DM's Suport Group: Most Cliche Player Behaviors Ever

[jonesy]

Kleptomaniac halfling thieves who steal from the party "because it's in character." I ran out of patience with those a looong time ago.

I've been fighting against Tasslehoff clones for as long as I have played in Dragonlance. How frickin hard is it to come up with an original concept for them? They are not all klepto all the time. If there's a central thread to kender it's that they are anarchists. That doesn't translate to stealing everything. Sheesh.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

My most reviled character cliche is the "dark, mysterious loner who never talks to anyone". To my mind that's just the role-without-a-role role, and it's L.A.Z.Y.

Go away, mysterious dark boy; peddle your antisocialness elsewhere.

 

[Robtheman]

This may not be cliche, but a friend related a story from his high school days. This was one of those groups of random friends and others from school. The assassin(ish) rogue in the party threatened to murder another players Minotaur Warrior in his sleep over some slight.

The Warrior (a patient guy in real life) gave the rogue one chance to rethink his threat. The rogue replied that he meant it. This was 3e at that point, so many extra attacks at level 11 or so. The Warrior rolled initiative and killed the Rogue in a single round. The rogues player cried - for a while. There was some begging to the GM involved. The GM had read this thread and just went with it.

 

[Thunderfoot]

How about this favorite from way back. I'm a warrior who has all black armor, a black mount and an evil disposition. (i.e. Anti-Paladin/Blackguard)

This neo-maxi zoom dweebie of a player works with the party right until the BBEG shows up and then Mr/Ms power hungry kills the PCs, while making a deal with the BBEG who he then "backstabs" and takes control of his BBEG holdings Inc. It's a whole new version of "hostile" take over.

As soon as the alignment evil pops up I say, "NO!" (Screw the always say Yes BS).


As for rogues - I play rogues and the attacking player trope is just plain stupid... There are much richer targets to hit.

 

[GameDoc]

Hmmm... Disloyal rogues seem to be the biggest offender.

To me, there is an element of poor roleplaying in this that is akin to the neutral/unaligned character switching allegiances on a whim because "neutral characters are unpredictable.". No, neutral characters are unmotivated by higher virtues. That doesn't mean they don't make friends or are incapable of any sort of attachment to other people. Same goes for rogues. Watch any movie about the mafia. The characters are usually morally challenged, but still have the ability to show loyalty to their comrades and care for their friends.

 

[kitsune9]

Kleptomaniac halfling thieves who steal from the party "because it's in character." I ran out of patience with those a looong time ago.

This is me too.

 

[Ulrick]

I've been fighting against Tasslehoff clones for as long as I have played in Dragonlance. How frickin hard is it to come up with an original concept for them? They are not all klepto all the time. If there's a central thread to kender it's that they are anarchists. That doesn't translate to stealing everything. Sheesh.

Years ago I had character nearly become Chaotic Evil because he leveled half of a kender village with fireballs because they stole his dragonslaying sword and they jerked him around when he wanted it back. I've never regretted it.

---

Anyway. One of my peeves is similar to the OP. PCs attacking NPCs without much forsight of the consequences, and then they whine their characters end up in jail or dead. I had a campaign get wrecked within 30mins of it starting because of this behavior.

The PCs met with an old miserly tax collector for some information. The guy was clearly old and sedentary--not a threat. He just wanted a small bribe in exchange for the whereabout of the villains lair. But instead of negotiating, the player running the halfling thief (gee, I see a pattern) held a rapier to the tax collector's throat and demanded he reveal what he knew. The rest of the PCs stood there and chuckled.

The tax collector pulled a string which rang a bell. The town guard arrived and arrested everybody. Those who resisted were killed.

Then the players were so surprised that I started packing up for the evening and didn't want run anymore games with them. The session was over and done within 30 minutes.

The character creation took longer than the campaign.

 

[Ulrick]

Hmmm... Disloyal rogues seem to be the biggest offender.

To me, there is an element of poor roleplaying in this that is akin to the neutral/unaligned character switching allegiances on a whim because "neutral characters are unpredictable.". No, neutral characters are unmotivated by higher virtues. That doesn't mean they don't make friends or are incapable of any sort of attachment to other people. Same goes for rogues. Watch any movie about the mafia. The characters are usually morally challenged, but still have the ability to show loyalty to their comrades and care for their friends.

Here's a remedy for fixing the "unpredictablity" justification--

Player: "I'm playing Chaotic Neutral because then I can play any alignment I want to at any given time."

Me, the DM: "Why, this sounds like extreme schizophrenia. You're character is completely insane, and therefore is now an NPC. Roll up a new character.

Player. "Oh. Um..."

 

[WHW4]

Then the players were so surprised that I started packing up for the evening and didn't want run anymore games with them. The session was over and done within 30 minutes.

The character creation took longer than the campaign.

I mean, I agree with you that would be highly annoying them basically bull-in-a-china-shopping through town and acting like outlaws, but you called the game? Why not roll with it? They'll ruin their own fun eventually. It's not very exciting to roleplay wasting away in a dungeon or being hanged (well, maybe if it was all heroic or something).

Did you at least tell them why you lost the mojo to run? As a player I'd be a little irked that you let us do what we want, then decided we didn't do it right.

 

[Oryan77]

1. PCs that threaten/torture undeserving NPCs simply because the PC isn't getting his way.

It really bugs me when players are shocked or annoyed that some piddly NPC is trying to bribe them for a measly few coins, or the NPC is talking down to them as if they don't deserve his respect.

Players bribe and talk down to NPCs all the time; even worse. But when it happens to their characters, they think they are above the law and throw morals out the window. I've seen PCs do things to NPCs that really made me feel sorry for the poor guy. I've even made players feel super guilty after I explain what they just did and how screwed up that was.

I don't really blame players though. For some reason we just naturally think there are no boundaries when playing in a fantasy game where we kill and steal all the time.

2. Players that do childish things in game as a way to be humorous. I don't mind comedy relief at all. I try to add humor in my game while at the same time keeping the tone of the game serious. But slapstick childish BS really brings the game to a halt for me. I hate when players do things in game as if we're playing in a Loony Tunes campaign; especially when the grown adult is acting like a 12 year old.