Author Topic: DMing woes  (Read 2229 times)

The Bobastic

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DMing woes
« on: September 01, 2011, 12:50:36 AM »
I have taken it upon myself to DM a 4e game with friends. Everyone is all aboard with this and is playing fair and is also respective to the fact I'm new to DMing. Except one person. He plays a thief/assassin and is the ONLY annoying character in the game. Now before anyone says go and kill him with a lvl 20 or something, he is a "friend" of mine and we are playing in his and two other friends of mine's apartment. I want to deal with this in the most respective and imaginative way possible.

Loranus

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2011, 01:22:46 AM »
How is his character annoying is it like Wrecking everything your throwing at it combat wise or is the character roleplaying specifics annoying to deal with?
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The Bobastic

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2011, 02:44:54 AM »
He's doing the combat fine I guess, but it's more so the Role-playing. For instance he seems to want to rob and kill everything that's in a five square radius of him. He robbed two other players already, killed a blacksmith for no apparent reason and is just ruining the plot in general. Then if he deems a part boring he runs off and finds something else to do until his turn (i.e throw ping pong balls around the room) We've had two sessions thus far. First session he seemed very enthused by the whole thing, last one we all wanted to kill him IRL!!!

Loranus

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2011, 03:04:39 AM »
Look at his backstory anything in it that can bite him in the ass? If not create something that can. Let him be caught in his actions and be thrown in jail or force in some way to mend his ways. Maybe give him a quest to obtain on his own along the plotline to keep his life in check.

Quick rundown. He steals from someone link that someone to a Noble or Person of Power. That person has him apprehended this person has a rival or grievance with someone else such that he could pursue it along your main parties quest. Give him a curse of some sort saying he doesn't change his ways or he must attempt to complete the mission and is tagged and causes some harm in some shape or form to him. If this works for a bit and he seems to be changing his ways let him complete the mission. If not the curse could eventually kill him or remove him from the party somehow.
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Benjamin

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2011, 03:15:10 AM »
Okay, there are problems all over the place, not just with the problem player.
He's doing the combat fine I guess, but it's more so the Role-playing. For instance he seems to want to rob and kill everything that's in a five square radius of him.
Then his character is Evil, and Evil PCs are generally a problem. Ask him to either mend his ways, bring a new character or deal with heavy consequences.
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He robbed two other players already, killed a blacksmith for no apparent reason and is just ruining the plot in general.
His actions, they all fall on you the DM. You're the DM, you let it happen.

Player-vs-player actions should be banned, immediately. Players are there to have fun, but fun should not come at other players' expense.

He ruined the plot, or ruined the railroad? A DM needs to be able to be flexible in ways they may not have anticipated.

Quote
Then if he deems a part boring he runs off and finds something else to do until his turn (i.e throw ping pong balls around the room) We've had two sessions thus far. First session he seemed very enthused by the whole thing, last one we all wanted to kill him IRL!!!
You need written rules of conduct. It sounds archaic, but if there are no rules to point to, there are no rules to be broken. Some people have to be told how to behave and what's socially acceptible, and your problem player is one of them. If the problem player is actually a friend, he should respect your game, your effort and your criticism. If he's not buying into the collective effort of a fun game, the collaboration between player and DM, then he's not constructive and you have no obligation to entertain him at your own expense.

PhoenixFire

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2011, 10:05:43 AM »
i used to DM a lot with 2nd edition, ran into this problem myself a couple times, it's usually just a maturity issue.

i dealt with it several ways

try to bring in the character by needing the group to rely on him, (make him feel needed)

if he did something nasty like stealing and such i made "karma" come back to bite him

and if he continued on the annoying path i killed him off, in such a way he couldn't be resurrected and had to re-roll (that player got my message after that one)


Sekacnap

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2011, 11:10:57 AM »
tl;dr at the bottom

Chances are he'll get what's coming to him if he keeps on antagonizing the other players. My first 3.5 game that I DM'ed I did so with my buddies in my traditional gaming club in college. I asked that everyone use just the core classes from players handbook 1 because I was unfamiliar with most of the supplementary classes and most of my players have never played D&D before. Everyone adhered to my rule except for one person...

This person decided to be a necromancer. I've never played with a necromancer before, let alone DM a party with one, so I was unsure about their abilities or strength. I let him play the necro because i didn't feel like waiting longer for another character to be made and he seemed adamant about playing it. Turns out his necro was freaking broken as hell, healing himself at will, insta-gibbing most of my encounters with one combo even after complaining that I was pitting them against enemies too tough for their group. If his characters power wasn't enough, the kid was just absurdly annoying in character. He was a good player, getting out of situations he got himself in with ingenuity and he was a good at roleplaying his character but his characters personality was horrendous. The character was "insane but not insane" as the player put it, he wasn't evil, just chaotic stupid. He'd yell at NPC's for stupid reasons (such as keeping their dead in "naughty boxes"), getting his allies in trouble for associating with him and pissing off people they needed to talk to.

Finally, in the last session I was able to hold, they fought a boss, a giant construct that was using a druid as a power source against her will. The druid slowly was gaining control of the construct and was wanted to kill her captors (who were standing on the sidelines). They had a choice, either save the druid or help those who put her in there by killing her. The necromancer climbed on top of the construct and started pleading with the druid, asking her to not injure the paladin or himself, he didn't care about the rest of the group. Once they defeated the construct, he ended up falling down, flat on his back. The party was very disgruntled by his personality thus far and the fact that when trying to calm the druid down, he only asked for his own safety. So when he fell on his back, the bard of the group decided to run up to him and coup de grace him in the face, instantly killing him. (i thought this was absolutely hilarious, especially since I give out bonus xp for most kills in the session and the bard was the only one to get a kill hahaha!)

tl;dr
So long story short, I think that given time if a player proves to be a burden to their team, it is up to the rest of the party to take it into their own hands. I'm not saying it has to come down to PvP, since I know most people hate PvP situations, but the group should confront this player (in character) and do something about it. If his actions out of game annoy you, its probably best you confront him as well, just take him aside and explain why his character or OOC conduct bother you and give him options on how to fix it. Be firm but be constructive.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2011, 11:12:33 AM by Sekacnap »

jbkilroy

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2011, 06:19:38 PM »
Coming at it from another angle, you could decide that the PC's 'infamy' had risen to such a level that NPC bounty hunters/town guards etc would start coming after them personally (largely ignoring the other players).  Either they would need to alter their behavior to reduce the heat, or eventually the strength of the NPC posse will become impossible to overcome and will kill that character off.  I recall Baldur's Gate worked in a similar way...

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PhoenixFire

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Re: DMing woes
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2011, 07:01:07 PM »
Coming at it from another angle, you could decide that the PC's 'infamy' had risen to such a level that NPC bounty hunters/town guards etc would start coming after them personally (largely ignoring the other players).  Either they would need to alter their behavior to reduce the heat, or eventually the strength of the NPC posse will become impossible to overcome and will kill that character off.  I recall Baldur's Gate worked in a similar way...

'We are the Flaming Fist!'   :)



ooo i like it!