The WORST feelings in D&D

[@XPtoLevel3]

If you want a book full of magic shops and items, check out The Seekers Guide to Enchanting Emporiums! ghostfiregaming.com/XPT3_ELEE_2023_10_030

[@janelantestaverde2018]

One more added to the (increasingly long) wishlist. Thanks for recommending 👍 If you ever feel like it, a video about the coolest things players have done in your games would be really nice as well. I'm all for positive XPtoLevel3 👏 As a quick edit, that being said, I do not intend to gloss over the fact that Hasbro's management can just rot in a dumpster. I'd consider this quite a positive turn of events even.

[@LawfulBased]

Idea for a video! 😁 You play with lots of your "personalities" at a table and only one other person. And after the session of D&D, the other person leaves the room and see's a therapist, briefing them about your state of mind. Following up by the fact that this only real person who is not a personality, has ever only looked at the DM you, cause your other personalities were not at the table, like suggested in the video. 😏

[@droman608]

Chances are that THE WIZARD was the one who prepped a trapped fort with a contingency spell. #boobytrapped

[@TheDestinationzero]

Holy crapola, have y'all surpassed your goal! quickly joining cuz i want that card deck!

[@David-jw1zh]

The worst feeling about DND is actually being interested in 4th Edition and having nobody else interested in it :(

[@Louise-j3p]

"i try to attune to the staff" "you try, but you can't attune to the staff, because they've been laid off by Hasbro"

[@N0KKENWAITS]

I snorted so hard at this. well done

[@nicolebee3283]

“Can’t make it this week, sorry” is one of the worst phrases a DM can hear

[@rommdan2716]

Try hear it 3 weeks in a row

[@INeedaName-cb2qw]

Bonus points if the DM decides to cancel the game because one player can't make it.

[@TTM1895]

I DM several groups a week, and one of them is a truck driver. He makes all of the decisions by phone, and I roll the dice for him. It's pretty fun to do it that way since he hardly ever has time during normal business hours.

[@Brittanysplittany]

My DM hasn’t scheduled a session for over 8 months :/

[@janelantestaverde2018]

Eh, people have lives, every now and then those can get in the way, and I think that should be seen as normal by everybody at the table. If the same person repeatedly can't make it, or if almost the entire group isn't available, that's more discouraging. Although even here it's still a difference between when it's known long before the session or when it comes up like 2 days before 🤷‍♂️

[@Cup-hb4yk]

"We're losing money." "Sir, we have record profits. Your bonus this year is only 400k smaller." "You're right. Let me rephrase. I'm losing money. You're fired."

[@mars7304]

"Sir our writers just finished a year in which we saw record profits from all the modules and source books they wrote!" "Cool, fire half of them so I can give myself a raise. Thanks."

[@MonfangHowlett]

I always have to ask this as a default reaction. Is it record PROFITS or Revenue? There's a difference.

[@AndrewJW]

​@@MonfangHowlett Which one justifies firing 1000 people a week before Christmas

[@harrytan5579]

@@MonfangHowlett "Hasbro reported today that Magic: The Gathering revenue grew 20% in the third quarter of 2023 when compared to the same quarter in 2022. Wizards of the Coasts’ revenue as a whole grew 40% to $423.6 million (up from $303.5 million) with an operating profit of $203.4 million (up from $102.2 million)"

[@dontuserachelslurs]

​@@harrytan5579so revenue going up could mean a lot of things and not all those things could be profits going up. If you expand your businesses and don't do as well as you expect your revenue can go up but your actual profit could be worse or even negative Revenue alone doesn't paint enough of a picture to know what's going on

[@Novagats]

“Ok so you walk into this room and this happens, what do you do?” *complete and utter silence*

[@nnickplays9713]

Yeah i've seen that happened before.

[@Wildheaven93]

I've done that, but it's usually because I'm thinking of a solution to the problem at hand. Or Giving some air for the other players to discuss a solution even if the solution is evident to me.

[@peterusmc20]

I think this is something that's fine to do at some tables and others not. The group I started playing with were all very engaged and would immediately be asking questions or role-playing upon entering a new location even an empty room or immediately turning around an leaving since it seems to be empty. Later I ran for a group where I would say something like this and would get silence where I was used to "are there any footprints to signify someone's been here recently?" Or "any paintings the safe could be behind or rugs that could be hiding a trap door?" If I said something was a seemingly empty dining room. Meant I just had to adjust to giving more detailed and often more pointed descriptions maybe saying that a large landscape painting on the wall draws your eye and you notice a strange pelt of an animal you don't recognise used as a rug on the floor and the table seems set used and not cleared. Is there anything you wish to investigate? I'll go "x" first. If they want to follow a undescribed lead I'll try and reward it if it's a cool idea maybe move the safe or say they ask if there's a bookcase maybe they find a journal that could be helpful instead. But that group I found both ran smoother and seemed to enjoy more a sorta multiple choice rather than free-form exploration gameplay.

[@GamerTreeProductions]

My least favorite thing is when you describe a scene or something they encounter and after a period of silence someone just says “Okay, we keep moving”

[@Bertolucci_]

I basically just continue describing the scene if my players do this. They be thinking sometimes 😂

[@Jaig_Eyes77]

This whole skit was just an excuse to talk about what the Assholes at hasbro did, and I'm all for it 😂

[@theimperviousfirecracker7934]

One day Jacob is just going to make a skit called "D&D be like" and it's literally just a normal DnD game in skit format, with no other joke or anything.

[@OrangeDragon04]

As a DM who has a player with a mind that cannot take anything seriously and laughs at every name or described place. The players mocking the DM and talking over him hurts on a spiritual level. ... Or more like this entire video is just digital pain and I love it.

[@shermaljones5561]

tell them to stop that, let them know there is a time and place for jokes. if they can't do that, you know what must be done.

