"I targeted you because you were new and an easy target" is less apology and more admitting that he is an ass with no shame

Yoooo, a Necromancer Rat piloting the corpse of their former owner sounds dope! Kinda wanna borrow that idea

For the first impression story, that guy seems like he doesn't have much going on and gets a confidence boost beating up someone weaker than him for no reason other than he gets a brief dopamine hit feeling a little bit powerful. Ohh big man who can beat up a newbie, you must be so so proud of yourself for being THAT skilled

What is it with toxic DnD players who have the mentality of "Get the newbie". If I was the DM, I would've demanded Bart give a non-bullshit reason as to why his character would attack OP's character and "It's what my character would do" will NOT fly. I think he didn't understand this was a team-effort game and not a game where you fight other players.

Second Story: as the DM I would ask them to explain the "they're suspicious" before allowing the dagger throw. If they explained, then I would have the Paladin explain why they aren't healing, and if I didn't find it convincing they would probably lose their powers until they atoned. Third Story: wow, what a horrible group on so many levels. Not just Bart, but the DM, and Jim just seemed oblivious. And dude "didn't know he was a minor"? Umm yeah, I've met 16 year olds with beards before and still knew they were minors.

Are you sure he wasn't a Lumpy Space Princess? He sure sounds like one

I actually really like Princess characters in rpgs, but sadly the more vocal ones are almost never done well. A run-away princess who thinks she's modest and genuine, but is really selfish and entitled because her only frame of reference is the royal court? Someone who is good at [Insert martial/magical style] in practice, but is horrible in actual combat and runs away in a panic? * Chef's kiss * Actual flaws. Good shit.

Whenever I have a prewritten character for a campaign, I usually like to keep certain aspects of their backstory while having the rest be changeable. That way the character can fit into the world better and it gives my DM stuff to work with

Player: "I'm sorry if I've come off as whiny or entitled but that is why I am typing this up." DM "You're typing this up because you are whiny or entitled? Yeah, we noticed. And don't be so modest - You're not whiny or entitled. You're whiny AND entitled..."

I play pre written characters all the time. I have a habit of creating random characters when I'm bored or waiting for someone. Never had a problem like that, but I do take the effort of tweaking the background so it fits whatever game we're gonna play.

With respect to the last story: I've seen characters like Princess *a lot*, with players who do not seem to understand that starting-level characters should not have too many major accomplishments under their belt. Like, unless you're starting at a relatively high level, the only thing you really need to explain as far as your backstory goes is why your character is in the adventure. Everything else is fluff- or, more importantly, is stuff your character should be experiencing *during the game.* A character whose story is more or less complete before they even start the game doesn't really need to be there, because they have nowhere to go.

One simple thing the DM could say: "I don't allow PvP unless all players involved in it consent."

This is my favorite rat in a plague doctor outfit RPG story-telling KZfaq channel.

While hearing "Standard Array" in a DM's rules has me rolling my eyes that overly entitled "application" made me cringe hard. There really needs to be a name for the type of player who joins a game with the express intention of changing it into what they want it to be. Imo they're worse than Thatguys Oh and Princess!

Second Story: Really curious if OP ever asked Paladin about why Stone thought his character was suspicious, or if OP would ever ask him that themselves. Seems like kind of a weird thing to say about a character you don't know. Was it some kind of petty revenge for some irl issue Stone had with OP? Or was it just him playing a weird paranoid character who was going to eventually kill the rest of the party? Or something else entirely? I'm actually curious about this. Third Story: Crappy pvp stuff aside, holy shit, having to make THREE 3.5 characters in one night? That must've been an all-nighter if OP was able to make three of those during a single session. Fourth Story: Premade characters are fine as long as they aren't how OP described Princess, as not just premade, but a level 1 character who should be level 7 or 8 based on all of their accomplishments and is perfect in every way. That's a character for a crappy novel, not a D&D character. Backstory is fine as long as it's somewhat general and can fit into the setting of the game at large. Writing up a 20-page backstory that includes your character's family tree and special powers that only they have can work, if you can explain how they're still only level 1 or whatever starting level the game is beginning at within the context of the story and boil down the relevant parts of your backstory to one or two pages. I have a character I've wanted to play forever, and have figured out a ton of information about them that's all written down, but I could sum up their backstory in about two paragraphs, and sum up what their reasons for adventuring are in maybe two or three sentences. That should be how a D&D character that you're excited about is written. Send your DM some information and say you have more if you have it, and if they want it, send them your novella (after warning them that it's a lot, of course); don't send a full essay about your character expecting the DM to love everything about it.

