“This Kid is RUINING Our Game… what do I do!?” (NEW PODCAST) – Tavern Adjacent
Crispy’s Tavern: D&D Tips and Stories
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Like: 377
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Tavern Adjacent is a chill D&D podcast where I (Crispy) hang out with you guys! We’ve got voice mails, we’ve got random D&D news, and we’ve got drinks. It’s not a tavern. It’s just adjacent.
Other Links:
Leave Your Voicemail Here:
LEGO D&D Contest:
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
2:40 – The Hotline
33:05 – Lego D&D
43:15 – Wrapping Up Kerkonos
Thumbnail Art:
Leksø Tiger – 301221
Music:
insaneintherainmusic:
07.12.2022
My god, you are not a rat wearing a mask?! My shock is immense.
Oh heck yeah
Crispy: Words are hard (repeatedly)
Me: I so feel that Crispy. 😅
"I learned my combat is a lot harder than I thought they are"
yeah when I was listening in to the actual play, the combat lowkey scared me. I was like "omg they're gonna die" so many times throughout Shadows over Kerkonos 😂
Crispy I absolutely love the plushie you have on your left! It's both adorable and badass.
Love the stories too, as always.
Love the new format, Crispy. It's a breath of fresh air, as a lot of D&D horror story content creators read the same stories eventually. This way, you're getting submissions which likely haven't been online before.
15:12 – giving the youngest a fidget spinner is probably just going to distract them even more. Honestly not sure how to mitigate that apart from trying to get them invested in the story more.
For the third story, with the Pre Teen/Young teen, I think the fidget spinner is a good premise, but If everyone including the youngest there is invested in the game, maybe that means the fidget spinner isn't working because well, it just isn't as interesting? I wanted to suggest maybe tasking the Youngest with something game related to help everyone out, like sketching pivotal scenes or taking notes in a journal for everyone to read at the start of sessions. I think giving them something game related that feels important might help them stay engaged in a positive way, but divert their attention enough to help avoid main character syndrome and derailing.
To be honest, hearing about your enthusiasm for Lego was DELIGHTFUL.
Curse my ADHD brain for forgetting to record a question.
It's understandable mine didn't show up. The advice would've been nice, but I'll figure it out.
Am I missing something for that first story? I don’t see where he was going to sell out the party. Sounded more like he was trying to pull a Dr Strange, though I imagine even he didn’t think he had leverage over the creature.
In CoS for the death house it does actually say not to let the party to rest or level up. Like it tells you to run it that way.
In response to the person with the overbearing parents character: if your character has problems at home, the conflict for that character is at home. Try to get a reason to go home. If you cannot, the character does not fit into the group and you need a new one. Ie, I'd the party is trying to stop the world from ending, there is not much time to go home and earn your dad's acceptance, so may not be the best fit for a game with such high stakes.
Hey long time tavern goer, this podcast format is really nice! 10/10
I would describe the first story's problem player as "Panicked Stupid"
For the Cleric with Self-Esteem issues player, whenever I hear a story like this I always like to point to Seth Skorkowsky's advice on this: *95% of the responsibility of incorporating a player's backstory into the campaign is on the player themselves.*
I'll link the video with the timestamped clip in a reply, since it's something that I think all players should watch. But basically, a player's backstory should be used primarily by the player, and influence how their character behaves and responds to different circumstances. In the cleric's case, they could take initiative and ask or investigate if their parents have any influence or connection to things they encounter, describe their thought process as to why the cleric's low esteem causes them to do or not do something as a result of their backstory, etc. I'm not trying to say the cleric player is a BAD player obviously, but the solution to a player's backstory not having enough relevance in a campaign generally falls on players and not GMs
kickoff
I mean this in the nicest way, but your voice is just not right when it's coming out of your face and not an animated rat. It just ain't right, dammit!
