"Main Character" Player Destroys Group, Harasses DM FEAT. JOCAT

JOCATS STUFF
/ jocat
www.twitch.tv/jocat?sr=a
JoCat105?t=JIZFxs...
Join the Discord! / discord
Submit Your Story! / critcrab
Support me on Patreon! / critcrab
Follow me on Twitter! / crabcrit
MERCH! teespring.com/stores/critcrab...

[@CritCrab]

Yeah I've already done this story before. I didn't realize that until just now. I need new stories, so please drop yours off for me at r/CritCrab or my email address at [e-mail]!

[@ShadowReignhart]

Legitimately didn't even notice. You and Jocat having conversations during pause is very fun. Looking forward to what you post in the New Year.

[@oluftheexplorer9476]

Noticed right away, but hey, you got JoCat to join you so...

[@nnickplays9713]

That's funny. I'll confess I think I did hear this elsewhere but I can barely remember.

[@Whimsykiller]

@@oluftheexplorer9476 Jocrab

[@oluftheexplorer9476]

@@Whimsykiller Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@gothickyuteness4091]

CritCrab is eventually going to end up having so many cross-overs that the artist who makes the Crab sprites is going to own his bank account.

[@CritCrab]

This is true

[@socatoansoldier9984]

I wonder what I’d look like as a crab🤔

[@LocalMaple]

@@socatoansoldier9984 Same…

[@goldenpaladin]

@@socatoansoldier9984 i would have a helmet as a shell because i am a hermit crab that always plays a knight or samurai

[@JaelinBezel]

@@goldenpaladin so…. a kabuto?

[@APerson-ws4cw]

I had one player announce that their character was leaving the party because he wasn't in the spotlight. He wasn't in the spotlight because another player had just joined, and I wanted to give them a solid introduction. I gave this player that exact same treatment, and he had only joined *last session.* He was somehow surprised when I just kicked him from the campaign altogether after that stunt.

[@King_Of_Midgard]

With super new players, I could see that kinda acting out being due to them not understanding the concept of a spotlight session and feeling like they got ditched out the gate, but if they had any sorta experience with DND whatsoever, they're prolly Main-Character Syndrome Incarnate. Either way, good on you for extinguishing that match before it became a wildfire.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

I didn't get a spotlight session, I thought about it after dropping in on two random games and made a character worthy of protagonist status, then played that in the group I wanted to join. Awidan Abdi-ili is an extremely honorable gladiator who once lead an uprising against the Cult of Tiamat (which he still firmly believes in even though he disagrees with every single other person practicing his faith) and remains psychologically dependent on the party for validation, taking their wellbeing as his only priority from the moment he met them in the middle of a bloody street brawl.

[@APerson-ws4cw]

@@King_Of_Midgard this guy wasn't a new player, he was just new to this campaign. The player who had been introduced that session was new however, and is still in my campaigns :D

[@Ailieorz]

It was the best decision. I can't stand those players

[@effeffiagonalick5078]

"I'm leaving!" "Okay!" [surprised Pikachu face]

[@aurora5481]

The fighter was playing D&D like a video game, but less in the "put a pot over the shopkeep's head and crouch in the middle of an open field" way and more in the "skip cutscenes I'm not in" way. Also explains the rules-lawyering over anything bad happening to her thing.

[@WyvernTheLost]

*Aggressively spam crouching while spinning in circles in a corn field*

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@WyvernTheLost Eldritch Knight: "I cast Fire Ball twice on the Corn Field with my Action Surge, then teleport in the tavern for a drink... There's a crazy person spinning in the Inferno Corn Field, so they will pay for stepping on the farmer's land."

[@airplanemaniacgaming7877]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 "wait, why is there a pot on the shopkeeper's head?"

[@cthulwho9125]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 but.. but you can't Cast fire Ball twice reeeee Dis is Joke.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@cthulwho9125 Eldritch Knight: "Make that 4 Fire Balls." Not Fire Balls strictly speaking, but the EK can cast 4 Spells + Bonus Action a Non Spell (or 1 Bonus Action Spell/2 Cantrips/2 Spells) in one turn and two off turns... With the right Feats. Tunnel Fighting Fighter Style can make that combo even more effective but sadly... Tunnel Fighter might be retconed... So, Blind Fighter + the Alert Feat or Unarmed Combat + the Tavern Brawler Feat are the next best choice, for me. Especially with the Human/Variant Human and the Eberon Warforged (Not the Unearth Arcana Warforged Sub Races.)

[@Viatorai]

"And thus, did the olive branch wither and die." Chuckes 14 times.

[@RommyRayne]

Remember... remember us...

[@tom-xz4ox]

Remember that we once lived...

[@amanofculture3498]

Specifically 14?

[@cell0401]

I was eating when I heard this and as well had just started the game XD I almost spit everything out cuz I did *not* expect that XD

[@notazombie...notatall8577]

I think it also caught on fire, and was reduced into ashes.

[@CrispysTavern]

The dream duo is back. Today is a good day indeed.

[@jefferyschroeder3104]

I was coming here to say exactly that. And who should it be but my other favorite storyteller.

[@eldritchdumbass]

You took the words out of my mouth!

[@peterlane7128]

We must petition the Lord of Crabs to get you on this show too

[@kevinmay7935]

Agreed Peter Lane, Crispy Crab must be realized!

[@stickman6628]

Crispy I you're great keep doing what you doing

[@knowwhoiamyet]

Can you imagine having the audacity to ride your DM's back and make sure they don't do anything that could possibly hurt your little precious character, and then blow up at them for coddling you? I don't have faith that the Fighter will get better, because they have already expressed a profound lack of awareness and likely are flat out incapable of seeing themselves as the villain of this tale.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

Me: "My Character died. I don't intent to create "new" characters. So... I'll just erase this Character Sheet and create a better version of this dead character, who might die again... And again." DM: Looks at the character sheets in the trash ben from 6 players throughout the campaign. "I've made a new suggestion..."

[@slowlearner46]

W*man moment Before the simps start cracking their knuckles and type at me, this is a joke. Any gender can be an absolutely horrid player/DM

[@Eye_Of_Odin978]

Yeah, can't relate. Danger makes my campaigns all the more interesting. I specifically ride my DM's back about TRYING to kill my character off every chance I get. It's all in good fun and most DM's laugh at my inane obsession with trying to maim, seriously injure, and even kill my characters.

[@mocaroll143]

@@slowlearner46 I'm going to crack my knuckles and type at you😤😤

[@dawidscheffler7152]

It is a weird concept because, the people I play with, tend to actively hurl our characters into situations where we are likely to BE maimed, traumatized, etc. for the sake of a fun time and solid story.

[@LunDruid]

Jocat: "If you are giving your criticism in a way that makes the subject not wanna listen to you, your criticism has failed." Yes. This. Absolutely this. Let this echo throughout the entire internet.

