More videos coming soon! I'm not leaving for several months again anytime soon hahaha. I took the holidays off and January sucks for ad revenue so it was a good break, but now we're back babyyyy!
Always great to have ya. Your optimism and advice make these usually pretty bleak stories way better. It reminds me that the game can be great, even when there are some real bad players and DMs.
@@mawrakmaybe for the first few turns? But I can’t imagine it would remain hilarious if the party was committed to keeping one of the players in slavery?
Ok on that last story, OP, you don't get to consider whether or not you should keep playing because you're already not playing. The group already decided to act like you the player aren't there, and you already don't have any control. You never started playing D&D with this group, you only started getting bullied by them and have no reason to stick around after being denied the ability to actually play the game in the first place
While I do agree the other players were kind of dicks, I wouldn't say the OP was entirely blameless there, taking in he first played a total joke character, and then replaced it.... with an autognome, which is a total joke race, and even giving it a complete joke name, so it is no wonder they didn't take him seriously that time either.
@@Klaital1Nah even joke characters should always always have complete agency leashing him up and forcing him to stay put "or else" this or that isn't on. Those other players sounded 8 years old
@@Tom-bi7irMost of my characters are jokes one (I have like two that aren't) and like. I don't know a lot of group that doesn't like their comic relief. Because they're actually pretty neat when they're a need to relax, for the players or the characters
@@Klaital1if the player was only kept as a slave for a short while then maybe I’d agree with you? But based on what is mentioned, I got the impression that the party had no intentions of ever freeing him at any point. In which case the fault is entirely on the party
Wait, do people actually think autognome is a joke race? They get to add extra d4s to their rolls at will, +3 AC while not wearing armor, mending heals them, and they aren't forced to take their +2 in con like warforged are... Idk, sounds fun to me. There's definitely a lot more going for it than "lmao tiny warforged" once you take a closer look, that's for sure
Well what you expect, it like companies when you die they are "what you mean i cant threaten to sue him! M O M!" But even then if they communicated, most of the stories show they are debased and think abnormal things are normal.
It's important to realize these are several other people playing with you that have their own wants and desires, and the point is for EVERYONE to have fun. It's understandable you don't want to show your cards early as a DM, but if you plan on railroading, or [xyz] MUST happen, no compromise, and this will force players to act a certain way for more than a couple sessions, you gotta let them know what's happening. The less you tell them, the more they'll think they have full agency, and you run the risk of making them completely check out of your story when you flip the script.
This reminds me of the worst DM I ever had. There was a TPK in session one because we didn't run the first dungeon *_exactly_* the way he wanted us to. So he threw a Gary Stu at us who was invincible, all-powerful, and negated all saving rolls. He was mad because "you didn't stealth through the entire thing like you were supposed to". A party with no rogues, stealthing...through an ostentatious, glittering palace made of gold. Riiiight. He was very pouty and kicked us all off the discord server.
This is why either players need to know the world to make their characters for it or the DM needs to know the characters to make their world for it. If both are made independent of one another, anarchy is certain to follow.
@@starplane1239 Or, alternatively, as the DM you adapt to the circumstance instead of TPKing them with a homebrew CR 30 railroad machine for not bringing pass without trace. It doesn't really matter how well the stealth actually goes... all that matters is whether or not they have fun trying it. (Edit: You do have a point about communication between the player and DM's though, that is important. It's just that as a DM you can stare at the character sheets all you want, but you can never really plan for everything... there's a certain point where you've gotta rely on your improv to fill in the gaps between what you expected and what they actually end up doing. The communication is best for after the fact when something you tried didn't work out well.)
You mean to tell me that new players don't enjoy the older players having their characters bully the new character and treat them like a three-legged dog? :surprised_pikachu_face:
I think some people get into D&D to work through their inferiority complex. I've had DM's who absolutely gloat about killing their characters in the most horseshoed ways possible. It's like wow, I'm totally amazed that your level 9 DMPC Padlock beat my level 3 Ranger, and after only rolling 3 "secret" crits I wasn't allowed to see, all of which resulted in max damage with all sorts of bonuses. In an imaginary world you invented. Good job. I'm so glad I came to the table.
@bbureau12 hahaha unfortunately this is so bang on. And then the DM looks around the table for praise like wow your DMPC killing us all was so cool you must be a super cool person too
@@Tom-bi7ir5:27 100% i had pc characters that i used as part of side quests for the players to help, or give players some info. I dm tyranny of dragons, had 3 of my characters of 3 different factions and gave a few players invites to the factions and use rep pts to give them some bonuses and items. Spend a few downtime days to train with a higher faction member to get a single use advantage attack in any fight. Doesn't stack. Or +1 to attack rolls for 1 encounter until they return back to water deep. I used some of my other players characters from other campaigns to be quest givers or passersby to buy or sell items that they had no use of etc. These are my DMPCs and how i use them. Its not they're job to be the attention of the story but as the side or background character to the party.
My favorite campaign I've ever DM'd was a revenant campaign. The characters were level 20, fully established in the world, so they had full reason to defend the kingdom they were protectors of. The beast they fought slaughtered them all and each one made a cool reason for coming back, with some sort of weapon or custom cantrip tied to it. The stronger they became, the stronger their ties and their choices became. After two years we're still going and they just hit level 14 last month. I guess my main point is you can still make it a great idea with a tpk, but you HAVE to plan for it.
@@coolgreenbug7551 it was backstory, plus a fun thing where they'd claim to be the dead heroes and NOCs going "suuuuure bud, and I'm the king of thieves"
Hey, can you drop a couple tips on how to do a ressurrection? Im thinking I might want to give that as an option to my players later in a campaign im running.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how good of a sport the wizard is at the beginning? His character gets one shot before Initiative even starts, and he’s rolling up a new one without complaint. He becomes brain dead and needs to find some DMPC to cure him, and he gets into it with some roleplay. He deserves a DM who could nurture those skills rather than taking advantage of them.
especially because that first death is an easy "set the states & give a good short term goal" bit. Alas the DM didn't fully communicate what kind of stakes they were setting past that.
While scooping the gnome is a classic joke that third story was absolutely dehumanizing. Where it appears its just a DM saying yes to whatever the party wants and imagines and if it means messing with another player the DM doesn't even care
Had a Paladin delete himself to my horror as a DM. He had a barely passed saving throw on lycanthropy. He was sure he failed it so I thought it would be fun to play into that. Dreams during the long rests. Letting the party know the full moon was coming up in a couple nights. Paladin offs himself night before the full moon so he doesn’t hurt anyone. Wizard player was like “we could have chained you up with silver chains or something bro!”
