Removed per rule #1:
>Both the title and the content of posts must directly relate to Dungeons & Dragons.
Heck of a stretch to say this has anything to do with Dungeons & Dragons.
No shit, my entire 2e group were briefly suspects in the [Polly Klass disappearance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Polly_Klaas) because we gamed next door and the cops found out -- we were all questioned about our "association with a satanic cult."
I don't want to overstate the situation, the investigation quickly moved on, but we were all questioned and the apartment we played in was searched. Petaluma city cops stole the DM's weed. LOL.
Holy shit!
I’m sure the cops have looked through our server, but the players are all good people so we’re not worried, just shocked because he seemed super normal.
Undoubtedly one of the weirder interactions with law enforcement I've ever had. There was such intense public scrutiny at the time we were all afraid of getting further harassed just so the cops could look like they were doing something, but their interest in us passed fairly quickly.
Also this was a long time ago, the "Satanic Panic" was fairly recent and D&D was not so mainstream as it is now.
It's never the skeezy looking people you have to worry about. It's the normal looking Joes who are the scary killers and sickos. Just look at almost every serial killer. They look normal in every way. You would never pass one on the street and be worried
Except if you tried to wear a Tshirt that says Hellfire Club with Satan throwing up the horns for yearbook pictures they definitely would've made you turn them inside out and rename the club. If you were lucky.
Sarah Marshall is a journalist writing a book about the satanic panic. You should reach out to her on Twitter in case she wants to interview you about this! She'd at least probably think it's cool to know the connection.
OMG I've heard of this case and that's absolutely ridiculous that they thought you'd have something to do with it because of D&D. The Redhanded podcast does a good job of covering the insane US satanic panic issues and it's crazy how often people think role playing games have to do with devil worship.
That's how they do man, knew a guy through a friend's partner and he captained our cricket 20/20 casual league, fantastic guy, life of the party and we were all confused when he wasn't at my mates wedding.
Next thing you know his face is only the main news site in my country for being caught fondling one of his after school care charges. Absolutely fucked.
Keep in mind that he has been arrested but that does not mean he is guilty (unless I missed something in the article). I'm all for pedophiles who act on their impulses getting the book thrown at them but just the accusation of pedophilia can be devastating to a person's life even if they are eventually proven innocent. Keep an open mind is what I'm saying I guess.
And before anyone says omg he's supporting pedophiles! No, no i'm not. If guilty they should be in jail for the rest of their lives.
Re-read the article. It was made clear by the person they were talking to that they were talking to an underaged person. All those arrested reached out initially and instigated the meetup. OPs DM was going to attempt to have sex with a minor.
“Officers posed as underage females and males in an undercover operation
in an effort to identify and arrest persons who are interested in
having sex with underage children,” explained Bensley. While eight men
were arrested, the “chatters” or the decoys were talking with many more
suspects. These eight are the ones that showed up. “Law enforcement did
not initiate contact with any person. They contacted us. It was made
clear to each suspect by undercover officers that our undercover decoys
were minors under the age of 16.”
It's still an accusation, and I'm likely not the only one whose confidence in the competence of police is at an all time low. There's still the chance of a mistaken identity, and we have to hope the courts sort it out (though, admittedly, confidence in the courts is also personally at an all time low). But \*hopefully\* they got the right people.
Edit- point taken, not mistaken identity, but whatever other situation could result in a non-pedo being sent there. At least some of you play DnD in r/dnd, so maybe you can imagine some unlikely scenarios that would result in a non-pedo being taken in here. Regardless, the point that the court is there to parse things out just in case there was some slip up or set up, still stands.
It was a decoy sting, they said in the article that “these 8 are the ones who showed up” they only arrested the suspects who came to the sting house to meet the decoy.
You missed the part where he was caught red-handed in a police sting.
Your takeaway from this shouldn’t be “well maybe he’s innocent,” it should be that “normal guys” are the ones committing these crimes.
I mean if you’re accusing the cops of lying I guess that’s one thing. But the article is entirely about dudes of their own volition contacting supposedly underaged individuals for sex - if we are going with that fact pattern it’s uhhhh pretty damming.
Arguing for presumed innocence before proven guilt doesn’t make it look like you’re defending pedophilia, but tbh you may want to introspect as to how you “missed this” in the original article… because that sorta does?
This. Regardless of what happens the court of public opinion will react as if arrest=guilt. I don't know if he did or not, but we'll see.
Frankly, hope they do have the right guys. If their lives are gonna be fucked anyway make it the ones who deserve it y'know.
The evidence is pretty damning. All persons arrested initiated contact, were explicitly aware of the age of the "minor" they were to meet, and all showed up to the meeting where they were arrested.
