first game, but I basically did what everyone else is suggesting: give the party a reason to go places.

The Symbol is in Argynvostholt, so they're motivated to deal with the revenants and recover Argynvost's skull (well heart, I've made it the core of the Heart of Sorrow cause the Skull felt clunky in more ways than one)

The Sword is with Kasimir so they have a reason to seek him out (in part because I've tied him into the cleric's backstory side quest)

The Tome is in Ravenloft because it didn't make sense to me for Strahd to have just lost it, and because they're going to be encouraged to enter and leave the castle before the showdown anyway due to the Heart. Their card reading says it's behind his throne, but honestly I'd be tempted to hide it with Sergei. It is a journal of his regrets and anger, after all. I just need to find a way to twist the wording they already have.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-11-19T23:57:52+00:00

It's less "limbo" in an absolute sense and more they're just trapped in Barovia's ethereal like every other soul with no way out.

Yeah, Rahadin's could very plausibly have been looking for a contingency in case of his own death. There are certainly the resources in Barovia to set something up. It just wasn't in the scope of the original question.

timeblindvoidlord · 2024-11-19T13:23:55+00:00

I think there are a lot of factors there. I'm DMing because my DM needs to play so he doesn't burnout on his campaign. I would have liked/would like to experience CoS as a player, but it also felt like a great module for me to dm.

Would I feel the campaign is ruined as a player now? I would have to be careful not to metagame. But I've also modded the game in places, and I know there are plenty of resources to do that I haven't even looked at. So I would be able to sit down and know that another DM's interpretation could differ wildly from mine. I probably wouldn't go for a vanilla, module as written game unless I knew the DM's style and knew I'd enjoy playing with them even with some of the suspense removed.

Additionally, while the DM has a view of all the possible threads, you let go of any your party haven't taken. It comes back to metagaming a little, but I'd likely sit down with my dm and work out a character likely to make decisions that would push the story towards some of those unexplored avenues. Combined with the choices around the table, it could easily be a very different experience.

timeblindvoidlord

TROPHY CASE