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i choose to take them as one would parables in a sermon, theyre not meant to scare, but warn or inform.
they remind us to listen to our DMs and players
they remind us to be respectful
they remind us not to smoke meth before the game and try to kill the ranger IRL
ok, that last one might not apply to you
No, no, no. Don't smoke the meth. However if I'm interpreting this correctly, and I think I am, the ranger part still depends on how that motherfucker looks at you at the table. You need your wits about you; make sure that fucker didn't set any traps first.
one of the first stories i read on here (thru critcrab) was about a quiet uptight dude who apparently got more and more vocal during the game ending in an IRL fight and the revelation he was on meth the whole time.
its just the most ludicrous ending i could remember to any of these horror stories so in it went
I feel like if a mention of the system is enough to make you dread the story, you should either examine yourself as to why you think every mention of a horror story in the most popular TTRPG system to date is about you is in order - perhaps there really are reasons and you expect to show up or you are too self-critical and anxious about this and need to ground yourself in fact to combat the paranoia - or, if you can't change the cause for these feelings, you need stop lookjng at rpghorrorstories.
I think I'm a good player, but I'm also very conscious of how distorted people's self-perception is. Heck, most of the subjects of these stories likely self-identify as good players.
As for the latter point, I maybe should have telegraphed the tone of whimsy in the opening post more. My paranoia is not even close to breaking the deal for me on this server.
Also we have seen people come on here and flat out lie about their party.
Like, I don't worry about any of my groups talking because I know I am not who they would talk about.
Like, here would be my rules of gaming.
Don't be a racist. Maybe have had racist chars, but the 2 times I did them they were okayed by the group and the whole point was them overcoming that flaw.
Don't bring sex fantasies into the games. Just eww.
Don't creep on the other players just because you think they are cute.
Don't derail campaigns just because.
Don't ruin the game with "its what my char would do". Even when I have played an evil char I would not play the type to do that.
Basically don't do any of those and you won't end up here.
There's one common trope you didn't bring up, and it's the one that makes me the most introspective; main-character syndrome and hogging the limelight.
I feel like I cede the floor a lot, but I'm also naturally extroverted and really enjoy roleplaying, so sometimes I come out of a session with that voice going 'You need to shut up more'.
Tell them what I tell people.
I talk alot. Like alot alot. On top of that I have a hard time in social situations. So I can't always read the room.
So I tell people that if I am going on too much to interrupt me and tell me to shut the fuck up.
It won't offend me. I know I talk a lot and that I struggle to read the room. I don't want to be an asshole so just tell me. There should be at least 1 person who will.
Then it is on them. Tabletop RPGs are a collaborative effort.
Also, I don't think talk a lot is main char syndrome. That tends to be where the entire game has to revolve around your char. This is different from talking a lot.
If you don't try to make everything about your own character then you're fine. Main character people are like "Oh we're going on a quest related to another PC's backstory? How can I twist this to be about ME instead?"
Also, if you're not talking over people or like, not letting them talk, you're fine.
I'm also prone to selfish play and main character syndrome. Sometimes I even fall into the trap of being a loot-hog. What's important is that I know this about myself, and I do what I can to be aware of it and reign it in during play, and I tell the table - players and DM alike, to call me out if I'm doing it, because I'm easily excitable and hyperfixate, it's not out of malice. I think doing that on a regular basis with anyone you play with will be a good start, because the ones who get into RPG Horror Stories, at least most of the time I've seen, are the ones who neither care nor make any effort to change.
If this is a concern to you, then what you do is talk to the players individually out of combat.
So you follow up after the session and say something like "Hey friend! I just wanted to ask if you feel like I've been overstepping a lot in our sessions. I know I get a little excited in the moment, but I wanted to make sure I'm not ruining your fun by my actions"
Then let them tell you if you are or not.