[@OrangeDragon04]

@@shermaljones5561 I did tell them, multiple times it works for about 2 minutes before they revert back. I described a shop of a mysterious alchemist shop once after telling them to stop. Bottles with strange contents, suspicious smells in the air and a lady behind the counter with a Gardner's hat and gloves greeting them with a smile on her face. They immediately start laughing for minutes on end, saying she sells drugs and is a junky or something. Or this one time I gave them an Armor diagram for scale mail from draconid hide, which retains the resistance to a demage type of the original monster. Let's say an acid spitting wyvern or a static electricity charged wyrm, both work to protect against what they are resistant to. There is an Artificer in the group who is a battle smith and knows how to craft Armor himself. *NEVER* has he thought of hunting down any draconid like I mentioned, instead he's looking for an opportunity to find, kill and skin a Dragonborn to get the resistance that way. This "joke" has been repeated so many times it's not even funny anymore. What's worse he actually wants to do it. And even worse, there is another player, who's a saint, with whom I never had any trouble and she plays a Dragonborn. Today I talked to the problem players saying this game is an adventure, combat, roleplaying game. „Adventure is something I have to improve, but you have to work with me. Keeping secrets and treating me like an enemy that cannot know our next move won't get us anywhere. You excell in combat but role playing is absolutely non existent. You guy's characters never say a word and sometimes they know what the other one knows without a single word being spoken. I'll try to remedy that by applying a bit more pressure on this aspect, not too much as to be obnoxious, but enough to get at least *some* dialogue. But most importantly, all members at the table have to have fun. Having your 2 years of hard work be mocked, stomped on and perverted is no fun at all. All I ask is a bit of mutual respect and to play the game as something more than a loot grabber simulator.” While I was saying that, I was so ready to just quit D&D, no point in trying if all you get is people using your ideas in horrible unintended ways that make you think you're playing with sociopaths and no NPC can trust the players with any quest because the Artificer cannot shut up about murder. I am a first time DM, never was a player, no prior experience. And I was bold enough to create an entire homebrew world with pages apon pages of notes. It's a big task for someone with little to no experience and it's even more so, if half the table is against you. Years of work so close to being thrown out the window. But then a miracle happened. I don't know what it was, if it was them realising how much pain this all causes me or the dread of me actually quitting to DM making the campaign completely dissolve, but it worked. They actually started talking to eachother in character, one player described how his character reacted to being robbed by kobolds over night, slamming his fist into his wooden chest, cussing as he does so. The Artificer asking what's going on and volunteering to help him find his items. It was all ... Like we were finally playing D&D. No cringe remarks about murder hoboing, when they found and faught the Kobolds, they only knocked them out and gave them to the authorities. For the first time, the guards were seen as allies, not an obstacle. If I had to describe the feeling. I just wanted to cry the whole time. Until then, I felt like I was drowning, a steel ball tied to my neck as I sank deeper and deeper into sorrow, anger and misery. Ready to just accept my fate, but then this happened and I could breathe again. You have no idea how refreshing this was, I yearned for this for months. For the first time during the past year, I actually had fun playing D&D. I didn't have to fake a smile, it was real. I just hope it lasts, that this is not just a phase. I'm so sorry for keeping you, stranger, I just still had so much to get off of my chest. Forgive me for my little rant and have yourself an awesome Christmas.

[@hunterg.1300]

Punish the character if you have to. There are times and places for humor, but not always.

[@Darkprosper]

@@hunterg.1300 Never take it on the character. If you discussed it multiple times with them and they refuse to change, kick them out. But don't get into petty revenge and passive-aggressiveness. Don't lower yourself.

[@shipsheep4413]

*That* is so true. Our DM took things out on a few of us bc of things that happened weeks/months ago and they couldn't let it go or discuss it with us in all honesty until it blew up and almost led to the fall of the whole group... *Always talk it out* @@Darkprosper

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

Playing a class that doesn’t have any spells; forced to watch in silence while the rest of the party has fun solving a problem that requires a magical solution.

[@PandaKnight-FightingDwagon]

or even worse, having spells but not having any spells that help with the problem.

[@AmberMetallicScorpion]

playing a class that does have spells and being forced to watch in silence as the martials do 101 things in one turn, then only getting to cast 1 spell before ending your turn due to having nothing else to do

[@cinquine1]

@@PandaKnight-FightingDwagon Sorcerer moment "Would a fireball help?"

[@davidkeller9345]

counterpoint, more time to prep for your turn. martial class > not martial

[@ahealthkit2745]

4/5 of those things martials do being "roll a dice to attack" and 1/5 of those things usually being "second wind" or "an extra attack"@@AmberMetallicScorpion

[@LeoTakuVT]

5:09 pisses me off to no end. Had a shit DM that would just constantly insert flat out death traps in the most unlikely of places. Then he gets impatient with us when the group takes like 2 hours to figure out how to open a fucking door. Maybe if you didnt severely punish us every step of the way with near death we'd be quicker.

[@mayflower2765]

this so much

[@SunWukongSonGoku]

Signs you have a bad DM : the story is about, and designed around, killing off the players. I know there are supposed to be risks, but I personally feel the job of the DM is to help the players tell their story : not play Trap-Master the Turn-Based Tactics game The focus for the DM should be the Players experience, with their own fun coming second; though, this completely depends on the DM being able to have fun By prioritizing the Party, so... that's probably an un-realistic expectation, to an extent at least. I hope that makes sense

[@anaceattorneyfangreatgame9770]

they broke into the guy's house for no reason

[@Nightly-]

I feel that first skit so fucking hard and I refuse to be the guy that stops a game from happening. If it is simply impossible for me to be there, so be it, but I will literally move heaven and earth just to make it to my sessions. I have, in fact, showed up to a session after an eye surgery, where I had to hold them both open while lasers were shot into them. I was blind for the entire rest of the day, BUT THE BOYS NEEDED ME AND I WAS THERE.

[@dawiddulian2403]

The best player

[@ahealthkit2745]

Totally agree, I have 0 patience for people who want the world to rotate around them. Playing in a campaign w/ 6 other players rn and as long as we have 3+ players, we run it. There's no reason to stop the campaign just because a couple of people have scheduling conflicts or came down with the plague 2.

[@meem6154]

Actually a true lad right here.

[@TheCart54321]

You are the kind of person I want at my games

[@DimaJeydar]

As someone who had an eye surgery with lasers I’m in awe (and a bit of a terror) - I went to sleep the moment I got home, woke up only for eye drops and then dinner. That was the rest of my day. I don’t know how you could concentrate on anything.

[@exzyyd392]

The best part is they laid off all the people on their side that dealt with Baldur's Gate 3. Larian might never be able to get the licensing to make another one ever again. What a genius move that will surely continue to generate money and good faith with employees, collaborators and customers alike!