[@Scruffy-qi3ik]

But than there’s the people who don’t listen to criticism regardless too

[@mrroboshadow]

theres also another saying that goes "you can be right but wrong at the top of your voice" what you say may be valid but if your attitude is aggressive, condescending or whatever its not gonna get across

[@Davtwan]

@@Scruffy-qi3ik Yes, but improving communication will give those people no leg to stand on. More and more people will realize they’re nuts while you sit there calm, composed, and clear.

[@mackerelmafia2898]

@@Scruffy-qi3ik Citation: Norman Boutin

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

A lot more people understand this than understand that YOU have to WANT to listen to criticism in order receive constructive criticism, as nothing will convince someone to open the gates of their mental fortress if they already suspect everyone who doesn't agree is an enemy. But that is the step up after you're out of the quicksand.

[@CloudsAndDays]

3:38 Something about these crabs angrily holding their claws up at each other is just… so incredibly funny to me-

[@Hinatazuki]

🤌 feels like this lol

[@topazcoyote5482]

Thanks for that. I don't know how I missed that. XD

[@arthurluna6189]

Even the JoCat's hat is angry.

[@TheGeth18]

Honestly, I love these “Crabside Chats” mid-post, it’s nice hearing multiple opinions on the same topic.

[@TheRyanjones]

I would love more of these. Maybe even re-dos of older stories with these.

[@Frank11111]

Beachside 🎅

[@whitevii1533]

It also makes the content more than just a shameless Reddit repost

[@stevedowdy1]

10:20 I'm not sure I'd really class that as 'railroading'. The impression I got was that the players (and therefore their characters) didn't have the local knowledge they would need to properly plan what they were attempting to do, so the DM provided an NPC to give them information and advice. Now if the NPC was saying "you _must_ do A,B, and C", then that would be bad, but it sounded more like the NPC was saying something like "your plan to do D,E, and F isn't going to work because of G,H, and I", and I don't really see that as railroading - or at least not _bad_ railroading - just the DM making sure that whatever plan the players eventually came up with actually had a chance of working rather than being doomed to failure because of the players' ignorance of the world.

[@mimic3872]

Yeah, to me it mostly seemed like a brainstorming session on how to aproach the problem with the NPCs being a backup so that they won't do anything lethal to them. It was said that the NPCs gave few ideas as well but ultimatly they went with one of the player's ideas

[@dorsetaddick]

I totally agree with you. But I will also say that whether it's railroading or not really doesn't matter that much. I see a lot of people criticising DMs for the slightest hint of "railroading" - including CritCrab, Matt Colville and many others. On this occasion, the potential "railroading" seems totally warranted. The way I see it the fighter had obviously come up with a terrible plan - the OP says this is the case. However, as newer players the OP and the Druid might have felt uncomfortable pointing this out, therefore it falls to the DM (via an NPC) to explain why this wouldn't work. As a DM I would NEVER put my players in a situation which is not fun for them or an almost certain TPK due to one of them forcing a whacky plan on the group. This is far too much of a cost just for the sake of "not railroading" the players.

[@ayf449]

I agree i think it's more of a "your actions have consequences" situation and the consequences of their plans could be on their favour or against it. Just because the players present a couple of ideas doesn't mean you have to cater the situation around their minimum or the only effort they are willing to put. Can't tell em there is a seven headed dragon watching the sky from every single angle then just let their "We're gonna fly in" plan work like that dragon doesn't exist.

[@TheRacoonGhost]

even if its a you must do AB and C its not necessarily railroading, Linear adventures are a thing. railroading is when the DM is ignoring player actions to force the narrative/events that they have all ready prepared to happen.

[@chrism6315]

Critcrab is very entertaining, and I'm sure they're a good dm. They say some really dumb shit from time to time though. Not understanding railroading being a prime example.

[@thelonleyUchiha1]

Joe’s sprite is the best thing...if you get anymore cross overs on your channel I hope we get to see more crabified sprites of your guests

[@CritCrab]

I will not rest until all of my friends evolve to crab

[@TheTokuMemer]

Crossover you mean Crabover

[@elizabethsweetdreams1253]

Kinda wanna see Den of Drake as Crab

[@Manicies]

Carcinization is a powerful force my friend

[@thegreatstoneddragon9432]

How would you crabify a kobold? Genuinely curious.

[@relentless41]

The dm in this story was wise enough to leave the table to cool off, secondly I'm glad the dm in this story was responsible & wise enough to not take out his wrath on his players with a rage fueled tpk or killing her character in an unfair way in game.

[@brachialtick6539]

Well he should have kicked her out.

[@silviahodorogea9921]

Didn't the DM just quit the game? I mean OP told the others that the DM needed to cool off, but the DM said that he was done with it. And I never played, so I don't know if this is normal, but is the DM supposed to get involved in the player's choices like this? The OP said that the DM kept shutting down the the suggestions of all 3 players.

[@Vietmike]

As a usually-permanent DM, I end up being the 'veteran' player in a lot of the tables I play at- usually the tables I play at are ran by some of my own players DMing for the first time. I honestly think a little bit of railroading helps all parties especially when relative newcomers are involved. When done in proper amounts, it helps keeps the players on track, helps keep the DM focused, and helps keep the narrative focused and concise. I usually find myself opposite of the fighter in this situation- since I'm used to talking so much as the DM, when I'm a player I actively try to avoid the spotlight. A lot of veteran players end up falling into roles of leadership in parties of newcomers because of their respective experience, but in my opinion that should only light a fire under your ass to make sure the guys and gals under your wing are having a good time. For me at least, D&D is only fun when your friends are having fun too.

[@LuanMower55]

I agree with you 100%; dms set the boundaries and objectives, and give the push to get things going, but if the party strays too far off path, a little railroad is more than welcome.

[@WobblesandBean]

I only agree with the railroading thing if you're with a group of newbies. If it's a mixed party with a few veterans, I feel it's better to avoid it and let the newcomers learn as they go, or better yet, ask the seasoned players as that really helps foster the group dynamic.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

As a Solo Player/DM... Lord Book is God... Outside of that, I just hang back and go with the flow with other players, as a player.

[@ArDeeMee]

It is also important to note that players shouldn‘t FORCE their DM to railroad. Running aimlessly through the scenery and ignoring every single story hook trying to hurl itself at you is just rude. DnD is collaborative storytelling. If you don‘t collaborate, what is even the point? (Johnny Chiodini)

[@laurence_lookmyr]

Yeah I get the same thing. Not a perma dm just a player with 12ishh years playing. I have an awful habit of trying to get the spotlight off of me in as short of a timeframe as possible unless it’s helping another player highlight their character. I think it’s equally a bad habit as it can make me come off as uninterested in the game or not into the story. That’s rarely if ever the case, but I can see how it can come off that way. Regardless I’m working on finding that in between but FUCK that’s difficult lol. Used to always be glad to run with a spotlight for probably longer than I should. Seem to have rubber banded too hard in the opposite direction.

