Player Problems..

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Doublepost.

 

[MadMaxim]

I hope you can work it out, Arrgh! Mark!. What kind of username is that anyway?

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

One of sophistication and class.

 

[Xath]

Maybe it's a cry for attention? Perhaps if you tie his character into the storyline directly, he'd feel more involved and included.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Talk to him, find out what he wants from the game, even if he wants to be in it.

 

[Storm Raven]

Thanks for the replies!

As a rule, I try not to limit PC actions; I assume the players will limit their own actions to their characters possibilities.

Let PCs take actions they want to, but make sure they know that they will suffer the logical consequences of those actions. Acting like an offensive boor should get his PC treated like an offensive boor, and reflect poorly on the remaining PCs for associating with him. Behaving in an insulting and disrespectful manner will likely draw hostile fire from people who might otherwise have been your allies.

 

[SweeneyTodd]

Uh, he's offering to help. Usually when I hear someone go "But my guy would...", I figure it's an unsolvable problem -- but this guy's willing to come up with another character that would fit better. Why on earth wouldn't you go that route?

 

[Eloi]

You too can be part of the Tribal Lore of the Dwarves..

Seems ripe for a prophecy to rear its head. Ahem..

"He shall be one of us, yet not of our blood,
He shall not know our ways, though he walk our paths.
From him shall be extracted the Owlbear of Uncaring,
and the beginning of the end shall be upon us.

Look ye, then, to the time of Woe,
when the carrion crawlers writhe to the call of the yellow mage,
and the marks of our sorrows shall come to life.

For the Lens shall scry, and the Eye shall see,
and the Path shall lead to Truth.
<line obliterated>

But the Owlbear shall know misery.
Children, endeavor to learn our ways, for you know not the day, nor the hour.
Only the Truth can save you,
the ancient ways can set you free."

There. I trust that none of your other characters will object to seeing an Owlbear extracted from a certain wild man, say, in combat when the "yellow mage" uses a spell..

It'll be something.

 

[Quickbeam]

Explain the setting, help him find his nitch in the game (with this character or another) and then see if the antics continue. If they do, then you may want to re-address the problem in person. As you've stated more than once, this person is your friend and has been for some time. I can't speak for you, but my friends would appreciate me bringing a problem to their attention so that we could work through it together and move on...as friends.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

When players get like this they are usually bored of the game in general or your game in specific.

He may want a new DM, or he may just need a vacation from the game.

It's hard to tell.
When someone becomes a big distraction in the game and end up taking more away from the game than they bring, it's time to step away and take a big look at the situation.

I've had similar problems with an ADHD member not too long ago.
He voluntarily left after chatting with him. "voluntarily" meaning he realized we weren't going to change our game to make him happy.
He was very unhappy gaming and became more and more disruptive as time went by.

We did everything within reason to work around his problem, but in the end he had to take responsibility for himself and he couldn't.

It ended up coming to a head and now he blames me personally for the whole thing (because I'm the messenger).