[@bionicdragon5]

What's even more fucked up about Hasbro sacking all those WotC employees is that most of them were illustrators, and now they're looking for new employees that (once you decipher all the corporate jargon and buzzwords) *specialize in dolling up AI art.* Just when you think Hasbro's upper management couldn't get more disgusting, they find a way to get worse somehow.

[@mars7304]

I can guarantee you the AI art will still have fucked up hands and clipping. These "specialists" aren't artists and the people hiring them don't know what art is so none of them are good at screening it before release.

[@bionicdragon5]

@@mars7304 Just as well. Maybe the crappy quality will dissuade people from supporting Hasbro. That corporation could use a kick in the pants.

[@AmberMetallicScorpion]

and then they also go and release a statement saying they condone AI art, and honestly these corporations are absolutely disgusting

[@breadstick4458]

I don’t have a problem with AI art itself, as a technology it’s very interesting and has a lot of good possibilities. But I’m against this, which is using AI art to cut down in costs by firing actual artists. In other words the problem with AI art is corporate greed, not the technology itself

[@salomaogomes7311]

​@@mars7304Hey, there are people out there who can make actualy good AI art. 10 minutes of searching on reddit will net you tons of them.

[@Jtblake]

The worst part about the Hasbro thing is, if I'm remembering correctly, WotC was the only profitable part of the company this year and yet they still have to deal with the layoffs.

[@mars7304]

Hasbro wants to make WOTC more "efficient" by firing illustrators, writers, and other creatives so they can replace them with AI and a handful of tech guys. This isn't bad management, it's a direct takeover and ruining of the brand.

[@harrodharrod5239]

@@mars7304 With the direction M:tG (and DND next or whatever is the new BS called) was going in the recent couple of years, I'm really not sure "replacing creatives with AI" is going to ruin the brand. Most creatives recently use pronouns and are woke AF and their only goal is to push their agenda as much as possible, while stealing off of and ruining established universes (eg: aragon and arwen card), and AI is more than capable of doing that as well. Especially the later "revised" versions... No imagination required...

[@hayden5579]

@@harrodharrod5239”most creators use pronouns recently.” You are aware that everyone on the planet has pronouns. But I’m assuming you’re referring to them being not straight in which case. Are you aware of how overwhelmingly gay artists have been for literal millennia?

[@ΓιάννηςΜεταξάς-ρ5φ]

​@@harrodharrod5239cope and see the Aragorn is black, Ai bros keep losing 🎉

[@gnorung7769]

​@@harrodharrod5239 lmao nice bit but could've been more believable

[@TheSeventhChild]

Jacob had to mix in the relatable haha moments not only so it would cushion the horrifying reminders of WotC/Hasbro's corporate greed but also so the algorithm doesn't pick it up and automatically contact the Pinkertons.

[@Brittanysplittany]

Those bonuses are literally insane what the heck. I’m so tired of bosses at the top of the food chain taking obscene bonuses and laying off a ton of people in the same breath

[@mars7304]

We really gotta put a lid on capitalism.

[@99Bobson]

@@mars7304 I'm sure both of you are also outraged with HasanAbi not paying shit to his editor/mods. It ain't "capitalism", it's just human greed.

[@inmanis2924]

@99bobson the whataboutism is stronk no one is talking about that. we’re talking about Hasbro execs taking multimillion dollar bonuses while laying off employees. stay on topic.

[@brianbriones2815]

@@99BobsonCapitalism enables human greed. Those who own the means of production exploit those beneath them for their own personal gain. Just because someone who calls themself a socialist also participates and exploits the same system that’s fucking people over doesn’t mean it’s not that system. Saying “it’s just natural for humans to only be out for themselves” ignores thousands of years of human history that would’ve been impossible without societies banding together to protect each other, not out of mutual benefit but of instinctual compassion for other human beings. Grow the fuck up

[@mars7304]

​@@99Bobson you just tried to own me by pointing at the only person you've ever heard claim to be ANYTHING but a capitalist bc you don't know shit about the subject, go read a book and stop arguing online you're not good at it

[@Rashtor]

First skit reminded me of that one time this convo happened between our DM and us: +Hey guys, sorry but next week on our DnD time I will be spending time with the wife instead -Don't worry, we haven't been able to play a DnD session since 4 months ago anyway because of our conflicting schedules. Go enjoy it. +Touché

[@christophercrafte]

the most important thing to keep a game from dying in my opinion is transparency. As long as everyone still agrees we want to play at our regular time it doesn't matter if we can't for 2 months, we all know were coming back at some point. the game only dies when people start not showing up or canceling for no given reason. personally, I don't like it when people say "Stuff came up". tell us what stuff, is it your brother's wedding? do you have a date? did work reschedule you? is the family in town and do you want to spend time with them this week? what I've noticed is when people give a clear reason its genuine and when people give a "I have things to do" its because they didnt feel like it this week.

[@Rashtor]

@@christophercrafte Agreed. I consider myself lucky, because our group of friends is closely knit together and we can talk with each other about what happens in our lives. Hence we can still plan around if possible, and if we can't, it's still not a problem. But I know of a close example (my brother's DnD group) that had exactly the same issue as you described, and in the end the DM moved on and the campaign went on hiatus.

[@SpikeVike27]

We haven't played a game since September and yesterday we confronted our GM about possible game next Saturday, as we know that he (and all of us) have this day ready after another thing just was delayed... -Uhm... sorry, new Warframe update dropped, i haven't played Warframe for a year and now having a blast, so can't next week Just kill the campaign already ffs if you don't want to GM anymore

[@christophercrafte]

@@SpikeVike27 I agree. One of my former dms who would sometimes be a player would say "I have to do laundry" like that isnt gonna be the whole thing that's a bs excuse.

[@TheLevantin]

@@SpikeVike27 I've also had players who can't play because they have to watch a live stream, because they have to play LoL or people still have to go shopping. And the person who still has to go shopping probably had to go shopping all day because playing an hour later or something like that wasn't an option. As a DM, I don't want to waste my time and energy on people who simply don't want to play my game. do not feel like? Then goodbye, done. But I won't let anyone tell me any fairy tales or let them fool me. If you don't respect me enough to be honest with me, you don't respect me at all. Why should I waste my time with people who don't respect me? I recently switched to getting paid as a DM because it's very simple: people who don't have time, don't feel like it or don't respect me don't pay for a session. It's a great filter. And those who pay are more committed.

[@worthlessclericbuild3866]

wizard of the coasts and hasbro proves that no year is a good year for games until they all get unions

[@YAH93]

In this case, I think that mostly Hasbro is to blame.