[@megadude967]

Call me a cynic, but I doubt the fighter was actually feeling railroaded, or at the very least was using it as a reason to be mad her idea wasn't accepted right away. This is based on the potrait painted by the story so far, her immediate sullenness on her plan being rejected, and on the fact that when asked she could not name where they had been railroaded, only just reiterate her point.

[@ArawnNox]

I had that sort of thing happen at a table once with a new friend. He started to get angry that his ideas weren't being listened to. Rather than do the placative "Well my ideas aren't, either." I just looked at him and told him, "You're taking it personally, calm down." it took a firm repeat of the phrase but he let it go and later apologized for his behavior as he was dealing with a lot of stress and was taking it out on the group. Got a handshake and we've been good friend since.

[@shiningdagr]

I had a similar thought to it. It feels more like the fighter was the one trying to do the railroading and then when the others didn't go with her plan she got angry and started looking for a reason to be angry at the dm. Even with previous things with intentionally announcing her leaving to ruin moments and stuff like that she was pretty much trying to do the railroading as a player. She wanted to be the MC and any time she wasn't she looked for a way to change that.

[@owlcat9692]

i don't believe the fighter felt railroaded either, esp since she had a habit of disengaging from decison-making and leaving everything up to the original poster. and it's ridiculous to claim that the dm is coddling the characters when she panicked every time her character was in danger

[@JuanPalomoM]

Any person who is right and has arguments will relish the chance to explain themselves (and bask in their rightness). If you can’t do that… chances are you’re talking shit😁

[@dragomirfrost199]

If your “friend” is threatening to leave you because their not allowed to harass you anymore with insults, I’m not sure they really are a friend, it feels like Mabye it’s just surgarcoated so they can bully you for free

[@360entertainment2]

That’s exactly it!

[@spesmarine42]

It's obvious when you think about it

[@chiak333]

The term is gaslighting... these people are superior to you and just want to put everyone down

[@a-goblin]

"whenever there's a problem, it should be *both of you versus that problem,* not you versus the other person" truer words were never spoken

[@xanderlewell]

From the moment you say hello to a new character, you have to be prepared to say goodbye to them. Whether through retiring them, or due to an unfortunate end; any character that cannot die feels disingenuous.

[@poolturtle5772]

A character must always leave in some way. Sometimes, they ascend to legend status after death or die saying everyone. In other times, the character retires and lives a peaceful life on the farm or become mentors of some sort or literally become Divine.

[@papadikolov1378]

not if you're me, my characters never die, the campaign does or my schedule shifts, ha haaaaa, i've never seen the end of a campaign :)

[@qualandrew201494]

@@poolturtle5772 My char has survived semi tpks all camp. hes the ONLY char to be an original party. so now he plays paranoid AF where hes calculating escape routes and always semi god status now due to his spell list. but i enjoy it

[@apossiblyhereticalalphaleg3595]

@@qualandrew201494 Having characters survive a semi-TPK is always fun with what might happen from then forward, it leaves a connecting string to the start and room to grow in the future

[@mochiandturtles5642]

Is it bad that if my char. dies, she just comes back as an NPC?

[@urielseptim910]

Oh boy, I sure love main character players! One I know was playing this monk that was a noble trying to build this temple for his religion. I was playing a cleric mountain dwarf, and there were a few others I can't remember. The monk was doing all of this cool stuff through some sort of obscure rule or whatever, and the DM was new so he made stuff harder than it should have been for our level. The monk could destroy three of these tentacle whatever creatures at once, but I couldn't even hit one of them with Inflict Wounds (I had a wisdom of 18). He constantly kept doing all of this stuff and taking the spotlight from everyone. He was also using this dice rolling app instead of actually rolling dice (we were playing together at a table) and he was getting suspiciously lucky. Never rolled below a 13. I was doing nothing three quarters of the session.

[@AzureKyle]

Yeah, cheating usually goes hand in hand with MC players

[@buckettproductions6253]

@@AzureKyle gotta get that plot armor somehow!

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

I mean, if you play with four players, doing nothing for three quarters is par for the course.

[@bobthebox2993]

What's scary is that this situation sounds a lot like our would-be campaign that never started because everyone is too busy with university. I wanted to play a monk that tries to become a diety by getting NPCs to worship him. The DM for that campaign never DMed before (in fact, the whole group is quite new). He asked the group we were planning to play with, if it was alright if the story would be centered around my character. I immediately came out and told him that would be a bad idea, as it can easily lead to the other players feeling left out. Like I said, the campaign never got off the ground, but it's really weird how this comment explains how that campaign could have gone. "I'm in this comment and I don't like it"

[@WobblesandBean]

It's always easy to tell cheaters, especially if you're playing online. That's why I like Roll20, you cannot cheat cuz DMs will usually insist on all rolls being done in the client chat.

[@hyenapack5981]

Honestly I recognized the story immediately that you told before. I still watched it regardless happily. I am new dm and I’m learning a lot of good lessons on what NOT to do as a dm or a player. Thank you and keep up the good work.

[@fyreoblar]

There are two big things for dming. Make sure that everyone is having fun and remember you are part of the game too, so you should be having fun as well.

[@anacsadder]

On the subject of the Fighter using the word "railroading" to complain that no one was listening to her ideas: I have heard people throw around "railroading" to complain about reasonable boundaries the DM is trying to enforce. Given that the Fighter came up with a plan that was too elaborate to have a good chance of succeeding, and the Fighter has a history of freaking out whenever her character is in a little bit of danger, I'm thinking the DM was just trying to find an in-character way to direct the Fighter away from a genuinely bad idea. If the Fighter was the sort that could ENJOY trying something, failing, and then trying to fix the failure, I would say the DM should have let her try. If she was going to try, and then get angry and complain when she failed, it's very reasonable for the DM to nudge her away from something he knows is a bad plan. I guess it is technically "railroading," but I wouldn't use that word to describe it.

[@SharmClucas]

Agreed if this was a more experienced group, sometimes it can be fun to watch a Leeroy Jenkins crash and burn, but this is the sort of thing that can be super depressing for the new players, it's not a good way to introduce the game to them.

