u/gaycatting

Dragon Heist is a tad notorious for being a skeleton of a campaign and requiring a lot of a homebrewing. That said, I love hearing about people's changes!

Here are some of mine:

• Replaced The Zhentarim/Manshoon with The Unseen + a dangerous leader tied to a PC's backstory; two of my players are changelings, and a "Doppleganger Panic" from 40 years ago has been a big plot point. Lots of characters getting replaced/impersonated, paranoia, etc.
• Added an arena arc before Xanathar's Lair, as the players went through Skullport. The winning prize was magical items and a dinner with The Xanathar Guild, giving them a way in. This was really fun to plan—a good mix of combat challenges + psychological torment, and the Zero Escape game series was a big influence here.
• Sympathetic Cassalanters (insert booing here). The plan is still 99 souls + the gold, but Ammalia intends to be one of the sacrifices out of guilt. I'm in a very gay campaign (all the players + myself are queer), so the Cassalanters are in a lavender marriage and one of the PCs is romantically entangled with Ammalia. They're certainly not innocent, but they're actively trying to leave the cult and they're the "villains" the party is most aligned with.
• Asmodeus BBEG. I have a tiefling cleric who got tricked into not one, but TWO contracts with Asmodeus, and another PC is heading towards getting tricked by him too. I'm reworking The Vault to be tied to Asmodeus and the Eyes/Stone of Golorr to amplify negative traits (ambition, violence, etc.) the holders may already have, which is why The Unseen, Xanathar, Cassalanters, etc. have been escalating. The final heist is basically going to be "turn off Asmodeus' Wi-Fi connection to Waterdeep."
• (^This change is mostly because the players don't care about the Vault money lol, which is my own fault—I'm a first-time DM and should have established the PC's needed motivation to want the money, but I'm still happy with how things panned out.)
• Lots of balls, and a big dramatic wedding that's about to pop off!
• About to start an Election Arc where Jarlaxle tries to run against Laerel for Open Lord, lmao.

Lots of changes (with many left out—I could go on and on), and I'm sure not everyone would vibe with them, but they work for my players! Very curious what changes other DMs have made. :)

Hey y'all! I'm going through a rough break up at the moment and looking for more local friends, as many of mine moved during Covid and I'm really feeling the sudden abundance of free time. :(

I love video games and tabletop RPGs—I'm in two D&D campaigns right now (DM for one, player for another) and open to joining another! Also debating dipping my toes into LARPing but I'm a bit intimidated. I have two mischievous cats but love all pets. I spend a lot of time reading (and can give you a million recommendations for sapphic books!) and going to concerts, and have very strong opinions on the venues in town (Stubbs sucks). I'm interested in learning how to crochet/knit or learn some sort of craft; I've given it a try a few times and it's never worked out, but I have gay determination.

I also just love getting brunch/a fun coffee + yapping! I'm always down to walk around a book store and make fun of the bad romantasy covers. I'm interested in friends who are relatively close to my age (late 20s to early 40s), though location isn't a huge dealbreaker. I'm up north (Arboretum) but I'm used to driving around a lot. Feel free to DM me if you think we'd vibe! :)

(I'm a lesbian, so potential friends being queer would be lovely, but I'm down to meet with anyone as long as we have stuff in common and you're an ally. Strictly just looking for platonic friends right now!)

Edit: Accidentally had it so DMs were disabled. Just fixed that!

Trying to walk more for physical & mental health reasons, but heat can be a trigger for a medical condition I have. It's usually okay with shade/water, even if it's in the 90s, but I'm having a hard time finding places up north and have been driving south instead, which feels a bit silly.

Preferably just a simple/flat-ish walking path vs. something super woodsy or difficult. I'm by the Arboretum.

I was dating a woman for five years and she broke up with me last night unexpectedly and gave little reason for it other than she needs time to "figure things out" and that she has unexplainable anxiety around me all the time—that I did nothing wrong, but that even therapy hasn't fixed that feeling. I feel utterly distraught. We were supposed to move in together in September and she had suddenly become resistant to it, which should have clued me in, and she said she basically felt guilty and wouldn't want to date someone who had doubts about moving in together if she were me. This is the third time I've had a long-term relationship end with the woman suddenly getting commitment issues when things are moving in a serious direction.

I'm feeling really hopeless. I'm turning 35 next month, and she was 32, and this relationship basically took up my early 30s. I feel like if I'm every ready to start dating again, it'll be too late for me. I don't have many local friends and for some reason, whenever I try to make more, it feels difficult. I don't know if it's just "making friends in your 30s is hard," but a lot of people are settling down, getting married, etc. I thought I was with my person who I was going to be with forever and I just feel entirely unmoored.

It's also just hard losing my person and suddenly having such a huge time vacancy. So much of my identity from the past five years has been tied to her, and trying to untangle her from that feels like violently tearing myself apart. I've always been against being friends with your exes, but it's hard to imagine life without her in any capacity and I don't know how to handle that. None of my relationships have lasted this long, and the idea of knowing someone for five years and then suddenly having nothing feels devastating.

I don't know, I'm just venting a lot to the void. I guess I'd like to hear advice from anyone who's gone through something similar.