This dm did something that required forcing the players hand rather than telling the player outright, I one did a campaign where every player was undead, and they were informed of this beforehand. They could choose how long they’d been dead and what dynasty they died in as well as what condition their body was in. It’s as simple as telling the players hey you’re all gonna be undead.
Had a DM who blindsided me eight levels in by tossing out my backstory and revealing that my dwarven engineer came from a rich family and owned slaves. No prior discussion or even foreshadowing. We just show up to my hometown and BAM my parents turn from quirky inventors to Gone with the Wind stereotypes.
I started DM’ing for my nephew a few months ago after he begged me to teach him how to play. I am currently the DM for a table of three. I have been using these videos as a “what not to do” and it has been working very well for me so far. It is unlikely the creator of the video will see this, but keep posting. Your content is improving the games of hundreds of players out there.
As a player who easily gets distracted when I'm not doing something. Might I recommend the task: note taker. It gives you a thousand mini games in taking note of NPCs. Names, race, gender, class if there is one, what time of day it is, where you are, etc. My group appreciates my notes, my DM feels their world is appreciated, and I can put the Squirrel Brain to good use
I've always had trouble focusing/listening if I'm just sitting there doing nothing else. Writing down what I'm listening to gives me a physical fidget that keeps my brain from wandering off into itself, that also forces me to pay attention to what's being said.
This is one of a few roles in the party that is absolutely essential. The “acquisitions inc” book had it as an in-game occupation, with a special item that levels with the player as they level. It’s a great reward for a player who enjoys note taking.
*The last story..* As someone who is playing as a robot-type character currently, I get that. If they're not a ranger or doesn't have a DMPC hobgoblin or beast, you DO NOT get a "familiar" PC, they're a PC. They don't get to treat a PC as though it were a pet, and you don't get to ruin other PCs stories, introduction, or develop features for them (like exhaust pipes or reset buttons), and you sure don't enslave or dismantle/kill PCs. 100%, leave that group, it's clear that they're all trying to meme and don't take things seriously, even the feelings of other players.
if i was in that situation i would def make it very clear that no one should they so much as breath the wrong way on my character theres a 50/50 chance theres a fist flying there way the other 50% is me yelling so loud that it might break glass i have temper issues
Or, as me and my wife just said when I told her about it, you tell the players that is the plan in the beginning. It will lead to some awesome moments in that initial bit, everybody in no fear of going out in a blaze of glory. Though personally, I’d run each character individually through a “how you died” intro bit, since killing them *as a party* kind of ruins the whole “we come together to be strong enough to fight back” angle.
I did a horror one-shot once which took place in a realm-of-the-dead. The whole thing started out with me narrating a 'cut scene' about them falling into the river, and then 'waking up' on a strange beach. Granted, the players didn't even know their characters were dead at that point, but had a lot of fun slowly piecing it together and then trying to claw their way back to life.
Aint even seent the video yet. Started to worry weeks ago you had gone forever. Glad you're still at it CritCrab. You and Sir Knox are all I've got left of DnD after deployment!
I'l always be baffled at the ego of these DMs to create ultra-powered DMPCs. Being GOD, being every NPC, being every monster and shaping the entire world wasn't enough for you? You've got to control the players aswell? This is DND, not Ego Flex Simulator
Meanwhile, my brother's DMPC (a warlock) was dirt poor and (accidentally, but he ran with it) poorly spec'd. He started a running joke going, "Don't worry, guys, Chet's here" each time his turn came up. He eventually got a new patron, becoming more competent at combat, but never even tried to steal the spotlight. In fact, sometimes we had to remind him to acknowledge Chet's existence!
Random ass NPCs don't tend to last very long. It's nice to have a character that you can have regularly interact with the group and bounce of the PCs, as well as a potential in-character source of plot hooks and nudges. ... but please for the love of God do not make that character more powerful than the entire group.
Even if DnD was a ego game... you literally scribbled "has frostmourne" on your stat sheet, dont expect me to give you praise.. beside a dagger in the back 😂
I feel like if the first DM had informed the party of their intentions with the story/the npc beforehand, especially the forced TPK that was probably happening for story reasons, things probably would have been okay in that campaign
At least I would have asked the DM what was the idea behind that fight or those characters. Because letting us play a battle for hours that we can't win, having to defend a useless character that seems wasn't useless... Give me something. If they can't justify it well, that's a wrap.
Well even then, I feel like it wouldn't be worth playing. Its one thing to open with TPKing the party via a Lich or something to kick off the Revenant Plot, of opening up with an explanation on how the Party Members each died, and opening with their resurrection. You know, like a tangible and easy to understand reason for their deaths, that would be fine. But if the DM is willing to open with w CR 30 Homebrew Monster that can kill them if they simply move at all, which is a huge part of combat, and that CR 30 Monster was made by the BBEG they are supposed to kill, it doesn't feel like something they would be able to win. Like if a DM opened by explaining what happened to my character before resurrection like "Over 400 years ago, you were tasked with exploring a seemingly long abandoned mine, only to be confronted and killed by a Lich" that's something I, the player, can wrap my head around and be like "Yeah, that checks" But if a DM opens with "Okay, so you're fighting this monster, and everything you do seems to not affect the monster, but everything it and you do, seems to damage you greatly, including breathing" I wouldn't want to play in that game, cause the task doesn't sound difficult, it sounds insurmountable if everything I do against this creature kills me
Nice to see more stories from ya Crit Crab. I feel the last OP's pain about swapping a joke character for a serious one. I did a similar thing between a "smart yet socially dumb" lizard folk artificer and a "hardy and life worn" Tortle Barbarian. Party just took the "crazy tendencies" of my first character and would not take anything my Tortle would say seriously. Even when id roll checks for info, succeed, and be proven right at the end, the party just stuck with "crazy reptile being crazy again", and would not listen. It took me no longer engaging with the party for them to have an Intervention night FOR ME to properly understand my frustrations about the treatment. Campaign didnt last after that
As for the last story, many people really enjoy a constant banter and taunting with each other whenever possible. I honestly never get along with such people, but at the end of the day they are just having their own fun. Still, the majority are smart enough to realize who they can playfully banter with. I love it when I get excluded of such treatment, since I'm just not that kind of person.
@@zeestar0112 I'm thinking of pathfinder specifically, I have a build that's a druid monk multiclass. Wildshape into a plant creature so they get regeneration like a troll (possibly a form that only cold can shut it down), natural armor, DR, and a monk's wisdom bonus to AC and other monk-ish abilities. Never actually going to use him, but I like the threat of him. "You want me bring out Weald?"