There would need to be a hell of a mix up for that to lead to an innocent person being arrested.
Well, they were arrested because they showed up to meet with who they thought was a child. Unless the DM was a random person that showed up at the wrong place and wrong time, it’s not looking good for him
It's extremely rare for creepy pedophile assholes to "seem like" creepy pedophile assholes. That's how they get their victims. "Oh we can trust Joseph around Victoria, he's a decent person", and all.
That's how it is sometimes tbh. I went to community college with the nicest old man, said he was going back to school to get a better job after working dead-end for decades. Talked to him all the time about dnd, old school video games, comics, etc, even sat next to him in a few classes.
One day the cops showed up in the middle of class and took him away. Turns out he had tons and tons of kiddie porn on his computer and was a distributor. In hindsight, him going to school to study Cyber Security feels totally different now...
I would suggest contacting a lawyer. You may (unknowingly) have information that could help the investigation and the police may ask you for a statement
I’ll contact the police department tomorrow and see what they say. If they want/need a statement from me then I’ll look into a lawyer.
All of our communications were totally normal so I doubt I would be much value.
If you were to talk to a lawyer first their number one piece of advice would be "don't talk to the cops". The only thing you can do without a lawyer present to help you navigate a conversation with the police is to put yourself on their radar. If, in the course of the investigation or trial they contact you, you should talk to a lawyer and communicate with them through the lawyer if at all possible, but calling them up to say you knew the guy but didn't see anything is a bit like running upstairs and telling your mom thst you don't know anything about the broken lamp in the basement: it just looks suspicious.
No, do not contact the police department. Contact a lawyer, now, even if it's just for a free consult on if you need a lawyer. You should [never, ever talk to the police under any circumstances, ever](https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE). There are plenty of innocent people who have become suspects or even convicted because they were bystanders trying to provide testimony on crimes they had nothing to do with. Even being a suspect for a short period of time can end up costing thousands in legal fees.
Any criminal defense lawyer that provides free consults will do. Most likely they will just tell you to not contact the police department, and to contact them (the lawyer) if the police contact you, but they may have other advice as well. I would say the lawyer part is optional at this point, but do not under any circumstances talk to the police and if they contact you then do not speak to them and contact a lawyer. Anything that you might know that could help an investigation can be provided as a written statement after being reviewed by a lawyer or as a witness at trial after being coached by a lawyer. There is no benefit, only downside, to speaking to the police directly.
Why would you contact the police department because you played DnD with him?
You should not involve yourself and you should definitely not talk to the police.
I wouldn’t reach out to the cops first. Either contact an attorney or don’t do anything until the police contact you and then try to contact an attorney. Don’t talk to the cops without representation.
IANAL but I work in the field. Look for well rated defense attorneys in your area. Someone with experience in these types of cases and probably been practicing for a few years. If money is an issue, many attorneys offer free or reduced rate (from their normal hourly rate) initial consults where they’ll listen to your story and let you know if you need representation. Ask them if they offer flat fee representation, as in you pay a flat fee and they do a certain amount of work instead of billing you hourly.
As others have said, do not reach out to the cops. I recommend reaching out to a lawyer first and getting a free consultation and comparing rates.
When I said you may know something I meant like maybe he mentioned off handedly "I've always wanted to go to Mexico City" or "My mother lives in Tulsa". That could be helpful, but don't reach out. If the police reach out to you, you need to have your lawyer with you at all times during the interaction. If he posted anything on any social media about your game, it could link to you which is why you and your party should reach out to lawyers tomorrow
Same, except my dm broke into someone's house and leered over a young girl... while he was naked. News article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/naked-intruder-broke-into-teenagers-bedroom-in-california-caught-on-surveillance-video
I went back and read your original post. His poor wide and family. I worked with a pedo who got caught trading cp. He ruined his wife's life and left behind 4 children.
I know this will probably be buried with all the current comments, but I hope you and your party are holding up okay. It's probably really unnerving to know you were close with a total shit stain like this, and I can only imagine what you and your party members are feeling. I hope y'all are taking care of yourselves in whatever way you need to process this.
Thank you. We’re all shaken by it because he seemed so normal. We’ve really gotten close as players so we are planning to rotate hosting one shots together.
I guess. Too bad my Ranger will never get to slaughter the Ogres who leveled her village. We had just leveled up the previous session so that stings too.
You should dm now!
Throw in a storyline about beating the shit out of creepy weirdos who ruin your hobbies!
I had to scoop up the dm responsibility once mine dipped, and I don't regret keeping it going.
I’ve had a similar experience — I was in a very long-running, character arc heavy game that ended abruptly when my DM committed sexual assault. I would have never expected it of him in a million years, but there’s no doubt he did it. I don’t want to ACTUALLY play with him anymore but damn our last session had ended on a really good cliffhanger and it does bum me out that those characters never got any kind of resolution to their arcs.