[@mimic3872]

Yeah, something I thought of as well. Seemed to me like Fighter was the type of player that EXPECTS the DM to give them massive plot armor so any bad plan has no chance of backfiring

[@davidfollett6522]

"I want to leap up to the prison window bars fifteen feet in the air wearing my full plate mail armor and smash it open with my warhammer without alerting the guards and climb back down the vertical wall carrying the prisoner. If that doesn't work, I'll seduce the guards into letting us escape with the prisoner... what do you mean I can't do that!?" I imagine this is how the conversation kinda went down with the way it was described as "all the planets must be perfectly aligned just right for it to work"

[@thomasfeatherstone8817]

I genuinely thought it was weird, the last time I tried to destroy the BBEG early, was enjoyable. We genuinely didn't care, we were all frustrated when the DM brought a dragon, to help us. I was so frustrated, and it lost a lot of surrealism, because the dice meant nothing. Let your players die of stupidity.

[@duanevp]

"Railroading" is when you don't even get to turn - you don't even get choices or options. You roll along the rails and go only where they go. Either possible turns simply never appear, or if they do then you can't actually TAKE them. Throwing the switch to take the side track doesn't work because it either rejoins the main track immediately or the switch is broken and there is only the appearance of having had a choice. You go ONLY where the DM wants it to go. It isn't always a negative thing as such - when the players WANT to go where the DM is leading them, _there_ _isn't_ _a_ _problem_ . It's when the players become increasingly desperate to go in ANY other direction than the DM demands that they go that it rapidly becomes a serious issue. In the situation described the DM is letting the players EXPLORE options. Some possibilities are considered and not just outright rejected but illustrated as still being problematic and the players should continue to come up with ideas. This IS how the game works. In a railroad analogy, the PC's have come to a very large switchyard. There are now _many_ choices of tracks to take, and not all of them will lead to where EITHER the DM or the players want to go. One or more of the many choices will lead to an acceptable destination for everyone - but it will take time and discussion to determine which. What the fighter was suddenly demanding is for their personal idea to be the one that works, that other people at the table acknowledge they only rejected their idea for petty or even vindictive reasons, and that the DM actually BEGIN to railroad by eliminating all the extraneous possibilities that wouldn't work. It wasn't until the fighters idea was declined that the fighter player suddenly again became "bored" and upset as they had in the past. Main character syndrome indeed. The fighter wants to be the Mary Sue who always leads (when _they_ feel like it - and not to even be bothered when they don't, with others in the game being responsible for knowing which mood they're in without even asking), always has the ideas that everyone agrees with, and probably also is always the one who is personally responsible for everyone's success in other ways. When the MS character deigns to become engaged then everyone is supposed to KNOW to defer to them and their choices. When the character/player does not engage then it's the DM's fault for not magically knowing that they and their PC must always BE engaged, lest they become "bored" and therefore upset that the game has stopped revolving around their PC and them as a player personally. An actual railroad situation would not have had the DM permitting ANY ideas to work unless they followed the narrow selection of choices that would be the ONLY ones that worked, not simply the ones that would work best. In making plans especially to get through dangerous events successfully it may not be full of action, but again IT IS THE GAME to spend the time to work through possibilities. It lets players maximize the abilities that their characters have, to minimize their deficiencies, and to make the upcoming sequence of actions more likely to result in success, not simply plow ahead recklessly without care or caution on the assumption that it's the DM's responsibility to make such reckless decisions always work and always safeguard PC from the consequences of that kind of stupidity. The final test of an unwanted railroad is for the players to say, "THIS is what our characters do," only to have the DM say, "NO! You can't do that! What your characters do instead is this..." or, "This OTHER thing is what your characters are supposed to do because nothing else is going to work - and I won't LET anything but that work." That is, the DM reveals that there truly _aren't_ any choices of direction - only the _unbroken_ parallel rails heading only where the DM insists that the train may go.

[@darkfalcon7856]

I love JoCat's little avatar, it's a nice blend of his "signature" mark and crab. Also, you're both right, the fighter was being rather... difficult... and the rest of the group handled that breaking point very maturely. (side note: I'm loving the Makeship crab plushie ^^)

[@mokko759]

Main Characters are always a pain to deal with. They are narcissists by nature and they make for pretty miserable campaigns. You can't reason with or compromise with them. Fighter was just plain disrespectful and rude to everybody at the table. DM extended the olive branch but Fighter took it and beat DM with it. D&D/ Pathfinder/ literally any tabletop RPG, is a group event. Each player should have their moment in the spotlight, no one player should be the focus for the majority of the game. If a Main Character threatens to leave, hold the door open for them. They only thing you'll lose is a headache.

[@SageDarkwind]

DM: "I need to cool off so I don't take it personally." Fighter: "And I took *THAT* personally."

[@ulvemann43]

16:00 I love how you can hear Crit's brain blue screen for a moment. "Wait, that's actually a word"

[@NuraSoulX]

While the discussion here is great, I love that JoCat is represented as a hermit crab using the wiggly mask as his shell. That's actually funny and memorable from a design perspective.

[@poksil2368]

I unfortunately, AM a player that is way too attached to my character. I realized this a little while ago when my DM was discussing what players we were going to use after this campaign, I freaked out and kept asking why we couldnt use our current players. (Im in AL). Having only a d6 hit dice (Dragonborn Sorc) I was very cowardly in combat and loved the spell Blink. I always looked for a way to solved situations non-violently. I put a lot of time and effort to creating the character, but now I understand that my character IS expendable, and just because she "Died" in this campaign doesnt mean she is actually dead.

[@Konpekikaminari]

Same, I know it's the nature of the game But the emotional investment is there

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

Clearly... My Immortal Character never dies... I just recreate that same Character because dieing to a Boar 30+ times at lv1 was interesting, as a lv1 Human Fighter.

[@TheBonkleFox]

No no you don't get it if you die in the game you die for real haven't you seen Dark Dungeons? "Debbie, get out of here! You don't exist anymore!"

[@crimsonwizahd2358]

@@TheBonkleFox But did you attack the Darkness by casting Magic Missile? "WHERE'S THE CHEETOS?"

[@demoulius1529]

Big difference between trying not to die in-character (which makes sense) and trying to bend rules to avoid any kind of harm overcoming you. Sounds like the Fighter was doing the latter and its just silly and disruptive.

[@TheRuneTail]

I love how the Wiggler's eye expressions match Jo's eyes

[@bbd121]

More CritCrab and JoCat team ups! ... Maybe with JoCrap suddenly butting in and tearing heads off.

[@NecroTree-vm5oj]

YES!!

[@SingeScorcher]

As a little aside on the railroading. I don't see it as railroading if the conversations along the lines of: PC "Couldn't we do X to Y so that Z will happen." NPC "Nahh, Y doesn't have the influence for that to effect Z." That kind of stuff reads to me as a little nudge of the dm saying that plan won't go according to plan because of world info you are currently unaware of. Probably a DM thinking they're about to kick a hornet's nest and might face a tpk.

[@InsanoRider777]

Also, if the players ask for a NPC's opinion on a plan, it makes zero sense for the NPC to not provide it. That's not railroading at all.