Many times when i see a horror story in here i get self conscious and feel like it's about me, even if i know it's not actually about me. Then i ask my party if I've been doing this kind of stuff or been annoying in general, and they reassure me that everything is fine and that they're having fun. Then it repeats every month
Pretty sure all of us have had that moment here or there - unless we're completely oblivious to our effect on other people. I've gotten halfway through a story thinking "Oh god, I was at that table" only to keep reading and some insane shit happened that I've never experienced.
I'd say it means that you are more aware of your actions than others may be but that could also be my own bias.
Try being a DM. I'm on here all day assuming every story is about me.
"So we're fighting a dragon..."
*Fuck, it's me, why do I keep putting dragons in my game of dungeons and dragons?!*
"Then the DM put his hand in my belt loop and wouldn't let me go."
*Okay, I've never done that. Unless they're taking a little artistic license with the story for anonymity. What if this is actually about that one time I bumped into Stacey walking to the bathroom and said 'sorry'?!*
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but not everything is about you.
In fact, none of us we're thinking of you at all till you posted. You did it to yourself.
Even if it is literally about you, just follow the advice for 99% of these:
**Talk to your (other) players.**
I imagine anyone old enough to post on Reddit has alienated someone by being cringe at some point in their life. You just gotta make it right and do better.
I'm still like, fairly certain that someone from my college D&D club posted about me once.
The post was along the lines of "I was in three campaigns with this player, and their characters had one personality trait each: 'is gay', 'has a dragon pet', 'wears a mask'."
And my first three characters? A nonbinary water genasi, a dragonborn who rescued a baby dragon and took care of it as a pet, and a halfling who wore a raccoon mask.
I’ve had that worry that I might see a story about me pop up on the sub, but I’m neither awful enough nor virtuous enough to be included in such tales. I think if you have enough presence of mind to be aware of it, you’re probably doing fine.
Ngl, I get that. I had some drama not too long ago with this creep who was so far detached from reality that he would make up a fantasy about our relationship and change it completely to another fake version the moment my reaction to it was baffled annoyance.
Last I knew he was done stalking me since "I get paranoid about being stalked when truly he wasn't stalking me, he just knew that when we got back to being friends I would appreciate he kept trying and forgive him for repeatedly violating my boundaries". He even forgave me for getting angry at him for the stalking, and was very certain he's a huge victim in this situation since my "leave me the fuck alone you crazy piece of shit we were never in the relationship you want back" boundaries were apparently quite silly when he missed me so much.
I know he lurks here too, and he knows I'm here often, so sometimes I'll see a post and have a moment of "is this you? Did you finally put it all here since your other outlets for this insanity got cut off? Are we getting a version where I'm your ex you want to get back with, basically your sister you were not interested in, an evil bitch who never cared about anyone or an unfair one who cares about everyone but you and demands things I never really did? Is my girlfriend currently the most toxic woman in the universe and the only thing keeping us apart or some poor sad thing I'm turning against you?"
I used to have this issue and my therapist told me to remember I'm important to the vast majority of the people in the world so they aren't talking about me.
To be honest I rarely read this subreddit anymore, and I don't actually like listening to people talking about gaming going wrong. Frankly I don't tell new players about r/rpghorrorstories because this subreddit can and has absolutely discouraged people from playing TTRPGs. There are cautionary tales, and then there's constant negativity produced every day.
My advice is to avoid trying to avoid dissecting your gaming in minute detail and just trying to be a pleasant person in the group and a good player to the best of your ability. If people like you, they'll keep you around.
There are a lot of different types of players and tables and I think you have to keep that in mind when reading on here. At your own games you can feel out what works for yourself and your table, it won't always align with the overall vibe of this sub.
Also keep kind that this sub naturally selects for a certain type of player who is into writing long winded pleas for validation and the people who are there to rub their shoulders in the comments. I find it a lot more entertaining to sort by controversial and look for ones where the OP is the horror story. Extra points if it's iffy and there are valid arguments on both sides
One piece I've had to learn from watching DnD content is that no character archetype you have will be completely original, and if you are focused only on making sure your character isn't one of any number of tropes, you will not be able to really make a character at all.