If he would have at least gave them a heads up what the plan was it could have worked. For the second tale I'd have outright said no to the DM when the fighter tried to pick me up and told him either we shut this crap down right now or I walk. I know I am likely an outlier in that but as a Forever DM myself I've learned that while it is almost always better to let the players do their thing the keyword in that is "almost." I do wonder how CritCrab would feel about my Gundam based TTRPG somehow spiraling into a situation where the players are helping a Crab God who talks like Macho Man fight against a cabal of cartoon evil geniuses led by a dracolich hiding among them. Most interesting part is how the transition from grounded mech story to "Macho Crab hits a boney lizard with the Carb Jab OH YEAH!" was entirely organic and rather spur of the moment as I never intended it to go this way (All started with a Nat 1 on a player's attempt to catch a crab during the token beach episode).
Yeesh. The last story gave me some flashback to a horrible larp event where my own guild put a leash on my character and sold them to the brothel while I was in werewolf form. And because it was larp, I was forcefully put on a leash physically. That was a horrible larp event in general, because SA was permitted in-character (by marking the other character’s face with a marker), and the whole ordeal let me realise that my guild was an extremely toxic friend group. I left them behind and now I became a TTRPG DM and I try to extensively communicate with the players about their comfort.
Love the videos. I appreciate your (usually) level-headed input that gets sprinkled throughout the stories. All that being said, does anyone else struggle listening to these at 1× speed? Or is it just cuz I have adhd? Lmao
To play devil's advocate; If the campaign was meant to mostly take place in various afterlife planes, I could see this TPK idea working out. I actually had a PC in one game "let themselves" die because they wanted to play a different character, only to have that character RP in the afterlife until the party was a high enough level to resurrect them. His character was a worshipper of Cayden Cailean (playing PF 1e) and so he spent most of his RP time in the Boneyard's (the N death plane where souls go before their final destination) chapel to Cayden, which (being that he was the Drunk God) was a bar. He'd hang out with a Catrina Psychopomp (a female Dios los Muertos skeleton that helps welcome & guide souls) or deal with an ambassador from Hell & other planes, trying to get his soul, etc. It was a fun "meanwhile..." thing we'd do every so often until he returned to the Material Plane.
I had an idea for a revenant campaign. The general idea was that the party would agree to investigate some strange happenings at a noble's estate, they arrive at the manor and... Suddenly, it's a week later and they're mysteriously revived from being dead. How did they die, what revived them, and what happened during the week that they lost? Those are mysteries to be uncovered during the campaign. I never ran the scenario, so I can't properly say how well it would go over.
So very happy to see you're okay and still making videos. I noticed you hadn't posted in quite awhile when I was going through my subscriptions this past weekend and got a little worried.
I think it could be really cool to tell the players beforehand that their characters will die during an encounter somewhere in one of the first sessions. As long as you have players interested in roleplaying their characters they can use it as a chance to show of how their characters deal with a hopeless situation as well as show how their death changes them. I think it could feel like a pretty neat character introduction that could become really memorable. Just make sure that they know that they aren't guaranteed to be brought back if they lose to the wrong encounter. Or at least make sure that you have players who understands that their characters don't know that they will be brought back.
Another cool idea for the revenant story is let the players know the jist of the campaign "the campaign starts with you guys waking up after your deaths, you do not remember your life but you only remember the entity that killed you. Also i would like the first session to be us playing your last battle." Then in the battle you gotta give the players a huge win at the cost of their lives, maybe the bbeg was doing a massive AoE and the players has a chance to save a lot of townsfolk at the sacrifice of their life. Something that gives their death meaning.
13:40 At that point I would keep talking and when he eventually comes back I tell him his character died off screen. And the last story was "wtf". Just tell them to go f themselves and be on your way...
6:48 i am just a little puzzled. Why do this as a DM? Do you want to show narratively the NPC (well, DMPC)'s strength? Because at this point there very well be no point to have the other players sitting in the table.
Our DM, back in 4th edition, ran a game where we died in the first session. It was planned for the story and we knew it was going to happen. However, our characters still fought like it was their lives. We pulled some incredible stunts and managed to survive the encounter that was designed to end us. He had to direct some of the other monsters in the area to finish us off because we essentially could have run it to a stalemate. We all have been playing D&D for years and some of us work together very well as we know what each other are thinking and play into that cohesion. In the end it was fine and was an actually fun battle and we regularly bring it up in our stories as the two characters (mine was a Goliath warden and the other was a cleric of some sort, can't remember) that held off against impossible odds. But, as stated, we all have been playing for years, decades by now. Friends and family so it is a pretty solid group. Sadly, that campaign ended due to other reasons, can't quite remember but I think it was from a couple people moving away. It's fine, we all have a discord game running now, Pathfinder 2e. Abomination Vaults. And have a side game running with a couple other people as well, live game at a table.
8:40 coolest part about that is that you can totally have your players write lore for your world without them knowing it. Just give them a blank check to write their backstory and tell them to include their canon death in it. It can be as mundane or as epic as they want. Then you just adjust your world to reflect whatever they came up with 😎👌
Crab is back baby! Hell yeah! Coincidentally, I've been binging the entire RPG stories Playlist for like the 3rd time and was almost at the end (just finished the one about the noob dm who lied to her party about her experience), so seeing a new video, and hopefully more to come soon, is great news! I was even thinking about that recently, hoping there would be more soon. I've missed you crab god. Glad to have you back. ❤
8:56 Actually there's a Vampire the Masquerade pre-written that starts like that. Of course your players go into session 1 knowing that they will die super early on, but the way the book (Giovanni Chronicles #1) does it is this slowly rising tension where your death is the climax. After this long monologue of the main villain your drank and accidentally embraced as the castle is attacked. Great stuff, it's super fun.
I had been trying for literal years to become part of a D&D campaign. I had wanted to play since I was a young child. It absolutely blows my entire mind when people check out in the middle of games. If you don't want to be there, don't waste everyone else's time. I get checking your phone every once in awhile or small things like that, but many of these stories talk about players doing all kinds of shit in the middle of games. It's rude, absurd, and inconsiderate.