[@Deathven1482]

@@YAH93it’s def mostly Hasbro to blame in this case…

[@mars7304]

Unionize the entire industry. Games should not be made at the cost of those who work to make them.

[@MemoristCed]

@@mars7304 I'm sure the indie companies would thrive under the massive burden of regulatory costs and strongarm contracts, and the surviving megacompanies wouldn't jack the prices of their products out of your reach because they can. They'll learn their lessons real good, just like the rest of the megacompanies that are already unionized.

[@aettic]

It's pretty ridiculous. And for what it's worth, Hasbro also laid off employees in their other divisions. But in general, what a shitty, shitty thing to do...

[@RuSosan]

Common corpo business strategy to "cut costs" just before the last quarter and whole year ends, to make those damn profit "growth" numbers *seem* a tiny bit higher for the shareholders. Gotta _love_ the cappa-corpo system where these abuses are not a bug in the system but the entire system itself.

[@mars7304]

​@RuSosan yeah unchecked profit-seeking has become all too common under capitalism, feels bad

[@Msoulwing]

@@RuSosan Y'know, I've been thinking publicly traded companies might have been a mistake.

[@NoConsequenc3]

@@Msoulwing when the measurement becomes a goal it seeks being useful. No matter how we structure this the same will happen. Regulations and union membership are the most important factor.

[@Msoulwing]

@@NoConsequenc3 I'm not entirely sure what your first sentence means. Did you mean "ceases" instead of "seeks" or am I just not getting it? Anyway, I'm not saying privately owned companies can't pull stunts like this, but eliminating shareholders eliminates certain incentives. As for regulations and unions, those *can* help, but aren't immune to corruption either.

[@izenheimreborn6390]

Hasbro: Merry Christmas, I have a gift for you! WotC employee: Oh sweet, what is it? Hasbro: Unemployment. WotC employee: ..... Hasbro: ..... Also Hasbro: Merry Christmas

[@pug8714]

Imagine being in the most profitable portion of Hasbro and your reward is no longer working 2 weeks before Christmas

[@adriannelson4214]

The greatest Christmas present Hasbro could imagine; Unemployment

[@johnbrewington2539]

The reason these firing happen at the holidays is because its the end of the quarter. Their bonus is based on current profit compared to starting obligations for next quarter. By firing them now they min-max the profit to mandatory expense ratio to boost their shareholders positions and rate a bigger bonus. They were going to get a bonus, but now it's a bigger bonus. Next quarter they will have to see which positions they fill again. The flex of power to show who's really in control is the other reason people become CEO's of existing companies. From an alignment perspective this is Lawful-Evil.

[@loveletterz]

Also don't forget. So it looks good on the stock market, and to reel in more investors. Who they want to protect more then the employees who caused them to get the profit in the first place.

[@penpenultra]

Also:Also: It's a move that keeps the majority of your employees as new-hire or contract workers, for when these positions need to be refilled later. Which of course means less pay and benefits.

[@nyft3352]

not even the devils of hell or the demons of the abyss could come up with a scheme as evil as late-stage capitalism corporate profitmaxxing

[@KaleDavid]

Personally, I hate how Warlock complete so many tasks for their patrons, and then, right before the Winter Solstice, they revoke all of your power so they can give Chris Cox a bunch of bonus cash.

[@ghostlycoyote]

I was supposed to start a new D&D campaign yesterday. Homebrew mechanics, a character I was super excited to play, and after a whole month of postponing, we were ready to go The discord got deleted 10 minutes before the start time without a word and the DM blocked every player

[@CyberPunkBadGuy]

Sounds like he didn't want to DM but instead of telling you guys, he kept on dodging and making excuses, then he just outright ran away.

[@futuza]

Ripperoni, that sucks. Wonder why he didn't just say he didn't want to play weeks ago? Maybe he double scheduled himself and was too embarrassed to just tell you he had another group (which is a horrible thing to do to people, communication people, communication!).

[@AnomalousCanid]

got told to burn in hell by the DM 2nd session after a *different* person didnt show up (they said it to the whole group), then blocked everyone lol

[@futuza]

@@AnomalousCanid wat

[@emperortime4380]

Every time I get excited about a cool D&D thing, Drakkenheim being on DDB for example, Hasbro immediately does something awful. Why can’t they just get out of their own way?

[@lansygamer2665]

It's calculated. They know people won't like something, so they keep something else in reserve to draw attention away from the bad.

[@Shalakor]

@@lansygamer2665 Except they screw that up, too, since they do the distraction first and then distract from it with the new scandal they had cooked up.

[@CountFab]

I love international corporations laying off employees, it makes me feel like my life is just like a DnD game, not even making the best choices can save you from a natural 1.

[@thunderwearcloud]

Yeah they really make you appreciate the realism of the game by telling you "Hey ya know all the decisions your party member or npc made that was so unnecessary and the stupidest thing ever? Haha yeah wait till you see this decision."

[@mars7304]

You don't even need a nat 1 to be laid off. You can roll a 10 or higher every shift for years, being a great employee. But when those profit charts dip, jobs get cut. Every time.

[@MainShane]

"It is possible to commit no errors and still lose."

[@CountFab]

@mars7304 In this video, Jacob makes the argument that profits weren't the main cause.

[@funguy398]

My dude, they don't roll anything, the decision to fire them was not influenced by their performance at all.

[@aidan1R]

I like how its hard for employers to do that crap over in europe, and with the recent pushes for better treatment of employees, hoping to see that bleed over here to Canada and to USA

[@Noah_Sullivan]

Hasbro seriously seems to want to go out of business and has a serious contempt for their own workers. It’s just sad

[@johnraymma]

I like how you think this is going to make them go out of business because you are mad lol

[@Theepieguy]

@@johnraymma I think what they are saying is they feel that with how things are going, with the moves being made. It's heading towards that direction. Not that, that person's feelings are going to sway the markets surrounding multi-million dollar businesses.

[@Noah_Sullivan]

@@johnraymma I’m not saying it’s going to happen, it’s just crazy that they are laying off WotC employees (and right before the holidays) despite the fact that wizards has had a record year. I’m not a business expert, but screwing over your biggest product and angering the fan base time and time again just isn’t smart.

[@Haexxchen]

If your bonus could pay 7 well-paid workers for the next year, would you take it. Or would you well know, that it's not about not having the money, but about milking as muchnas you can with less food for the cow?

