That's really, really hard to do; given the way RPOL does adding players to a game.  To me, that sounds more like an excuse not to add you; perhaps in favor of someone else who'd already been promised a spot but didn't put in an RTJ until the very last minute.

In reply to Hunter (msg # 2218):

See, I thought the same thing. It sounded suspicious to me because I was like:
How on Earth do you 'mistakenly' accept someone else?

The GM would have had to read the RTJ request and the character concept that was presented with it before they could get to the bottom of the page and clicked 'add player.'

If the GM liked that concept, they wouldn't have had a problem adding them from the jump.

It sounds like Hunter may be right: a spot might've been promised to someone who most likely didn't send in anything at all, and the GM waited until the player finally showed up. Who knows how many other RTJs they said no to for simply waiting for said specific player to show up.

I am terribly sorry that this happened to you because I am sure you likely have really good concepts submitted. There are bad GMs on here unfortunately, but there is many, many good ones out there too. You'll find a game, I'm sure of it!

Personally I never expect anyone to hold up a game on my behalf, especially at startup.
In this case I'm blaming my lack of familiarity with the system; I just couldnt tweak my original concept to work in the setting, or come up with something new that I liked and (crucially) didnt duplicate key skills with the other characters, before the game started. If I knew the system better I might have found a way in time, or at least left the other players doubling up on *my* characters skills rather than the other way around :)

Ask to be on the "waiting list"... There is always a lot of turn over, especially right after startup.

I think that happened to me too. Tried signing up for [a] 5e game on here and the dm was like "you sent the RTJ application to this other game" and I was like "No, I signed up for the horror dnd game."

So with that, and having to leave one game on Tavern keeper cuz the dm wouldn't allow me to play an owlin or anything furry or feathered or whatever cuz it is"Too cartoonish",  I bailed.

Then on discord a dm reached out to me saying "Hey! Heard you were looking for a dnd game to play in. I stream my games on YouTube,  come check them out. " which I did only for him to tell me at the end "You gotta pay to play." And I only do free to play dnd 5e games on roll20 and discord for voice chat.  I would never charge my players for something I play for fun and free as a hobby. I mean, cool world,  dude but you should have told me it wasn't free to play instead of roping me along. Dang!

Like I have autism and bad social anxiety so I have a hard time talking to people and am tired of these bad dms who think they can take advantage of me. Already dealt with 2 bad dms who in the end were unreliable and flaky.  One of them even told me that it was my fault for not having fun and that he cared more about the game than the players having fun. And mixing a dnd 5e game with 3.5 is a disaster waiting to happen so that's why I left that 1 game I was in for a year and a half because the dm refused to work with me on having fun, never gave me a party or gave me a party with weak npcs and forced me to do combat by myself when I didn't want to.  Also was tired of him gaslighting and railroading me and stuff and that was my only streamed dnd 5e game that was played on roll20 and discord for voice chat.  That was also my only living world dnd game I was in too. After having 3 of my characters get killed off in that game by the dm without any way of resurrection or reincarnation and not wanting my 4th character to die because that game made me scared of combat by myself in dnd, I decided to retire my way of mercy Tiefling monk and leave the game before Singles appreciation day on February 15 of this year.

I still try my best every time I play dnd though and try my best to have fun but no dnd is better than bad dnd.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 14:05, Wed 02 Aug 2023.

In reply to AmbertheGirlGamer (msg # 2222):

As someone who also has autism....yeah, that sucks: both streaming and asking for money are red flags.   For every good GM, you're going to find some bad ones.   It'll take you a while to get a feel for which is which, but it'll come.

Personally, I just stay here.    Play by post has a number of advantages over chat.

