My guess is that without the explosive reaction they were hoping for and a second patron also reacting negatively (ruining the illusion of the "randomly and irrationally offended Karen", the potential video was spoiled for them, so I doubt it was posted, or if it was posted, it was probably seen right through and buried before it ever had a chance to go viral.
@@dr0g_Oakblood or a private group of people who like to pat each other on the back for being so cool. Since theyd get torn apart if they posted that video on the open web
The Gamestore Gaslighting story really pisses me off... I mean, most game stores fail - like 90% of all game stores (and comic stores) just FAIL! - because it's a very niche market and frankly, they can use all the help they can get. So when I see this kind of dumbass gatekeeping that will IGNORE an obvious potential customer, it just drives me nuts! And as a previous part-owner of a local game shop, I can assure you that if I EVER saw any of my employees ignore a customer like that, and then lie to them about product in stock, I would have fired all four of them on the spot! Stores buy product from manufacturers and various depots. We then need to sell the product at profit in order to make money. This money goes toward venue rental, maintenance, insurance, and of course employee salaries, and a dozen other things. This woman came into the store to make a purchase - I don't care if it was $500 of minis or just $2 for a single d20. And they not only lied to her and refused to do business with her (why, because she's a girl?) , but they outright ignored her. Man, that makes me mad!
It just utterly confuses me how time and time again game store employees will purportedly harass customers out of the store based on their perceived legitimacy. Like, do you guys _not like_ making money??
That always confuses me!! Like you don't know this person! You don't know how much money they are willing to spend and how deep they are in the nerd culture. Like there are TONS of people that are very willing to spend money! If you don't sell products, you don't get paid! You're fucking yourself OVER!!
I know this is kind of a late response but I think it wasn't so much they she was a she but more the people at desk trying to get their 15 mins of fame without realizing or caring that they wouldn't get a single cent from it and would most likely loose their actual paying job either due to getting fired or the shop failing once the word would spread out that the people there are a-holes who care more about making a scene then making a sale.
Gamestore Gaslighting Story. If I was the owner and I found out about this from my employees, they would all be fired on the spot. You don't mess with my livelihood just so you can have a good laugh.
They are litterly gatekeeping here which is a very bad move to do. Screw that thought process of protecting their hobby from fakers when op is just wanting to buy a simple set of freaking dice. if it were me, I would ham blast them on social media which is the right thing to do against shops like this.
I honestly didn't even pick up on the fact that the first story might have been Tiktok-bait, I was just assuming it was gaslighting a female patron because conservative small town and "muh girls can't play DND they have cooties" or something akin to it, and the female employee had internalized misogyny (pick me girl type or the like) to try and keep the "fake DND girl" from playing, but after hearing Crispy's explanation, it seems like they were trying to bait her making her think they were doing the typical gaslighting then trying to profit off of it, which makes more sense considering they were denying a patron a sale entirely which would be bizarre even for the presumed misogyny, just a shame really.
I mean, I have worse episodes of misogyny to share, don't discount it, also, the phone could have been out because let's admit, she was trying to make op look like a Karen for a bit of fame, but that pretty much matches a lot of my experiences with misogynistic people, including pick me.
I didn’t even think misogyny or tictok clout. I’ve seen to many game shop and comic store owners who are just straight up assholes to anyone who walks through the door. That shop owner stereotype from the Simpson’s exists for a reason.
First story: I didn't even think of it as a "get this girl to blow up for views on Tiktok" scenario. I figured these people were just being weirdly gatekeepy because a woman who didn't seem to know about tabletop games (basing this solely on the "You lost?" comment) came into their store. I don't get that. She's coming into your store for ten minutes to buy some things and then you'll never see her again; she isn't coming to bring her girlfriends to turn the place into a nail salon or whatever people like that think that a girl would do to their store. So weird. But yeah, it probably was just some dumbasses trying to record a blowup for clout. Hope OP left a review online somewhere to warn people away from that place, and glad she got at least one other person to leave with her. Patron seems like a pretty cool guy.
I was guessing they wanted those products for themselves and refused to sell them. The "karen" trap makes more sense, unfortunately. Hopefully either they get fired or the store goes out of business.
As someone who has worked in a game store before this too seems weird to me... at least in our store if an employee wanted to buy something we'd set it aside... we don't leave stuff out in the store where people can see them and then claim we're out.
Depending on the size of the store, it could have been the owner. On the other hand, owners who do have to work the counter themselves tend to be very friendly, polite and helpful in my experience. In part because they want repeat customers and aren't just fishing for pointless likes/karma on facebook, r/retailhorror or some other subreddit/site.
@@roguebansheeUnless it's a small town, which usually sees those shops survive off of a core group that inevitably becomes insular and typically bigoted.
I had a relative that at first ended all their text with “…” I started feeling a near anxiety attack cause I thought they were signaling that they were trying to tell me bad news. They told me they thought is meant leaving the conversation open to continue till I ask that they stop
@@l.a.foster Is this relative a Gen-Xer? It's a very Gen X thing to do (speaking as one). The joke goes that we are so used to being ignored that we just sort of trail off...
Maybe they just want to seem happy and non-aggressive :) Probably not though :) But there is a chance they don't mean anything by it :) But yeah, it seems so passive aggressive :)
I agree on the conclusion that the employees were trying to create a "Karen" encounter. I've noticed a few reddit stories where the OP runs into someone (usually an employee) who seems to be trying to get a response out of them, or the OP themselves will overblow the actions of the supposed "Karen" and/or overreact to the situation. There was a story a little while back about a guy getting some Internet fame about his "entitled neighbour", when in truth he was actually antagonising by speeding in a residential area. And then he stabbed his neighbour's husband when he was confronted.
Damn, that game shop horror story gives me flashbacks. I used to live in this sort of disembodied suburb in the PNW, with only one game shop in the _county;_ and oh, did he abuse that. Along with any customer he decided he didn't like, such as on account of having judged her a Fake Geek Girl on sight for no particular reason. Needless to say: I switched to ordering all of my game stuff online as soon as that became feasible.
These kinds of stores think they can be on top for cleaning house in their sense but I garenteed it will lose them money when they keep on acting like that.
Also in the PNW, smallish town for up here but nowhere near as small as the one I grew up in Arkansas. I'm a vet with a big Ole beard, walked into the store looking for EGtWM. Wanted to shop local, but boy did they ignore me to the point of it almost being comical. Didn't get upset just said "Y'all have a good day" and left. Just gonna stick to driving to Olympia and getting books from Barnes and Noble at this point.
Ngl when I read PNW my first thought was Post-Nuclear Wasteland. I may or may not be a bit too invested in the new Fallout show. But yeah, I've been there, and it blows. Some people should not be allowed anywhere near a position of power.
nothing up with being a guy who plays a girl, or that girl happens to be a lesbian. in fact, a friend of mine discovered that shes trans by doing that exact thing! the only issue is when you have combos of varying things, such as being super focused on how your character is a lesbian, how many girls she can get with, and getting sexual with it. its a starter 'PACK'. if you're just playing a character, theres no need to worry ❤
I think pretty much all the geeky transbian women I know played lesbian characters in ttrpg before they transitioned and/or always picked female characters in video games when there was an option.
@@mrsplays9817my first non premade character was going to be a tabaxi girl before going for a male but also nonbinary esque dragonborn. Annnd i found later im genderfluid 😂
People who use emojis like that and say things randomly like "sorry if I stepped on your toes in any way" are a dead give away of how manipulative they are. They use these phrases and images to try and male you feel like you're the one acting out of line. Don't fall for it, yall.
Clueless and Chill seem like underratedly good friends. Clueless realized he didn't have the ability to deal with the shit going on and got a more assertive friend involved to help OP sort out the issues at the table. Chill realized the extent of the problems and pulled in an older supportive figure who could shut shit down without a fight breaking out and help OP out of their situation. I'm glad OP had such a lovely support system in their life. Now let's just hope they don't run into any [PICKUP ARTIST].