Planned session 1 TPKs and meatgrinder openings where you chew through dozens of characters in a night can work- IF you get player buy-in beforehand. Although 5e isn't the best system for meatgrinders. It helps to be able to generate a new character in 30 seconds
We have a campaign going rn where we did about 10 sessions where we got to know everyone's characters and build up relationships and trust... knowing we'd all die before the campaign truly got started. We all knew what was coming and even nicknamed the dungeon the Murder House once we realized what it was, and we were excited to see how we all came back changed. We all knew from jump our characters were going to die before the campaign could truly start, so we purposely did a prequel so we could get more attached and thusly have a more impactful story. Not telling your players ahead of time that's the goal is exactly where that DM went wrong.
oh as that robot? RP: Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, the robot decides to go into standby mode, until some interaction of substance arises. And then i would have proceeded to play mario kart for the DM to see.
In my current online session, if the focus is on another character in an rp moment that my character is not present in, I play... Solitaire. Yes, Solitaire. There are plenty of websites that host it, and it's easy enough to look away from.
If I were in the last situation, I would probably have abandoned the Autognome and rolled up a character as its original operator to attack the party to get the Autognome back
19:48 this kinda reminds me of what happened to one of my characters, although since they are big enough there was luckily no "Pick them up and fuck around with them" at play, but a fuck load of just... jokes at me and my char's expense.
So since it's been a while, you're getting this late but, here's what I planned to say to your fist video of the year..."Happy new year everyone! and as I know there's a lot of bad out there and hope to help counter it with good, I just want to start the new year off with sincere thanks and love for all you do and remind you that you are awesome, and we appreciate you!!!" still true even if it's a bit latter than I expected!
I actually had a player that was laughing out load during my narration. and I laughed along thinking they were laughing at the npc antics but when they laughed again I ask what was so funny and they said they were watching a live stream and I instantly became really mad. They later admitted they just weren't feeling ttrpgs and left which I think was for the best and I'm glad they eventually just were honest about it. But The instance just really frustrated me and makes me wonder what other players are feeling...
The last story really resonates with me. I hope they ditch that group, going along with extremely uncomfortable RP like that may seem harmless to some, but it's really not. When that peer pressure shit invades your fantasy, it screws you up- ruins your perception of fun, social interaction, and safety. Speaking from experience y’all, it’s Hell believing you can't even PRETEND to be safe.
8:32 as a good way to do this, in a campaign we were in like the big final battle against an evil tyrant queen who had tricked us into getting a Demi lich’s skull to power some device that would suck the souls from every person in her kingdom to make her a goddess. We ended up fighting her and her toughest soldiers, we were about level 14 if memory serves. It was a tough and brutal fight, and after a while of combat we had all gotten low but the queen and her big monster thing were low on health. Our wizard, at very low health, cast stop time with a magic item. We were excited, we told him to finish them off, and instead he yanked the Demi lich skull from the device(it was coated in gold and valuable riches) and then left the boss room. This was extremely in character for his guy, who was a cowardly and selfish treasure hunter that we thought had changed. When his spell ended the dm described the device destabilizing, as it exploded. Everyone in the room was killed in a flash and the room at the top of the tower(where we had been fighting in was open). We were all pretty ticked off until he described our bodies pulled back to life by a dark and a supernatural force as we became revanents with the goal of hunting down the wizard. Sadly the campaign wasn’t able to continue from there due to irl stuff but he was gonna do one on one sessions with the wizard before the sessions with the rest of us, and then eventually we would do one session as a group when we came back together.
More videos coming soon! I'm not leaving for several months again anytime soon hahaha.
I took the holidays off and January sucks for ad revenue so it was a good break, but now we're back babyyyy!
Always great to have ya. Your optimism and advice make these usually pretty bleak stories way better. It reminds me that the game can be great, even when there are some real bad players and DMs.
Finally i can cure this crab deficiency ive been struggling with
i'm glad to have you back! you're getting me into DnD and i'm still to learn the rules and find somewhere to play but i absolutely adore your videos!
We missed you! ❤❤❤
Welcome back.
"Short answer: Don't. Long answer: Do Not." Love this line.
I’m definitely stealing that one
Just as Nameless Deity once said:
*DO NOT!*
idk getting captured into slavery immediately after introduction is hilarious
@@mawrakmaybe for the first few turns? But I can’t imagine it would remain hilarious if the party was committed to keeping one of the players in slavery?
Had me roaring, fantastic line! XD
DM: Slavery in Waterdeep is fine.
Skullport: Wait, WTF? Since when???
How are going to have our criminal slave trade now.
They cut us out of the picture boys!
@johngleeman8347 business is not going good. What are we going to tell the boss.
@quagsiremcgee1647 We Tell em someone's pulling up on our territory!
Ok on that last story, OP, you don't get to consider whether or not you should keep playing because you're already not playing. The group already decided to act like you the player aren't there, and you already don't have any control. You never started playing D&D with this group, you only started getting bullied by them and have no reason to stick around after being denied the ability to actually play the game in the first place
While I do agree the other players were kind of dicks, I wouldn't say the OP was entirely blameless there, taking in he first played a total joke character, and then replaced it.... with an autognome, which is a total joke race, and even giving it a complete joke name, so it is no wonder they didn't take him seriously that time either.
@@Klaital1Nah even joke characters should always always have complete agency leashing him up and forcing him to stay put "or else" this or that isn't on. Those other players sounded 8 years old
@@Tom-bi7irMost of my characters are jokes one (I have like two that aren't) and like. I don't know a lot of group that doesn't like their comic relief. Because they're actually pretty neat when they're a need to relax, for the players or the characters
@@Klaital1if the player was only kept as a slave for a short while then maybe I’d agree with you? But based on what is mentioned, I got the impression that the party had no intentions of ever freeing him at any point. In which case the fault is entirely on the party
Wait, do people actually think autognome is a joke race? They get to add extra d4s to their rolls at will, +3 AC while not wearing armor, mending heals them, and they aren't forced to take their +2 in con like warforged are... Idk, sounds fun to me. There's definitely a lot more going for it than "lmao tiny warforged" once you take a closer look, that's for sure
So many RPG horror stories just boil down to the DM refusing to explain to the players what he actually wants to happen before the game begins.
Because they want the story to be a surprise or something like that.
Well what you expect, it like companies when you die they are "what you mean i cant threaten to sue him! M O M!"
But even then if they communicated, most of the stories show they are debased and think abnormal things are normal.
It's important to realize these are several other people playing with you that have their own wants and desires, and the point is for EVERYONE to have fun. It's understandable you don't want to show your cards early as a DM, but if you plan on railroading, or [xyz] MUST happen, no compromise, and this will force players to act a certain way for more than a couple sessions, you gotta let them know what's happening. The less you tell them, the more they'll think they have full agency, and you run the risk of making them completely check out of your story when you flip the script.