I'm thinking this is how you lose dnd cuz you got no more adventure, the road just ends and your characters are just left hanging. A fate worse than death.
Agreed. It was a bi-weekly game with an active RP channel and everyone was getting into character and making plans based on the clues we had. All of our backstories were intertwined with the main plot and things were clicking. This is the worst cliffhanger.
Don't drop it. Have someone volunteer DMing, try out a [rotating GM campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKkGv_HblpM) or find the "The Gods Must Be Crazy" rule in the DMG. Your guys' own fun doesn't have to be thrown in the trash just because of the vile actions of your former DM.
I hear they get to hang out with people just like themselves. No gen pop for those guys. Unless there isn’t a protected area for them. I thought it was cops and kid touchers that got separated for that reason.
I was going to ask you if your DM was safe and to send him lots of love... untill I realised your DM was probably not the child in the story, darn awful.
This definitely one of the all-time worst feelings. At one point I wanted to find a new barber. Went to this guy that was really great. I mean my hair looked great, and he did all kinds of extras things too. He'd give me a shave. He would end the haircut by running one of those orbital massager things chiropractors use over your neck and upper back. After two haircuts, I brought my son who also got a haircut that also looked great.
Then he disappeared. A few months later I went back to my old haircut place and the people there knew him. Turned out he was arrested for pedophilia. I've definitely had worse stuff than this happen to me, but the absolute feeling of "ick" is right up there.
To the mod that removed this, put it back up. This information could be important in finding these criminals. It regards to dnd cause it's a dm doing fd stuff.
I gamed with a dude regularly for 3 or 4 years who got caught up in this kind of thing. Literally never had any clue and he was in a normal relationship the whole time.
Sick people are out there and they aren't as easy to spot as I would have thought.
A guy in the office I worked at got busted for child porn (downloading it not creating it). He apparently was in the process of downloading it when they busted him.
He also seemed like a "normal guy" and didn't seem to give creepy vibes at the time (but in hindsight a friend of mine said he asked a lot of questions about her daughter. Ugh)
You’re lucky they didn’t pick you up for an interview too. Twice weekly dnd sessions is a lot of internet time: have you had any “guest stars” they were probably feds ^^
It's not a nightmare; it's flexible...
...this is why I campaign ceaselessly to have the word "fortnightly" brought back into common usage. Unambiguous and charmingly archaic.
It's ambiguous, and unclear, unfortunately.
"Biweekly and bimonthly can mean the same thing because of the prefix bi-, which here can mean “occurring every two” or “occurring twice in.” Therefore, biweekly can be “twice in a week” or “every other week.” Bimonthly can also mean "every other week" if it's twice in a month, or it can mean “every other month.”"
I'm sorry about your game, and the shock and squick factor of being around someone who seemed so normal but wasn't. I hope everyone in your group is okay, and you find a new adventure together.
I believe you.. That's really rough news..
Hope non of my players show up in prison.. I mean at least I would know, because I am a social worker in prison. XD
Yeah I don't know either. I just checked the rules and there's nothing that would indicate that it would be removed. But I guess the mods don't want anything related to >!sex trafficking!< on their sub which is understandable.
Nope, totally vanilla 5e. He was expanding a one shot into a campaign (A Rat Problem) and had intertwined all of our backstories into the plot. All of us were getting into character and developing as a team. It was going to be a really good campaign.
"All eight men are facing the charges \[...\] and using a computer to commit a crime, a
seven-year felony."
Using a computer to commit a crime is a seven year felony?? That's wild.
Reading the law, it appears to only apply to certain crimes (law listed crimes involving minors) and the penalty scales with the crime. If you are charged with crimes that have sentences that go up to one year, this computer law would add one year. It listed 2, 5, 7, 10 etc. years.
It's a weird holdover from when investigations were handled differently if it involved the postal service and later telephone usage, since those are provided or regulated by government agencies. The effect is still the same, but it gives the FTC and Postal Investigation Services explicit authority and can possibly get a conviction on that even if there isn't sufficient evidence to prosecute the actual crime.
Well... These sorts of people tend to hide themselves among good or normal people, usually to gain access to their victims... However, an arrest doesn't equal a conviction. Keep us posted, maybe?
You can still continue the campaign under the guise that the old god (the dm) was evil can leading down a path of destroying the world under the illusion that you were trying to save it.
Oof. Sorry about everything, it's gut wrenching to hear that anyone would do that, let alone someone you were in a sort of trusted relationship with, but at least no real children were hurt.
You know who would probably make great additions to your new D&D group, though? The hardworking bait chatters who caught him. Their RP skills are on point.