That first story, I'm pretty sure OP accidentally stepped into a pocket of the Feywild and was just lucky the local Fey were in a strange mood. Third Story: It's almost impossible to make a Barbarian with an Armor Class _under_ 14. What is this guy doing? Even if you have zero armor and a Dexterity of 14, if you have a Constitution of 14, you have an AC of 14. And I don't know about anybody else, but I usually try to get my Barbarians to 16 CON, because it increases both their HP pool and their AC. Enjoy your vacation, Crispy. 🍸
The story where the dude is cheating sets me off. There's nothing more frustrating than posting a paragraph asking someone to be rule compliant and just getting a 'may i have a higher ac? :D' And the emoji in every post like being nice will change the fact they're being a jerk. The DM is being way too nice for how blatantly red flag that guy is being. I would have kicked him for the emojis alone in a serious discussion
I've accidentally cheated in games and I felt horrible in it, totally more of a "thanks for understanding that I'm new; I'm going to comply 110% from now on", not so much a "but I like these stats"
Tbh? It was going super well until the cheater was like "is this better?" Stop letting cheaters 'fix' their sheets to be rules compliant. Fix their sheet yourself and make a copy of it for reference so you know when they've changed something. The second the DM started lecturing in multiple paragraphs about how breaking the rules is wrong and less fun than playing legitimately, you lost the cheater. It should never have been a discussion and ultimately the DM wasted their own time--you say "here's a corrected sheet, let's play" and move on. Cheaters by their nature are notoriously insecure and you can't have both a playing cheater AND a called out cheater in your party. If they feel like you're going to nag (read: explain to them clearly what they're doing wrong) 24/7 and it's an "uncomfy" conversation, especially if they feel accused, it's over. They're out. No one likes playing with cheaters anyway, but the DM was needlessly frustrating themself by trying to argue ethics with someone who was intentionally being unethical. Like yeah goody two shoes, he knows what he was doing is against the rules. He also thinks cheating without being caught is more fun than playing legitimately, because the fun argument was "I'll just scale the combat up to match you" while the entire point was that cheater was relying on you not knowing you needed to scale up. (Tangent here but how tf do you play DND as a DM without even glancing at someone's sheet? Even if you don't personally have a copy and you missed something crazy like an 18 AC barbarian at level 3, surely you would notice in game when nothing was hitting that mf 💀 Most negligent DM alive)
We had a guy start his PF1e character with *300* extra skill points. Became suspicious when *none* of his rolls were under 25. We gave him the benefit of the doubt, but he had a hissy fit and ragequit when his perfect waifu couldn't heal *my character* from a level loss equivalent situation.
First story, either they were trying to go viral by forcing a Karen situation, or maybe one of them thought they knew her (the customer) and didn't like her so none of them were going to help her. Whatever the reason, I would find out who the store owner was and tell them what happened because most game stores need all the income they can get. Most people are going to go for choice, lower cost and the convenience of something like Amazon. Those workers are purposefully driving customers away.
07:55 I gotta say, the way these "employees" are behaving is straight out of a spaghetti western. Except instead of being set inside a late 1800s Saloon, its inside a 2022 hobby shop. At least in the Saloon they would tell you to leave to your face.
And fittingly, the only reason they think it's OK to act like this is because they know it won't end in someone smashing a beer bottle over their head. A lot of people didn't get more polite as time went on. Worse in some ways, actually. They just got used to not being punched in the face anymore for their rudeness.
The retail story reminds me of my experience walking into some game stores. Never had a store worker be that rude to me, but the confusion and general unhelpfulness because you introduced estrogen into the atmosphere is frustrating and creepy when they state at you like a zoo exhibit.
To answer your question about how anything Cringe did counts as flirting: none of it is. He's just being a creep because he doesn't know how to not act like an incel jerk
About 7 years ago I played in an online game where one player did that "starter pack" to the tee. Literally couldn't go an hour without mentioning his lesbian elf's DD breasts. The player was only 16, hopefully he grew out of the creepy cringe.
Forgivable at 16. A lot more concerning at 30+ which I see a lot. I have some really cringe memories from my time as a teenage girl playing in RPGs with older men. People, please don't be gross.
With the smiley guy story 😀, the GM responded perfectly. They attempted to help the player, didn't falter on the rules, and even outright said if they weren't willing to follow the rules they should leave, which is not something most people are willing to do. They were confident and kind the entire time.
These stories easily show the good and bad of the DnD community. Especially with that last one. Honestly standing ovation for Dad Player who mad the right call and helped op out of a scarey situation. We all need more players like Dad and Chill.
L O L As a fellow Ace, that existential dread of "Have people been thinking I was being a creeper?!?!?!?" at the beginning was fuckin' HILARIOUS and so damned relatable. 😆
Gamestore story: Hm, they could have tried to bait a Karen reaction. Though, I think they just didn't want their conversation to be interrupted. Hence, why they were blatantly ignoring the other patron at the counter. It could also be a shared sentiment of "how dare you make us do our jobs!" where they "punish" the customer in return.
NO because I'm also an asexual guy who has a lesbian pc. I didn't really set out to make her any sexuality, I just played her for a while and it just happened.
@@TheZMagehonestly same except I never pretended to be straight so I just went "Why play straight characters when people always just assume I'm straight with no justification anyways"
@@TheZMageReminds me of a tabletop horror story where a DM was mad that a homosexual male wouldn't play heterosexual males. The player (OP) mentioned he didn't want to because he had to effectively roleplay being heterosexual most of his life. I like that phrasing if his reason a lot.
Man DM in convo about OP characters was great. Never called out or accused the player, even trying to explain why being OP is pointless in an effort to make them the the wrongs of their ways. And finally not responding to their parting insult.
Heyos! I was apart of the delta green campaign group! It started off funny at first but went south real quick once the nudist bit went down. It not only made our mission more difficult but made the party quite uncomfy. It got too much at that point and honestly made me consider leaving the group. But glad how things ended peacefully! Don't try to creep out your party!
Aw the dad in the last game is who I aspire to be as I grow older. I dunno why she was stuck in that toxic environment for so long. Makes me think this could be an anime where Dad-Kun visits a struggling dnd group and fixes it each session
37 years here, and same. I would have looked up the owner and let him know his useless employees are losing him business and not worth their paychecks.
That game store experience is absolutely surreal. I've never heard of the tiktok thing trying to force Karen situations. I'm a middle aged, slightly overweight yt lady, so I look pretty Kareny and wouldn't be surprised to run into this if it's a thing. I did put pink streaks in my hair to try to diminish the Karen aesthetic. (And because I like the color and it makes me happy.) I don't even know what I would do in that situation. Probably assume they're joking and insist? Ask if I'm being Punk'd? (Remember that hidden camera show of Ashton Kutcher's? Yes, I'm middle aged.) Lose my patience and storm out after telling them to eff off? Possibly that. I tend to nope out when I get too frustrated. This is just weird and shitty.
Yeah, that intro...y'know, I'm glad I never went down the road of sexual rp in DnD. Funny thing is, I DO sex chat and erotic role play...BUT I keep that SEPARATE from my normal role playing. Time and a place, people. Also, the one time I played a female character, she wasn't really sexual at all. More of a stoic, wise Druid who sought to...well, I played her in two campaigns. In one, she was the voice of reason and morality amongst a party of less than moral people (hilarious considering I played her as a true neutral lol). In the other she was driven mad by being stranded on a pirate ship with a bunch of sailors, and became a gruesome necromantic pirate queen sailing around with her newly undead crew.
3rd Story "Targeting the Ace?": I encountered those annoying inappropriate smileys back in my WoW time. A guild and raid member would try to pull every complained we had about his behavior (talking shit about guild members in guild chat, grieving the raid team while we tried to progress, etc) into absurdity and plaster the chat with smileys while doing so. We named them "asshole smileys" from that day onward. I still use that term when people, who try to not acknowledge the seriousness of the conversation, use them excessively.
The small town game shop that I used to go to had a worker who would harass any women that came to the store. The others were very rude to regulars regardless of if they had money to spend despite having a space for people to hang out.
@magnarcreed3801 Maturity is more than the content. Things don't need to be dark or gritty or "real" to be mature. Something can be fun and light and colorful and still be mature because maturity is about being an adult. It's responsibility, accountability, and mutual respect. This is about the best I can describe it.
@@MrCrunchytime Pretty obvious. Don’t know what point you’re trying to make. Mature clearly stands for more gritty or hard shit, hell even some nice “adult” stuff. They do this specifically so people can better know what to expect. If you want to specify accountability and respect or what it you go for “realistic npc”.
What you said about the last story is really accurate. I started TTRPG officially in 2020 when I joined a PF1E table, having misread the LFG post and thinking it was 5E. I liked it at first. Even bought books that I sadly dont use anymore. Well, I was guilt tripped by sob stories of games gone wrong from this DM, and a bit of gaslighting about how the group didn’t NEED a cleric, but also that I was the ONLY reason the party was still alive. I watched many players leave upset, but the DM fed us lies about why. I left myself after a few monthd of skipping the occasional session for my mental health, as the game had begun ti seriously mess me uo and stress me out. Even after strangers and my best friend, all outsiders looking in, told me I should leave, it was only when I got sick with The Plague and lost my voice and energy for several weeks (which also made me have to pause the campaign I was running) that I finally realized that I needed to get OUT. So I ghosted, after a message saying zi was recovering and that I MIGHT be returning. I’m doing way better now. Heck, the information about the DM lying to us about why players left came to light because just this past weekend, one of thise players messaged me on Discord, havung seen one of my now deleted Vent posts I made, similar to letters and journals I’ve heard of people in therapy writing. We talked, we apologized cuz we both realized we weren’t amazing players, and I had always felt I was part of the reason this particular player left. They told me the DM had told them privately that everyone in the group hated them, and that they were getting kicked for not doing what the DM wanted. All of which was new information to me. The people you think are your friends (and in OP’s case, romantic partner) can be HELLA toxic, and terrible to have in your life. Sometimes you can realize the need to cut them out with a little help like OP did when Dad entered their group. Sometimes you’re like me and need a mix of people screaming in your ear for months AND to catch a potentially fatal disease 😂
I once did a campaign in 4e where I was a swordmage and I started out with a +2 Runic bastard sword, that was one higher level than I should have been able to afford, that my character won as the first place prize for a tournament. Which was mostly allowed because the GM liked the idea and because it was supposed to be a slightly rougher campaign than usual and he wanted to give us a better chance early on. Also, it counted as one of my free magic items you get when creating a character above first level.