This reminds me of the worst DM I ever had. There was a TPK in session one because we didn't run the first dungeon *_exactly_* the way he wanted us to. So he threw a Gary Stu at us who was invincible, all-powerful, and negated all saving rolls. He was mad because "you didn't stealth through the entire thing like you were supposed to". A party with no rogues, stealthing...through an ostentatious, glittering palace made of gold. Riiiight.
He was very pouty and kicked us all off the discord server.
Yea. I bet some of you where Heavy Armor users as well. Making Stealth even less of an option
@@redholm Yup, we had a Paladin and a Barbarian. Stealth? Stealth how? 😂
@@WobblesandBean Yea. I often play Clerics. And it's like. If you want Stealth. I'll just stay at home while you guys deal with it :P
This is why either players need to know the world to make their characters for it or the DM needs to know the characters to make their world for it. If both are made independent of one another, anarchy is certain to follow.
@@starplane1239 Or, alternatively, as the DM you adapt to the circumstance instead of TPKing them with a homebrew CR 30 railroad machine for not bringing pass without trace.
It doesn't really matter how well the stealth actually goes... all that matters is whether or not they have fun trying it.
(Edit: You do have a point about communication between the player and DM's though, that is important. It's just that as a DM you can stare at the character sheets all you want, but you can never really plan for everything... there's a certain point where you've gotta rely on your improv to fill in the gaps between what you expected and what they actually end up doing. The communication is best for after the fact when something you tried didn't work out well.)
You mean to tell me that new players don't enjoy the older players having their characters bully the new character and treat them like a three-legged dog? :surprised_pikachu_face:
I think some people get into D&D to work through their inferiority complex. I've had DM's who absolutely gloat about killing their characters in the most horseshoed ways possible. It's like wow, I'm totally amazed that your level 9 DMPC Padlock beat my level 3 Ranger, and after only rolling 3 "secret" crits I wasn't allowed to see, all of which resulted in max damage with all sorts of bonuses. In an imaginary world you invented. Good job. I'm so glad I came to the table.
You should type up a summary of that shit show and have CC or one of the other D&D youtubers read it. XD@@bbureau12
@bbureau12 hahaha unfortunately this is so bang on. And then the DM looks around the table for praise like wow your DMPC killing us all was so cool you must be a super cool person too
@@Tom-bi7ir5:27 100% i had pc characters that i used as part of side quests for the players to help, or give players some info. I dm tyranny of dragons, had 3 of my characters of 3 different factions and gave a few players invites to the factions and use rep pts to give them some bonuses and items. Spend a few downtime days to train with a higher faction member to get a single use advantage attack in any fight. Doesn't stack. Or +1 to attack rolls for 1 encounter until they return back to water deep. I used some of my other players characters from other campaigns to be quest givers or passersby to buy or sell items that they had no use of etc. These are my DMPCs and how i use them. Its not they're job to be the attention of the story but as the side or background character to the party.
@Yroko congrats? I duno what your looking for
My favorite campaign I've ever DM'd was a revenant campaign. The characters were level 20, fully established in the world, so they had full reason to defend the kingdom they were protectors of. The beast they fought slaughtered them all and each one made a cool reason for coming back, with some sort of weapon or custom cantrip tied to it. The stronger they became, the stronger their ties and their choices became. After two years we're still going and they just hit level 14 last month.
I guess my main point is you can still make it a great idea with a tpk, but you HAVE to plan for it.
did they make it up to 20 then die or was that backstory?
@@coolgreenbug7551 it was backstory, plus a fun thing where they'd claim to be the dead heroes and NOCs going "suuuuure bud, and I'm the king of thieves"
Also: you need players who are on board for that sort of story. You don't just throw it in session 1 with no warning.
I just want to hear one of the people in your group said "uuuh they came back to life because they forgot to feed their cat"
Hey, can you drop a couple tips on how to do a ressurrection? Im thinking I might want to give that as an option to my players later in a campaign im running.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how good of a sport the wizard is at the beginning? His character gets one shot before Initiative even starts, and he’s rolling up a new one without complaint. He becomes brain dead and needs to find some DMPC to cure him, and he gets into it with some roleplay. He deserves a DM who could nurture those skills rather than taking advantage of them.
especially because that first death is an easy "set the states & give a good short term goal" bit. Alas the DM didn't fully communicate what kind of stakes they were setting past that.
That doesn't mean he's good. It means he is letting a bad DM walk all over him.
Did you know that in terms of…
“Insists the players off themselves” thought it was about to get real dark… but now I realize you meant their characters. Haha
And it was poorly executed, maybe I should try do this but it could be challenging in short game
Guy shoulda tried the Handsome Jack approach.
While scooping the gnome is a classic joke that third story was absolutely dehumanizing. Where it appears its just a DM saying yes to whatever the party wants and imagines and if it means messing with another player the DM doesn't even care
Had a Paladin delete himself to my horror as a DM. He had a barely passed saving throw on lycanthropy. He was sure he failed it so I thought it would be fun to play into that. Dreams during the long rests. Letting the party know the full moon was coming up in a couple nights. Paladin offs himself night before the full moon so he doesn’t hurt anyone. Wizard player was like “we could have chained you up with silver chains or something bro!”
Omg that’s awful 😭🙏
This dm did something that required forcing the players hand rather than telling the player outright, I one did a campaign where every player was undead, and they were informed of this beforehand. They could choose how long they’d been dead and what dynasty they died in as well as what condition their body was in. It’s as simple as telling the players hey you’re all gonna be undead.
Had a DM who blindsided me eight levels in by tossing out my backstory and revealing that my dwarven engineer came from a rich family and owned slaves. No prior discussion or even foreshadowing. We just show up to my hometown and BAM my parents turn from quirky inventors to Gone with the Wind stereotypes.
I started DM’ing for my nephew a few months ago after he begged me to teach him how to play. I am currently the DM for a table of three. I have been using these videos as a “what not to do” and it has been working very well for me so far. It is unlikely the creator of the video will see this, but keep posting. Your content is improving the games of hundreds of players out there.
All Praise the Crab King
And the Crab Queen, right?
He has returned from his leave to rule the crustaceans once again! 🦀🦀🦀
The crab king has returned with more wisdom from the deep
U mean
Cring
@@CrustaceanQueenThe crabs are our masters!
As a player who easily gets distracted when I'm not doing something. Might I recommend the task: note taker. It gives you a thousand mini games in taking note of NPCs. Names, race, gender, class if there is one, what time of day it is, where you are, etc. My group appreciates my notes, my DM feels their world is appreciated, and I can put the Squirrel Brain to good use
Great idea!