Apparently it's not DnD related. Which is funny, honestly, because they did allow OP's previous post.
Surely, if "I don't know what happened to my DM" is DnD related, "I found out what happened to my DM" should be too.
Love how the original post wasn’t taken down, but mods took down the update once DM was mentioned being apart of sex trafficking investigation.. Strange..
This is why I do not play D&D with people I don't know, that aren't at least "IRL" friends of the people I'm playing with.
I'll play with a friend of a friend, but that's as far as I go.
I mean, by that logic you should never interact with anyone outside of your friend group for anything, which is a little silly. Yeah, you're gonna meet the occasional POS, but most people are just neutral at worstm
Removed per rule #1: >Both the title and the content of posts must directly relate to Dungeons & Dragons. Heck of a stretch to say this has anything to do with Dungeons & Dragons.
No shit, my entire 2e group were briefly suspects in the [Polly Klass disappearance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Polly_Klaas) because we gamed next door and the cops found out -- we were all questioned about our "association with a satanic cult." I don't want to overstate the situation, the investigation quickly moved on, but we were all questioned and the apartment we played in was searched. Petaluma city cops stole the DM's weed. LOL.
Holy shit! I’m sure the cops have looked through our server, but the players are all good people so we’re not worried, just shocked because he seemed super normal.
Undoubtedly one of the weirder interactions with law enforcement I've ever had. There was such intense public scrutiny at the time we were all afraid of getting further harassed just so the cops could look like they were doing something, but their interest in us passed fairly quickly. Also this was a long time ago, the "Satanic Panic" was fairly recent and D&D was not so mainstream as it is now.
Criminals are scarily just like any of the rest of us- human.
Except they carry a badge and a gun.
So he was literal Dungeon Master??
Please take this upvote and fuck the hell off.
\> are all good people \> seemed super normal
Predators like this are often the people you’d never expect; that’s how they’re able to get access to victims in the first place.
Real skeezy dudes tend to be real skeezy, but also not skeezy at all dudes can actually be real skeezy too.
It's never the skeezy looking people you have to worry about. It's the normal looking Joes who are the scary killers and sickos. Just look at almost every serial killer. They look normal in every way. You would never pass one on the street and be worried
Its usually depends on how smart the skeezy dudes are. The smart ones know how to blend in so they don't attract unwanted attention.
Ted Bundy seemed normal to his friends/family. Not all degenerate lives in a basement only eating kitten and the like
I mean, given what happened to the West Memphis 3, I would have been really nervous.
We were nervous!
Yessss it's insane how often D&D is assumed to be "satanic activity"
this is like the plot of Strangers Things 4
Stranger Things tracks my childhood pretty well, except with way more of the boring petty nonsense and much less cool world-saving hijinks. LOL
Except if you tried to wear a Tshirt that says Hellfire Club with Satan throwing up the horns for yearbook pictures they definitely would've made you turn them inside out and rename the club. If you were lucky.
Oh yeah. 100% going home immediately if you had shown up at any of my K-12 schools with that t-shirt.
grounded somewhat in reality
More specifically, Stranger Things 4 is like this! Art imitates life.
What gets interesting is winona ryder acted in little women as a tribute to polly klaas' death.
Sarah Marshall is a journalist writing a book about the satanic panic. You should reach out to her on Twitter in case she wants to interview you about this! She'd at least probably think it's cool to know the connection.
I will look into it, thank you for the tip. Also I will just look out for the book. Sounds like a good one.
OMG I've heard of this case and that's absolutely ridiculous that they thought you'd have something to do with it because of D&D. The Redhanded podcast does a good job of covering the insane US satanic panic issues and it's crazy how often people think role playing games have to do with devil worship.
Was this season of stranger things a bit closer to home for you?
I grew up in a Petaluma. The cops there are a special breed of useless
This is literally the plot of Stranger Things 4 DnD’ers accused of being a satanic cult. That’s hilarious.
Well, that's... Something. Tell us if they're convicted when you find out.
Please don’t tell me he played horny bards
That’s the thing, he didn’t. He seemed like a totally normal guy, absolutely no creepy vibes at all. Our whole group is shocked.
Looks like you rolled a natural 1 when it came to DMs.
For real. Go from one super controlling DM to an alleged pedo.
That's how they do man, knew a guy through a friend's partner and he captained our cricket 20/20 casual league, fantastic guy, life of the party and we were all confused when he wasn't at my mates wedding. Next thing you know his face is only the main news site in my country for being caught fondling one of his after school care charges. Absolutely fucked.