That's BS! Not what you said, but the audacity of that GM. I don't want to derail so I'll be quick.  I was incredibly fortunate to GM for cash as a 20 something, prior to realizing I hadn't severe limitations. I GMed WAAAAY more for free than if I got paid a dime and hour I would have made 100 times what I made when I was paid. That's scummy, but I guess also more normalized with youtube and other platforms. I've never met someone, and gamed with them, that GMed for money. For me it wasn't worth it, it was like any job, beyond my capacity to deliver consistently, and...it wasn't fun. Just wanted to put that in there since I was approached by friends of my gaming group to GM for, and when I said no, they offered to pay. So for what it's worth, I...that's just ridiculous. That makes me mad that you had that bait and switch, and probably gave him some views. Ugggh. Sorry, that's all I'll say though.


OMG...that makes my heart sink. I can't speak to 5e D&D, but I played Living Greyhawk in 3.5. I saw some awful GMs that ruined people's ability to appreciate the format. I'm so sorry, not to apologize, but genuinely that's heartbreaking. Not like your beloved pet dying, heartbreaking, but dang, that still hurts to even read.

I was going to reply more on topic, your post just struck me with he first part and gutpunched me with the next. Sorry to go off topic! So much just resonated. I haven't even read further posts yet.

As for "accidentally" adding. I've done that, but that was because John (swapped in name) was in my first game, and I advertised for a second game. John said he'd RTJ. I get a RTJ that is incomplete but same type, same "Class" (caste in Exalted) as John and so I added the user, as I only new John (best) by his character in the first game. It ended up the player I added stayed, on my watch, but left on his own. Meanwhile John was never in jeopardy of being left out. I had them both queued to just agree to allow each other to "do their own thing" and any crossover that occurred was fine, and needed to be fine for the group to work. Like, I had no problem having Not-John in the game, his concept was good enough even if incomplete. I just probably would have been more careful if John hadn't coincidentally cued me to expect that "concept". Anyway, that was one time in 19 years on RPoL, and very specific to a niche style.

I'm glad you, OBorg, realize sometime GMs are ina hurry in the first case, as I sort of agree with you. I've been that player too. Made a paladin and found out we'd be "doing to evil what it deserves" and didn't have the time to get in my second submission. I had typed it up and sent it, but during my writing it, the GM already had his pick.

The second case is likely suspect as mentioned "seatwarmer aka inside invite" or a BS excuse. MY citing me doing it doesn't in any way discredit that statement. To be fair, I did seatwarm for John, and  it only took that once to remember to check user names. Never needed to consult that rule since, but still do, since it happened at all.

Sorry you had bad luck though.

Anyway, I got so caught up in the "allowed replies" I forgot where I was. heh...So if you don't mind I'll double post...eh hem.

This message was deleted by the user at 11:57, Thu 03 Aug 2023.

Have a 5 month old Whirlpool washer that I stuck a hand full of wet towels in to wash.
It stopped with the error that it wasn't drained.
To get service I need the serial number of the washer which is behind the door. However, the door is locked and will not unlock because it is full of water.
So, no serial number, no service. No service, can't access serial number.
Frustrating.

While I was looking for the filter using my phone camera, I notice the pump overflow tube is kinked. So short it is at a 90 degree angle and so kinked. Even if I had found the filter, it wouldn't help.

This message was deleted by the user at 09:40, Wed 30 Aug 2023.

I swear, television-series-making-people, the words "takes some departures from the novels" is practically never a good thing. It's especially a bad thing when trying to watch a series based on books with someone who's not /read/ the books, and is constantly asking for explanations about what's happening/who someone is/whatever.

/watched the WoT season 2 sneak peek and realized that time would be better spent just re-reading the books.

Grr.

Guess I just reclaimed a lot of free time for this month.

BeenIn reply to SunRuanEr (msg # 2228):

been debating watching that, but hearing it is a large departure from the novels doesn't make it vibe good with me

You know, the first season, it wasn't a /huge/ departure. Just some tweaks here and there with the timeline. It was watchable enough that I kind of enjoyed it, and was looking forward to seeing what they do with the second.

The sneak peek for the second season? Looks like they looked at the books and were like 'Yep, we can use some of these things, but let's stir 'em all up so it's DIFFERENT' just for the sake of being different.

Like...I'm sure it's cool, if you can watch more than five minutes without going 'That's not how that's supposed to go', but I'm not one of those people.