[@taylorkoleber1885]

"Tell me why I just rolled two 2's." My brother in Tiamat, one of my most scarring moments was as a halfling chef rolling snake eyes on a cooking Performance check, remembering I have the Lucky racial feat, then rolling _another 1 and a 2._ Trust me when I say _I feel you._

[@athenaraines]

I have seen a horribly cursed d20 roll the following in quick succession 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 4. That die needs to be thrown into the deepest pits of Tartarus.

[@bromora989]

Honestly, instead of it being a dream: I expected one of the players to announce they had an emergency and have to leave before the session even starts

[@EmersonWhite-2y]

Having the most devious plan and then the paladin just erases half of the battlefield😢

[@josiahp.6960]

That bit with the surrounding thunder is too real.

[@TheCrazydude17]

Improvising wording is hard, and this is coming from a writer. I'm good at exactly that shit, and it's still a real challenge at times. The weirder stuff you get into, the more that is the case. Can your AI-like brain generate some BS about market stalls, town guards, and a milling crowd of dirty peasants? Sure. Can you, a mere human, properly describe what it looks like when the Githyanki pirates' magical weapons blow a hole in the side of an Astral Dreadnought? Nahhhhhh...

[@josiahp.6960]

@@TheCrazydude17 I drew a tendency to close my eyes during descriptive moments, trying to pull from the picture. I love writing mainly because I can tweak and revise and wrap the words into the nice little bow instead of flying off the cuff. There's a lot of overlap between DMing and writing, but they are different ballgames.

[@TheCrazydude17]

@@josiahp.6960 Wholeheartedly agree. People who get emails or texts from me say I communicate completely differently that way. When I run games via text, or forum RP, I can do amazing things. But live improv is such a Herculean labor at times. And I tend to look down at the table, or up at the walls/ceiling, in those moments that you close your eyes. Like you said, similar but different.

[@teathesilkwing7616]

I also don’t understand their point. You can be surrounded by sounds. Such as surround sound systems.

[@josiahp.6960]

@@teathesilkwing7616 well, the players will always poke fun about any little thing they can, typical of a certain type of person, who thinks everything is an opportunity for them to make a joke. A sound is change in air waves, so what you're surrounded by is the thing making the noise.

[@linkfan160]

Holy shit, you were able to capture the exact feeling at 3:50 of being a DM, trying to describe an environment or area, only for your players to ignore the descriptions or make jokes. In the last session I ran, I was describing what the party saw as they entered Shadowfell and I was saying what I thought was some pretty good descriptions of the area, but when I was done, the only thing that my one player said was, "Okay, so do I see any enemies or not?" Like, really dude? Really? Being a DM can be such a thankless job sometimes. Thank you for making me feel seen.

[@RaethFennec]

One of my players was feeling under the weather during session. We offered to skip if they needed, but they said they were fine and would power through. The next morning they were in the hospital for emergency surgery. It was appendicitis. Their appendix perforated by the time they got to it. Their appendix was near to or already rupturing and they toughed through a session with us and contributed where they could. We love you and want you there, but don't push yourself too hard!

[@Gamer3427]

It is amazing how hard it is for more than just one or two adults to find time to just hang out for a couple of hours. I haven't had a D&D session in forever in part because every time I've tried to set one up, no one can figure out a time that they'd all be available.

[@futuza]

I just keep making new friend groups because of this. Too hard to play with current friend groups because of scheduling conflicts? Find new friends.

[@derianmcdougall1441]

Not just a bunch of employees. Nearly 1,200. Right before Christmas. The CEO of Hasbro made approximately 9 million last year. In addition owns a large portion of Hasbro stocks. Don't let this happen anymore.

[@mars7304]

In order for it not to happen anymore people would have to take collective action against Hasbro

[@patheticbread6861]

“Don’t let this happen anymore” Oh I’m sure the CEO is shaking in his boots

[@derianmcdougall1441]

@@mars7304Edit - I didn't read your response thoroughly. My reply is null and void. Hahhaha Respectfully, I disagree. The DnD community isn't stupid. Many of them are well aware that when Nintendo faced low annual revenues, Shuntaro Furukawa, took a huge pay reduction. We live in a society where we are so interconnected. When Corporate Big Wigs drop the ball this hard all fans are made aware of it. Thanks largely in part to people like Jacob, DenoftheDrake, Critcrab, and many of creators. Additionally with the X we, as the "every man", can reach out to those in positions of power and demand better. I guarantee that Chris Cocks is going to take a huge holiday bonus, when that happens take pen to paper. Let them know that's not ok. Should things progress in a deteriorative manner, then looking at boycotting Hasbro, I think, becomes more reasonable. I'd love to hear your opinion s though.

[@mars7304]

​@@derianmcdougall1441 yeah man boycotting and letting the voice of the fanbase be heard is important, but it's also important to inconvenience them. All you gotta do is show up to events he's at, don't break the law of course but make it clear him and other corporate execs can't just pretend consequences don't exist for them.

[@derianmcdougall1441]

@@mars7304 I agree. Wonderful discourse.

[@Mozumin]

None of these even COMPARE to having to kick out one of your long time friends from one of your games because they started acting like an asshole. That happened to me earlier this week. 🙃 (Fortunately in my case they got so mad they tried to vandalize the Roll20 campaign's landing page and all editable handouts, not knowing I had backups for the latter. That made all the remorse fly away lol)

[@Reapor234]

Gods, yes. Had a player that I loved to have. Was always invested, always wanted to try and tie his characters into the world somehow, always paid attention, talked to me about stuff they wanted to do, etc. But they started having real world issues that started to affect them at the table. And after some... choice decisions (both in game and out of game on both of us), we ended up parting ways. Still hurts, and I wish I could do it again to handle things better.

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

How was he even able to do that?! He should not have the rights for that!

[@Mozumin]

@@gazelle_diamond9768 They drew unflattering things on the Roll20 campaign's landing page and replaced the party inventory with an angry, salty letter full of insults (In that campaign I let the party have an editable handout where they can keep track of their shared inventory. However I also keep a copy in the DM notes so thay people can't cheat). They also vandalized their own character sheet, which is honestly baffling to me.

[@gazelle_diamond9768]

@@Mozumin Sounds like a freaking child.

[@futuza]

@@Mozumin Sounds like they need to be spending the 4 hours a week in therapy instead of at your table.

