Problem players and you

[carmachu]

Is the problem player 9 years old?

I have a similar problem in one of our games.

Me or the original poster?

 

[jbear]

I have players with very different play styles. Two of the players, whose characters roles just happen to be leaders (a bard and a cleric) happen to not like each other all that much in real life. The Cleric plays a good pc who trys without much success to coordinate the other players and the Bard a neutral pc who tends towards cowardly decisions based on self-preservation and at other times reckless decisions that lead to rather painful consequences.

On our second to last gaming session things got very tense and everyone went home with a bad taste in their mouth including myself. It happened just before the holidays, and for one reason or another we hadn't played for nearly 3 months.

I'm not sure myself how to handle the situation. It's work in progress. I've apologised for my part in the tension (I think I made the encounter too complicated, with 3 simultaneous skill challenges at once with battle and constant increasing hazards) and I have proposed that the players find motivations as a group, something in common that unites them and to find a way to make decisions as a group when there is a diffence of opinion.

I think with the space, the tempers have calmed and this saturday we'll be having our second session since the conflict. With sick babies and levelling up, dispersed concentration was the biggest feature of the first seesion back. I guess we'll see if there is any improvement this next session.

Anyway, communication seems like the only decent solution or a good start to understanding what the problem is. Warning that going by yourself is very dangerous, from what you say, this hasn't worked. Maybe something like this would be more effective: 'When the party splits this causes me discomfort and stress as a DM. I don't enjoy it at all. It's hard enough concentrating on one thing at a time let alone having to divide my attention between two things at once. You're within your rights to take any decision you want but please do it together. Thanks.'

 

[Davachido]

Why?

I asked him later and he said he wanted to get the loot before everyone else so they wouldn't know how much loot there actually was.

Whatever happened to asking? When in doubt talk about problems.

I have talked to the party a bit now, its basically the rogue trying to loot whore, he actually wanted to try and leave the mission to rob a city bank at one point. The PCs have tried to sort things out with him and the decision of the other PCs comes down to if he does something stupid despite the party telling him not to, they will cease giving him heals to the end of the encounter.

I don't know exactly how that will go but that's what the other PCs want to try for next session, hopefully he'll tread more carefully now.

 

[roguerouge]

Oh! He's playing red box style!

In that case, you should ply your players with liquor and Cheetos.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

I asked him later and he said he wanted to get the loot before everyone else so they wouldn't know how much loot there actually was.

I have talked to the party a bit now, its basically the rogue trying to loot whore, he actually wanted to try and leave the mission to rob a city bank at one point. The PCs have tried to sort things out with him and the decision of the other PCs comes down to if he does something stupid despite the party telling him not to, they will cease giving him heals to the end of the encounter.

I don't know exactly how that will go but that's what the other PCs want to try for next session, hopefully he'll tread more carefully now.

Good, then this will cure itself in a while. Sit back and let the dice fall where they may; this sort of behavior will get the problem PC killed quickly. Eventually the player will learn that being a team player will earn him more loot than running ahead alone.

I assume that your campaign is set up so that a team player will earn more loot than a loner, right?

 

[wotmaniac]

I asked him later and he said he wanted to get the loot before everyone else so they wouldn't know how much loot there actually was.

yeah, this guy is asking to get his character killed. If you don't do, then eventually the party will do it for you (and, in my xp, PvP is usually bad); so, by killing him yourself, you're actually doing the group a favor.

If this was just a case of someone being absent-minded, or inexperienced, or whatever, then I might understand. But he has explicitly stated that he is deliberately trying to be selfish -- this is just bad form and horrible etiquette, no matter what kind of association you have (gaming or otherwise). As such, he has (inadvertently) forfeited any fair-play consideration from you.

 

[Davachido]

I assume that your campaign is set up so that a team player will earn more loot than a loner, right?

Yea, I try to promote group play by having certain encounters needed the team to co-operate to cover all angles or puzzles that require more than 3 people to activate. It has started off as a military campaign so as you would guess the soldiers working as a team are more rewarded then 'deserters' as it were.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

My suggestion would be that, the next time he pulls something like that, you strike him repeatedly about the head and shoulders with the DMG.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Actually i have a problem player who clears a path, and then teleports into the back ranks hoping the fighter will use his chance to get into the room too.

When the fighter thinks its not the best idea, he shouts at him out-game.

Such things need to be regulated in character. They need to get clear about team tactics. But this should not result in out of game talks. (Or even bad metagaming)

As to splitting the group: nothing bad about it. (For you as a DM). Usually players notice if i was a bad idea... but be careful how to let him know... and don´t punish him explicitely:

- if there is nothing to find: it will be boring!
- if there is something to find, you prepared for 5 adventurers, give him a little chance to shine and get help. If he doesn´t, go all out at him and don´t hesitate to knock him unconscious or even kill him
- if there is somehing he can do by himself, let him shine a bit, but also don´t hesitate to let bad things happen, if he gets himself into trouble. Maybe next time he will go there with backup at least
- let something ineresting happen to the rest of the group (maybe when the player left guard duty)

 

[Mr. Wilson]

Now that it is clear the character is purely selfish and seemingly unwilling to work with the party(I hesitate to say player), next time he pulls something like that I'd go ahead and have a pre-made full five man party encounter set aside and ready for him.

That character should then cease to be a problem.

If the player makes the same decisions with his next character, repeat the process until the player gets the point or you kick him.