As someone who's currently playing a princess character in an isekai-type campaign hearing about this guy physically hurt me. Like holy shit that is not how you do it. "Too caring" can absolutely be a flaw but if you have it you have to play it as a flaw. She might have a bad habit of sticking her nose in other people's business and she might have a tendency to put herself in danger to heal an injured companion because she has very little sense of self preservation. For a princess character better flaws are stuff like being totally out of touch with the 'common' folk and/or naive about how stuff outside a palace setting works. Flaws like that create an actual weakness in a character that can be roleplayed out and there are situations she'll absolutely fail at. Like if you play a character like that you've gotta be willing to goof on her a little and play up the absurdity of the situation where this pretty princess has been thrust into an adventuring life she's absolutely not prepared for. She's not the Main Character just because she's royalty.

Second Story: if I was the DM, I’d have let it all happen, then take away Paladin’s powers and tell him his deity is super pissed at him and if he wants to not be sent to Hell for betraying his oaths he has to quest to bring OP’s character back to life.

I wonder how many first time players get out of the hobby because of bad DMs who just allow other players to get away with dumb stuff. Why would you even want to kill another (level 1) PC at the start of the one-shot? What does *anyone* get out of that?

Personally, I love Standard Array, my campaigns and mini campaigns usually involve Standard Array and 1 free feat. I like standard array because then things feel more grounded and scalable, when I run a game I like to tell long term stories, at my table combat is optional and one player doesn't speak for the party. If a player wants to avoid a combat or fight, I give them that option. If another player is being too bold their britches I ask the other players "How do you respond? Do you want to fight?" Because Standard array is both even and equals- A. Each party member has their specialty or something they excel at. And B. I can sell that sense of a progressing "Heroes story".

In fairness, caring too much is a legitimate and interesting flaw if you can actually play into it as a flaw and not a cop-out.

PRINCESS! Would you tell your fighter to stop attacking every tortole & dragonborn and calling them Koopa. Oh and stop forcing him to eat every strangely colored mushroom we find. He keeps saying creepy things like, "Itsa me Digiorno!" And why for gods sake is he wielding that pipewrench like a great sword?!

If that player had just asked and given the concept? He probably could have gotten it in, as the general idea is a pretty good one, and sounds like fun. But, yeah...that's the kind of thing where he makes the DM go "Damn, I dodged a bullet."

3:00 I think another reason people use standard array is to make sure characters have a more balanced tool set. I currently am in a campaign with a wizard who has a base intelligence stat of 19 but only a strength of 3 just because of how he rolled

When I first started playing, I met many lifetime DMs - the type of people who are always the DM and never a player. I wanted to be able to let them play and enjoy the same way they were showing me that I could. However, as a complete noob, any game I ran would have players with significantly more knowledge and experience than me, especially if I was running a table for other DMs. So, I decided to create my own world they could explore in. The largest limitation that I put in is no psionics and that was mostly because as a brand new player, I didn't fully understand them and was still working out the mechanics for everything else. However, it isn't a legitimate limitation in my world - it's actually part of the storyline. It is very possible that something that seems like a character restriction is, in reality, the DM dropping clues.