I've always had trouble focusing/listening if I'm just sitting there doing nothing else. Writing down what I'm listening to gives me a physical fidget that keeps my brain from wandering off into itself, that also forces me to pay attention to what's being said.
This is one of a few roles in the party that is absolutely essential. The “acquisitions inc” book had it as an in-game occupation, with a special item that levels with the player as they level. It’s a great reward for a player who enjoys note taking.
Leaving wasn't likely the best response, it was the only response. That DM in the first story was running a screwjob more or less.
Short answer: “don’t” long answer: “do not” is the best thing ever.
*The last story..* As someone who is playing as a robot-type character currently, I get that. If they're not a ranger or doesn't have a DMPC hobgoblin or beast, you DO NOT get a "familiar" PC, they're a PC. They don't get to treat a PC as though it were a pet, and you don't get to ruin other PCs stories, introduction, or develop features for them (like exhaust pipes or reset buttons), and you sure don't enslave or dismantle/kill PCs. 100%, leave that group, it's clear that they're all trying to meme and don't take things seriously, even the feelings of other players.
if i was in that situation i would def make it very clear that no one should they so much as breath the wrong way on my character theres a 50/50 chance theres a fist flying there way the other 50% is me yelling so loud that it might break glass
i have temper issues
[3] Keep the revenant idea in your back pocket in case of a TPK, but don't PLAN IT, and DO NOT FORCE IT!
Or, as me and my wife just said when I told her about it, you tell the players that is the plan in the beginning. It will lead to some awesome moments in that initial bit, everybody in no fear of going out in a blaze of glory.
Though personally, I’d run each character individually through a “how you died” intro bit, since killing them *as a party* kind of ruins the whole “we come together to be strong enough to fight back” angle.
I did a horror one-shot once which took place in a realm-of-the-dead.
The whole thing started out with me narrating a 'cut scene' about them falling into the river, and then 'waking up' on a strange beach. Granted, the players didn't even know their characters were dead at that point, but had a lot of fun slowly piecing it together and then trying to claw their way back to life.
When do monster like to party the most?
April Ghoul's Day.
*throws wadded up paper*
Boooooooo of disapproval XD
Nice.
Aint even seent the video yet. Started to worry weeks ago you had gone forever. Glad you're still at it CritCrab. You and Sir Knox are all I've got left of DnD after deployment!
20:30 dont forget den of the drake
I'l always be baffled at the ego of these DMs to create ultra-powered DMPCs.
Being GOD, being every NPC, being every monster and shaping the entire world wasn't enough for you? You've got to control the players aswell? This is DND, not Ego Flex Simulator
Meanwhile, my brother's DMPC (a warlock) was dirt poor and (accidentally, but he ran with it) poorly spec'd. He started a running joke going, "Don't worry, guys, Chet's here" each time his turn came up. He eventually got a new patron, becoming more competent at combat, but never even tried to steal the spotlight. In fact, sometimes we had to remind him to acknowledge Chet's existence!
Random ass NPCs don't tend to last very long. It's nice to have a character that you can have regularly interact with the group and bounce of the PCs, as well as a potential in-character source of plot hooks and nudges.
... but please for the love of God do not make that character more powerful than the entire group.
Even if DnD was a ego game... you literally scribbled "has frostmourne" on your stat sheet, dont expect me to give you praise.. beside a dagger in the back 😂
That last story was just one wrecking ball after another hitting me in the jaw
I feel like if the first DM had informed the party of their intentions with the story/the npc beforehand, especially the forced TPK that was probably happening for story reasons, things probably would have been okay in that campaign
At least I would have asked the DM what was the idea behind that fight or those characters. Because letting us play a battle for hours that we can't win, having to defend a useless character that seems wasn't useless... Give me something. If they can't justify it well, that's a wrap.
Well even then, I feel like it wouldn't be worth playing. Its one thing to open with TPKing the party via a Lich or something to kick off the Revenant Plot, of opening up with an explanation on how the Party Members each died, and opening with their resurrection. You know, like a tangible and easy to understand reason for their deaths, that would be fine.
But if the DM is willing to open with w CR 30 Homebrew Monster that can kill them if they simply move at all, which is a huge part of combat, and that CR 30 Monster was made by the BBEG they are supposed to kill, it doesn't feel like something they would be able to win.
Like if a DM opened by explaining what happened to my character before resurrection like "Over 400 years ago, you were tasked with exploring a seemingly long abandoned mine, only to be confronted and killed by a Lich" that's something I, the player, can wrap my head around and be like "Yeah, that checks"
But if a DM opens with "Okay, so you're fighting this monster, and everything you do seems to not affect the monster, but everything it and you do, seems to damage you greatly, including breathing" I wouldn't want to play in that game, cause the task doesn't sound difficult, it sounds insurmountable if everything I do against this creature kills me
Nice to see more stories from ya Crit Crab.
I feel the last OP's pain about swapping a joke character for a serious one. I did a similar thing between a "smart yet socially dumb" lizard folk artificer and a "hardy and life worn" Tortle Barbarian.
Party just took the "crazy tendencies" of my first character and would not take anything my Tortle would say seriously. Even when id roll checks for info, succeed, and be proven right at the end, the party just stuck with "crazy reptile being crazy again", and would not listen.
It took me no longer engaging with the party for them to have an Intervention night FOR ME to properly understand my frustrations about the treatment. Campaign didnt last after that
As for the last story, many people really enjoy a constant banter and taunting with each other whenever possible. I honestly never get along with such people, but at the end of the day they are just having their own fun.
Still, the majority are smart enough to realize who they can playfully banter with. I love it when I get excluded of such treatment, since I'm just not that kind of person.
Wait… have I just been baited by stories of nasty people in DnD when I’ve actually been learning good tips on how to be a DM?
God damnit
I love that the first video after months is Crit Crab with the low tier god meme. Good to see that you're back
Fun fact, Power Word Kill isn't even on the cleric spell list. So this "depowered" cleric just switched to casting wizard spells
Meanwhile I showed my backup character to my DM and now he's afraid to kill me.
What was the back up character build?!?!
W H A T W A S T H E B A C K U P C H A R A C T E R
I love that threat "Dm...you kill me now like this, you know what's coming after right?"
@@tobster9567 eloquence bard with 2 levels of divination wizard
@@zeestar0112 I'm thinking of pathfinder specifically, I have a build that's a druid monk multiclass. Wildshape into a plant creature so they get regeneration like a troll (possibly a form that only cold can shut it down), natural armor, DR, and a monk's wisdom bonus to AC and other monk-ish abilities. Never actually going to use him, but I like the threat of him.