Hey! I know I’m a bit too late to submit my question for this video, but here goes:
I’m the type of role player that gets really emotionally attached to my characters, and not just my characters, but everyone else’s and the game world as a whole. I know that in any given game, eventually some PC’s are going to die, some elements of the world are going to be lost or drastically changed in some way. But I guess that’s part of me being autistic, is that it’s hard to adjust to that sort of change. And I find it hard to accept those negative things when they happen in the story, especially when they get suddenly sprung upon us. So I’d feel safer as a player if I approached the GM and asked about the main story beats and just got general knowledge about the plot points and whether or not we as the PC’s would be at risk of dying, etc. so I can be a bit more at ease, but how could I be able to approach the GM and ask about those things without making it seem like I’m metagaming? And in regards to being emotionally attached to my own character, how can I, if I can’t prevent my character’s death, at least make sure that it means something in the larger narrative, and it’s not just for shock value? D&D is, after all, a story first and foremost.
Date yourself? But Crispy, I thought you were ACE o.O
Hey Crispy. I have a lot of respect for you for saying to try and not be so harsh on the kids. A lot of adults seem to think they were beacons of responsibility and social intelligence when they were kids.
Kickoff! Sports! Adjacent!
There could be a whole line of lego D&D kits! Taverns, shops, NPC figure kits, monsters, dungeons, etc. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!
Kickoff. Listen to that World Cup theme, "Tukoh Taka," it's flames
Hi Crispy! I was the one who is dming the campaign for my sister’s kids. Your advice was very helpful. I’ve tried talking with the youngest when we first started and I noticed some of these tendencies. That was a while ago, so maybe another chat is in order. Btw, her mom also voiced her concerns that her daughter was causing derailment in the party
Rambly you say, so enjoyed the new unscripted format
If it is something tavern adjacent, it could be "the storeroom": especially if it is something you are keeping for later
I have ADHD so I struggle with paying attention during games too, even though I'm really having fun. I always draw during sessions, it helps a lot. By the end of a character's run their sheet is always completely covered in sketches. I've also done crochet and I think I once did chain mail jewelry. One of my ADHD friends would work on her webcomic. My mom likes tatting and knitting. Fidget toys are nice, but they always get boring pretty fast. They don't work quite as well as having a secondary activity. Crafting usually provides just enough stimulation that I can use the rest of my brain to focus on the game.
"At one point"?? I'm 35 and I'm STILL pretty dumb about a lot of things. XD
A cards and dice store that I spent a significant amount of time going to actually had scale "miniatures" made by Heroclix of both Tiamat and Cthulhu for use with their respective tabletop games. Tiamat was smaller, but still came in with about a 6" by 8" base and standing around 8" tall. Cthulhu was a massive 8" by 12" base standing around 18" tall. They were both epic, and spectacularly detailed.
I want to send you my horror stories so baaad! But I am sick and my voice says no. Writing it just doesn't do it justice! 🙁
Second story: I'm not hearing that she asked the kid what they actually want from the game, what they look forward to, what they find fun. Sometimes, regardless of someone's age, being that ball of chaos is just the playstyle they enjoy. So finding a balance of inserting little moments of chaos in-game for that kid to interact with would seem like the better solution, involving and immersing them by bringing in little NPC tricksters and the like, so you as the DM have a way of adding a method to the chaos – rather than have it feel like an intrusion on an otherwise orderly game.
Who is the birb next to you? Do they have a name? Seems shocked the entire episode.
I work in a LEGO store, me and a bunch of my co-workers are huge nerds and love D&D, we've been watching the ideas sets right along and are super excited to see which set becomes the new actual set! I personally hope Dragons Keep our Tiamat Dice Tower get picked! Love your content and keep up the amazing work!
Animal friendship only works on beasts with an intelligence of 4 or lower, there’s an exception to this restriction but it still doesn’t work on dragons.
The problem with the cool idea of the in game book, is that 90% of weaknesses in the game was removed as of 5e.
this was a great kickoff!