The first story, I kind of understand where the player was coming from. However, I do agree they should have just moved on. I personally seen a couple of posts from the same DM trying to get players to join a very constrictive DnD game, which I did not join but did have a discussion with my BF over it but that was a personal conversation. As far as "Princess" type character.... I put a lot of backstory into my own characters but if something happens to them then it happens.... maybe this comes from the fact that I do a lot of forum writing RP (which doesn't involve dice and such) and realize that it helps moves the story otherwise it is boring and stagnant. I wish more people would realize that :P Gives us deep backstory writers a bad name! lol

Intro: That DM is a dick. If they just post that they're running a game when they aren't, why? Some people need a swift kick for their BS. The Entitlement is Off the Charts: Funny how easily this could have avoided being a "That Guy" post by not accusing the DM. If the apply actually wanted to know why the rules were set due to interest, they would have asked politely and say why they're concern in a way that wasn't trying to accuse the DM of being a tyrant. On a side note, I question if standard array is actually the "stat system for tyrants," or if the guy just secretly kept an image of three 18s for such an occasion. Welp, Guess I'm Dead: Honestly, I doubt anything Stone could say would justify the murder. I'd love to hear him try to justify himself, though. And yeah, DMs need to learn to say no. Critical Roll doesn't need to (as far as I know), because they are professionals who want to work together, with the rest of the party and DM. Everyone else? If a player is trying to ruin the fun for others, stop it in its tracks before they succeed, like what the DM should have done here. He lost a player who (as far as we have been told) wasn't a problem, and kept the actual problem. Wonderful First Impression: It's easy to understand Bart's logic: he's not bragging about it, just flexing on "easy" prey to make himself feel better. He's trash in other words, and the rest of the group not even questioning his actions only enables him, There should have been a rule where PvP would be allowed if the player could justify it in-character. Also, 3.5 was great, but I can't blame OP for never wanting to touch it again after that. And why have the sex-scene in the one-shot if they know there's a minor there? Why do you need to have it be a thing at your table even? This group raises too many questions. Perfect Princess: I have 39 pre-written characters myself. However, I have used them in one-shots and do think that I can accept their background just being RP flavor. Most of them also have one or two paragraphs for their backstory, with one or two having three if I remember correctly. That Guy has no excuse for his actions, either with character creation, his actions at the table, or his mega-post on Discord.

7:48 Wait. .. I commented on this story but I only just now had a realization. . . Why did Stone want the rope pulled before Maria could get out. . WHEN STONE HIMSELF HADN'T CLIMBED OUT YET?

Rule for PvP: If all parties do not consent, have the attacker take damage equal to that they are trying to deal and make it unavoidable and unreduceable. If they die, too bad.

16 page backstory? Pfft, those are rookie numbers!

Bart: "I'm an experienced player that can beat newbies in PVP, I'm a real hero!" Come on, we *all* know he's "compensating for something"...

19:20 Not exactly disagreeing with the DM, but if you make your rolling so complicated that players will not only have good ability scores, but also a negative modifier, you are probably better off using standard array.

A forever DM? I feel for you, man. I've found myself in that situation in recent years...fortunately it seems to be lessening a bit, but it's still annoying.

11 pages of backstory? Redflag.

That dude actually trying to smurf in DnD during the First Impressions story

Story 3, the rogue already demonstrated they would kill party members and the other members didn't just kill them? That immediately makes the rogue a detriment, and no character would babysit any character so willing to kill someone that's actively helping them stay alive. The moment he attempted it the second time I would have killed him on the spot, and the first time would just not have happened. But the first kill gave way to an amazing new character at least. The rogue should not have survived the first kill, and the fact it got to do it twice tells me the other characters either were targeting the new player as well or sided with the rogue, and no one is sitting there to endure that. Glad the player left and found fun elsewhere, that dysfunctional group needs to check itself.

Story 2, what kine of paladin let's someone bleed put without reason? What oath says 'this random person called you suspicious, so instead of confirming anything let them die'? Paladin should have healed and verified (you even have rope, genius), and with the way things went letting an innocent person die like that would have called for the loss of said paladin powers depending on the oath. Conquest isn't hurt hard by it, but most other oaths? Bye-bye paladin powers. Heck, the paladin just saw someone murder someone else entirely and did not question or act on it? Also, DM, really?