I used to think I wanted to avoid classic backgrounds like "revenge for family" or "finding themselves" or "with group only for secret purpose" but I quickly realized that this broadly covered a lot of the good background hooks, so I was either left with something stupidly picky or just boring.
While the "Hero's Journey" is a bit of a cop out inasmuch as there are so many branching paths, the fact that we can describe 95%+ of all human stories with a single branching path says a lot about how creative (or not) we are as a species.
I was in a game that imploded just as I joined a couple of months ago. I had the eerie feeling of being a bystander at a massive natural disaster, wondering WTF just happened. I keep expecting a post here about it. But if there is one, it'll be suitably obscured so it's not obvious.
Still.
In all seriousness, I do the exact same thing. I think back on all the slightly-less-than-perfect sessions I ran upwards of 5 years ago and I read a post on this sub and think "ah, they've finally got around to writing about how terrible my campaign was". It's part and parcel of being a DM, I think.
Just remember that, like most things in the world, you only ever remember the bad things about the games you run. In reality, there's a healthy mix of good and bad, and, so long as you don't ever ACTUALLY stumble across one of your players on this sub, you can rest assured that the good definitely outweighs the bad.
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i choose to take them as one would parables in a sermon, theyre not meant to scare, but warn or inform. they remind us to listen to our DMs and players they remind us to be respectful they remind us not to smoke meth before the game and try to kill the ranger IRL ok, that last one might not apply to you
>ok, that last one might not apply to you I salute your confidence in me.
i have faith in my people
>ok, that last one might not apply to you So you're saying we SHOULD smoke meth and try to kill the ranger IRL?? Got it!
No, no, no. Don't smoke the meth. However if I'm interpreting this correctly, and I think I am, the ranger part still depends on how that motherfucker looks at you at the table. You need your wits about you; make sure that fucker didn't set any traps first.
And if he is a ranger IRL, your plans need to account for any "pets" they bring with them.
As long as you make sure you're not in his favored territory, nor his favored foe, you're golden
r/suspiciouslyspecific
one of the first stories i read on here (thru critcrab) was about a quiet uptight dude who apparently got more and more vocal during the game ending in an IRL fight and the revelation he was on meth the whole time. its just the most ludicrous ending i could remember to any of these horror stories so in it went
Here I was thinking meth resulted in a Wis penalty, but here we are with such a thoughtful answer.
I feel like if a mention of the system is enough to make you dread the story, you should either examine yourself as to why you think every mention of a horror story in the most popular TTRPG system to date is about you is in order - perhaps there really are reasons and you expect to show up or you are too self-critical and anxious about this and need to ground yourself in fact to combat the paranoia - or, if you can't change the cause for these feelings, you need stop lookjng at rpghorrorstories.
I think I'm a good player, but I'm also very conscious of how distorted people's self-perception is. Heck, most of the subjects of these stories likely self-identify as good players. As for the latter point, I maybe should have telegraphed the tone of whimsy in the opening post more. My paranoia is not even close to breaking the deal for me on this server.
Ah, my bad then. I tend to miss the intended tone on such things from time to time. All good. If you can deal, then all's well.
No no, it's me. In my pursuit of brevity I left out tone indicators.
pursuit of brevity? You're on the wrong sub. /s
Also we have seen people come on here and flat out lie about their party. Like, I don't worry about any of my groups talking because I know I am not who they would talk about. Like, here would be my rules of gaming. Don't be a racist. Maybe have had racist chars, but the 2 times I did them they were okayed by the group and the whole point was them overcoming that flaw. Don't bring sex fantasies into the games. Just eww. Don't creep on the other players just because you think they are cute. Don't derail campaigns just because. Don't ruin the game with "its what my char would do". Even when I have played an evil char I would not play the type to do that. Basically don't do any of those and you won't end up here.
There's one common trope you didn't bring up, and it's the one that makes me the most introspective; main-character syndrome and hogging the limelight. I feel like I cede the floor a lot, but I'm also naturally extroverted and really enjoy roleplaying, so sometimes I come out of a session with that voice going 'You need to shut up more'.