[@danielmbg]

Agreed, plus it's something that would happen in a real conversation, the NPCs would have opinions on the plans and whatever, as long as the DM doesn't try to influence the players on doing his plan, it's ok to give input, that's not railroading.

[@The_Brainsturgeon]

The hermit crab in JoCat's sock puppet is genious!

[@CrowePerch]

This is fantastic. Crab ending the year with another banger video. Love to see it

[@RealmsoftheOverseer]

I do to crow. Well said and also, how are you? Still flying well?

[@ShonicBurn]

This whole chat helped me get some perspective on life. I have a guy I know who's mad at me because he has a bit of main character syndrome going IRL he never listens to any advice I give him and he spends all his time trying to outdo me on everything. The other day I corrected him on a small thing (this was after he spent 15 minuets correcting me on just as small of things) and he blew up at me and just left in the middle of a group, he said no one likes me and that I'm impossible to work with and complained that I was always trying to put him down. Well I've been working with a few other people besides him and things are going good in fact I actually feel a bit better without him around as often problem is we work together so it kind of requires that we be a team so I've been contemplating how to repair the relationship. Your talk helped me see that keeping my cool through it all even after everything he said doesn't mean that I have bad for him trying to "punish me with his silent treatment" and that maybe should give him some more space before I try and iron things out.

[@viderevero1338]

Wish you the best of luck 🤞

[@iambumbo7534]

either that or you cut them off cuz this feels a lil yike

[@littlemoth4956]

He’s most likely a narcissist

[@cbohnstedt4477]

I can't help but wonder what happens if someone watches one of these videos and realizes they're the bad guy from one of the stories.

[@seankelly3540]

I like watching the main character ones, because as a result of out-of-game circumstances my character became the major focus of the story, and it's my first campaign I'm still learning to walk that line. Every time I recognize a bit of myself in these I take a mental note, sometimes talk to my DM or party about it, and just sorta try to be better

[@therealratking8928]

These side chats sound like a podcast and I am absolutely here for it, I love it, Happy New Years!

[@thefairy6884]

The romance between my character and another player's character literally started as an in-party joke that we all just decided to make canon. Our characters took turns teleporting themselves to the fucking moon since one person had to be on the magic circle to bring the one on the moon back. My ranger was still suffering from what I call "space chills" when the party's monk was brought back, and the monk decided the best was to help warm up was via BODY HEAT ( he literally just held her close to warm her and himself up). Our fellow party members started joking around about it, and after a bit of playful urging, we made it canon, and hopefully, we'll be able to work on that romance arc when the campaign starts back up.

[@sebastianseverino9552]

Just got my CritCrab plush in the mail today and I absolutely love it. A little crabby goodness to being in the new year

[@norielsylvire4097]

I used to play a character that insulted everyone. They weren't just swearwords but actually funny and well thought insults that were more likely to cause players to laugh than to make them angry and I only insulted the player's characters at the beginning to let them know my character and in a playful mood, and later only insulted baddies and some times friendly NPCs without being a nuisance to the party. Insulting characters can be done and can be fun. I also balanced my character's insults to other player characters in the beginning by "unintentionally" humiliating my character, like getting drunk and waking up on a pool of piss after a long rest sort of thing.

[@shirlot]

Generally, the most “insulting” that I have done on a character is I made one character who was a full-fledged fey, so they called all humanoids “humes”. Humans were humes, kobolds were scaley humes, elves were lithe humes, dwarves were short humes, orcs were scary humes. Orcs didn’t really like being referred to as that, since they thought I was calling them humans.

[@forgenorman3025]

A friend of mine made a snobby owlin bard that would give backhanded compliments to people as her Bardic Inspiration. Sadly the campaign fizzled out but I hope she can bring that character back because she was hilarious.

[@abbyf763]

Ok. I simply adore this art style!!! Omg! It’s so cute!

[@NassiLove]

“How dare he not consider how I feel when I don’t care in the slightest about how anyone else feels including him?”

[@thisaccountdoesnotexist7142]

THE JOCRAB HAS RETURNED 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

[@SteenatheCatrobat]

From personal experience with over-attachment to characters, it is completely normal to feel that way especially if your OC is your baby or from a book you're writing or is some sort of coping mechanism for you. These symptoms also get worse if you're dealing with a DM who doesn't give you "closure" or a "way out" if something happens to your character. For example, your character dies and your party moves on like nothing happened. What happened to me in my case was that the DM was very controlling of everyone's PCs to a point where she tried to essentially dictate what was canon for them OUTSIDE of the game. We weren't allowed much freedom to decide what happens to them if we retired our characters, which doesn't make sense as if they're no longer part of the game you should be able to do what you want with them. At that point, the issue was no longer about me being possessive with my character as much as the DM's desire for control at the time. So of course, that will make over-attachment symptoms worse as the player will buckle down or resist. There needs to be communication and trust with the DM and the player, and a communication of boundaries. A session zero will definitely help. And creating an environment where trust and communication is open on both sides. In a case like mine, I have a character I am nervous about playing with in any game now. She was my first and I'm mostly trying to make a webtoon with her and another character. If she were to die in game, because of how sensitive and attached I am to her, I would cry and probably not be in the mood to play for a long time. I used to get so scared of things happening to her that it would give me anxiety attacks between turns. What I would need to do is explain this to my DM before it becomes a problem, and tell them my past bad experiences with DND. There, we can discuss boundaries of what would be needed and expected of one another. This may mean my DM simply acknowledging that I need time and space from the game, or making sure my PC has a funeral if they die. Having that level of trust there will make everything easier and your player and DM more relaxed. And ya'll can go back to having fun playing. But that is speaking in a situation that is normal and healthy. The player described in the first story essentially assumed everyone was out to get her, which is why she likely lashed out in character and out of character. Edit: Also noticing some narcesisstic traits on her end, with her blatant disrespect and disregarding of other people's playing experiences. Especially with the character romance thing. That's something that happened between mine and a friend's character, and while the expereince was spontaneous and came naturally, it was consensual and I would have respected the wishes of the player in either direction. I'm just lucky that not only did her character fall in love with mine in return over time, but I also made a very good friend who I love very much. Edit 2: Hearing more of this story reminds me so much of how my past DM was like. She straight up wouldn't let people have their space and kept harassing them in private. I really feel for the DM in this story. They actually tried their best to work things out maturely.

[@littlemoth4956]

“I used to get so scared of things happening to her that it would give me anxiety attacks between turns” Jesus christ, seek help.

[@anvec6145]

"and thus does the olive branch wither and die" relatable moments

[@LibraDoSuquin]

16:32 THE WATER FINALLY COVERS ALL LAND (Also, I love the video)

[@ravenRedwake]

It would be funny if you guys “passed the conch” shell and had your crab-itars scuttle into the conch shell.

