roguerouge
First Post
How do your other players feel about this? Have they started growing action points and potion bottles too?
Cheating cheaters
- Thread starter Obryn
- Start date
How do your other players feel about this? Have they started growing action points and potion bottles too?
Jeff Wilder
First Post
Nah. We had a genuine cheater up until a few months ago, but due to personality conflicts (of which the cheating was a symptom) he's gone. Far as I can tell, all the players in all three games in which I participate are basically honest (including the "accidental cheater" I mentioned). A couple (including me) are scrupulous to the point of anal-retentiveness. (I have one player who actually keeps a spreadsheet of every GP or XP earned and spent.)
Funny you mention potions ... now that you mention it, I do remember wondering how the cheating player always -- and I mean always -- had a spare potion of cure serious wounds or two. The rest of us use potions so rarely (they just never seem worth the cost of an action in combat) that I doubt any of us would bother with them, even if we were inclined to cheat.
Merkuri
Explorer
With a new table rule (like "everyone roll in this shoebox lid") she will probably realize that the rule was made for her benefit, but a rule like that will not necessarily mean that EVERYONE at the table knows she was cheating, just the DM. It's a way of trying to correct the behavior without singling out the cheater - somebody who was previously unaware of the cheating would probably suspect that somebody was cheating, but not who or how often.
Nothing you do will keep the cheater in the dark (at least not for long). She'll know that people know she cheated in any case, the trick is to try and keep the perception that not many people know so you can reduce her embarrassment.
There's a big difference between, "Crap, the DM knows I've been cheating and made this rule to stop me," and, "Crap, they've been talking about me behind my back and are making fun of me by shouting out my rolls." In both ways the cheater knows she's caught, but in one way she probably feels much worse.
And what's wrong the cheater feeling bad?
I think it's wrong to humiliate her, as in me taking actions to make her feel bad. I think it is right for her to feel humiliated and embarrased. It's called shame. A correctly wired human feels it when they know they did wrong, even if nobody catches them or calls them on it.
Someone who does wrong should feel bad. I should do what I can to help them get through it and not make it worse.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
She probably put a slow acting poison in your Mountain Dew.
Merkuri
Explorer
The OP said they wanted to minimize drama. Minimizing bad feelings will minimize the drama. If you start "punishing" the cheater (or make her feel like she's being punished) and singling her out then that could start a series of events where the cheater tries to get back at the punishers in some way, who retaliate on their own, etc. These might not be major things, but it will certainly increase the drama and tension in the group.
Less bad feelings all around = less drama = happier group as a whole.
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Merkuri
Explorer
Nifft
Penguin Herder
Meta-gaming of the most heinous variety!Maybe she reads EN World?
Why, it's almost meta-cheating!!!
, -- N
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Maybe she reads EN World?
Merkuri Mentions a Major Melkor!