As a big Terry Pratchett fan, I watched The Watch. It was, unwatchable.

Interview with the Fanpire was one of the most egregious examples I can think of. Anne Rice would be rolling in her grave over the steaming pile of turd that show turned out to be.

Wait, they made a TV show of Interview with the Vampire? Glad I missed it. The movie was bad enough.

I'm really, really beginning to hate how everything is either phone verify and/or captcha.   I can't even set up a new email without giving out my phone number anymore.

No, I don't want to give you that information: I consider it a breach of privacy.   And no, I can't seem to get captcha without at least three tries anymore.

At least RPOL is still user friendly.

In reply to Hunter (msg # 2234):

First off, I sympathize. More so than just casual sympathy. I have a long memory of your many vents, and put that into perspective.

I completely understand both sides of the aisle. I was a novice white hat in the late 90's early 00's and dealt with the novice black hat. Nothing like it is now, but I recovered three of my friends' e-mails from people that hacked their e-mail using old methods (that were exploits back then). Is it, however, very conspicuous to have a phone number, especially SMS for verification. Cloning was easy enough in 2012, and with 2020 Paradigm, it's basically just another lazy and corrupt exploit like Win XP was for vital care. Lazy places staying on a dying zeitgeist.

Captcha I have nothing to comment on, beyond "it sucks. Half are making you work for free labor"

I have three things to add.

• If you use a cell phone, consider this: change the number, and buy a burner. This serves three purposes. Your main cell phone is accessible by debt collectors but you can blanket blacklist, and then white list people you want to hear from.
  
  1. Your burner can, as indicated, be burned if you start getting too much incoming calls.
  2. You can set up Google Voice to act as a second phone number for texts, that will "ring" your burner, but only have Google let you know someone if calling. Leave the burner off if you can unless you need it.
  3. You can split the load if need be (and you can afford multiplicative ~$60) by targeting your services by "security grade". For sites that I seldom use, or even just use once, I have have low security. For Amazon and Google I have mid security grade. I know the security team will crack my bio anyway, and I know I can recover it through channels. For e-mail I have super high security. This is my secondary authentication. You may have different priorities. Each of these has different e-mails and numbers, for me.
• Finally, should you receive collections, which I know you've had other troubles like mine, so figure I would pass this on; If you live in certain places, like most US states, you can legally tell a bill collector you have minutes on your phone if you have major burner you use for business; such as banking, or other bios. If they pursue you after you tell them you have limited minutes, you have two options, file suit, or counter claim.

If you have a landline, your carrier may have options for you for very little extra cost. The one and only reason I don't have landline is that I save money by having cell phone from ACP, and then my two burners with total ~300 prepay texts. I use Google voice. So have four numbers I can access, for $0 a month since April 2023.

TL;DR: It's dumb that bad actors force people to do this. Whether through complacency, ignorance, or malice. You can't, at least I can't, put privacy beyond an upkeep cost. So I recommend having alternate methods of texts. That solves many issues. Google voice is what I use. I also use burner phones, and white list my main cell phone. My biometrics appear clean having since used this practice.

In reply to V_V (msg # 2235):

I'll just say thank you.  ^_^

Trying to lose weight. One BIG thing I have to cut out is beverages. I'm making black tea but always, always add sugar. I can fix that fairly soon, but money is tight and sugar from the food pantry is much more likely that stevia or some other better sweetner. Sooo...I tried aspartame, which is also readily available. It tasted fine, that was nice, but either I had a nocebo effect, or I had reactions within 30 hours. I also drink Mountain Dew Throwback. I used to smoke, and quit, I miss it, the addiction lingers when I smell people smoking, even ratty ass cigarettes. I can't drink alcohol, not that I ever did much, but both are vices; so food replaced that. Between that and sitting, often over the last....15? 15 months for shelter and lack of space in homelessness, obesity needs to be cut off before it becomes severe. I'm entering a critical age I can stave off having life long illnesses. So I want to be in less pain, and that means losing weight.