[@lookitshaiiro]

Watching these videos makes me realize that I do some of these things on accident or subconsciously. I'll have to work on these. Great video, keep it up!

[@lavitorroja2632]

We stan self improvement !

[@speckledjim_3369]

its when i see things like this that im grateful i have such a chill d&d group in game and out of game. good video

[@marywallace3620]

So in Critcrab's world, everyone's a crab or crustacean of sorts! I love that the JoCat Crab is a hermit crab with a dino or dragon looking shell. It's very cool and cute. Also if CritCrab and JoCat see this, I love both of your channels and I enjoy both of your videos. So thank you for this awesome crossover!

[@fugglytv7880]

MAN i love this duo. thanks for the great content Crit and Jo!!!

[@starblaze27]

I had something similar, though the DM was "the fighter" in this. He would do open world games, but if the game did not go how he wanted It, he would go off and then force railroad the game, and some of the characters to how he was wanting the characters and story to go(ie making us not play our character, not go with our backstory, or put something on us that is against our character's morality). Also outside the game, if he is alone with you, he will talk poorly about the other players(and about you when with them). He also apparently discouraged communication, mainly because if it was done you would have found out about the things he was saying about us. A year ago there was talk on starting a new game and we all were interested in doing it, only to find out a week later he decided to run one and tried to keep me in the dark. I found out of course because they had it at a game store I go to and I decided to go back home. The DM then began to talk some stuff about me to the three players there(all three of them also knew me). One of them(lets call him Bob) thought what the DM was a bit harsh and when it was pointed out that maybe DM should talk about it, DM went off the handle and after that, Bob decided to not go back to another session as well as quit D&D completely. Another one, who I will name Jake, was one that DM would always talk bad about and even said how he would never have him in a game again and was no longer friends with him, decided to bring him in only because they worked together and to try to get some of Jake's friends to later on join the game and then try to take for himself(which backfired on him). DM also tried hard to make Jake turn against me but that also failed. The last one, who I will name Steve, was also a new friend to all of us so he stayed neutral which I understood. After this incident, the game fell apart about 1-2 months later because he tried pulling the stuff he did to me to some of those friends that Jake brought in later, One thing through all of this was that while I kept saying that I will talk to DM if he wishes to come talk to me, DM would tell my friends that he would not talk to me, pretty much also hinting that he would not unless I came saying everything was my fault(including the past games never finishing). I play with a new group and sometimes we play at that store, which DM now works at as well so I do have to deal with him and I can deal with. Even now if I think we ever did talk and try to patch things up, I doubt we would ever play again. I still feel bad a little that a friendship of 10 years had to end for something such as this, but then I am reminded of the things he has said and done to me in those 10 years after our friendship ended(saying stuff to my gf 6 years ago to make her break up with me so he can get her being one of them) and I would begin to think he may not have been a friend to begin with and me and those friends were nothing but tools for himself.

[@leonielson7138]

I had an experience like this ... from the 'fighter's' perspective: my group wanted to run Tomb or Horrors, and I had absolutely no interest in that module, but I stuck with it because they wanted to do it so much! It was boring, but I stuck with it, and we made it through, and the only one who died was my flesh golem.

[@lotuslady9821]

Listening to critcrab stories with other people and seeing their avatars makes me want an animated critcrab DnD campaign played by other storytellers he’s friends with and they all have little hermit crabs/crabs in general or other animals on screen playing their characters.

[@missspectra]

Despite this being a repeated story, the dynamic still feels completely different, because you have someone there to give a second perspective. I've always respected JoCat as a D&D content creator and a DM, so the two of you working off each other made this feel fresh again. :)

[@norielsylvire4097]

I love how this video has so much wisdom. It really has given me some new perspectives on how to solve conflicts. Thank you for making this video, guys!

[@SUPERCreeperYt1]

Bro, I was expecting this crazy d&d story and then I got a therapy session.

[@zero195]

Love these crossover episodes, The Crab and Cat TTRPG Sessions. Would love to see a series or podcast like this.

[@BNRmatt]

The Fighter sounds like a narcissist or other toxic person. The DM and other players were too forgiving and would have benefited from setting firmer boundaries sooner, then just got the Fighter out of the group. This was not a friendship, this was an exploitation.

[@vcdaniels]

13:29 Pay close attn to that answer. "Stop hand-holding US through every fucking problem and maybe I'LL have a better time." Trying to gaslight the DM by using the group as a shield to hide behind just so fighter can demand the game to center HER enjoyment as the primary purpose. Nevermind how other players already specified that they were having fun. Fighter is bored, so the whole game is wrong. Maybe fighter needs to find another group more attuned to her style of play.

[@lindafreeman7030]

I'm living the animation of facial expressions on JoCat's crabitar/nodder.

[@thatoneeasilyoffendedboi1257]

Everyone when Crit Crab uploads another ft. Jocat video: *crab rave* And it the last video of the year: *CRAB RAVE INTENSIFIES*

[@KurvyKirby]

Honestly... I hope the fighter specifically sees this video, and learns. I mean, odds are astronomically slim that they see it, worse still that they learn, but it isn't *impossible*

[@tendericed2749]

I would imagine that this person wouldn't gravitate towards these videos, even though they'd surely do wonders. Or maybe he would, be it for seeking validation.

[@marooniballooni03759]

It's good to see how you two improved much better compared to the staff story from before. Nice job on both of you guys. 👍🏻

[@haddib]

I spent so long looking at the wiggler that I didn't notice that Jocat is a hermit crab

[@KenshiImmortalWolf]

i love that jocat is a hermit crab with his wiggler head as his shell

[@thomasr.6669]

3:44 I’m definitely guilty of being too attached to my character. I have two twin OCs that started basically as self-inserts that had parts of me shared/split between them but grew to be more their own characters over time. When I first started DnD, I made the male one and he has always been my go-to Lightfoot Halfling Ranger for every campaign (only about 3 campaigns overall with some oneshots). Though the latest one I did two years ago my character ended up dying only a few sessions in to a dragon crit and I was honestly devastated. And I was conflicted because I never tried different builds but my boyfriend was in it as his first DnD campaign and wanted to try it out with me. I ended up making a Dark Elf Rogue (in this campaign’s context, they are heavily discriminated against) who is also mute. And I won’t lie, the choices were made with a lot of my negative emotions in mind, and I think after the fact the muteness was an excuse for my general lack of attentiveness to the game anymore and I made a grave mistake with not knowing that you can attack a random NPC non-lethally (there’s context to why I did it that was in line with my character’s flaws), that really derailed our party’s progress. This was all online on Roll20 over a Discord call with friends btw. I had trouble paying much attention and the story I made for my Rogue and the character just got cut off after the DM brought the issues he had with me and we decided I should try and start fresh again. Very understanding guy and I feel bad for being a bother. Ended up with a Druid Dwarf next and it was a little better since it wasn’t just an edgy race/class/story combo with a mute excuse for less interaction anymore. But I still just wasn’t connecting as well to my new character as I was my first character. A time reset thing came up and me and my boyfriend were able to leave the game after sharing my grievances with my boyfriend and I’m guessing he brought up to the DM. I’m not proud of myself in that campaign and haven’t done one since. I feel I’ve grown since then and maybe a future campaign will go better for me if I ever had time for one now.