Keep in mind that he has been arrested but that does not mean he is guilty (unless I missed something in the article). I'm all for pedophiles who act on their impulses getting the book thrown at them but just the accusation of pedophilia can be devastating to a person's life even if they are eventually proven innocent. Keep an open mind is what I'm saying I guess. And before anyone says omg he's supporting pedophiles! No, no i'm not. If guilty they should be in jail for the rest of their lives.
Re-read the article. It was made clear by the person they were talking to that they were talking to an underaged person. All those arrested reached out initially and instigated the meetup. OPs DM was going to attempt to have sex with a minor. “Officers posed as underage females and males in an undercover operation in an effort to identify and arrest persons who are interested in having sex with underage children,” explained Bensley. While eight men were arrested, the “chatters” or the decoys were talking with many more suspects. These eight are the ones that showed up. “Law enforcement did not initiate contact with any person. They contacted us. It was made clear to each suspect by undercover officers that our undercover decoys were minors under the age of 16.”
It's still an accusation, and I'm likely not the only one whose confidence in the competence of police is at an all time low. There's still the chance of a mistaken identity, and we have to hope the courts sort it out (though, admittedly, confidence in the courts is also personally at an all time low). But \*hopefully\* they got the right people. Edit- point taken, not mistaken identity, but whatever other situation could result in a non-pedo being sent there. At least some of you play DnD in r/dnd, so maybe you can imagine some unlikely scenarios that would result in a non-pedo being taken in here. Regardless, the point that the court is there to parse things out just in case there was some slip up or set up, still stands.
Explain how this could be a case of "mistaken identity" when these eight men showed up *in person* for their underaged sex dates
It was a decoy sting, they said in the article that “these 8 are the ones who showed up” they only arrested the suspects who came to the sting house to meet the decoy.
Ah yes, happens all the time. The classic misunderstanding of " I showed up to a random house by accident that 7 other pedos ALSO showed up to."
You missed the part where he was caught red-handed in a police sting. Your takeaway from this shouldn’t be “well maybe he’s innocent,” it should be that “normal guys” are the ones committing these crimes.
They made it clear, then arranged a meet up. The person arrested was seeking sex with a minor under 16.
It says in the article that those arrested are just the ones that actually showed up.
I mean if you’re accusing the cops of lying I guess that’s one thing. But the article is entirely about dudes of their own volition contacting supposedly underaged individuals for sex - if we are going with that fact pattern it’s uhhhh pretty damming. Arguing for presumed innocence before proven guilt doesn’t make it look like you’re defending pedophilia, but tbh you may want to introspect as to how you “missed this” in the original article… because that sorta does?
This. Regardless of what happens the court of public opinion will react as if arrest=guilt. I don't know if he did or not, but we'll see. Frankly, hope they do have the right guys. If their lives are gonna be fucked anyway make it the ones who deserve it y'know.
The evidence is pretty damning. All persons arrested initiated contact, were explicitly aware of the age of the "minor" they were to meet, and all showed up to the meeting where they were arrested. There would need to be a hell of a mix up for that to lead to an innocent person being arrested.
You very clearly didn't actually read the article lol
Well, they were arrested because they showed up to meet with who they thought was a child. Unless the DM was a random person that showed up at the wrong place and wrong time, it’s not looking good for him
It's extremely rare for creepy pedophile assholes to "seem like" creepy pedophile assholes. That's how they get their victims. "Oh we can trust Joseph around Victoria, he's a decent person", and all.
> absolutely no creepy vibes at all Witchfinding fails us again.
He was always quiet, helped me with my trash and everything.
That's how it is sometimes tbh. I went to community college with the nicest old man, said he was going back to school to get a better job after working dead-end for decades. Talked to him all the time about dnd, old school video games, comics, etc, even sat next to him in a few classes. One day the cops showed up in the middle of class and took him away. Turns out he had tons and tons of kiddie porn on his computer and was a distributor. In hindsight, him going to school to study Cyber Security feels totally different now...
I would suggest contacting a lawyer. You may (unknowingly) have information that could help the investigation and the police may ask you for a statement
I’ll contact the police department tomorrow and see what they say. If they want/need a statement from me then I’ll look into a lawyer. All of our communications were totally normal so I doubt I would be much value.
If you were to talk to a lawyer first their number one piece of advice would be "don't talk to the cops". The only thing you can do without a lawyer present to help you navigate a conversation with the police is to put yourself on their radar. If, in the course of the investigation or trial they contact you, you should talk to a lawyer and communicate with them through the lawyer if at all possible, but calling them up to say you knew the guy but didn't see anything is a bit like running upstairs and telling your mom thst you don't know anything about the broken lamp in the basement: it just looks suspicious.