I'm a dude and play male/female characters in like as close to a 50/50 split as I can just to keep things from getting dull, have a little variety. the only lesbian character I ever played actually was originally a dude, but the DM used an in-game drug to force a magic sex change on my character and I just kind of rolled with it, figured that the sex change wouldn't affect who my character was attracted to. made for some interesting rp for sure
Allos really do be wild. If anyone i knew sent me pictures of my own cleavage i would never talk to them again. I'm actually working to bet "clueless" in that story wasn't as oblivious as they let on. Just non confrontational and unsure how to deal with what was happening, because it was horrible and toxic, so they brought in more experienced level headed friends to support them in this mess of a social dynamic.
I had a similar player when I was a first time DM. I told them to go off the books. We knew someone who had the books for 3.5, so I did not see this being an issue but they kept using online sources and never came over to the person’s house to make a character. When Covid came full swing, they used it as an excuse to never going to that person’s house. So with another player’s help, sent a link to an online archive of all 3.5 books. But the player that was now joining over VC, still used homebrew they found online. So I tried to work with the previous DM to get this homebrew balanced, and when the edits were advised the player still try to sneak in lycanthropy. Another note, these were level 3 characters and this player already was a level 3 samurai.
Thanks to Crispy’s naming, I’m just imagining that second story as an episode of Community where the gang somehow get roped into running a local game store against their will and are doing everything they can to get fired 😂
Third Story: Why does a barbarian player care about high AC? They already take half-damage while raging, that's the whole point of the class. They're a 4th-level character, how much high-damage weaponry can be being thrown at them that they have to worry about? And yeah, having the armor be a goal is better motivation than "My grandfather gave me this super-valuable armor." OP should've let him play, and on the first night, had someone steal the armor from him, so now he has a reason to get it back. Motivation. A story. Guy just sounded like he wanted to be busted anyway, so it's probably for the best that he left.
Sounded like he wanted the AC just to have it, starting with better equipment than he'd be allowed. If it's just about being busted, they don't care for what they could settle with.
(15:46) There is a better way to handle this. You just ask the question, and wait for the anwser. If they say that they don't know something, you just offer to help them fix their sheet, according to the rules set in character creation. And thats aaaaaaall you have to do. Nothing more to say...
If I ask for something from the dm that is against the norm, it’s usually flavor and with something in mind to keep the balance between me, an incoming player, and then. It’s also never gold unless the dm wants to accommodate that. Here is some examples. I have asked for a sled dog as flavor for my well travelled red-riding hood inspired character. The sled dog uses the wolf stat block. I did not intend to use the dog as anything other than a beast of burden and an interesting accessory to what I created her for. Dm was the one who later decided that the dog got to be upgraded to sidekick. This is because many frontline players dropped the game and our poor fighter was tanking alone and starting to feel it. Dm made me do the work and show him my math and I do control the sidekick but only until we either awaken the dog or somehow the dog gets a voice, then it’s the dm’s npc. Either way! The reason dm approved me having this dog at all is because the party had already acquired a mule to help carry supplies. So this was an attempt at being fair without being game breaking. Another example is that I asked if my character could start with a normal tea pot, nothing expensive, just a tea pot and a few cups and a little bit of tea. That was all. It’s because my character was going to be introduced by sitting the party down for tea and downtime before leaving with them on their journey. Also my character was a very enthusiastic tea drinker and was known to spend downtime on shopping for new teas or sharing those new ones with old acquaintances we revisited. It also became an excuse for the party to sit down with my character and basically have my character act as the listening friend so the other pc and I could roleplay a discussion, especially of a tough topic for the character. Again, not game breaking. And one of my other examples. I was entering an ongoing campaign at a relatively high level. The party needed a least some who could sorta heal, at least as a battlefield medic and so I gave my character a background that allowed proficiency in herbalism to craft antitoxins and healing potions. The dm, for this need the party had, allowed my request to have two low level healing potions and one antitoxin already. That was it. This was less a resource for me and more one for the party I was joining. And boy did they need them. (Mostly youth so kinda reckless in tactics and intrigue so yeah, lots of scrapes this lot gets into, but it’s still hilarious fun). But anyway, this is what I have asked for ahead of time, and I do always ask what the set up is for character creation when it comes to either starting gold or starting gear and how much leeway is allowed (if there is higher level play). I never ask for insane level expensive items though. Or even magic ones except for once when I played a saytr and asked for a instrument of illusions. Again, this was flavoring though and the dm loved what I did with it as did the party. Still, always ask people but take no for an answer if dm says it doesn’t seem to balance. And don’t be unreasonable about what you ask for either. Don’t ask for a high level magic item or a super expensive item. Just don’t. It ruins your fun more than you think. Though I will say, one of my dm’s for a game we started at lvl10 gave me way too much starting gold and that gold was technically for the spellcasters to be able to buy components and spell scrolls. I am a scout rogue though so I have no magic beyond the magic items I was allowed to select. So….I stuffed my character’s back of holding with as much wild mundane items as I could that weren’t armor or some incompatible weapon (though I bought a lot of daggers to throw). I just stuffed my bag of holding with it all and now it’s a running joke when my character says “I got something for that” and basically Mary poppins like just pulls out some weird but useful item for us. Little things like candles, chalk, some tools, fishing line, string, a bucket, climbing gear, etc. Which actually helped because my god we had little access to civilization to buy stuff and it isn’t even the dm’s fault, it’s the rest of the party who someone how keeps accidentally finding a way to strand us out in some new wilderness. It’s eventful and hilarious though.
I think the most in depth I got with armor was for my knowledge cleric. Everyone kept making jokes because her reference picture was very well endowed. So I decided on an entire routine for her donning and doffing her armor. It was a fun little logic thing for me. Despite the shortcomings, i really wish we could play that game again. We all loved our characters and they never got to escape avernus...
@@ZioEndling well I am a male with a female character. As for creepy stuff, nah I just enjoy the game with friends. My characters all have their own stories and goals, and I focus on that stuff mostly. I still need to figure out a way to get the party from where we left off to the titular 'escape from avernus' so they can have their happily ever after. >_
i always try to be patient and understanding whenever people just don't want to give up on a certain person... but literally the only "infuriating" thing about the third story is that op is trying to have a conversation with someone that is literally just replying with "😀". like, at this point, how is it even possible to not realize that you're talking to a troll? the dude didn't want to cheat, nor appeal to the DM's mercy to give him a strong character, NOR was he actually a new player, he was quite literally just a troll, a troll that got what he wanted: make someone mad over nothing
Luckily I live in Canada, when a store was being like that in a city I used to live in I recorded them and reported the exchange. store closed for a couple weeks, 2 weeks later they had new employees
Not a horror story, or at least not for me. Going back a few years, I was one of those rarest of breeds, a wargaming wife. We also knew another couple who also both wargamed.. The Games Workshop store in out town was a training store, new shop assistants would come to it after they had been through the stnadard induction at Games workshops HQ. The manager knew the four of us well. One day, we walked in, Hubby and J first and head over to chat wiith the manager at the back of the store, L and I followed a bit behind them, chatting together. Another assistant over at the back by where Hubby and L were talkin to the manager starts to head over, the manager stops him, allegedly with the commen 'stay here, that pair will break the new lad in nicely'. L and I knew more about the game and the various armies, particularly abut the history of the game, than the new assistant did, and as expected, he approached us as if we knew nothing, and were perhaps buying for our own children or relatives (we were both late 20s or early 30s so possible), Slowly he ended up crawling back behind the counter as if trying to crawl into a hole as he realised he was just making mistake after mistake and all his training hadn't taught him to cope with a pair like us. The manager eventually cam over and let him escape to the back room, and later would have a word iwth him to let him know he wasn't in trouble. it may have been a bit barsh, but it helped newly trained assistants realise never make any assumptions about people who walk into the store. I actually had a different assistant appoligise to me for 'making the obvious assumption' when I was in looking for some new figures for one of my armies and he assumed I didn't know anythign about the game because i was female. If those four assistants didn't own the store I hope the owners finds out, first rule of retail, if someone wants to give you money, you do everything you can to facilitate them in doing so. How those shop assistants reacted was down right disgusting.