"You want me bring out Weald?"
If he would have at least gave them a heads up what the plan was it could have worked.
For the second tale I'd have outright said no to the DM when the fighter tried to pick me up and told him either we shut this crap down right now or I walk. I know I am likely an outlier in that but as a Forever DM myself I've learned that while it is almost always better to let the players do their thing the keyword in that is "almost."
I do wonder how CritCrab would feel about my Gundam based TTRPG somehow spiraling into a situation where the players are helping a Crab God who talks like Macho Man fight against a cabal of cartoon evil geniuses led by a dracolich hiding among them. Most interesting part is how the transition from grounded mech story to "Macho Crab hits a boney lizard with the Carb Jab OH YEAH!" was entirely organic and rather spur of the moment as I never intended it to go this way (All started with a Nat 1 on a player's attempt to catch a crab during the token beach episode).
Yeesh. The last story gave me some flashback to a horrible larp event where my own guild put a leash on my character and sold them to the brothel while I was in werewolf form. And because it was larp, I was forcefully put on a leash physically. That was a horrible larp event in general, because SA was permitted in-character (by marking the other character’s face with a marker), and the whole ordeal let me realise that my guild was an extremely toxic friend group.
I left them behind and now I became a TTRPG DM and I try to extensively communicate with the players about their comfort.
I am sorry.. how you let some nerds willingly chain you up?
CRABS BACK ON THE TABLE BOYS
(the dnd table)
The DND chair…
Love the videos. I appreciate your (usually) level-headed input that gets sprinkled throughout the stories.
All that being said, does anyone else struggle listening to these at 1× speed? Or is it just cuz I have adhd? Lmao
I think you may have spent too much time watching the UA-camrs who yell everything.
Yeah I have to put these at 1.25x speed. It feels like listening to an Ent talk.
also listen at 1.25x speed, and even then it sometimes feels like he's talking a touch slow.
To play devil's advocate;
If the campaign was meant to mostly take place in various afterlife planes, I could see this TPK idea working out.
I actually had a PC in one game "let themselves" die because they wanted to play a different character, only to have that character RP in the afterlife until the party was a high enough level to resurrect them. His character was a worshipper of Cayden Cailean (playing PF 1e) and so he spent most of his RP time in the Boneyard's (the N death plane where souls go before their final destination) chapel to Cayden, which (being that he was the Drunk God) was a bar. He'd hang out with a Catrina Psychopomp (a female Dios los Muertos skeleton that helps welcome & guide souls) or deal with an ambassador from Hell & other planes, trying to get his soul, etc. It was a fun "meanwhile..." thing we'd do every so often until he returned to the Material Plane.
I had an idea for a revenant campaign. The general idea was that the party would agree to investigate some strange happenings at a noble's estate, they arrive at the manor and... Suddenly, it's a week later and they're mysteriously revived from being dead. How did they die, what revived them, and what happened during the week that they lost? Those are mysteries to be uncovered during the campaign. I never ran the scenario, so I can't properly say how well it would go over.
So very happy to see you're okay and still making videos. I noticed you hadn't posted in quite awhile when I was going through my subscriptions this past weekend and got a little worried.
I think it could be really cool to tell the players beforehand that their characters will die during an encounter somewhere in one of the first sessions. As long as you have players interested in roleplaying their characters they can use it as a chance to show of how their characters deal with a hopeless situation as well as show how their death changes them. I think it could feel like a pretty neat character introduction that could become really memorable.
Just make sure that they know that they aren't guaranteed to be brought back if they lose to the wrong encounter. Or at least make sure that you have players who understands that their characters don't know that they will be brought back.
I'm stealing the B.A.D/M.F as either an NPC or a back-up character
Another cool idea for the revenant story is let the players know the jist of the campaign "the campaign starts with you guys waking up after your deaths, you do not remember your life but you only remember the entity that killed you. Also i would like the first session to be us playing your last battle." Then in the battle you gotta give the players a huge win at the cost of their lives, maybe the bbeg was doing a massive AoE and the players has a chance to save a lot of townsfolk at the sacrifice of their life. Something that gives their death meaning.
13:40 At that point I would keep talking and when he eventually comes back I tell him his character died off screen.
And the last story was "wtf". Just tell them to go f themselves and be on your way...
6:48 i am just a little puzzled. Why do this as a DM? Do you want to show narratively the NPC (well, DMPC)'s strength? Because at this point there very well be no point to have the other players sitting in the table.
Our DM, back in 4th edition, ran a game where we died in the first session. It was planned for the story and we knew it was going to happen. However, our characters still fought like it was their lives. We pulled some incredible stunts and managed to survive the encounter that was designed to end us. He had to direct some of the other monsters in the area to finish us off because we essentially could have run it to a stalemate. We all have been playing D&D for years and some of us work together very well as we know what each other are thinking and play into that cohesion.
In the end it was fine and was an actually fun battle and we regularly bring it up in our stories as the two characters (mine was a Goliath warden and the other was a cleric of some sort, can't remember) that held off against impossible odds.
But, as stated, we all have been playing for years, decades by now. Friends and family so it is a pretty solid group.
Sadly, that campaign ended due to other reasons, can't quite remember but I think it was from a couple people moving away.
It's fine, we all have a discord game running now, Pathfinder 2e. Abomination Vaults. And have a side game running with a couple other people as well, live game at a table.
Reminds me of the play test adventure the party is not meant to win. Where it is meant to test the durability of the player characters
I love how you actually talk about the stories and give your views on them instead of just completely stealing them like i know some people do
Thumbnail goes hard
Glad i learned from these stories, especially the second one cause i have a bad habit of getting distracted. Thanks for the advice and welcome back.
8:40 coolest part about that is that you can totally have your players write lore for your world without them knowing it. Just give them a blank check to write their backstory and tell them to include their canon death in it. It can be as mundane or as epic as they want. Then you just adjust your world to reflect whatever they came up with 😎👌
Crab is back baby! Hell yeah!
Coincidentally, I've been binging the entire RPG stories Playlist for like the 3rd time and was almost at the end (just finished the one about the noob dm who lied to her party about her experience), so seeing a new video, and hopefully more to come soon, is great news! I was even thinking about that recently, hoping there would be more soon.
I've missed you crab god. Glad to have you back. ❤
"GET THAT CHARACTER BANNED!"