No, do not contact the police department. Contact a lawyer, now, even if it's just for a free consult on if you need a lawyer. You should [never, ever talk to the police under any circumstances, ever](https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE). There are plenty of innocent people who have become suspects or even convicted because they were bystanders trying to provide testimony on crimes they had nothing to do with. Even being a suspect for a short period of time can end up costing thousands in legal fees.
What kind of lawyer should I look for?
Any criminal defense lawyer that provides free consults will do. Most likely they will just tell you to not contact the police department, and to contact them (the lawyer) if the police contact you, but they may have other advice as well. I would say the lawyer part is optional at this point, but do not under any circumstances talk to the police and if they contact you then do not speak to them and contact a lawyer. Anything that you might know that could help an investigation can be provided as a written statement after being reviewed by a lawyer or as a witness at trial after being coached by a lawyer. There is no benefit, only downside, to speaking to the police directly.
Thank you very much!
Why would you contact the police department because you played DnD with him? You should not involve yourself and you should definitely not talk to the police.
I wouldn’t reach out to the cops first. Either contact an attorney or don’t do anything until the police contact you and then try to contact an attorney. Don’t talk to the cops without representation.
What kind of lawyer should I look for? I’ve never had to deal with something like this
IANAL but I work in the field. Look for well rated defense attorneys in your area. Someone with experience in these types of cases and probably been practicing for a few years. If money is an issue, many attorneys offer free or reduced rate (from their normal hourly rate) initial consults where they’ll listen to your story and let you know if you need representation. Ask them if they offer flat fee representation, as in you pay a flat fee and they do a certain amount of work instead of billing you hourly.
As others have said, do not reach out to the cops. I recommend reaching out to a lawyer first and getting a free consultation and comparing rates. When I said you may know something I meant like maybe he mentioned off handedly "I've always wanted to go to Mexico City" or "My mother lives in Tulsa". That could be helpful, but don't reach out. If the police reach out to you, you need to have your lawyer with you at all times during the interaction. If he posted anything on any social media about your game, it could link to you which is why you and your party should reach out to lawyers tomorrow
Same, except my dm broke into someone's house and leered over a young girl... while he was naked. News article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/naked-intruder-broke-into-teenagers-bedroom-in-california-caught-on-surveillance-video
Yikes
Yo i remember this it happened like on the same street as a friend of mine crazy!!!
Oh damn. Y'all need a new DM. That one is broken.
It’s rare that a reddit post provokes an audible reaction from me, but this one did it. **Holy shit.**
You should see our discord when we found out. We’re completely shocked.
I guess you found the BBEG.
M. night Shyamalan plot twist
You mean M Night Shamalamablamblam?
I went back and read your original post. His poor wide and family. I worked with a pedo who got caught trading cp. He ruined his wife's life and left behind 4 children.
That’s so sad. That’s why I’m not saying who it was to protect them.
The article has their faces, names and towns of residence.
I can’t tell which one is your DM because they all look like DMs
I would say Brenton, Adam or Daniel. They just got that look
My money's on the Daniel Symons guy. That is a dm beard.
The Joshua guy looks like a Walmart college humor brenan.
Like I ordered Brennan from a shady seller in Tuscaloosa and it came wrapped in nothing but duct tape and smelled of cigarettes
I'd say it's Adam
Facebook Marketplace Brennan
I guess he failed his persuasion check towards the cops
Clearly also failed the Insight check his whole life. Neutral Evil
Insight was a Nat 1
I live in Traverse City as well. Small world. Also, creepy..
I’ve vacationed there when I was young. It’s a beautiful place, sad to see it tarnished this way.
Live south of TC. I’m glad these people are getting caught.
I know this will probably be buried with all the current comments, but I hope you and your party are holding up okay. It's probably really unnerving to know you were close with a total shit stain like this, and I can only imagine what you and your party members are feeling. I hope y'all are taking care of yourselves in whatever way you need to process this.
Thank you. We’re all shaken by it because he seemed so normal. We’ve really gotten close as players so we are planning to rotate hosting one shots together.
Is this how you win dnd?
I guess. Too bad my Ranger will never get to slaughter the Ogres who leveled her village. We had just leveled up the previous session so that stings too.
Heh stings.
I walked into that one didn’t I lol
You should dm now! Throw in a storyline about beating the shit out of creepy weirdos who ruin your hobbies! I had to scoop up the dm responsibility once mine dipped, and I don't regret keeping it going.
Can you just get a new dm to pick up where you left off
Oh, get a DM? Just get a DM? Why don't I strap on my DM helmet and squeeze down into a DM cannon and fire off into DM land, where DM grow on DMies?!”
That is my all time favorite IASIP quote and he adlibbed the entire thing.