I am a former FLGS owner and if my sales staff did this I would fire them ALL on the spot for that stunt. It hurts the store and the hobby industry as a whole. *grumble, grumble*stupid kids *grumble grumble*
If the Fedora Hat could talk. The Fedora Hat: I almost had you! But there is always a next time and i can wait. One Day you will put me on and then i will controll you! Muahahaa
Those emojis give me PTSD, I had a "friend" who would put "😅" behind every second message they posted, especially when we called them out on their bs but they just sidestepped/evaded and put it like we're the problem, it was absolutely driving us wild and we kicked her from our friend group... I can't see sweat-smile without cringing anymore, wonder if this guy feels the same about the smiley
I think at charachter creation, you should be able to mix-and-match ONE subclass feat (like, their first feat), on the grounds that you "knew A Guy Back Home(TM)" who taught it to you. As long as it's 1) a sub of your class and 2) you give up a Racial Trait. Also, it gives you a Backstory Attachment for people who care about that (I hear tell of people who exclusively make angsty loner orphans so the DM won't be able to leverage family/friends over their charachters). "The person who inspired you to become your class was masterful enough to have a subclass, and taught you some advanced techniques."
i’m a guy and i haven’t played dnd but i do have ideas for female characters so i’m very glad i have that intro as a reference as what to avoid as hard as possible
Yeah, I've got a friend who's a poster child for the "guy who plays female" starter pack. The friend in question makes only lesbian female characters, they also were provocative clothing, always hit on any female they can, and take high persuasion so they have an easier time talking women NPCs to hook up. He thinks what he's doing is feminist in nature and unfortunately the DM also thinks the same way along with a few other players.
Oh god, the red redacted story is making me remember one player I invited to a campaign I'm co-dming with a friend. I had offered them a spot like a year prior when we were still planning, so despite the fact that I hadn't spoken to this person in almost as long, I felt obligated to reach out and extend the invite, which they accepted. I knew this person irl and had even played (an abysmal excuse of) a game together. It was... a dumpster fire of a game through and through and while it had some great moments(drunkenly chucking a molotov in 1d8 direction that happened to be at the wall of alcohol) but also some terrible ones (killing a pc who's player wasn't there cause the dm failed their con save). This was different tho, as me and the friend I'm dming with are a)in a different much better campaign together and b)have been planning this for years and have over 200 named npc's we filled the school with(it's a monster prom based campaign). Well, I offered this a few months before we were planning to start, so my friend had a lot of time to figure out what they were playing and told them to run it by us dm's if there was any homebrew or specifics that needed to be ironed out(we were not afraid to destroy a plane of reality to traumatize a character and isekai them into the game world). We just had some very basic character creation rules posted in a chat and in the campaign docs that boil down to: a)it's an all boys school so trans and enbies are okay just no girls(we did break this one but because we isekaied a character from a dropped campaign for a different player and the character's name was a common guy name like Bob or Steve and we found it so funny and totally believed someone screwed up thinking this person was a guy and now it's too late), b)this is a modern campaign, prepare accordingly, c)soft minmaxing is fine, there's a lot of literal gods you're taking classes with, just don't be a problem, and d)don't roll or point buy stats, just give them stats that you feel are appropriate, just be reasonably balanced and max one stat can be 18.(this is due to how the npc's were made and balanced) Then a month goes by. I send them a message asking if they had anything yet. They said they'd send it over soon. Another month passes. I message them again. My dm friend tells me they ran a race by them. An extremely heirarchal race of pseudo elf/tiefling ish thing in which your status is decided by the time of day they were born. There were 3 specific problems with this. 1: a heirarchal race will not stand long in a monster society of crimes and anarchy. I had to do a prior minisession to get them isekaied from a different world to make it work. 2)this is more a creative nitpick that a problem, but they named their character Dusk. Take a guess what time of day she was born. Problem 3 was really the one that made me realize this might be a problem. There is no written down race or anything out there for this race, this person sent my dm friend on a rabbit chase through *tiktok* to find specifics about this race. The next problem came a few weeks of pestering later when we eventually got a full character sheet. First being that the stats were very obviously rolled. While it's not bad, they wouldn't be at the same level as even the other mortals she was supposed to be on par with. Second, as you might have noticed, the character was female. Yes, we broke the rule for someone else, but that was okayed by us dm's. This was not. They superficially swapped it to them being an enby which is fine we got a lot of female presenting characters, it just felt disrespectful to us DMs. The third and final nailthat really soured my thought of playing dnd with this person was the character art they drew. While it's fine overall and I don't dis this person's art at all, a)this drawing was the reason they took ages to get us a character sheet and b)the character was drawn with leather armor. We already mentioned it was a modern campaign. They knew the world they came from was modern and the world they're in is modern. It was at approximately this point we realized they already had a character and just wanted to force it into our world, regardless of the fact that it didn't fit. After some back and forth between us dms and askinf some friends who dm as well, we ended up dropping this friend from the campaign before we even started.
The whole point of a bear totem barb is that you dont care about AC cause you take half damage. Youre literally aupposed to shrug off an insane amount of damage because youre angry. Dont play barb if you dont want to see yourself die. You are an unarmoured tank. Thats the point.
Honestly. I think Clueless was a bit of an MVP and deserves more credit. He saw there was a problem, knew he couldnt handle it himself, and brought people into the situation that could.
Story 1. Not sure if they were Karen fishing but maybe OP just didn't look like a nerd. Had a similar reaction at my local game store. It it was my birthday and I really wanted to just go on a nerdy shopping spree. I haf about lost touch with my nerdy roots over the years actually becoming more of a jock in look, being a geek is expensive after all. I went there with the mission of buying a DND 5th edition book along w some expansions, at least 2 ptevon MTG decks, figurines and dice. Was ready to drop $300. I waited for the clerk to seem free before walking up. Dnd was something I wanted to get into so I wanted recommendations but i got nothing but one word answers to my non specific questions. I did come in with specific product in mind when it came to the books so, ok, I have been a CRS agent with no knowlege of the product so moved on. Asked about the dice and if they were made locally, got a maybe. OK. Spotted Digimon figurines and a box of them behind the counter, the man is wearing a digimon shirt. Still one word answers. While I'm talking to the guy another patron walks up and the guy drops me like a hot potato and has full conversations about product with the guy. Up until that moment I though the guy was just not into his job (which is valid) but no, they talked dnd, MTG, and I wouldn't be surprised if figurines. I just left.
I haven't had played D&d yet, because I need to find an online group with a flexible schedule, due to my work, but I have a halfling that's a neutral chaotic rogue who is very much into everything that breathes lol
Collect your bounty here...
If you can find it.
Joe Momma... sorry
As long as it doesn't accidently dox the OP, it'd be interesting to see this.
that would be too good...
My guess is that without the explosive reaction they were hoping for and a second patron also reacting negatively (ruining the illusion of the "randomly and irrationally offended Karen", the potential video was spoiled for them, so I doubt it was posted, or if it was posted, it was probably seen right through and buried before it ever had a chance to go viral.
@@dr0g_Oakblood or a private group of people who like to pat each other on the back for being so cool. Since theyd get torn apart if they posted that video on the open web
The Gamestore Gaslighting story really pisses me off... I mean, most game stores fail - like 90% of all game stores (and comic stores) just FAIL! - because it's a very niche market and frankly, they can use all the help they can get. So when I see this kind of dumbass gatekeeping that will IGNORE an obvious potential customer, it just drives me nuts! And as a previous part-owner of a local game shop, I can assure you that if I EVER saw any of my employees ignore a customer like that, and then lie to them about product in stock, I would have fired all four of them on the spot!
Stores buy product from manufacturers and various depots. We then need to sell the product at profit in order to make money. This money goes toward venue rental, maintenance, insurance, and of course employee salaries, and a dozen other things. This woman came into the store to make a purchase - I don't care if it was $500 of minis or just $2 for a single d20. And they not only lied to her and refused to do business with her (why, because she's a girl?) , but they outright ignored her. Man, that makes me mad!
It just utterly confuses me how time and time again game store employees will purportedly harass customers out of the store based on their perceived legitimacy. Like, do you guys _not like_ making money??
@@MirthandirRose Yeah, someone's in the store... So long as they're not being rude, why would you turn down the chance to make a sale?
That always confuses me!! Like you don't know this person! You don't know how much money they are willing to spend and how deep they are in the nerd culture. Like there are TONS of people that are very willing to spend money! If you don't sell products, you don't get paid! You're fucking yourself OVER!!
I know this is kind of a late response but I think it wasn't so much they she was a she but more the people at desk trying to get their 15 mins of fame without realizing or caring that they wouldn't get a single cent from it and would most likely loose their actual paying job either due to getting fired or the shop failing once the word would spread out that the people there are a-holes who care more about making a scene then making a sale.
Gamestore Gaslighting Story. If I was the owner and I found out about this from my employees, they would all be fired on the spot. You don't mess with my livelihood just so you can have a good laugh.
Those gamestore employees are on a 1 way trip to unemployment with that attitude
They’ll lose their case and have to pay the unemployment benefits back if the store can prove they were provoking customers
They have probably been recording their own evidence.
They are litterly gatekeeping here which is a very bad move to do. Screw that thought process of protecting their hobby from fakers when op is just wanting to buy a simple set of freaking dice. if it were me, I would ham blast them on social media which is the right thing to do against shops like this.
If it's a real story. I mean this super super farfetched
@@BurroughsProductionsYou don't go to a lot of game stores do you?
