SBMC said:
I have another idea - if all else fails (as in talking to her): get with the other players and see if they'll do the "dirty work" for you.
Tell them the situation that you have OOG with her - see if they'll "kick her out" for you - say that its her or them or something like that. Then what choice does she have? You have? Then it is "out of your hands"
as one of MS' players, i can already tell you that wouldn't fly. we are all there, we all know the situation (we've been a pretty regular group for over a year). the only other situation in which there has been real intra-group conflict was resolved by having the two players who were at eachother's throats split up - one went to either campaign, every other week. that didn't last very long, one of the players (who probably wasn't happy gaming anyway) split. anyhow, the point is, that model is inapplicable here.
the problem is a really difficult one, and i think one that most of us just don't understand. even when actions are clearly deliniated as "in character" it becomes an issue. ok, that's fairly normal for new role-players. the ability to seperate your character from yourself is a very difficult thing to learn, so that explains large ammounts of certain reactions. i don't think that the player in question is selfish at all. i think she just doesn't deal well with inter-personal conflict, and that causes issues with any kind of deep, intense roleplay.
i honestly blame myself for the last big round, because i should have been a bit more careful. the story goes like this:
the group is racing through a crypt to stop an evil wizard from getting to "the key" before we do. the crypt belongs to the problem player's (character: dust) tribe. dust does not want the group taking any of the loot which falls out of the wrappings of the mummies we kill on our way through. ok, fine. the rogue type (me) is very unhappy about this, and starts keeping a list of passed up loot, in character banter about next time she doesn't get a share of the loot, etc (i think that was the real mistake on this particular set of events). at one point the fighter and the rogue go running off into the dungeon after a few turned mummies. they dispach them before the party arrives, and, of course, pocket the loot. Dust's player was at the table for this.
anyhow, the party proceeds through the dungeon in the same manner as before, until we are hot on the trail of the bad guy - at which point we start really chasing, passing up rooms filled with treasure. we get to the end of the dungeon, deal with what we find there, and, because we are so wiped out, set up camp for the night. no mention of guards or alarms of any kind.
so, what does the rogue type do? he goes out to a cutoff point and starts setting up some kind of simple noismaker alarm, just in case any mummies they diddn't find happen to wander the wrong way. he does this, however, via note to the DM. dust's player had, unbeknownst to the rogue (or his player, for that matter) let the dm know that dust's familiar would be following the rogue if he slipped away from the camp. well, the rogue spotted the familiar following him, and had a bit of a standoff, where the rogue threatened the familiar (warning shot with a bow, etc...)- the rogue specifically did not want to be followed (character history reasons - he's CG, but really really close to CN, and something of an anarchist). it is at this point the breakdown occurs. dust's player wants to end the session RIGHT THEN and think about it for the next two weeks. the rest of us want to keep going, arguments ensue, and i finally (and rather frustratedly) say "great, rewind it, it never happened." the session ends.
so, my fault for not gageing the roleplay potential of the situation. the character is relativly new to the party (my last char was unceremoniously killed by a random encounter, DOH!), and was attempting to build some trust. as a player i was trying to make a point between in-and out of character knowledge (dust's player knew that the rogue had pocketed some loot surruptisiously, but dust did not). bad idea. my fault. rewind, this never happened. even experienced players mess up sometimes.
the problem is that this is just one example of the type of situation we are coming across. our former paladin is roleplaying her fall fairly interestingly, and our new cleric/??? is fairly secretive also. the rest of us have fun in all parts of the game, for the most part (some people like the roleplay more, some like combat, but it all balances out). none of the rest of the players want to see her go, but we'd all like to see her happy and having fun.
this is not a "kick out the problem player" situation. this is a "help one of our players have more fun" situation.