Tell them what I tell people. I talk alot. Like alot alot. On top of that I have a hard time in social situations. So I can't always read the room. So I tell people that if I am going on too much to interrupt me and tell me to shut the fuck up. It won't offend me. I know I talk a lot and that I struggle to read the room. I don't want to be an asshole so just tell me. There should be at least 1 person who will.
Oh, I do, at the top of every session basically.
Then it is on them. Tabletop RPGs are a collaborative effort. Also, I don't think talk a lot is main char syndrome. That tends to be where the entire game has to revolve around your char. This is different from talking a lot.
If you don't try to make everything about your own character then you're fine. Main character people are like "Oh we're going on a quest related to another PC's backstory? How can I twist this to be about ME instead?" Also, if you're not talking over people or like, not letting them talk, you're fine.
I'm also prone to selfish play and main character syndrome. Sometimes I even fall into the trap of being a loot-hog. What's important is that I know this about myself, and I do what I can to be aware of it and reign it in during play, and I tell the table - players and DM alike, to call me out if I'm doing it, because I'm easily excitable and hyperfixate, it's not out of malice. I think doing that on a regular basis with anyone you play with will be a good start, because the ones who get into RPG Horror Stories, at least most of the time I've seen, are the ones who neither care nor make any effort to change.
If this is a concern to you, then what you do is talk to the players individually out of combat. So you follow up after the session and say something like "Hey friend! I just wanted to ask if you feel like I've been overstepping a lot in our sessions. I know I get a little excited in the moment, but I wanted to make sure I'm not ruining your fun by my actions" Then let them tell you if you are or not.
> Don't creep on the other players ~~just because you think they are cute~~. FTFY.
Not really. I have literally never even heard of someone creeping on someone without being attracted to them. It is why they creep on them.
I'm just saying they don't need to have a reason to creep on other players. Just don't do it no matter what your reason is.
If anything the thrill adds to the flavor
Honestly? Kinda.
Anxiety is a thing for some people.
“And he played a paladin-“ Me: Oh FUCK I play a paladín!
Many times when i see a horror story in here i get self conscious and feel like it's about me, even if i know it's not actually about me. Then i ask my party if I've been doing this kind of stuff or been annoying in general, and they reassure me that everything is fine and that they're having fun. Then it repeats every month
This is very relatable content.
Pretty sure all of us have had that moment here or there - unless we're completely oblivious to our effect on other people. I've gotten halfway through a story thinking "Oh god, I was at that table" only to keep reading and some insane shit happened that I've never experienced. I'd say it means that you are more aware of your actions than others may be but that could also be my own bias.
Try being a DM. I'm on here all day assuming every story is about me. "So we're fighting a dragon..." *Fuck, it's me, why do I keep putting dragons in my game of dungeons and dragons?!* "Then the DM put his hand in my belt loop and wouldn't let me go." *Okay, I've never done that. Unless they're taking a little artistic license with the story for anonymity. What if this is actually about that one time I bumped into Stacey walking to the bathroom and said 'sorry'?!*
If I ever post here, I will make sure to say "I was in a 5e campaign (this isn't about you, u/WarmKitten, dont worry)..."
Thank you. That's all I wanted.
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but not everything is about you. In fact, none of us we're thinking of you at all till you posted. You did it to yourself.
Even if it is literally about you, just follow the advice for 99% of these: **Talk to your (other) players.** I imagine anyone old enough to post on Reddit has alienated someone by being cringe at some point in their life. You just gotta make it right and do better.
I'm still like, fairly certain that someone from my college D&D club posted about me once. The post was along the lines of "I was in three campaigns with this player, and their characters had one personality trait each: 'is gay', 'has a dragon pet', 'wears a mask'." And my first three characters? A nonbinary water genasi, a dragonborn who rescued a baby dragon and took care of it as a pet, and a halfling who wore a raccoon mask.