[@lostbutfreesoul]

I have one rule of thumb when it comes to player on player anything - Player Consent. Just take some time after the game to work out the ark between the two of you, but if one player says no to something - that is it.

[@Topbeehler]

I've never seen Jocat Crab before... Nearly spit out my morning coffee laughing at it out of surprise. Very nice I've always loved his and your videos.

[@greatazuredragon]

Awesome video, and happy new year.

[@SahenaSky]

I really enjoy the discussion style of this video. Two people walking through their opinions and explaining themselves makes me think critically about the situation.

[@Hinatazuki]

Especially because it’s a long story so the explaining helps break down the situation instead of reading the whole thing fast and then processing the whole bit at once

[@devingunnels3251]

Don't feel too bad, guys. Everyone has bad takes now and again. Sometimes you just need time to re-evaluation a situation.

[@ultimateprogamer5843]

I've been playing DnD with some friends and they have said I had "Main Character Syndrome" I'm very apologetic when it gets called out as I don't mean to be the center of attention (it's usually due to overly detailed spell or character action descriptions and over doing it with my character's quirks). This video has helped me out quite a bit with that with all the little bits of advice you guys gave. I've done very stupid things due to being overly attached and losing control over my emotions. I have sense then patched things up with them and we still play together.

[@imagineinc.7035]

I watched this video not long after it came out, but now that I’ve been in a player character relationship, while it wasn’t intended from the beginning, me and the other player talk about our characters’ relationship often and plan ahead as to not step on any toes for either of us or any of the other players/DM. I agree that it’s very finicky, and difficult to pull off, but so long as both players agree to it, and it’s done in collaboration it can be a very fun character and even party aspect

[@shadowkissed2370]

At one point I was playing tabletop and my ex-husband (we were married at the time) was DM. Our group was mostly his friends and there was one guy in our group that character would constantly hit on my character. No matter how many times I turned his character down he would follow me around hitting on my character and trying to get her to get with his character. It frustrated me so much. Then another girl started to play with us and she developed an out-of-game crush on the player hitting on my character, so I gave her my character sheet and I made a new chracter, to the point he tried to roleplay forcing my character to sleep with him. The guy immediately dropped hitting on my old character and started hitting on my new one. I was so done and was so angry that my ex did nothing to stop what was going on, so I stopped playing. Which ruined the game for everyone else because we were playing in our home and I was not going to have this guy come into my home around my baby.

[@BoneBeastKimimaro]

"Well maybe if you'd stop with the fucking hand-holding maybe I'd have a little fun." My response: "It's funny you say that considering you screamed and cried like a baby at even just the smallest chance of your character dying. Sure sounds to me like you want a LOT of hand-holding." Also would probably point out that everyone other than her is a beginning player and NEEDS a little direction, as you guys say.

[@Anothergingerguyontheinternet]

That double "ooooh" at 13:47 tells you everything.

[@jimbojambo6199]

I need a podcast , not a pod of a campaign but a pod of these two just vibin, oooh and some specials could be like lil one shots

[@BlackRosesBloom-Emily_Rose]

I would recommend only going into "relationship arcs" with your SO. My boyfriend and I had an adorable romance between a human Druid (woman) and a dragonborn Barbarian (man). The girl was a runaway slave from the Underdark. As such, she had very little language knowledge (I made it so she didn't even speak Common well enough to communicate properly; she only knew Undercommon) and was very innocent. The barbarian was an evil character who was a bounty hunter, and he was incredibly confused as to what this human even was, or why he thought she was kind of attractive until she got to do a "makeover" for a mission so she didn't look like an unkempt little rat girl (I say affectionately). It was the "Princess Diaries" reveal scene kind of thing, and their relationship took off from there lol

[@JohnkyTonkbadonkadonk]

My friends and I were on Ark Survival Evolved, and we had just finished a run on one map, and moved to another. We all agreed that we would start solo, and tribe up with the first person we meet in game. Being the one with the most free time, I ended up logging on and getting settled on the map. Eventually, Player 2 got on and began his adventure. While we talked in chat, we tried real hard not to hint at where we were or what we were doing as to not reveal our locations to keep with the chance encounter idea. I went to get a supply drop, and there was P2! So, we tribed up. In the old map, we were in different tribes so we were excited to work together. An hour or two later, P3 and P4 log on. P3, having just got home from a party, was a bit drunk. When he heard that P2 and I were tribed up, he started giving me a hard time. At first I thought it was playful teasing, like we always do. Known eachother for over 15 years, so I'm used to it. He eventually just snapped and started yelling at me for stealing his tribemate and best friend, and that I never even gave him a chance to play before to happened. P2 explains that we all agreed on what the rules were, and we were just playing along. P3 chilled out, for now. In game, he became more and more irritable, screaming when P4 accidentally knocked down a 'sacred tree' near P3s base, saying he ruined the most important thing in P3's life, and he went back to yelling at me, saying that how he was feeling was all my fault calling me a count, without the o. Eventually I just shut off my mic and just did my own thing for a while. Eventually P3 went to bed, and the rest of us had a pretty intense conversation afterward where I decided I wasn't going to talk to P3 for a while cause I needed that space. Started meeting up again a few weeks later, but I don't think the friendship can be what it once was. We're cool and all, but there's a bitterness to it..

[@jamesmklinkhammer1]

I didn’t know you collab with others that’s so dope keep up the good content!

[@Crocogator]

The asides between you two are great. More of this!

[@zoefurlong8031]

I remember that my DM would sometimes do something similar to tv episodes where one campaign is centered around one or two players and then switch it up in the next campaign so everyone got to be in the spot light. These episodes would make the game fun and it pushes players to develop their regular characters.