[@maxdaviid]

XP to level 3 represents me really well: I only get to play when Im both the players and the DM...

[@MightyGameReviewer]

The whole getting sidetracked thing and talking over each other. I have done it as a player, but I hate it as GM.I have learned to spend that time participating in that conversation while double checking some rules .Soooo....yea. 100% relatable.

[@Drkwatch]

That first Hasbro skit was almost word for word my reaction. "OH sweet, Ghostfire! Well maybe I'll buy those even though I already have them, show support for this new direction, maybe pick up my sub agai- WTF HOW HAVE YOU ALREADY RUINED IT AGAIN?!?"

[@theemperorgaming7578]

I'm currently playing a mountain dwarf barbarian/fighter in Call of The Netherdeep at a local club and one time my character was cursed, meaning he couldn't regain hit points. He eventually fell unconscious after being hit with debris, which meant my character couldn't wake up and had to be dragged around and left on the street, then dragged into a room.. Eventually my character had to be restored with a remove curse, and then took a long rest. All of this took place over about two sessions, and since our group plays dnd every other week, I missed out for about a month. That wasn't the best feeling to be honest!

[@DudeMan1620]

The group should have gotten a hireling and let you play the person carrying around your main character while you were stunned. Gathering allies to go adventuring with you is key for being able to split a party, since you split up PC’s you can have other NPC allies go with and everyone still gets to play. Plus people get to have fun writing up new characters and playing different classes without having their main died or abandoned.

[@Odande]

You got a bad DM who let that happen. If the DM did devise a solution to let you play while still keeping this curse thing, thats on him. I wouldnt stay in that group TBH. I was in an online group where we got stun locked by stupid high CR monsters that stunned us turn after turn. I left that group ASAP as I wasnt having fun literally just sitting there doing nothing

[@gang-ridertv5433]

Why didnt you get to play a backup character or some NPC?

[@vidyagains8535]

That first skit hits home for me. I invited a bunch of friends to a west marches style online server, they all seemed really keen to play. It was all setup in a way so it was low commitment, easy to jump in and play, rule-lite since a few were new, and I made it very clear that I was flexible with scheduling so they could organise a game pretty much whenever. Had 11 players on the server, and was initially able to run a dungeon with 4 of them for a few sessions, then it dropped to 3 on the last part of the dungeon. After that I kept posting each week saying I'll be running a game on the weekend, and asking who's keen to play/if anyone would like to play on a different day, only to be met with silence. I eventually got 1 of the original 4 and another player into a few 2 person games, but I found 2 person games don't work well overall and aren't great to DM for, so I ended up deciding to only run a game if I could get at least 3 players confirmed for a session. I continued posting weekly for 3 more months, but out of those 9 other players that originally said they wanted to play, none of them engaged at all. The worst feeling was later when I was meeting up some of the players for an IRL event, and I mentioned that I'll probably be winding down the server, one of players that never engaged said "Oh man when's the next dnd campaign? I really want to play again!" It was like he was completely oblivious to what I'd been trying run despite him acknowledging that he's seen all my posts on the server but said he didn't want to commit to a session because he's been a bit busy. I ended up posting weekly on the server for a few more weeks after that, but eventually stopped. The whole thing pretty much black-pilled me and has convinced me that most people like the idea of playing dnd, but won't realistically commit to playing even if they say they say otherwise. That said, I at least know I have 2 reliable players that I can invite to future games.

[@Xvladin]

In my experience, people are lazy. Not in a really evil way or anything, and not in a way that I'm not also personally susceptible to. They go to work, they come home, they're tired, they want to look at some memes and then sleep. They don't want to do something when they have work the next day, because they don't want to be tired at work. They don't want to come home from work and then do something because they need to recharge. So no week days, no Sundays, and if they have something to do on Saturday, the whole week is fucked. Even if they don't have something to do on Saturday, the idea of not even having two days to do whatever you want is scary to a lot of people. It makes me think about some image I used to see online, about "people spend their whole lives waiting for their real life to begin. Only when it's too late, and they're old and dying, do they realize that was their real life". Just try and find a core group of people who will make themselves uncomfortable, put themselves out there, do things that aren't easy, be tired at work the next day. Everyone, myself included, likes the idea of things more than actually doing them. Our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs. All you need is a few people who are willing to become uncomfortable in order to do things to have a good time. It's by no means easy, I haven't overcome this stuff personally or found a perfect group like this either, but it's not impossible.

[@ikeekieeki]

if only a group of high spirited adventurers could rescue us from the greedy overlords of hasbro

[@Lonlonthecow]

It’s literally the situation from the office, with Michael spending money on his team or getting it as a bonus.

[@AhilesMir]

Sometimes I cannot fall asleep because I think how I could play the BBEG better to make it more challenging to the players. Like I forgot that he has a counterspell and let the sorcerer fireball him and his minions.

[@roguebarbarian9133]

Nah, if I screwed up a combat encounter fewer than three times, I consider that a success.

[@zantosender3348]

You post this the day I find out my group has to skip our second week in a row. Campaign started in October, we've had 5 sessions.

[@MrTwrule]

Oh, sweet summer child. My group has had 1 year's worth of weekly meetings over 7 years. At this point I count my lucky stars when we play a couple sessions a year.

[@bigyoshi5170]

1:50 you didn’t have to do that to me

[@daviddavidsson6243]

You forgot that one where you run out of time and can’t finish the oneshot or what you had planned

[@lokiallfather]

This video is paced EXACTLY like the fever dreams I'd have when I would have TTRPG's 6 of 7 days out of the week earlier this year...

[@nioaquavel8211]

dude i fucking hate when one of my players gets nothing out of a fight because of bad rolls. worst feeling

[@capman42]

I unironically loved that half the video was just blasting Hasbro for the really bad layoffs

[@VulturHS]

3:41 YOU GET NOTHING, YOU LOSE, GOOD DAY SIR!

[@JooJBagriel]

I have become a DM for the past couple weeks and i COULD NOT have found a more relatable video. Almost every. single. one of these skits happenned to me and my group, and i'll be damned if they aren't the WORST fellings ever

[@YTNFSCC]

Hasbro "Oh shit we fucked up with the whole OGL thing, quickly, deploy distraction!" *play nice for a few months* "HAHA GOTCHA, get fucked WOTC" *fires 1100 people*

[@mars7304]

Common Hasbro villainy.