I'm super guilty of pre written characters I carry characters around from project to project and am always looking to play some of my favorite personal characters in games. But there way I handle it without getting so caught up in what I originally wrote then as is my treating every instance of that character as a different version of that character. Like a multiverse in a comic book, and I like to think it turns out fine! Sometimes I even end up keeping things from have versions of a character and incorporating it into my personal projects because I like the way the developed when they were interacting with others. Which is always fun for me, honestly, I love seeing how my characters will interact with new situations and people that I wouldn't write for them myself

I ran a one shot for some players I’ve been playing with for years as well as a few new ones. Two of them asked if they could use pre existing characters from a separate campaign because they didn’t have time to think of new ones. Remember one shot so deep character isn’t really that important. But I said yes thinking they were just using them as a base…nope they came to the table with all the loot and magic items from the campaign they were already playing with them. If that wasn’t bad enough they completely ignore the story in favor of talking to themselves because we’re not from this world so we don’t care. Yes they tried to say that these characters literally pooffed into my world from their usual campaign. Finally I told them make sure your character can fight at rang as the boss could fly. Arrive at the boss they start to complain that they can’t do anything because their melee based characters and didn’t bother to do the one thing I told them too. Also never were ready when ever I asked for skill checks. And then threw a tantrum when I wanted to use my own mini for a monster instead of theirs because theirs kept falling over and knocking stuff over. I know I said two more things after finally sorry about that.

the paladin in The “Stone the rogue” story was an idiot. Your character is lawful good; you just witnessed another character commit what is affectively attempted murder. And at no point, you make an attempt to heal the downed character? Woe be at to the DM To not do anything, but the fact that the paladin just hmm’d and haww’d about it?

04:28 the answer to a message like this is “If you dislike all my rules, don’t play my games”

That Pirate story absolutely wouldve turned me off of dnd forever. When I make my characters I give them some juxtaposition, but that back story for Princess man was rough.

I have a pre-rolled character I've been waiting years to play. She was the second one I ever created, during my "Learning how to create a character" assignment (My DM asked me to master character creation, so I could walk the rest of the group of noobs through it). She is a barbarian, with a high intelligence, and a wisdom of FOUR. I love her so much. I have never gotten to play her, and I really do look forward to playing her. I mean, I already know how to lean into the high intelligence/low wisdom dichotomy. I have the attitude that I should EMBRACE the failures, because that's what makes it FUN. For example, my high-intelligence/low wisdom barbarian will say, "Tactically, this is a good time to rage," when she's feeling confident and happy, but get her upset and she will literally be too angry to rage, because "I'm too upset to think tactically right now!" Her backstory is simple: She was in her final semester at wizarding school (just like all the members of her family for generation, she was going to be a wizard), when she was doing work/study in the library, and came across Issue #69 of Barbarian Weekly, with Nocan the Barbarian on the cover. She, who had always been rather immature, sexually, had a burst of sexual awakening, and decided she MUST join his barbarian horde, and have his babies. So, she left school, and went off to become a barbarian, and make a name for herself, worthy to join his horde. So far, she has killed a rat! Huzzah! So, yeah, I am a bit attached to the character, for the crazy fun value. As for character death, as long as she gets a decent death scene, and is not just killed by falling rocks, on the way to her first quest, I'll be happy. I just want to PLAY her. Besides, Raise Dead is a spell.

This is the first time I've ever heard of somebody spawn-camping D&D.

Been in a lot of games where the DM had a lot of arbitrary restrictions and finicky house rules. Most of them were just awful and imbalanced to the point of being broken, but I kept my mouth shut and played them anyway, because they deserve a chance to run the game the way they want, and let it succeed or fail based on it's own merits.

Lemme help the whiney, no freedom guy summarize their complaint: I WANNA PLAY FELIXLAVOLPE'S DRUNK ALCHEMIST CLERIC, BUT MY WAY! WHY WON'T YOU LET ME!?!

Sounds like Stone wanted to play Among Us - D&D Edition, without filling anyone else in.

First story sounds like the equivalent of "I went to Pizza Hut to buy a birthday cake and they had the AUDACITY to tell me they don't sell cake!" Like dude, if you don't want to play a D&D game with rules...then don't? Not that hard.

I only use pre written characters for games where I need to make a character quickly. They always have goals generic enough to fit into whatever campaign.

