How do you handle campaign cheaters?

[BlackSilver]

I started the World's Largest a few weeks back. Within a few days I catch wind of something I was unaware of my Players ever doing- researching the campaign, reading everything on ENWorld about the campaign, taking notes from the copy of the book down at the local gaming shop and even finding the maps on line.

I feel like I have been robbed by my Players, and have cancelled the next session due to this now open secret. The perpetrator seems to think its okay and has said that he won’t use the information again.

Considering that I have had a lot of trouble with this Player in the past the obvious thing comes to mind- kick him out of the campaign, but to further the problem most of the Players have looked at what he has researched.

Without leaving the group I would like to have some suggestions.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Cheaters are kicked out. End of story.

Next time the guilty parties will only be more careful you don't find out. The pathology of a person who feels the need to CHEAT at D&D, of all things, isn't something that just goes away with a slap on the wrist.

Wulf

 

[BSF]

Obviously the mystery and surprise of the dungeon is nowhere near as important to your players as it is to you. They are more focussed on 'winning' the game rather than playing the game and enjoying the challenge.

What I would do is to step back and make sure you aren't part of the problem. Be sure you have not created or encouraged an environment of DM vs Player. If you have, then you have bigger issues than just the dungeon.

If you haven't, then you need to reconcile what you like out of the game against what the player's like. Are you working with differing playstyles?

In any event, it sounds like you aren't going to have fun running them through this adventure. Really, that is a shame since it is such a large adventure. Talk with the players about it. Tell them how you feel. Try not to be adversarial. If they see things differently than you do, neither side is going to win over the other. Just be honest about how you feel and why and accept their perspective as well. See if you can reach a point where all of you can play the game and enjoy yourselves.

Consider turning over the DM chair to somebody else for a while. Perhaps insist on it? Maybe your players don't have any experience actually running a game and do not appreciate the work that goes into it. Even with a pre-packaged module there is still a lot of prep work.

Consider a different game entirely for a while. Maybe you all just need a break?

Maybe ask some of the players to post to this thread as well?

Best of luck, it sounds like you just had a bump in the road that you didn't like.

 

[JoeGKushner]

That is brutal man.

I don't honestly know what I'd do in a similiar situation.

I guess the first thing to ask is why.

The second is to take several books that arent' SRD, and FFG's Trap Books and have fun.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Show 'em the door. Clearly they don't want the same things from the game that you (and hopefully the other players) do.

Especially, *especially* with something like WLD. You shelled out some serious bucks on that puppy. To have someone ruin that would really cheese me off.

 

[fafhrd]

I agree with the rest. This is way over the line. If it were someone flipping through some magazines and seeing bit of a dungeon module while you were in the kitchen, that's one thing, but the systematic nature of their cheating and the unrepentant attitude really shows that there's something wrong here. These guys need to go to school. If you decide to keep playing with them, in spite of everything, then take off the gloves and break out the disjunctions.

 

[deltadave]

The only decision, in my mind, is whether to stop running for this group entirely or to just switch campaigns.

 

[Harmon]

Sorry to hear it.

I suspect one of my Players of reading all of the WLD threads as he seems much to eager to have room numbers for the map, seems to know to "search the bed," miss Search check "take 20 on searching the bed." When the bed leg has some treasure in it- emm, seems that he targeted that to me? Now if he would only focus on searching everthing like that I might buy it that he came up with that on the fly.

Players that do that sort of thing have a lacking in the actual elements that make up a large extent of what gaming is about- the element of surprise, the thrill of not knowing whats around the next corner, and that ruins so much of the work that goes into a great campaign.

I think I would drop the book in front of him and ask him for your money- most Players have no clue about the time, money and effort that goes into the creation of a campaign.

Frankly if I find out that my suspect Player is cheating I was considering a Blindness/Deafness spell on his character for a while- least 'til the Cleric gets to Remove B/D spell level.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm with Wulf; that isn't just cheating, it's a breach of trust. I'd toss him and not look back.

 

[Rasyr]

One possibility, and this means a ton more work for you, is to change things. Move monsters to other locations, get rid of magic items that are part of the treasure and replace them with other things. Add a few shifting walls to different portions of the map (so that the map becomes subtlely different from the ones they looked at), move large sections of the map (if there are groups of rooms with only a single entrance to that area, move the whole group to a new location).

Like I said, this would require a good deal of work on your part, but would also remove a lot of the player knowledge that they have gleaned.

I often use pre-made adventures, but when I do so, I always change things in some manner (most use them for the maps... hehe) so that players will not realize what is going on if they happen to have that adventure.