Crispy going "oh wait I'm ace" actually made me crack up
He said it like he pulled a uno reverse xd
What the fuck is this chat talking about
@@viewer6152 as someone married to and dating two ace people (and as demisexual myself): TRUTH
@@felinemage8285
It kinda is ^^
I often wonder what I'm alo for if I'm perpetually single 🤣
I honestly didn't even pick up on the fact that the first story might have been Tiktok-bait, I was just assuming it was gaslighting a female patron because conservative small town and "muh girls can't play DND they have cooties" or something akin to it, and the female employee had internalized misogyny (pick me girl type or the like) to try and keep the "fake DND girl" from playing, but after hearing Crispy's explanation, it seems like they were trying to bait her making her think they were doing the typical gaslighting then trying to profit off of it, which makes more sense considering they were denying a patron a sale entirely which would be bizarre even for the presumed misogyny, just a shame really.
Especially once the female employee pulled out her phone when op went to confront them.
I mean, I have worse episodes of misogyny to share, don't discount it, also, the phone could have been out because let's admit, she was trying to make op look like a Karen for a bit of fame, but that pretty much matches a lot of my experiences with misogynistic people, including pick me.
@@luciapitti1722 fair point, I was not intending to rule out the possibility of misogyny entirely lol.
I didn’t even think misogyny or tictok clout. I’ve seen to many game shop and comic store owners who are just straight up assholes to anyone who walks through the door.
That shop owner stereotype from the Simpson’s exists for a reason.
how do you stay open with that business model lol@@kyriss12
First story: I didn't even think of it as a "get this girl to blow up for views on Tiktok" scenario. I figured these people were just being weirdly gatekeepy because a woman who didn't seem to know about tabletop games (basing this solely on the "You lost?" comment) came into their store. I don't get that. She's coming into your store for ten minutes to buy some things and then you'll never see her again; she isn't coming to bring her girlfriends to turn the place into a nail salon or whatever people like that think that a girl would do to their store. So weird. But yeah, it probably was just some dumbasses trying to record a blowup for clout. Hope OP left a review online somewhere to warn people away from that place, and glad she got at least one other person to leave with her. Patron seems like a pretty cool guy.
I was guessing they wanted those products for themselves and refused to sell them. The "karen" trap makes more sense, unfortunately. Hopefully either they get fired or the store goes out of business.
🤔 Card Shop/ Nail salon... Choom, I think you're onto something big!
As someone who has worked in a game store before this too seems weird to me... at least in our store if an employee wanted to buy something we'd set it aside... we don't leave stuff out in the store where people can see them and then claim we're out.
@@zakuraRabbitmost retail we put it aside and away from customer access if an employee wants it
If they were gatekeeping. They think those people are ruining the hobby.
oh god that retail worker situation gave me hives. hope they get laid off
Depending on the size of the store, it could have been the owner. On the other hand, owners who do have to work the counter themselves tend to be very friendly, polite and helpful in my experience. In part because they want repeat customers and aren't just fishing for pointless likes/karma on facebook, r/retailhorror or some other subreddit/site.
Turning away customers and potential customers is a great start to get laid off
@@roguebansheeUnless it's a small town, which usually sees those shops survive off of a core group that inevitably becomes insular and typically bigoted.
The way Red Redacted ends 80% of his sentences with a smiley face is what I personally find infuriating.
there's no way it wasn't being used in a passive aggressive manner
I had a relative that at first ended all their text with “…” I started feeling a near anxiety attack cause I thought they were signaling that they were trying to tell me bad news. They told me they thought is meant leaving the conversation open to continue till I ask that they stop
@@l.a.foster Is this relative a Gen-Xer? It's a very Gen X thing to do (speaking as one). The joke goes that we are so used to being ignored that we just sort of trail off...
@@RickLeMonI don’t know about Gen X but my 60 year old dad does it.
Maybe they just want to seem happy and non-aggressive :)
Probably not though :)
But there is a chance they don't mean anything by it :)
But yeah, it seems so passive aggressive :)
I agree on the conclusion that the employees were trying to create a "Karen" encounter. I've noticed a few reddit stories where the OP runs into someone (usually an employee) who seems to be trying to get a response out of them, or the OP themselves will overblow the actions of the supposed "Karen" and/or overreact to the situation.
There was a story a little while back about a guy getting some Internet fame about his "entitled neighbour", when in truth he was actually antagonising by speeding in a residential area. And then he stabbed his neighbour's husband when he was confronted.
Boy, that escalated quickly
can't be supporting local business when local business doesn't support the local community.
'nuff said.
Showing the process of googling alternatives to the word orgy and picking "keg party" was probably one of the funniest things I've seen
Damn, that game shop horror story gives me flashbacks. I used to live in this sort of disembodied suburb in the PNW, with only one game shop in the _county;_ and oh, did he abuse that. Along with any customer he decided he didn't like, such as on account of having judged her a Fake Geek Girl on sight for no particular reason.
Needless to say: I switched to ordering all of my game stuff online as soon as that became feasible.
These kinds of stores think they can be on top for cleaning house in their sense but I garenteed it will lose them money when they keep on acting like that.
Also in the PNW, smallish town for up here but nowhere near as small as the one I grew up in Arkansas. I'm a vet with a big Ole beard, walked into the store looking for EGtWM. Wanted to shop local, but boy did they ignore me to the point of it almost being comical. Didn't get upset just said "Y'all have a good day" and left. Just gonna stick to driving to Olympia and getting books from Barnes and Noble at this point.
Ngl when I read PNW my first thought was Post-Nuclear Wasteland. I may or may not be a bit too invested in the new Fallout show.
But yeah, I've been there, and it blows. Some people should not be allowed anywhere near a position of power.
nothing up with being a guy who plays a girl, or that girl happens to be a lesbian. in fact, a friend of mine discovered that shes trans by doing that exact thing!
the only issue is when you have combos of varying things, such as being super focused on how your character is a lesbian, how many girls she can get with, and getting sexual with it. its a starter 'PACK'. if you're just playing a character, theres no need to worry ❤
I think pretty much all the geeky transbian women I know played lesbian characters in ttrpg before they transitioned and/or always picked female characters in video games when there was an option.
@@Temudhun I was a catgirl in my first 3.5e game~
@@mrsplays9817my first non premade character was going to be a tabaxi girl before going for a male but also nonbinary esque dragonborn. Annnd i found later im genderfluid 😂
People who use emojis like that and say things randomly like "sorry if I stepped on your toes in any way" are a dead give away of how manipulative they are. They use these phrases and images to try and male you feel like you're the one acting out of line. Don't fall for it, yall.
Clueless and Chill seem like underratedly good friends. Clueless realized he didn't have the ability to deal with the shit going on and got a more assertive friend involved to help OP sort out the issues at the table. Chill realized the extent of the problems and pulled in an older supportive figure who could shut shit down without a fight breaking out and help OP out of their situation. I'm glad OP had such a lovely support system in their life.
Now let's just hope they don't run into any [PICKUP ARTIST].
That first story, I'm pretty sure OP accidentally stepped into a pocket of the Feywild and was just lucky the local Fey were in a strange mood.
Third Story: It's almost impossible to make a Barbarian with an Armor Class _under_ 14. What is this guy doing? Even if you have zero armor and a Dexterity of 14, if you have a Constitution of 14, you have an AC of 14. And I don't know about anybody else, but I usually try to get my Barbarians to 16 CON, because it increases both their HP pool and their AC.
Enjoy your vacation, Crispy. 🍸
Hearing about this player they probably put both at like 10 or something
He's a cheater. There's no reasoning with people like that. Boot his annoying ass and have no further dialog when it's clear he refuses to listen
The story where the dude is cheating sets me off. There's nothing more frustrating than posting a paragraph asking someone to be rule compliant and just getting a 'may i have a higher ac? :D' And the emoji in every post like being nice will change the fact they're being a jerk. The DM is being way too nice for how blatantly red flag that guy is being. I would have kicked him for the emojis alone in a serious discussion
I've accidentally cheated in games and I felt horrible in it, totally more of a "thanks for understanding that I'm new; I'm going to comply 110% from now on", not so much a "but I like these stats"
Tbh? It was going super well until the cheater was like "is this better?"
Stop letting cheaters 'fix' their sheets to be rules compliant. Fix their sheet yourself and make a copy of it for reference so you know when they've changed something.
The second the DM started lecturing in multiple paragraphs about how breaking the rules is wrong and less fun than playing legitimately, you lost the cheater. It should never have been a discussion and ultimately the DM wasted their own time--you say "here's a corrected sheet, let's play" and move on.
Cheaters by their nature are notoriously insecure and you can't have both a playing cheater AND a called out cheater in your party. If they feel like you're going to nag (read: explain to them clearly what they're doing wrong) 24/7 and it's an "uncomfy" conversation, especially if they feel accused, it's over. They're out.
No one likes playing with cheaters anyway, but the DM was needlessly frustrating themself by trying to argue ethics with someone who was intentionally being unethical. Like yeah goody two shoes, he knows what he was doing is against the rules. He also thinks cheating without being caught is more fun than playing legitimately, because the fun argument was "I'll just scale the combat up to match you" while the entire point was that cheater was relying on you not knowing you needed to scale up.