For the first story, dude wouldn't need the skilled feat for those proficiencies monks get one artisan tool proficiency of your choice, both hermit AND Way of Mercy give herbalism kit proficiency as well as proficiency in medicine, and I think most people wouldn't have a problem replacing the redundant proficiencies with other things but as an alternative he could give Guild Artisan the same roleplay flavor just with a different background feature

Alternate DM choice for the dagger throw: Stone: "I throw the dagger at OP" DM: "Sure. You throw the dagger up through the hole in the floor. OP, you may make an action to grab it if you wish." OP: "What? Um... no?" DM: "The dagger falls back down." *sound of rolling dice* "Hitting Stone for X damage."

Princess, I love the necromancer rat with zombie pirate idea!!!

Damn YOU, @retropunk2 ! Making his eyes bleed was our entire motivation for posting to the app! Now, we have to find an entirely new method of slowly torturing his body and soul. 🤔

The zombie-piloted-by-magic-rat thing sounds like much fun in a less jerkish game.

I often play pre-written characters. And yeah, I might use the same character again at some other table in future, but it it never affects how I play at a particular table. Even if I roll up a new character, it's generally the same character with a new name and backstory, 'cause human/half-orc/dwarf melee tank is my comfort zone. As a DM, of course I play many other things as NPCs, but that's different.

I have tons of pre-written characters. I just keep making them, and I'm compelled to give the a back story, it's fun. Probably never play over half of them, but I'm cool with that.

that last guy really was a PRINCESS

The last story made me thinking. Last week i joined my first ever dnd campain and i used a Prewritten character i made. And the last story here kinda made me Worring. Will i too turn into something like this guy? Getting annoyed that ppls don't act towards my character as i expect them to act? Will i get too attached to it? I hope no. I would not want to Become someones horror story.

The second story is why I dont allow PvP in my games under any circumstances.

"i apologize for being whiny and entitled" Apology accepted! It gave me internet points on Reddit, so I'm fine.

This just makes me extra glad my old Pathfinder character's last name was Stonebreaker lmao

"I'm sorry if I'm coming across as whiny and entitled but that's why I'm writing this up" ....At least they admit it lol

As a Bart (though not the one in the story) I am sorry for story 3 and offer some Goodberries to atone for my fellow's sins.

I remember reading story #2 (the monster hunter one) when it was originally posted and in the comments OP said if the person had explained his character concept he probably would've allowed it. But the way he came off he immediately rejected him.

17:07 3/3.5 is the *perfect* edition for allowing him to continue playing that Awakened Necromancer Rat and Zombie Pirate combo…

I love picking dump stats. Easy to decide on character flaws.

To deal with Bart all you gotta do is punch him in the dick and when he complains just explain,” PVP is allowed right?” Also I’m picturing Princess being played by Miss Piggy from the Muppets, I just feel like that fits based off of what’s described!

I don't like it when I'm being told what to do, princess.

*looks at title* Hopefully this won't be as cringy as a grown man playing a Loli catgirl by BearBard earlier.😫

I do pre-written characters. They're personal OC's that I "file the serial numbers off" of and tweak backstory as needed to fit into a game. I also thing I am self-aware enough to understand what is generally cringe and how TTRPGs actually work. XD

Excuuuuuuse me, princess!

Like the Necromancer Rat idea - hate the person that killed this guys first two characters. Like WHAT THE &#%^%$

Thank you so much for your vids I just started getting into playing D&D and just very recently started learning to DM and I've learned a lot from your content as well as others so just wanted to say thank you.

Imagine going to play DnD and you get kicked outside so the couple who invited you can word-fuck.

This guy really knows how to crisp a tavern

Not going to lie, it's kind of refreshing to hear about people who tried dnd or ttrpgs in general only to quit due to legitimate reasons.

Random PC homicide... *sigh* L5R 2nd ed, many years ago... I was playing an Utaku battle maiden, another very good friend was playing an Iuchi shugenja, and we had a Bayushi bushi and a Miramoto bushi. We got into a fight with a pack of goblins. I got hit hard, and knocked out. Exploding 10's are a bitch. The Bayushi bushi writes a note to the GM. GM looks at it, blinks, reads it again, then looks at the bushi player. "Seriously?" He asks. Bayushi bushi player nods. The Miramoto and Iuchi are asked to make perception checks, but neither beats the Bayushi's stealth roll. The combat ends. And as the dust settles, the Iuchi goes to heal me, but the GM shakes his head. "She's dead, a goblin dagger sticking out of her chest." The Bayushi player is grinning. Everyone else at the table looks at him suspiciously and he shrugs, admitting that he'd killed my character, that no one noticed, and that it was just "something my character would do." No real reason. Just murder. We didn't played that campaign again.