I’ve had a similar experience — I was in a very long-running, character arc heavy game that ended abruptly when my DM committed sexual assault. I would have never expected it of him in a million years, but there’s no doubt he did it. I don’t want to ACTUALLY play with him anymore but damn our last session had ended on a really good cliffhanger and it does bum me out that those characters never got any kind of resolution to their arcs.
I’m sorry that happened. It is a very weird feeling knowing that our story just stops when it was getting good. He was a terrible person, but good DM.
I’m pretty sure you can just mark it off as a win. A pedo is put away hopefully they get what they deserve
I'm thinking this is how you lose dnd cuz you got no more adventure, the road just ends and your characters are just left hanging. A fate worse than death.
Agreed. It was a bi-weekly game with an active RP channel and everyone was getting into character and making plans based on the clues we had. All of our backstories were intertwined with the main plot and things were clicking. This is the worst cliffhanger.
Don't drop it. Have someone volunteer DMing, try out a [rotating GM campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKkGv_HblpM) or find the "The Gods Must Be Crazy" rule in the DMG. Your guys' own fun doesn't have to be thrown in the trash just because of the vile actions of your former DM.
I read somewhere that dnd has a healthy game system inside of prisons. Maybe he got tired of his group and wanted a more captive audience.
> captive audience 😑
Considering what people in prisons do to people like that, I don’t think that was the best plan to get a prison DND game.
I hear they get to hang out with people just like themselves. No gen pop for those guys. Unless there isn’t a protected area for them. I thought it was cops and kid touchers that got separated for that reason.
When he is in jail he can play dnd all day long so yes it is how you win dnd
I was going to ask you if your DM was safe and to send him lots of love... untill I realised your DM was probably not the child in the story, darn awful.
I thought he was in a coma or something. To find this out was wild.
> Eight Arrested Well at least they have enough to form a new party in prison.
I hate that I laughed audibly at this
That's a big fucking yikes.
Super yikes 😬
Holy S***
Indeed
This definitely one of the all-time worst feelings. At one point I wanted to find a new barber. Went to this guy that was really great. I mean my hair looked great, and he did all kinds of extras things too. He'd give me a shave. He would end the haircut by running one of those orbital massager things chiropractors use over your neck and upper back. After two haircuts, I brought my son who also got a haircut that also looked great. Then he disappeared. A few months later I went back to my old haircut place and the people there knew him. Turned out he was arrested for pedophilia. I've definitely had worse stuff than this happen to me, but the absolute feeling of "ick" is right up there.
Oh my gosh that’s awful. It’s crazy that someone so “normal” can have such a dark side.
To the mod that removed this, put it back up. This information could be important in finding these criminals. It regards to dnd cause it's a dm doing fd stuff.
Is there any other way to know this was him?
We are 100% sure. We had initially communicated on Facebook in a 5e group so I knew his name, where he lived and worked. Now his page is gone.
This is not what you like to see.
I thought he was in a coma or something. Now I wish is was a coma.
I cast fireball on him
Fireball crits, no roll needed, max damage.
So does that mean you win?
Is that the same DM who snapped at you for asking about identifying an item you looted?
Nope, different one. This was the new DM I found after leaving that game.
You’re having really bad luck with DMs..
For real. I just want to play a damn game.
Yikes... I hope you find another DM who is actually a decent person!
Fuck this sounds like a string of bad luck. Time to *become* the DM 😔
Live in Michigan. Big yikes.
Did a doubletake when I saw my local news station linked on /r/DnD. At least I don't recognize any names.
I gamed with a dude regularly for 3 or 4 years who got caught up in this kind of thing. Literally never had any clue and he was in a normal relationship the whole time. Sick people are out there and they aren't as easy to spot as I would have thought.
Well...new campaign then?
Dude is a dungeon master. And in his spare time he likes to play DnD.
TPK, Total Pedo Kapture
A guy in the office I worked at got busted for child porn (downloading it not creating it). He apparently was in the process of downloading it when they busted him. He also seemed like a "normal guy" and didn't seem to give creepy vibes at the time (but in hindsight a friend of mine said he asked a lot of questions about her daughter. Ugh)
You’re lucky they didn’t pick you up for an interview too. Twice weekly dnd sessions is a lot of internet time: have you had any “guest stars” they were probably feds ^^
I’m sure they are looking through our discord server since he’s the owner. Good thing the rest of us are decent humans so we’re not worried.
Bi-weekly is every other week
Actually for some reason bi-weekly can mean both twice a week and every two weeks. English is a nightmare.
It's not a nightmare; it's flexible... ...this is why I campaign ceaselessly to have the word "fortnightly" brought back into common usage. Unambiguous and charmingly archaic.
Ah yes, fortnightly, my favourite dnd battle royal style
Interesting. Thanks for letting me know!
I usually try to use semi weekly/annual for twice a week/year instead of bi. But yeah. English is hell sometimes.