(Tangent here but how tf do you play DND as a DM without even glancing at someone's sheet? Even if you don't personally have a copy and you missed something crazy like an 18 AC barbarian at level 3, surely you would notice in game when nothing was hitting that mf 💀 Most negligent DM alive)
We had a guy start his PF1e character with *300* extra skill points. Became suspicious when *none* of his rolls were under 25. We gave him the benefit of the doubt, but he had a hissy fit and ragequit when his perfect waifu couldn't heal *my character* from a level loss equivalent situation.
First story, either they were trying to go viral by forcing a Karen situation, or maybe one of them thought they knew her (the customer) and didn't like her so none of them were going to help her. Whatever the reason, I would find out who the store owner was and tell them what happened because most game stores need all the income they can get. Most people are going to go for choice, lower cost and the convenience of something like Amazon. Those workers are purposefully driving customers away.
I love how the people in the story didn’t have names so you just named them after community characters. Such an amazing show.
07:55 I gotta say, the way these "employees" are behaving is straight out of a spaghetti western. Except instead of being set inside a late 1800s Saloon, its inside a 2022 hobby shop. At least in the Saloon they would tell you to leave to your face.
And fittingly, the only reason they think it's OK to act like this is because they know it won't end in someone smashing a beer bottle over their head. A lot of people didn't get more polite as time went on. Worse in some ways, actually. They just got used to not being punched in the face anymore for their rudeness.
The retail story reminds me of my experience walking into some game stores. Never had a store worker be that rude to me, but the confusion and general unhelpfulness because you introduced estrogen into the atmosphere is frustrating and creepy when they state at you like a zoo exhibit.
To answer your question about how anything Cringe did counts as flirting: none of it is. He's just being a creep because he doesn't know how to not act like an incel jerk
About 7 years ago I played in an online game where one player did that "starter pack" to the tee. Literally couldn't go an hour without mentioning his lesbian elf's DD breasts. The player was only 16, hopefully he grew out of the creepy cringe.
Forgivable at 16. A lot more concerning at 30+ which I see a lot.
I have some really cringe memories from my time as a teenage girl playing in RPGs with older men. People, please don't be gross.
With the smiley guy story 😀, the GM responded perfectly. They attempted to help the player, didn't falter on the rules, and even outright said if they weren't willing to follow the rules they should leave, which is not something most people are willing to do. They were confident and kind the entire time.
These stories easily show the good and bad of the DnD community. Especially with that last one. Honestly standing ovation for Dad Player who mad the right call and helped op out of a scarey situation. We all need more players like Dad and Chill.
I think it’s safe to say that gamestore is no longer in business.
are you kidding? evil douchebags rule the world, they probably won the lottery AND have more customers than ever just because xD
That first story was a surreal experience for sure. I also would have roast them on google reviews or similar.
L O L As a fellow Ace, that existential dread of "Have people been thinking I was being a creeper?!?!?!?" at the beginning was fuckin' HILARIOUS and so damned relatable. 😆
Gamestore story: Hm, they could have tried to bait a Karen reaction. Though, I think they just didn't want their conversation to be interrupted. Hence, why they were blatantly ignoring the other patron at the counter. It could also be a shared sentiment of "how dare you make us do our jobs!" where they "punish" the customer in return.
NO because I'm also an asexual guy who has a lesbian pc. I didn't really set out to make her any sexuality, I just played her for a while and it just happened.
My policy is just “I’m done pretending to be straight,” so if I’m playing a girl, she’s into girls
@@TheZMagethat’s so real of you honestly! I do the same when I play guys, they’re always gay LOL
@@TheZMagehonestly same except I never pretended to be straight so I just went "Why play straight characters when people always just assume I'm straight with no justification anyways"
@@TheZMageReminds me of a tabletop horror story where a DM was mad that a homosexual male wouldn't play heterosexual males. The player (OP) mentioned he didn't want to because he had to effectively roleplay being heterosexual most of his life. I like that phrasing if his reason a lot.
@@ArcCaravan for the record, I started using that phrasing before I heard that story
The author of the Delta Green story really missed a chance to say “one of the PCs decided to mess with Texas”
Probably avoided it to not validate the problem player forcing stupid jokes.
Ha! Nice.
damn it, i missed xD joe kerr here
Man DM in convo about OP characters was great. Never called out or accused the player, even trying to explain why being OP is pointless in an effort to make them the the wrongs of their ways. And finally not responding to their parting insult.
Heyos! I was apart of the delta green campaign group! It started off funny at first but went south real quick once the nudist bit went down. It not only made our mission more difficult but made the party quite uncomfy. It got too much at that point and honestly made me consider leaving the group. But glad how things ended peacefully! Don't try to creep out your party!
Aw the dad in the last game is who I aspire to be as I grow older. I dunno why she was stuck in that toxic environment for so long.
Makes me think this could be an anime where Dad-Kun visits a struggling dnd group and fixes it each session
12:24 Those Smiley Faces were the true horror of this post.
Like they knew they were aggravating and either rubbing it in or trying to brush it off by acting cute.
My brain automatically replaced all the smiley emoji into clown emoji, and even that didn't make the story any less infuriating.
grab some dice and walk out, 'These? I came in with these, I mean I must have because you DON'T have ANY dice here right?'
Gamestore Gaslighting
I hope those people were fired.
7:09 I have been on this Earth for 39 years and I have never asked for a manager. But if this happened to me, I would have Karened up.
37 years here, and same. I would have looked up the owner and let him know his useless employees are losing him business and not worth their paychecks.
That game store experience is absolutely surreal. I've never heard of the tiktok thing trying to force Karen situations. I'm a middle aged, slightly overweight yt lady, so I look pretty Kareny and wouldn't be surprised to run into this if it's a thing. I did put pink streaks in my hair to try to diminish the Karen aesthetic. (And because I like the color and it makes me happy.)
I don't even know what I would do in that situation. Probably assume they're joking and insist? Ask if I'm being Punk'd? (Remember that hidden camera show of Ashton Kutcher's? Yes, I'm middle aged.) Lose my patience and storm out after telling them to eff off? Possibly that. I tend to nope out when I get too frustrated. This is just weird and shitty.
10:30 : *underwater squirrel lassos in the distance
Yeah, that intro...y'know, I'm glad I never went down the road of sexual rp in DnD. Funny thing is, I DO sex chat and erotic role play...BUT I keep that SEPARATE from my normal role playing. Time and a place, people. Also, the one time I played a female character, she wasn't really sexual at all. More of a stoic, wise Druid who sought to...well, I played her in two campaigns. In one, she was the voice of reason and morality amongst a party of less than moral people (hilarious considering I played her as a true neutral lol). In the other she was driven mad by being stranded on a pirate ship with a bunch of sailors, and became a gruesome necromantic pirate queen sailing around with her newly undead crew.
Your Druid sounds incredible!
3rd Story "Targeting the Ace?": I encountered those annoying inappropriate smileys back in my WoW time. A guild and raid member would try to pull every complained we had about his behavior (talking shit about guild members in guild chat, grieving the raid team while we tried to progress, etc) into absurdity and plaster the chat with smileys while doing so. We named them "asshole smileys" from that day onward. I still use that term when people, who try to not acknowledge the seriousness of the conversation, use them excessively.
The small town game shop that I used to go to had a worker who would harass any women that came to the store. The others were very rude to regulars regardless of if they had money to spend despite having a space for people to hang out.
Some people think "mature" just means sex and violence.
Disease, slavery, SA, lots of morally great areas, racism/specism, injuries, poverty, etc etc. So yeah lots of stuff.
@magnarcreed3801 Maturity is more than the content. Things don't need to be dark or gritty or "real" to be mature. Something can be fun and light and colorful and still be mature because maturity is about being an adult.
It's responsibility, accountability, and mutual respect.
This is about the best I can describe it.
@@MrCrunchytime
Lmao no because those are things you should be teaching children young.
@@magnarcreed3801 Children learn by example. When you don't behave like an adult, neither will they.
@@MrCrunchytime
Pretty obvious. Don’t know what point you’re trying to make.
Mature clearly stands for more gritty or hard shit, hell even some nice “adult” stuff. They do this specifically so people can better know what to expect.
If you want to specify accountability and respect or what it you go for “realistic npc”.
What you said about the last story is really accurate. I started TTRPG officially in 2020 when I joined a PF1E table, having misread the LFG post and thinking it was 5E. I liked it at first. Even bought books that I sadly dont use anymore. Well, I was guilt tripped by sob stories of games gone wrong from this DM, and a bit of gaslighting about how the group didn’t NEED a cleric, but also that I was the ONLY reason the party was still alive. I watched many players leave upset, but the DM fed us lies about why. I left myself after a few monthd of skipping the occasional session for my mental health, as the game had begun ti seriously mess me uo and stress me out. Even after strangers and my best friend, all outsiders looking in, told me I should leave, it was only when I got sick with The Plague and lost my voice and energy for several weeks (which also made me have to pause the campaign I was running) that I finally realized that I needed to get OUT. So I ghosted, after a message saying zi was recovering and that I MIGHT be returning.