[@potam750]

My only takeaway from this video is that l know how Jacob bedroom looks like

[@HauntedOnee]

This video is hilarious! I like how the sole focus is Hasbro laying off their employees and the CEO, Chris Cocks, paid himself $9.4M doing so. Imagine rolling a nat 20 and your DM just kills you anyway even though you haven't passed level 1. That's what Chris Cocks has done. Thanks Jacob for the laugh!

[@amelialonelyfart8848]

Chris Cocks taking a bonus last year is even stupider because that was the year he became CEO. He didn't do shit.

[@boiledelephant]

Imagine if it was enshrined in law that no employee or exec at a company could earn more than 10x the wage of the lowest wage in the company.

[@WilliamMcAdams]

"Yeah, yeah... it does suck that you get nothing." Ouch. That's my plight with a current character. I've rolled several 30's as a Level 3-4 (3.5E) in recent sessions, and have been rewarded with nothing each time. It's really making me feel like I brought the wrong character to the Table. It's like my DM doesn't know how to handle a high Charisma character.

[@nickischilling]

The Hasbro thing describes exactly how I feel. Like for a week or so it felt like they were really trying to gain public trust back, and then the layoffs just took that all away. Very frustrating.

[@luckyloomagu]

I felt like the fireball trap one came right after the one where the DM was getting annoyed at them for being cautious about a room And to be honest, that's one of the absolute worst feelings ever. Having the DM basically go like "ohh you guys are TAKING too long INVESTIGATING everything just go for it" and then you go for it and get hit by the deadliest fucking trap imaginable is so upsetting and irritating. I get it, you think your traps are clever and you don't want your players to spend 30 minutes trying to disarm them, at the same time, c'mon man at least if you're rushing us along, give us an indication that there's something amiss.

[@mobgabriel1767]

I once was in a online table of city of mists with a bunch of friends of mine and it was one of the best RPG experiences i ever had but unfortunately All of our schools put test weeks one after the other and essentially forced us to spend 3 weeks without playing...our DM, a good friend of mine who has been playing online DND with us since the beggining just quietly cancelled the table and disapeared soon after for what we can only assume were problems with his mom...R.I.P pepo you were one of the best

[@patheticbread6861]

You canceled just because you couldn’t play for a little bit? Why?

[@mobgabriel1767]

@@patheticbread6861 it wasnt me It was my friend who was DMing, we dont know why he Just deleted the Discord server where we were playing

[@James-lu2jn]

Having player talk over you and make fun of a moment in a campaign that you very openly said was going to be atmospheric and serious cuts like a knife

[@rajnishukla3926]

Hey man nice to see your skits again ❤ it's been a long time since you have posted a short skit . I know your posting schedule will only be worse since you are a father now but love to see your skit makes my day great everytime

[@smallgandora1557]

1:51 the moment my heart broke ... i feel you100%

[@kindacruise]

waking up in the middle of the night thinking "shit maybe my players hate every second of our 5 years of playing dnd"

[@PyranoTheDev]

3:49 I feel this. It's not even just making fun of the description for me. Had a session where I, the DM, struggled to start because I couldn't get everyone's attention until a minute later, and I didn't know how to tell them we were starting without being rude.

[@zacharyfranklin1535]

Merry Christmas Jacob and fam!

[@ArtemisSkyeB]

I love it when capitalism did a capitalism there with Hasbro

[@captaincrispy2184]

The worst feeling in D&D is being a D&D fan. Hasbro just makes it SO difficult.

[@Legoman775]

the rolls man, there was one fight where everyone in our party of 3 missed every single attack for 2 rounds straight and the enemies were getting 19s and 2 crits in a row. We somehow survived that fight but only just.

[@override367]

I am looking forward to matt colville's RPG, I was initially aghast that there's no attack rolls but the more I think about everyone just hitting the more I like it, combat should be faster and more kinetic

[@wminster]

This really shows how small groups can be so goated

[@KingHuzzah]

I got out of a major surgery in the morning of our game day where we play 8pm till 10pm on a friday and still turned up whilst drugged up to my eyeballs with stitches less than 12 hours old. Another time I turned up with a throat infection and my voice was just GONE and still played the most heavy RP session I've ever played, I haven't missed a single session in over 5 years, and this video just got put into our lads group chat and the quote was "Turning up with both legs broken is litterally (My name) in a nutshell." and I feel so immensely proud of this its unreal lmao.

[@wartop_mibe]

My favourite class is Druid 👍

[@nicolebee3283]

What subclass is your fav? Mine is Shepherd!

[@wartop_mibe]

@@nicolebee3283 Circle of the moon

[@coolman4202]

Druids are the coolest for sure!

[@thebluechair101blue8]

That first bit from happy party to waking up felt like a scene straight up from Bo Burham's Inside, love the editing

[@braindeadpizzaslice9098]

the worst feeling is when the dm intentionally makes an encounter specificly to fuck over a specific player because the dm thought the PC was too op like having the party encounter a werewolf when they know that a specific player (me fighter) dosent have any means to attack it dm also had it just keep running away so killing the 1 werewolf took like 2 and a half hours fuck that dm

[@xAugustx11]

I literally had the same situation but with wererats. My bloodhunter could do nothing for the entire 3 hour fight. Also a Dm i no longer play with

[@jukesdtj656]

@@xAugustx11 You were playing a Bloodhunter and couldn't do anything to Wererats?... Like half the subclasses have a way of making magical attacks and the base class has Crimson Rite which a Wererat wouldn't be immune to, what level were you at, level 2?

[@braindeadpizzaslice9098]

to give some more context before i joined the campaign i had talked with him about my character maybe being too strong and ways to maybe nerf it a bit played the classic sharpshooter xbow master fighter and was told it was ok and that he likes having higher powered pc the shit with the warewolf wasnt even the worst thing that pos did @@xAugustx11

[@jbproductions9]

🥪

[@Odande]

@@braindeadpizzaslice9098 i mean, if youre going to do SS and CBM cheese then expect the DM to have something to ensure youre not 1 tapping encounters. If you choose to min max your build, then theres consequences lmao

[@danielmella4927]

A sketch! It's a christmas miracle! Had to watch it twice to make sure I really appreciated it.

[@beckettpell1204]

I have heard almost all these😢

[@martiansoldier]

When your party is shooting spells and arrows at a flying creature and all you can do is watch and 'protect the rear'.