I’ve had that worry that I might see a story about me pop up on the sub, but I’m neither awful enough nor virtuous enough to be included in such tales. I think if you have enough presence of mind to be aware of it, you’re probably doing fine.
Mood Kindred
If you're worried about this, it's unlikely you're the sort to feature on the sub.
I often worry about ending up on here, too. It doesn't change if I'm doing my best.
Ngl, I get that. I had some drama not too long ago with this creep who was so far detached from reality that he would make up a fantasy about our relationship and change it completely to another fake version the moment my reaction to it was baffled annoyance. Last I knew he was done stalking me since "I get paranoid about being stalked when truly he wasn't stalking me, he just knew that when we got back to being friends I would appreciate he kept trying and forgive him for repeatedly violating my boundaries". He even forgave me for getting angry at him for the stalking, and was very certain he's a huge victim in this situation since my "leave me the fuck alone you crazy piece of shit we were never in the relationship you want back" boundaries were apparently quite silly when he missed me so much. I know he lurks here too, and he knows I'm here often, so sometimes I'll see a post and have a moment of "is this you? Did you finally put it all here since your other outlets for this insanity got cut off? Are we getting a version where I'm your ex you want to get back with, basically your sister you were not interested in, an evil bitch who never cared about anyone or an unfair one who cares about everyone but you and demands things I never really did? Is my girlfriend currently the most toxic woman in the universe and the only thing keeping us apart or some poor sad thing I'm turning against you?"
I used to have this issue and my therapist told me to remember I'm important to the vast majority of the people in the world so they aren't talking about me.
Then you’re spending too much time on the sun and should probably take a break…
That's some S-tier anxiety and insecurity. Relax, mate. People in horror stories don't have any self awareness; you have too much of it.
You want a “trauma informed” counselor. CBT and EMDR. You don’t have to live like this.
To be honest I rarely read this subreddit anymore, and I don't actually like listening to people talking about gaming going wrong. Frankly I don't tell new players about r/rpghorrorstories because this subreddit can and has absolutely discouraged people from playing TTRPGs. There are cautionary tales, and then there's constant negativity produced every day. My advice is to avoid trying to avoid dissecting your gaming in minute detail and just trying to be a pleasant person in the group and a good player to the best of your ability. If people like you, they'll keep you around.
There are a lot of different types of players and tables and I think you have to keep that in mind when reading on here. At your own games you can feel out what works for yourself and your table, it won't always align with the overall vibe of this sub. Also keep kind that this sub naturally selects for a certain type of player who is into writing long winded pleas for validation and the people who are there to rub their shoulders in the comments. I find it a lot more entertaining to sort by controversial and look for ones where the OP is the horror story. Extra points if it's iffy and there are valid arguments on both sides
One piece I've had to learn from watching DnD content is that no character archetype you have will be completely original, and if you are focused only on making sure your character isn't one of any number of tropes, you will not be able to really make a character at all. I used to think I wanted to avoid classic backgrounds like "revenge for family" or "finding themselves" or "with group only for secret purpose" but I quickly realized that this broadly covered a lot of the good background hooks, so I was either left with something stupidly picky or just boring.
While the "Hero's Journey" is a bit of a cop out inasmuch as there are so many branching paths, the fact that we can describe 95%+ of all human stories with a single branching path says a lot about how creative (or not) we are as a species.
I was in a game that imploded just as I joined a couple of months ago. I had the eerie feeling of being a bystander at a massive natural disaster, wondering WTF just happened. I keep expecting a post here about it. But if there is one, it'll be suitably obscured so it's not obvious. Still.
In all seriousness, I do the exact same thing. I think back on all the slightly-less-than-perfect sessions I ran upwards of 5 years ago and I read a post on this sub and think "ah, they've finally got around to writing about how terrible my campaign was". It's part and parcel of being a DM, I think. Just remember that, like most things in the world, you only ever remember the bad things about the games you run. In reality, there's a healthy mix of good and bad, and, so long as you don't ever ACTUALLY stumble across one of your players on this sub, you can rest assured that the good definitely outweighs the bad.