First voice-mail, I had something happen very similar. A sorceress in game, obsessed with Game of Thrones, attempted to call and bargain with the white dragon from the IceSpire Peak campaign. My first time DMing and after so many warnings of how hungry and evil dragons are, (as you know this is a young white dragon, so less intelligence and an adolescent nature of destruction), and if it wasn't for her husband saving her in game, she'd have either been very hurt or died.
Crispy: Alright! Let's listen to some Voicemail Horror Stories!
First Story: Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
Crispy: internal screaming
Crispy: talks about Lego D&D
I've spent over $300 on Master Grade Gundam builds. My collection isn't big(yet) but the MS FA-010-A "Ver.Ka" was a beast of a build and kicked off my love of building Gundams. Know what got my interest in building model kits in the first place? The building of Legos, Erector Sets, and scientific kits as a kid. The act of making something just feels magical. 🙂
44:29 This really hits home to me, like after years of making up your own stuff you don't even realize how different your games are compared to what's written. A lot of GM's basically have a "style" that is how their games are run, and they can bring that "style" over to other game systems as well that transcends whatever rules are written into the book. Its pretty fascinating honestly.
Hello Crispy! fourth person here, the one with the low self esteem character. I just wanted to say that I'm super sorry if my DM comes off in a bad way here, despite everything they are a WONDERFUL person and storyteller haha. and towards the start of the campaign, my character DID have some moments of his own, his parents invited the party to their home and for a formal ball. it was a fun mini tangent of about 3 sessions which established his issues and set up the reason for his personality. But after that it sort of fell to the wayside. and instead of growing he's just fallen in a stasis. his only real character moments are the many times when he almost dies for the party, which really are only more displays of his own self esteem issues and him thinking himself as disposable.
I think the DM just got caught up with the other character backstories as they're the more 'classic' DND types that can be integrated well, and I don't blame them! like you said, my PC doesn't really have an easily defined big bad in his story aside from failed parenting lol, so maybe it just needs more ironing out with the DM, which I will be doing thanks to your advice!!
HOWEVER! there is interesting news that I thought I'd add, we had a session the day after I sent this mail, and one of the PCs (in a planned plot moment) actually died! I'm talking with the DM and that player to have it majorly affect my character (my character is the party's only healer, who swore to keep everyone alive just before the fight, ofc he's blaming himself, and he'll absolutely bring back that PC or die trying) and I'm pretty excited to see where it'll go. if not positive, there shall be negative character development lol.
PS: I'm really sorry for stuttering and the grammatical errors in my voicemail!! english isn't my first language and my anxiety doesn't help haha, I know it bothers a few people so I thought I'd acknowledge those mistakes
I love the name Tavern Adjacent.
And the setup is wonderful!!
I look forward to this new podcast
I think there is an in-universe monster manual
To the story with the many different ages (around 15:30). Maybe the youngest child would like to play some NPCs. Like one of the bandits, someone sitting in the tavern or a merchant they travel with for part of the way –> a simple build, always new stuff to focus on, doesn't need to follow everything the party does because the party has to clue in the new rando npc anyway, and can't derail the party too much, because the party doesn't have to stay together with the random merchant.
Of course that would be a bit different than what the others do, but the youngest would be included in the game & chances are high that they'll see this as a specialty & not bad at all. (it sounds fun to me anyway.)
So a Pokédex with D&D
The adults need to communicate better; children are capable of following rules, if they’re given the expectation that they’re in a situation where rules apply; that’s a talk their parents should have with them before they even show up; there should also be plans in place for if the kid gets bored or disruptive; too often, parents expect the world to love and accommodate everything about their children, the same way they do…and that’s not always fair to other people…
Make the 3k set loose then present it to Bluebrix or a other Lego alternative and watch how you get an awesome set for a fair price innstead of Lego locking a great set behind a ripp of price.
Straight up Stupid, newly labeled for Neutral Stupid
11:48 there’s a system agnostic adventure by Swordfish Islands called Hotsprings Island that does this actually! It comes with a player facing book written from the perspective of an npc that arrived in the island before you, and has…questionable accuracy on the portrayal of some monsters, flora, fauna, and the Factions that live on the island.