8:56
Actually there's a Vampire the Masquerade pre-written that starts like that. Of course your players go into session 1 knowing that they will die super early on, but the way the book (Giovanni Chronicles #1) does it is this slowly rising tension where your death is the climax. After this long monologue of the main villain your drank and accidentally embraced as the castle is attacked. Great stuff, it's super fun.
I had been trying for literal years to become part of a D&D campaign. I had wanted to play since I was a young child.
It absolutely blows my entire mind when people check out in the middle of games. If you don't want to be there, don't waste everyone else's time.
I get checking your phone every once in awhile or small things like that, but many of these stories talk about players doing all kinds of shit in the middle of games. It's rude, absurd, and inconsiderate.
The king crab has returned!
Planned session 1 TPKs and meatgrinder openings where you chew through dozens of characters in a night can work- IF you get player buy-in beforehand. Although 5e isn't the best system for meatgrinders. It helps to be able to generate a new character in 30 seconds
So nice to see you back my man!
I was kinda worried about your absence.
I hope you're back to keep making videos for a while now.
We have a campaign going rn where we did about 10 sessions where we got to know everyone's characters and build up relationships and trust... knowing we'd all die before the campaign truly got started. We all knew what was coming and even nicknamed the dungeon the Murder House once we realized what it was, and we were excited to see how we all came back changed. We all knew from jump our characters were going to die before the campaign could truly start, so we purposely did a prequel so we could get more attached and thusly have a more impactful story. Not telling your players ahead of time that's the goal is exactly where that DM went wrong.
oh as that robot? RP: Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, the robot decides to go into standby mode, until some interaction of substance arises. And then i would have proceeded to play mario kart for the DM to see.
In my current online session, if the focus is on another character in an rp moment that my character is not present in, I play... Solitaire.
Yes, Solitaire. There are plenty of websites that host it, and it's easy enough to look away from.
"I am debating if I continue playing with those people" got me 🤣
The only legit use for a DMPC that I can think of is a planned plot twist where the DMPC is actually the BBEG that the party has to defeat
Ah, yes, Dragon Heir. My favorite dragon-type Pokemon.
“A few people have already said they won’t be returning.” Return to what? Everyone’s dead. 😂
That wizard got treated like sir pentious 💀
“Short answer: Don’t
Long answer: Do Not”
That’s merch quote material
Yes! Our beloved crab king returns to grace us with tales of D&D!
If I were in the last situation, I would probably have abandoned the Autognome and rolled up a character as its original operator to attack the party to get the Autognome back
I like the sound of ocean waves in the background. It takes the edge off of the cringey stuff happening in the videos
19:48 this kinda reminds me of what happened to one of my characters, although since they are big enough there was luckily no "Pick them up and fuck around with them" at play, but a fuck load of just... jokes at me and my char's expense.
My DM convinced me to do that. Soon as he told me it would make the party cry I was down 😂
and just when we needed him most, the crabbo returned!
One of the best thumbnails I have seen in ages.
"You are a worthless character, your backstory is literally as valuable as a summer ant!"
Dale has advantage on cope and projection checks 🤣
@@CenobiteMei wonder when dan unlocks the ability seethe i think it would fit him
So since it's been a while, you're getting this late but, here's what I planned to say to your fist video of the year..."Happy new year everyone! and as I know there's a lot of bad out there and hope to help counter it with good, I just want to start the new year off with sincere thanks and love for all you do and remind you that you are awesome, and we appreciate you!!!" still true even if it's a bit latter than I expected!
Best early bday gift ever, welcome back UrgentLobster
The crab uses HARDENED. He is now HAAAARD.
Man this came out just as I was going to sleep, but have a comment for the algorithm. Glad to see CritCrab back again.
Peak critcrab thumbnail
And when the world needed him the most he returned
Dude, you rock! Keep being awesome!
7:00 The illusion of free will 😭
UA-cam didn't push this video to me. I had to go to your channel. Glad I did!
2:42 yeah thats great and all, if everyone is veterans and have played together before
...was suddenly hungry for a crab cake, and in comes the crab of crabs... I'll get the hammer ready! :D
Man, the last story kinda reminds me of my friends. I miss them continually making my character suffer in the most delusional ways.
Woah it didnt take me years to find a critcrab story!
I've done a revenant campaign. Started in what had been the final battle of the parties' pre-death campaign. But I told the party what to expect
10:29 BRENDAN lee mulligan? Get the pitchforks /s
“Your character serves ZERO purpose!”
I actually had a player that was laughing out load during my narration. and I laughed along thinking they were laughing at the npc antics but when they laughed again I ask what was so funny and they said they were watching a live stream and I instantly became really mad. They later admitted they just weren't feeling ttrpgs and left which I think was for the best and I'm glad they eventually just were honest about it. But The instance just really frustrated me and makes me wonder what other players are feeling...
That thumbnail is amazing lmao
That thumbnail is INSANE!
It's always a good time when the king of crabs drops a video 🎉
The last story really resonates with me. I hope they ditch that group, going along with extremely uncomfortable RP like that may seem harmless to some, but it's really not. When that peer pressure shit invades your fantasy, it screws you up- ruins your perception of fun, social interaction, and safety. Speaking from experience y’all, it’s Hell believing you can't even PRETEND to be safe.
8:32 as a good way to do this, in a campaign we were in like the big final battle against an evil tyrant queen who had tricked us into getting a Demi lich’s skull to power some device that would suck the souls from every person in her kingdom to make her a goddess. We ended up fighting her and her toughest soldiers, we were about level 14 if memory serves. It was a tough and brutal fight, and after a while of combat we had all gotten low but the queen and her big monster thing were low on health. Our wizard, at very low health, cast stop time with a magic item. We were excited, we told him to finish them off, and instead he yanked the Demi lich skull from the device(it was coated in gold and valuable riches) and then left the boss room. This was extremely in character for his guy, who was a cowardly and selfish treasure hunter that we thought had changed. When his spell ended the dm described the device destabilizing, as it exploded. Everyone in the room was killed in a flash and the room at the top of the tower(where we had been fighting in was open). We were all pretty ticked off until he described our bodies pulled back to life by a dark and a supernatural force as we became revanents with the goal of hunting down the wizard. Sadly the campaign wasn’t able to continue from there due to irl stuff but he was gonna do one on one sessions with the wizard before the sessions with the rest of us, and then eventually we would do one session as a group when we came back together.
The crab king has graced us, shell told of his arrival
Praise the crab gods, the king has returned
The long awaited return of Natural20Lobster!
Funny, just earlier today I thought "Huh, it's been a while since the last Critcrab vid" and there you are!
We back! Always great hearing *"THE"* crab read! ❤🦀❤