I’m doing way better now. Heck, the information about the DM lying to us about why players left came to light because just this past weekend, one of thise players messaged me on Discord, havung seen one of my now deleted Vent posts I made, similar to letters and journals I’ve heard of people in therapy writing. We talked, we apologized cuz we both realized we weren’t amazing players, and I had always felt I was part of the reason this particular player left. They told me the DM had told them privately that everyone in the group hated them, and that they were getting kicked for not doing what the DM wanted. All of which was new information to me. The people you think are your friends (and in OP’s case, romantic partner) can be HELLA toxic, and terrible to have in your life. Sometimes you can realize the need to cut them out with a little help like OP did when Dad entered their group. Sometimes you’re like me and need a mix of people screaming in your ear for months AND to catch a potentially fatal disease 😂
I once did a campaign in 4e where I was a swordmage and I started out with a +2 Runic bastard sword, that was one higher level than I should have been able to afford, that my character won as the first place prize for a tournament. Which was mostly allowed because the GM liked the idea and because it was supposed to be a slightly rougher campaign than usual and he wanted to give us a better chance early on. Also, it counted as one of my free magic items you get when creating a character above first level.
Love that opening bit
Character traits don't make a horror story. It's how you use them.
Story1: those employees are gross indeed. Good on op for handling that well and good on the patron for being an ally
I'm sorry, that game store is now out of business I bet you my Blue metal dice.
The "oh wait I'm ace" got me dead
Ace pride mate ace pride
I'm a dude and play male/female characters in like as close to a 50/50 split as I can just to keep things from getting dull, have a little variety. the only lesbian character I ever played actually was originally a dude, but the DM used an in-game drug to force a magic sex change on my character and I just kind of rolled with it, figured that the sex change wouldn't affect who my character was attracted to. made for some interesting rp for sure
That dad friend from the last story is amazing. Everyone needs a dad friend in their life
Allos really do be wild. If anyone i knew sent me pictures of my own cleavage i would never talk to them again.
I'm actually working to bet "clueless" in that story wasn't as oblivious as they let on. Just non confrontational and unsure how to deal with what was happening, because it was horrible and toxic, so they brought in more experienced level headed friends to support them in this mess of a social dynamic.
For the Delta Green story, it's the characters who are supposed to take damage to their sanity, not the players. And not FROM other players.
I had a similar player when I was a first time DM. I told them to go off the books. We knew someone who had the books for 3.5, so I did not see this being an issue but they kept using online sources and never came over to the person’s house to make a character. When Covid came full swing, they used it as an excuse to never going to that person’s house. So with another player’s help, sent a link to an online archive of all 3.5 books. But the player that was now joining over VC, still used homebrew they found online. So I tried to work with the previous DM to get this homebrew balanced, and when the edits were advised the player still try to sneak in lycanthropy.
Another note, these were level 3 characters and this player already was a level 3 samurai.
Thanks to Crispy’s naming, I’m just imagining that second story as an episode of Community where the gang somehow get roped into running a local game store against their will and are doing everything they can to get fired 😂
That mini skit in the beginning! Hillarious!!!
"This is Infuriating" - That DM went far above and beyond the call of duty, there.
choked on my water when you started rattling off community characters for the employees, hella good show
The opening of this video is so relatable and I wish I could say it only happened once and then I got over it.
Third Story: Why does a barbarian player care about high AC? They already take half-damage while raging, that's the whole point of the class. They're a 4th-level character, how much high-damage weaponry can be being thrown at them that they have to worry about? And yeah, having the armor be a goal is better motivation than "My grandfather gave me this super-valuable armor." OP should've let him play, and on the first night, had someone steal the armor from him, so now he has a reason to get it back. Motivation. A story. Guy just sounded like he wanted to be busted anyway, so it's probably for the best that he left.
Sounded like he wanted the AC just to have it, starting with better equipment than he'd be allowed. If it's just about being busted, they don't care for what they could settle with.
Tbh idk for sure but maybe a new player who thinks dnd is something you “win”
(15:46) There is a better way to handle this. You just ask the question, and wait for the anwser. If they say that they don't know something, you just offer to help them fix their sheet, according to the rules set in character creation. And thats aaaaaaall you have to do. Nothing more to say...
If I ask for something from the dm that is against the norm, it’s usually flavor and with something in mind to keep the balance between me, an incoming player, and then. It’s also never gold unless the dm wants to accommodate that. Here is some examples.
I have asked for a sled dog as flavor for my well travelled red-riding hood inspired character. The sled dog uses the wolf stat block. I did not intend to use the dog as anything other than a beast of burden and an interesting accessory to what I created her for. Dm was the one who later decided that the dog got to be upgraded to sidekick. This is because many frontline players dropped the game and our poor fighter was tanking alone and starting to feel it. Dm made me do the work and show him my math and I do control the sidekick but only until we either awaken the dog or somehow the dog gets a voice, then it’s the dm’s npc. Either way! The reason dm approved me having this dog at all is because the party had already acquired a mule to help carry supplies. So this was an attempt at being fair without being game breaking.
Another example is that I asked if my character could start with a normal tea pot, nothing expensive, just a tea pot and a few cups and a little bit of tea. That was all. It’s because my character was going to be introduced by sitting the party down for tea and downtime before leaving with them on their journey. Also my character was a very enthusiastic tea drinker and was known to spend downtime on shopping for new teas or sharing those new ones with old acquaintances we revisited. It also became an excuse for the party to sit down with my character and basically have my character act as the listening friend so the other pc and I could roleplay a discussion, especially of a tough topic for the character. Again, not game breaking.
And one of my other examples. I was entering an ongoing campaign at a relatively high level. The party needed a least some who could sorta heal, at least as a battlefield medic and so I gave my character a background that allowed proficiency in herbalism to craft antitoxins and healing potions. The dm, for this need the party had, allowed my request to have two low level healing potions and one antitoxin already. That was it. This was less a resource for me and more one for the party I was joining. And boy did they need them. (Mostly youth so kinda reckless in tactics and intrigue so yeah, lots of scrapes this lot gets into, but it’s still hilarious fun).
But anyway, this is what I have asked for ahead of time, and I do always ask what the set up is for character creation when it comes to either starting gold or starting gear and how much leeway is allowed (if there is higher level play). I never ask for insane level expensive items though. Or even magic ones except for once when I played a saytr and asked for a instrument of illusions. Again, this was flavoring though and the dm loved what I did with it as did the party.
Still, always ask people but take no for an answer if dm says it doesn’t seem to balance. And don’t be unreasonable about what you ask for either. Don’t ask for a high level magic item or a super expensive item. Just don’t. It ruins your fun more than you think.
Though I will say, one of my dm’s for a game we started at lvl10 gave me way too much starting gold and that gold was technically for the spellcasters to be able to buy components and spell scrolls. I am a scout rogue though so I have no magic beyond the magic items I was allowed to select. So….I stuffed my character’s back of holding with as much wild mundane items as I could that weren’t armor or some incompatible weapon (though I bought a lot of daggers to throw). I just stuffed my bag of holding with it all and now it’s a running joke when my character says “I got something for that” and basically Mary poppins like just pulls out some weird but useful item for us. Little things like candles, chalk, some tools, fishing line, string, a bucket, climbing gear, etc. Which actually helped because my god we had little access to civilization to buy stuff and it isn’t even the dm’s fault, it’s the rest of the party who someone how keeps accidentally finding a way to strand us out in some new wilderness. It’s eventful and hilarious though.
The game store one was super sketchy, i thought it was gonna turn out to be a front for the mafia or something 😂
Nah. That's mattress stores!
I assumed Patron and the table of MTG players were going to be different flavors of bad like the garbage employees.
I think the most in depth I got with armor was for my knowledge cleric. Everyone kept making jokes because her reference picture was very well endowed. So I decided on an entire routine for her donning and doffing her armor. It was a fun little logic thing for me. Despite the shortcomings, i really wish we could play that game again. We all loved our characters and they never got to escape avernus...
That sounds so funny lmao. Are you the "guy who makes a female character", but without the creepy stuff lol?
@@ZioEndling well I am a male with a female character. As for creepy stuff, nah I just enjoy the game with friends. My characters all have their own stories and goals, and I focus on that stuff mostly. I still need to figure out a way to get the party from where we left off to the titular 'escape from avernus' so they can have their happily ever after. >_
Win in DnD = Everyone including the DM ad the table having fun and is excited about next week or wanna play longer
"Can some allos please explain to me how any of this is flirting"-crispy and every other a-spec
That last story sounded like a nightmare both in and out of game
" How dos that get here!?" *Slowly puts on fedora 😂😂😂
i always try to be patient and understanding whenever people just don't want to give up on a certain person... but literally the only "infuriating" thing about the third story is that op is trying to have a conversation with someone that is literally just replying with "😀". like, at this point, how is it even possible to not realize that you're talking to a troll?
the dude didn't want to cheat, nor appeal to the DM's mercy to give him a strong character, NOR was he actually a new player, he was quite literally just a troll, a troll that got what he wanted: make someone mad over nothing
Luckily I live in Canada, when a store was being like that in a city I used to live in I recorded them and reported the exchange. store closed for a couple weeks, 2 weeks later they had new employees
Not a horror story, or at least not for me.