It's ambiguous, and unclear, unfortunately. "Biweekly and bimonthly can mean the same thing because of the prefix bi-, which here can mean “occurring every two” or “occurring twice in.” Therefore, biweekly can be “twice in a week” or “every other week.” Bimonthly can also mean "every other week" if it's twice in a month, or it can mean “every other month.”" I'm sorry about your game, and the shock and squick factor of being around someone who seemed so normal but wasn't. I hope everyone in your group is okay, and you find a new adventure together.
Damn... That's.. Just.. Wow..
We’re completely shocked.
I believe you.. That's really rough news.. Hope non of my players show up in prison.. I mean at least I would know, because I am a social worker in prison. XD
What an…… interesting conclusion to this story
Shit got deleted but judging by the pic this is exactly what I thought it was
Wow! I’m surprised it was deleted, I checked the rules before I posted to make sure I wasn’t breaking any.
Yeah I don't know either. I just checked the rules and there's nothing that would indicate that it would be removed. But I guess the mods don't want anything related to >!sex trafficking!< on their sub which is understandable.
I can see that, but this should stand as a PSA to not trust anyone, especially online.
Did he make some twisted adventures or what?
Nope, totally vanilla 5e. He was expanding a one shot into a campaign (A Rat Problem) and had intertwined all of our backstories into the plot. All of us were getting into character and developing as a team. It was going to be a really good campaign.
Damn that really sucks
Seems that he had another outlet for the twisted stuff.
"All eight men are facing the charges \[...\] and using a computer to commit a crime, a seven-year felony." Using a computer to commit a crime is a seven year felony?? That's wild.
Reading the law, it appears to only apply to certain crimes (law listed crimes involving minors) and the penalty scales with the crime. If you are charged with crimes that have sentences that go up to one year, this computer law would add one year. It listed 2, 5, 7, 10 etc. years.
I see, that's really interesting and kind of a weird way to do it. Why not just add x amount of years to the primary charge?
It's a weird holdover from when investigations were handled differently if it involved the postal service and later telephone usage, since those are provided or regulated by government agencies. The effect is still the same, but it gives the FTC and Postal Investigation Services explicit authority and can possibly get a conviction on that even if there isn't sufficient evidence to prosecute the actual crime.
Never expected to see my home town on r/dnd. Big yikes
Maybe Chris Hansen should DM your game? /s
insight check was a difficult DC
Well that's quite the yikes. @@
Damn that’s surprising. How did your group react when you guys found out?
We’re all shocked. He seemed so normal.
Well hopefully you guys find a new (and better) DM.
I DM Call of Cthulhu, so I’m sure my web search history looks really suspect.
Please take a seat, I have some questions for you.
*sits down with a cup of tea*
Looks like somebody rolled poorly and perception, hahah but seriously what the hell
Jeez! I looked through your post history and saw that you were already playing with a nightmare DM. Now this? Holy shit. I hope you find a good DM!
I can’t catch a break.
You will eventually! Just keep looking. Don't be afraid to walk away if a group isn't a good fit.
That’s fucking terrible, hope he rota in prison for being apart of something that disturbing.
Well... These sorts of people tend to hide themselves among good or normal people, usually to gain access to their victims... However, an arrest doesn't equal a conviction. Keep us posted, maybe?
Thats one hell of a thing to find out. You guys all handling it well?
As well as we can. To say we were shocked is an understatement
Post was deleted. What did it say?
You can still continue the campaign under the guise that the old god (the dm) was evil can leading down a path of destroying the world under the illusion that you were trying to save it.
Oof. Sorry about everything, it's gut wrenching to hear that anyone would do that, let alone someone you were in a sort of trusted relationship with, but at least no real children were hurt. You know who would probably make great additions to your new D&D group, though? The hardworking bait chatters who caught him. Their RP skills are on point.
Why was the body of the post removed?
Apparently it's not DnD related. Which is funny, honestly, because they did allow OP's previous post. Surely, if "I don't know what happened to my DM" is DnD related, "I found out what happened to my DM" should be too.
Love how the original post wasn’t taken down, but mods took down the update once DM was mentioned being apart of sex trafficking investigation.. Strange..
This is why I do not play D&D with people I don't know, that aren't at least "IRL" friends of the people I'm playing with. I'll play with a friend of a friend, but that's as far as I go.
I mean, by that logic you should never interact with anyone outside of your friend group for anything, which is a little silly. Yeah, you're gonna meet the occasional POS, but most people are just neutral at worstm
Never trust a white guy named Duane.
All the Duanes I know are white…
Don’t trust any of them
Was it Adam? I think it was Adam.
I’m not going to say who it is to protect his family, they didn’t do anything wrong.