[@LocalMaple]

3:05 About an abrasive character who is negative. That’s… my DM. And he does it well. Let me explain; TLDR after the hyphens. -- My first campaign was with DM. He couldn’t do voices, but was awesome at vibes. He could pull off a convincing sleazy politician, timid chief, Orc Warchief, paranoid warlock, and more. My second campaign, he is a player, and the DM is running HotDQ. Due to scheduling, we were the only two in our session 0.5. My character was a Fairy, but had a cloak she could tuck her wings inside. With her hood up, people could easily mistake her for a short 6 year old who used glitter for makeup, or an immature Halfling, or an elf if they see her ears… Her personality varies: she tries to act like nobility, and can use her isolated city as her Far Traveler-All Eyes on You trait; but because she is new to the outside world, she can get excitable easily. Alignment: Chaotic Neutral with her love of freedom and the excitable antics, but Lawful Good when using her elite persona. I was warped in (Exiled actually) straight into a guard barracks, and convinced them of my purpose and higher standing. That is, until we stepped outside and I saw a sandy beach with a port, a large ship coming in. As I regained composure from running my shoes through the sand, DM’s character steps off the boat. Bard Edgelord. He didn’t trust the sailors with his gear, carrying his stuff off himself. When he learned we were both hired for the same job, he gave me a backhanded compliment involving my apparent age. Next, we were invited into a shop. Imagine my Fairy’s reaction to an entire store filled with wind up and tinker toys. I actually rolled Wisdom to see how badly she reacted: 5 minutes of squealing adoration and she revealed her wings to fly to the higher shelves. Bard: I’m watching and following her, making sure she doesn’t shoplift. After I calm down, I tucked my wings back in, had a friendly yet formal discussion with the shopkeeper, and negotiate not for a toy but for a book on the history of this land. I end up trading a green dragon scale (Fairy didn’t know about/have money) for a book on Bahamut and Metallic dragons. As we leave the shop, we (plus a guard and cleric) get ambushed by cultists and kobolds. A cultist went first and cast a spell, which set DM Edgelord off. He began muttering about how they didn’t deserve this power, and cast Sleep within close quarters. The Kobolds succumbed, and so did both our fighter and cleric (cultists, them, and Bard all had the same HP, rolled for affect). As I tried to wake our defenders and OHKO the sleeping Kobolds, DM Edgelord slew one Cultist and almost killed another before Guard wanted to interrogate him. During the interrogation, DM Edgelord leaned in the corner, listening to the guard fail at his job. When he spoke one sentence, an intimidating bluff, the cultist began spilling the beans about being hired by a half dragon. When the DM asked me if I wanted to add anything, my Fairy said “Half Dragon, half what?” With nothing more from either of us, we ended the session heading to the local tavern, as we waited for our carriage driver to Greenest, and the rest of the hired help. -- I don’t know if former DM realized it, but he might have made his Bardic Edgelord into a surrogate father to my adult fairy who goes between formal princess and immature kid. This is, according to TVTropes: Badass and Child Duo, except my Fairy is tanky. This is going to be a fun campaign.

[@LocalMaple]

@UCnwvNLN8EG-Ud9P2vEkj9HQ Agreed about how good the DM is at this. Most of the stories about Bad Edgelords simultaneously do nothing unless directly asked (and usually still do nothing productive), and try to make everything about them and their edginess. My DM only sat in the corner once. And that was during a pseudo-scripted interrogation between 2 DMNPCs, which he actively pushed along when the guard failed to get information. He let the loud character (me) dominate the roleplay when appropriate, but would speak up if he felt I was going too slow. For example, he reiterated how he was making sure I wasn’t going to shoplift when he felt my “little kid in a toy shop” went too long. After revealing his hatred for spellcasters mid combat, he didn’t try to push out his backstory or make it about him. He didn’t give me Bardic Inspiration, but said it was due to trust issues, and the guards he might trust to do their jobs were asleep (omitted: by Bard’s own spell). He did it right, even if he didn’t imply his character can change and improve relations with time.

[@SJ-ss5bf]

Loved they saying from Jocat about problems being faced together.

[@xilliaz]

Every time I see one of these types of stories there's always that phrase "You're making my character look stupid..." What they really mean is that their decisions in character is making them feel/look stupid IRL.

[@emrysadaar3045]

Is it just me of did crit crab already do this story

[@mwhearn1]

More of this please. So much better having two minds discussing a dnd situation. I know the discussion was un scripted and a bit rambling, but that is what makes it real. Love it.

[@g-moneyg-life]

This format is great. I like having 2 experienced players talk about these things. Yalls talk was as interesting as the story tbh.

[@ZephyrKK]

I have to say this is very enlightening as someone who has played some role playing games in the past.....and as much as I hate to find is that I think that while I may not have been crazy bad, I think that while I was inexperienced I think I might have been a toxic player in the past and that makes me ashamed. Thank you for these perspectives so I can be a better player and friend because I really enjoyed playing but was probably being childish. I will use these examples to try and better myself because I don't ever want to alienate my friends.

[@TheSaladOne]

Crab brethren, raise thy arms and wave and rejoice, for we are blessed with not 1 but 2 crabs on screen!!! In all seriousness, loved the video!

[@securityg1618]

Critcrab I'm sorry, but you've read this one before. This is the DM railroading their players into a boss fight and then got angry about the fighting the boss

[@puffena9013]

I knew I had heard it before! Thought I was going crazy, scrolling past all those comments that make no mention of it.

[@AzureKyle]

So? It's being given a fresh perspective, as well as having a guest to give their own thoughts on it. Also, he probably forgot he read it once before. I know I forgot he told it already, and I'd watched the original vid.

[@arthour051]

The "Railroading into a boss fight, then DM gets angry at the players fighting Boss" was a different one to this

[@securityg1618]

@@arthour051 I meant it's from that video, sorry

[@securityg1618]

@@puffena9013 yeah it's weird

[@ash.s9975]

Didn't think we'd get a life lesson in this video but it was very nice, thank you

[@plumdowner1941]

The first *frame* of this video is horribly cursed and I love it.

[@naheemquattlebaum2267]

That's why I love running tables of new players without veterans because there's no pressure to be the "best" or a veteran taking over an entire campaign

[@poolturtle5772]

Alright, my memory is foggy and I don’t feel like going through backlog again. What was Jocat’s bad take from last time?

[@falxblade1352]

A group was screwing over their cleric, and the cleric turned against them, that is the gist of it

[@Croutonking65]

Jocat and Critcrab were over critical of OP in their first collab, trying to make him out as the problem player

[@VictoriaMartinez-lu2sc]

Jocat and the Critcrab? BEST YEAR ALREADY

[@Josh-fj9hi]

I ducking love how you animated jocat

[@deepseastonecore3017]

A walks into a black hole but doesn't seen phased.The black hole then turns to the star and says,"I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation."

[@nicothenecromancer]

Haven't heard that one before I love it

[@GBS4893]

"If you are giving crtisicism in a way that makes the subject not want to listen to you, your criticism has failed." That's one useful quote.

[@jacobmacrae2683]

i like watching these videos so i can learn from these, i've never played d&d before but i want to play it so these vids are super helpful

[@Hate_Silvia]

I thought I was having major Deja Vu. But no, you did this story lol. I know it can be pretty hard finding new stories. I myself have only have 2 stories worth telling. But haven’t posted them.