Ever had a player get so bent out of shape over something small, then refused to play

[Mark Chance]

I'm more shocked and disturbed by people seriously comparing D&D to dating than I am by anything in the OP.

 

[Storyteller01]

Comparing D&D to dating isn't so bad, I'm more concerned about who (or what) they'd be dating though...

To the OP: Let him DM an adventure or his own camaign. He can't complain about the details, since he controls them all. Play your game while he's away, play his when he's around to get him involved.

I'm not sure if he'll complain himself out of it, but it might get him involved. It's arisk though: folks who complain about good gnolls make for DM tyrants at times.

 

[deltadave]

Roleplaying is a cooperative venture, yes. However it is also about making positive choices, just like improv theater, in order to get the game going you never contradict a fact that the DM has laid out and always make choices that open up the game world rather than shut down options for further play. If those two rules aren't followed then the game collapses. Choices can be bizarre, but as long as they aren't 'no' the game moves forward.

Ask your friend to buy into the premise, suspend his disbelief and move forward from that point. I think that if you can get him to do that, you and the other players do the same, the game will be off into full swing.

 

[Ottergame]

Thanks for the imput everyone.

He's DMed many times, he's just wanting to play for a change, which I can understand.

I tried to point out that there are going to be about as many CE high elves as there would be CG gnolls, but he still didn't bite.

 

[bodhi]

And I seriously thought I personally was one of the most screwed-up unsocial geeks I knew.

That's one thing about the Internet. There's always someone more screwed-up and unsocial than you.

 

[Taraxia]

I'm more shocked and disturbed by people seriously comparing D&D to dating than I am by anything in the OP.

It's analogous if only in the sense that it's a situation where people tend to bitch all the time about how they can't get exactly what they want, when they often don't really know what they want, want unrealistic or inconsistent things, change what they want all the time and *still* bitch even when they do get what they say they want just because in some twisted way they end up liking bitching more than they like having fun.

It's tragic when people end up like this about relationships. Somewhat more tragic with D&D.

 

[Taraxia]

That's one thing about the Internet. There's always someone more screwed-up and unsocial than you.

That's why it's so seductive.

 

[Ciaran]

Ever had a player get so bent out of shape over something small, then refused to play

Yes.

I ran an Exalted campaign for about a year, and kept a running Story Hour thread for the game up on RPGnet. After about fifty sessions, one of my players decided that I'd misrepresented something his character said or did in the story hour. So he quit the game and cut off all social contact with me. Because of something I wrote about his character outside of the game.

He never did tell me what it was about his character that I misrepresented.

Does that count?

 

[Merkuri]

I ran an Exalted campaign for about a year, and kept a running Story Hour thread for the game up on RPGnet. After about fifty sessions, one of my players decided that I'd misrepresented something his character said or did in the story hour. So he quit the game and cut off all social contact with me. Because of something I wrote about his character outside of the game.

Sounds like that guy was looking for an excuse to leave, if you ask me.

Maybe he was one of those people that gets offended by something you say or do, but doesn't tell you about it, then one day he snaps and it appears like the thing you said that day was the reason he got all mad. Mr. Hypothetical is really mad about all the things you've said and done previously, but because he never let on that he was upset you never had a chance to apologize or realize you were offending him.

 

[lukelightning]

The situation is like this: You set him up with girlfriend A but girlfriend A isn't acceptable and then girlfriend B comes along and she also isn't acceptable for another reason then it turns out she is a cyborg assassin from the future and girlfriend A is a ninja nurse and then the two of them start kissing and...

Uh, what was I talking about again?