I play obvious self-inserts all the time. I don’t end up on rpghorrorstories because, like myself, they’re literally nothing but flaws

I'll never understand why people get so bent out of shape about an advertisement post for a game. Recently I saw a thread on r/rpg where people were dogpiling a post from roll20 because it asked that applicants that are accepted don't play in any other campaigns. That is a pretty stringent requirement but nobody is forcing you to apply. If you don't like what he's laying down, don't pick it up.

I mean, i have a character with a prewritten backstory Thats fairly extensive. And while I adore her, im not afraid to let her get the shit kicked her. I know if she dies, in can just played her in another game. Or i trust the party will help keep her alive

4:24 Well, there's your problem right there. Dude's been hooked on the tutorial system for 7 years. Probably hasn't ever touched another system; the sort of person who'd sooner twist 5E rules into something unrecognizable and barely functional than learn a new system, then expect everyone else to learn what is effectively a new system to play with him.

Entitled player 1: *wants to join the monster hunter game* Also entitled player 1: I don't want to be a monster hunter and only want to do things that don't fit the setting and theme established. Dude. Go find a game that fits what you want instead of trying to change an established game to fit your wants regardless of everyone else's enjoyment. That's what makes you entitled.

Don't be a Princess folks.

Princess! (Makes me think of the one in Little Lamplight from Fallout 3.)

The second story sounds a little like Gatekeeping a hobby.. He doesn't like new people coming to the game( let alone liking it) out of fear it will become "popular", and he finds himself not being the "cool sage".

Well I don’t have any pre-written characters, I have concepts for the characters but I rarely have time to stat them out.

The character idea from the first story honestly does sound fun... Also yeah, Princess - really, all of these people - was...a thing, is all I can say.

What I would have done with the dagger throw, I would have allowed him to throw it but would have said it missed no matter what, something about Maria miraculously dodging last second.

For the story about the dm allowing pvp. This is one reason I would be hesitant cause half the time you would get a murder happy idiot just making it misreable. Honestly if I was the dm I would of called out bart, told him I am not allowing the kill and to stop. That he has abused pvp and I will not allow to the death pvp unless the reason is very good aside from "I am so random!" or "I wanted the shiny!" Period.

weeeeell excuse me, PRINCESS~...

DM should have said no. Or constructively caused his attack to backfire on him.

For my first (and only) campaign, I played a pre-witten character I had written a few months prior, and it was fun XD I mostly wanted to play with a wizard that only focused on enchantment spells, and I had to transition him from DnD to Pathfinder because my friend the GM wanted to play Kingmaker. One time we managed to overthrow a bandit camp without difficulty thanks to my sleep spell, and on other occasions my wizard was virtually useless because the ennemies weren’t affected. But it led to some moments of rp, so that was fun. I had to leave the campaign, but it was on me: I hadn’t enough time with uni to keep up weekly with a 4-hours campaign. The GM kept my character as an npc so, he wasn’t that bad I suppose XD

Ratatouille 2 sounds pretty hardcore!

Kara-tur? I've heard some pretty negative stuff about that 3e setting. I would recommend the Asian represent podcast and their reaction to it really eye-opening stuff. Edit Link to first episode: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/etiIeMWUt7u-lnk.html

Stone probably just wanted a reason to kill OP due to out of game reasons

Ironically I only have pre-written characters (because I don’t play them)

The DM in the intro story must be a relative to Kakashi from Naruto/Naruto Shippuden.😂

PRINCESS

“Princess”

Bart sounds like a rust player.

I have definately played with some people who have pre-written characters who work at actually tie their character into the world, but I have experienced some of the 'princesses" as well. It's never banned from my game, but its something to be careful of for sure