Going back a few years, I was one of those rarest of breeds, a wargaming wife. We also knew another couple who also both wargamed.. The Games Workshop store in out town was a training store, new shop assistants would come to it after they had been through the stnadard induction at Games workshops HQ.
The manager knew the four of us well. One day, we walked in, Hubby and J first and head over to chat wiith the manager at the back of the store, L and I followed a bit behind them, chatting together. Another assistant over at the back by where Hubby and L were talkin to the manager starts to head over, the manager stops him, allegedly with the commen 'stay here, that pair will break the new lad in nicely'. L and I knew more about the game and the various armies, particularly abut the history of the game, than the new assistant did, and as expected, he approached us as if we knew nothing, and were perhaps buying for our own children or relatives (we were both late 20s or early 30s so possible), Slowly he ended up crawling back behind the counter as if trying to crawl into a hole as he realised he was just making mistake after mistake and all his training hadn't taught him to cope with a pair like us.
The manager eventually cam over and let him escape to the back room, and later would have a word iwth him to let him know he wasn't in trouble. it may have been a bit barsh, but it helped newly trained assistants realise never make any assumptions about people who walk into the store.
I actually had a different assistant appoligise to me for 'making the obvious assumption' when I was in looking for some new figures for one of my armies and he assumed I didn't know anythign about the game because i was female.
If those four assistants didn't own the store I hope the owners finds out, first rule of retail, if someone wants to give you money, you do everything you can to facilitate them in doing so. How those shop assistants reacted was down right disgusting.
I am a former FLGS owner and if my sales staff did this I would fire them ALL on the spot for that stunt. It hurts the store and the hobby industry as a whole. *grumble, grumble*stupid kids *grumble grumble*
Great skit at the start there. lol
I'm sorry but "Princess tea party D&D" is a FIRE name for a full girls campaign.
Joe Kerr here, thanks for the advices as well!. And id love to run you Delta Green at some point!
i would honestly hate just being given cool items from the start. it's exciting to me to get loot after a battle or a puzzle and see what's there 💀
If the Fedora Hat could talk.
The Fedora Hat: I almost had you! But there is always a next time and i can wait. One Day you will put me on and then i will controll you! Muahahaa
Those emojis give me PTSD, I had a "friend" who would put "😅" behind every second message they posted, especially when we called them out on their bs but they just sidestepped/evaded and put it like we're the problem, it was absolutely driving us wild and we kicked her from our friend group... I can't see sweat-smile without cringing anymore, wonder if this guy feels the same about the smiley
Pick- Up Artists
All seriousness, just discovered your channel a bit ago. You're cool, mate.
Lmao the bounty on that video is hilarious
Half plate isn't even an optimal choice for barbarian, which make it even worse
Keg party as an alternative term for ya know is just so funny to me 😂
I think at charachter creation, you should be able to mix-and-match ONE subclass feat (like, their first feat), on the grounds that you "knew A Guy Back Home(TM)" who taught it to you. As long as it's 1) a sub of your class and 2) you give up a Racial Trait.
Also, it gives you a Backstory Attachment for people who care about that (I hear tell of people who exclusively make angsty loner orphans so the DM won't be able to leverage family/friends over their charachters).
"The person who inspired you to become your class was masterful enough to have a subclass, and taught you some advanced techniques."
Ace ace joke in the intro. Keep up to great work as usual 😊
i adore that the ace pin is a cake.
Nice community reference with the names 😂 my favorite show
The entire time I misunderstood Patron as owner, instead of customer. I wondered why the owner was letting their employees act like shit
i’m a guy and i haven’t played dnd but i do have ideas for female characters so i’m very glad i have that intro as a reference as what to avoid as hard as possible
Yeah, I've got a friend who's a poster child for the "guy who plays female" starter pack. The friend in question makes only lesbian female characters, they also were provocative clothing, always hit on any female they can, and take high persuasion so they have an easier time talking women NPCs to hook up. He thinks what he's doing is feminist in nature and unfortunately the DM also thinks the same way along with a few other players.
Oh god, the red redacted story is making me remember one player I invited to a campaign I'm co-dming with a friend. I had offered them a spot like a year prior when we were still planning, so despite the fact that I hadn't spoken to this person in almost as long, I felt obligated to reach out and extend the invite, which they accepted.
I knew this person irl and had even played (an abysmal excuse of) a game together. It was... a dumpster fire of a game through and through and while it had some great moments(drunkenly chucking a molotov in 1d8 direction that happened to be at the wall of alcohol) but also some terrible ones (killing a pc who's player wasn't there cause the dm failed their con save).
This was different tho, as me and the friend I'm dming with are a)in a different much better campaign together and b)have been planning this for years and have over 200 named npc's we filled the school with(it's a monster prom based campaign).
Well, I offered this a few months before we were planning to start, so my friend had a lot of time to figure out what they were playing and told them to run it by us dm's if there was any homebrew or specifics that needed to be ironed out(we were not afraid to destroy a plane of reality to traumatize a character and isekai them into the game world). We just had some very basic character creation rules posted in a chat and in the campaign docs that boil down to: a)it's an all boys school so trans and enbies are okay just no girls(we did break this one but because we isekaied a character from a dropped campaign for a different player and the character's name was a common guy name like Bob or Steve and we found it so funny and totally believed someone screwed up thinking this person was a guy and now it's too late), b)this is a modern campaign, prepare accordingly, c)soft minmaxing is fine, there's a lot of literal gods you're taking classes with, just don't be a problem, and d)don't roll or point buy stats, just give them stats that you feel are appropriate, just be reasonably balanced and max one stat can be 18.(this is due to how the npc's were made and balanced)
Then a month goes by.
I send them a message asking if they had anything yet. They said they'd send it over soon.
Another month passes.
I message them again.
My dm friend tells me they ran a race by them. An extremely heirarchal race of pseudo elf/tiefling ish thing in which your status is decided by the time of day they were born.
There were 3 specific problems with this. 1: a heirarchal race will not stand long in a monster society of crimes and anarchy. I had to do a prior minisession to get them isekaied from a different world to make it work. 2)this is more a creative nitpick that a problem, but they named their character Dusk. Take a guess what time of day she was born.
Problem 3 was really the one that made me realize this might be a problem. There is no written down race or anything out there for this race, this person sent my dm friend on a rabbit chase through *tiktok* to find specifics about this race.
The next problem came a few weeks of pestering later when we eventually got a full character sheet. First being that the stats were very obviously rolled. While it's not bad, they wouldn't be at the same level as even the other mortals she was supposed to be on par with. Second, as you might have noticed, the character was female. Yes, we broke the rule for someone else, but that was okayed by us dm's. This was not. They superficially swapped it to them being an enby which is fine we got a lot of female presenting characters, it just felt disrespectful to us DMs.
The third and final nailthat really soured my thought of playing dnd with this person was the character art they drew. While it's fine overall and I don't dis this person's art at all, a)this drawing was the reason they took ages to get us a character sheet and b)the character was drawn with leather armor. We already mentioned it was a modern campaign. They knew the world they came from was modern and the world they're in is modern.
It was at approximately this point we realized they already had a character and just wanted to force it into our world, regardless of the fact that it didn't fit. After some back and forth between us dms and askinf some friends who dm as well, we ended up dropping this friend from the campaign before we even started.
CRISPY UPDATE OH YES
The contant smiley face from the third story was so infuriating lol
The whole point of a bear totem barb is that you dont care about AC cause you take half damage. Youre literally aupposed to shrug off an insane amount of damage because youre angry. Dont play barb if you dont want to see yourself die. You are an unarmoured tank. Thats the point.
Honestly. I think Clueless was a bit of an MVP and deserves more credit. He saw there was a problem, knew he couldnt handle it himself, and brought people into the situation that could.
Story 1. Not sure if they were Karen fishing but maybe OP just didn't look like a nerd. Had a similar reaction at my local game store. It it was my birthday and I really wanted to just go on a nerdy shopping spree. I haf about lost touch with my nerdy roots over the years actually becoming more of a jock in look, being a geek is expensive after all. I went there with the mission of buying a DND 5th edition book along w some expansions, at least 2 ptevon MTG decks, figurines and dice. Was ready to drop $300. I waited for the clerk to seem free before walking up. Dnd was something I wanted to get into so I wanted recommendations but i got nothing but one word answers to my non specific questions. I did come in with specific product in mind when it came to the books so, ok, I have been a CRS agent with no knowlege of the product so moved on. Asked about the dice and if they were made locally, got a maybe. OK. Spotted Digimon figurines and a box of them behind the counter, the man is wearing a digimon shirt. Still one word answers. While I'm talking to the guy another patron walks up and the guy drops me like a hot potato and has full conversations about product with the guy. Up until that moment I though the guy was just not into his job (which is valid) but no, they talked dnd, MTG, and I wouldn't be surprised if figurines. I just left.
I haven't had played D&d yet, because I need to find an online group with a flexible schedule, due to my work, but I have a halfling that's a neutral chaotic rogue who is very much into everything that breathes lol
I was that guy in the starter pack once... realized everybody around me was uncomfortable and retired my character. Never again.