Anyway, I'm upset the diet version just made me feel worse; and I know that has been reported by other people. It's also not only not good for me, but bad for me.

It's a gripe though, in my control of my decision. I have solutions I have to tactically meet head on despite past alibis and tolerance of my youth. I work out twice a week, due to sun allergy I work out by walking to the gym, and then working out for about 40 minutes of workbike or treadmill, and then 20 minutes of lifting. Nothing high strain, yet at least. It has to be handle by changing my diet. No going "on" but adopting a diet. I have lost three pounds in one week. I have target weight to mark me so my anorexia from a 9 year gold doesn't resume, but I don't think I'll have that problem, so much as shedding the weight. Medication is also a cause; a side effect, I may deem worth changing.

Liquid intake however, that alone, if I can just manage that; be on my feet four hours each day, work out thrice a week, and eat like a everyday is just like the other; no holiday BS beyond five portions a year, I think I can do this. I want the outcome, I have to earn it while paying for time borrowed from me, that my past self never made good on repaying.

I have a home though. My case worker emphasized this was not about diet  change yet. My doctor just wants me to take steps. He volunteered to me that 15 pounds is still not a failure. Food pantries have some garbage though. I'm very proud of myself as a youth for never donating food I wouldn't eat myself. Some very charitable people extended the same courtesy. I wishj it could have been better timed. WE had steak and ribs, but no...oven. >:( so I had...*seethe* to cook them in the motel microwave. Yeah...they were very generous though. Tasted...edible, but definitely not cheap meat.

It's slim pickings these days, but I've also half given into my own freedom of paying rent and not motel bills. So I could probably cut that back and focus on bi weekly boxes.

Anyway, not much was conveyed here, despite being quite verbose. I lack the finances with a needed brake pads replacement on the car, to get dietitian, but that's on my case manager's list to help me with. In three months if not sooner. I need to assure myself three pounds, while I'm told is just "water weight" is loss, and in a week. Steady and smooth operation is all I believe it will take. I slept in filthy car, I can ween myself off of the drinking sugary drinks. It won't be instant, it won't be permanent the first time. I just have to treat this addiction like any other.

As someone who has been battling a similar war with regards to sweetened drinks for several years thanks to the big D running in the family, I'd suggest trying as much as you can to go cold turkey and forego the artificial sweeteners. This is hard to do - in my case, I drink a lot of unsweetened coffe, tea and water, but still allow myself the occasional (like, 1x a day) diet soda. It's still really, really easy to fall off the wagon.

Because, as you said, it is very much an addiction, keeping things sweet for the taste also keeps your brain craving the sweet. In some cases, artificial sweeteners are worse for that than real sugar, because the taste is there, but your body doesn't get the calorie satisfaction of feeling like it 'had something' that it would get with real sugar, so the craving never really goes away.

(There's some interesting science out there about how decades of consuming sugar-free "diet" drinks contribute to obesity, but that's a deep-delve for another time.)

You can do it, though - I believe in you! You'll be surprised just how much difference losing liquid calories makes, and remember, if you can cut out just 500 calories a day, that's a pound a week. The first three weeks will be the toughest, if you go cold turkey, but you got this. You can do it. :)

Plus, once you quit, you'd be surprised how little you actually miss the stuff! I stay away from anything with aspartame in it, mostly because it kicks my boyfriend's migraines up a notch, but it's sorta hard since the stuff is in pretty much everything.

Gatorade and coconut water worked pretty good for me when I was kicking the soda habit a few years back and needed something sweet-tasting. YMMV though! :)

I like the various Ocean Spray products myself. The Cran Tropical is very nummy.

I have come to realize that I've reached the point where I feel I can no longer be a productive member of RPOL.    So, after these many years; I'm hanging up my apron and preparing to log off for the last time.

Thank you to everyone who's both been a fellow player and participants in my usually crazy game ideas.   And good bye.   :(

In reply to Hunter (msg # 2241):

I don't know you Hunter, but I'm sorry to see you go. The door's always open if you find that you miss it. Very best wishes IRL.