[@NinePillar]

Rolling for initiative on the climactic fight of a two year campaign. One guy had taken annual leave to have the next day off and everyone else has changed plans around so we can play extra late this night. Everyone's studied and restudied their character's abilities and it's GO TIME. And the GM's phone rings..."we're going home early tonight, aren't we..."

[@gang-ridertv5433]

Well, what was it?

[@NinePillar]

@@gang-ridertv5433 Anticipation, brother or sister. I hope it will last.

[@thomcat2704]

"Dude,you're literaly here with both your legs broken,like...." 😂😂😂😂😂😂 I did not see it coming

[@Seanana_]

Whats shitty is that a lot if not all of big corporation like hasbro does this. Its just not public knowledge until something awful happens and someone goes digging.

[@mars7304]

Nah it's always public knowledge, we have just normalized it as a society because rich people make excuses for it.

[@Seanana_]

Thats what i mean, it isnt until someone looks. Someone always has looked, it just isnt brought to publics attention until someone does something awful@@mars7304

[@stephens021]

The worst feeling is having no one to play with.

[@KonsaiAsTai]

Companies aren't your friends. Hasbro shows that not only to the players, but their staff as well.

[@mars7304]

Companies aren't only not your friends, most of them are actively antagonizing us.

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

@@mars7304Even if you slap them across the face and tell them to fuck off they’ll be like “Oh my goodness we’re sorry, we’ll be better for you guys” then promptly go back to being awful once the dust has settled like they’re an abusive dad who was caught beating their kids.

[@Ydubber777]

this HURTS holy heck

[@chuckyssecondson1475]

What this video tells me is that he’s not going to be playing dungeons and dragons for much longer and neither am I. Why give time and money to a company that hates you, I have four words, tactical,heroic, cinematic,fantasy.

[@SonySteals]

I come from Runesmith and I’m glad I decided to. You’re legit funny and smart. I really enjoy binging your videos at 2am and I don’t even play dnd lol

[@mars7304]

They always say laying people off is for the "health of the company" and to help "maintain our current initiaitive" but never bother to explain how HUNDREDS of essential staff are less pivotal to the health of the company than the HANDFUL of COs at the top.

[@oopomopoo]

Because they're not essential. That's the sad reality. If they were essential, they'd still be there. Unfortunately the company hired too many people and the expected revenue didn't occur so they need to readjust. It's a harsh reality.

[@mars7304]

​@@oopomopoo "the expected revenue didn't occur" Okay so do you mind explaining the record profits as seen by public reports by Hasbro? You do know this stuff is investigated and documented right? You can't just say stuff because you *want* to justify people being laid off. I know you think you're some aspiring businessman but you sound like an asshole.

[@thechainsawtoaster6854]

@@oopomopoo This year has literally been Hasbro's most profitable season, and most of the profits are coming from WoTC. And the CEOs are taking billion dollar bonuses while this is happening. Did you not watch the video?

[@Destroyer_V0]

@@oopomopoo Define essential for me. Cause to me, it is what you NEED, to have, in order to continue functioning. As in the bare minimum to keep the lights running. Rather than what you WANT, to have, in order to sustain the growth of your company and the production of your product.

[@han090]

​@@oopomopoo Your comment does nothing to explain how executives with huge bonuses are essential though. Thus it fails to address the issue. The real answer is that it's executives who make the decisions about where cuts happen.

[@SammyNail]

The interaction you gave about that one room happened in a game I was in for The Death House. But instead of it being one room IT WAS EVERY SINGEL ROOM. IT TOOK US 2 MONTHS TO GET THROUGH AND I COULDNT DO A THING ABOUT IT BECAUSE I WAS THE PLAYER AND THE DM WOULDN'T JUST FORCE THE REST OF THE PARTY TO MOVE ALONG!

[@Rendrick27]

Noice a new video. Btw merry Christmas

[@Svensation5]

Save or Suck effects are the worst, both ways for at least someone, either the caster that wastes his turn on a successful save or the receiver failing the save.

[@flightmasteronezeroone907]

Time for a “Jacob learns Pathfinder” series. F*** Hasbro.

[@NobodyReallly]

If im a DM and im trying to talk, and have been talking for a minute, and people interject and carry on a conversation ignore the important details... i will for SURE put them into a situation later on that has an npc do the exact same thing to them, when theyre trying to get something not so important. Lord Apathet might just be like OHH BRING IN THE FARTING JESTER AGAIN IS HE AVAILIABLE

[@Ambyli]

CEOs never deserve their "bonus", like anyone reasonable would invest that back in their companies workers. The workers actually making the money.

[@TheSubso]

Hasbro doing what all corporations do. Just throw bottles idk.

[@King-Of_Games.55]

Yo, keep uploading man, love your content

[@Zebraoracle]

That first clip hit kinda hard lol. Currently don't have much going on in my life outside of work due to having to move away from everyone I know for my career, I DM for a group of friends over discord and it's basically the only thing I have to look forward to each week. I often have people say they can't make a session, often it's day of if not a few hours before the game, and it's so frustrating because my game relies on each player being present at specific points in the story, so if the character of focus isn't available, I have to cancel the game for that week. If it's not the character of focus, I can keep the game going, but then almost every time someone else will also say they can't make it, so with two people absent I have to call it. I'd say 1/4 or 1/5 of our game days since we started have been canceled, and like I get it, IRL comes before D&D, it's just so frustrating because sometimes it feels like people don't take the commitment they signed up for with a group of people seriously.

[@crystallxix1493]

3:40 this is why id love a Lesser Effect rule, as much as that would buff casters even more

[@AlgaeGaming]

Pathfinder 2e has 4 degrees of success/failure, because if you're 10 higher than a DC it is automatically a Critical Success (and 10 lower becomes a Critical Failure). Nat 20 and 1 also change the outcome by one level. So if enemies roll a success on their saving throws, the spell can still do a little something. You can balance this by having the OP effect only occur on enemies rolling Critical Failures. Sorry for sounding like I'm suggesting to play Pathfinder 2e, I just mean that you could also take rules you like from any other TTRPGs. It can save a lot of time since you don't have to come up with a system yourself :)

[@crystallxix1493]

@@AlgaeGaming nono THAts literally the system I was thinking of lol

[@matthewgomez9038]

3:44 I felt that in my soul and im incredibly sad now that im remembering the ammount of times this has happened