Alignment Question

[Moe Ronalds]

Okay, the party I DM for has just now begun to start, and recently the Druid *finally* showed up for a session (we've never had a session where everyone has showed up. But there's 9 of us, so it's to be expected). Anyway, her character is Neutral Good, and I was wondering if the following would warrant an alignment change:

First, the party Rogue (Chaotic Neutral), entered a general store and started asking if they had any weapons for sale. The clerk repeatedly said "no, we don't sell any weapons." but the rogue kept asking. FInally, the clerk told him to get out. He didn't. The Party's monk(lg) (who does NOT get along with the rogue OOC or IC) asked what the problem was, and tied the rogue to a chair, but was soon called off to something else and had to leave him outside (still tied to the chair). Then, the party Necromancer(LN) came in. The Clerk, seeing her familiar, immediately sent her away (he's not fond of adventurers) and she refused to leave. After he sent a message to the town malitia to come for the Necromancer, the party Druid entered. She was told to leave, she and the necromancer argued, and when the man insisted, the Druid knocked him out with a club! Then, the town malitia entered, told them they were under arrest, and they tried to fight their way out of it! So, I was wondering what you all could suggest I do to these unruly adventurers?

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Then, the town malitia entered, told them they were under arrest, and they tried to fight their way out of it!

Did they make it or were they captured?

So, I was wondering what you all could suggest I do to these unruly adventurers?

Well, is the party usually like this?

You might have a couple of problems-

1) The group is to big and frustration is growing into being unruly.

2) You mentioned at least 2 of your players don't along ooc- you may want to cut one out of the group. It sounds harsh, but people should not game with people they don't like- it will just lead to further problems.

As for the druid- You could turn her chaotic neutral, but you might just be encouraging the problem if you do that.

You may want to talk to your group if this is a regular problem. Find out what they want out of campeign. You should also make it clear what you want out of a campeign.

Good luck!

Respectfully submitted
FD

 

[Moe Ronalds]

Re: Re: Alignment Question

Did they make it or were they captured?



Well, is the party usually like this?

You might have a couple of problems-

1) The group is to big and frustration is growing into being unruly.

2) You mentioned at least 2 of your players don't along ooc- you may want to cut one out of the group. It sounds harsh, but people should not game with people they don't like- it will just lead to further problems.

They were caught, no, that's a deffinite possibility and I've addressed that issue in the party conflict thread. (And if anyone has read any of my other rants about my players, they will know that I have the most screwed up gaming group you could pray to keep out of your nightmares) Thanks for replying!

Edit: Nm, I never started the party conflict thread. The Jist of it is that no one likes the party rogue other than me and I can't get rid of him due to the fact that he's over sensitive and our only rogue.

 

[TiQuinn]

First, the party Rogue (Chaotic Neutral), entered a general store and started asking if they had any weapons for sale. The clerk repeatedly said "no, we don't sell any weapons." but the rogue kept asking. FInally, the clerk told him to get out. He didn't. The Party's monk(lg) (who does NOT get along with the rogue OOC or IC) asked what the problem was, and tied the rogue to a chair, but was soon called off to something else and had to leave him outside (still tied to the chair). Then, the party Necromancer(LN) came in. The Clerk, seeing her familiar, immediately sent her away (he's not fond of adventurers) and she refused to leave. After he sent a message to the town malitia to come for the Necromancer, the party Druid entered. She was told to leave, she and the necromancer argued, and when the man insisted, the Druid knocked him out with a club! Then, the town malitia entered, told them they were under arrest, and they tried to fight their way out of it! So, I was wondering what you all could suggest I do to these unruly adventurers?

I don't know...the whole thing seems strange. Why did the rogue think there were weapons in the store? Was the player just trying to be disruptive? The monk tied the rogue to a chair in the general store just because he was being a verbal pest? Everyone in the party who entered the store was told to get out?

The entire scenario kind of sounds like it got out of hand and it sounds like people starting acting out of character. It sounds like there's an completely different problem going on than whether the druid is acting like his or her alignment.

 

[Moe Ronalds]

I don't know...the whole thing seems strange. Why did the rogue think there were weapons in the store? Was the player just trying to be disruptive? The monk tied the rogue to a chair in the general store just because he was being a verbal pest? Everyone in the party who entered the store was told to get out?

The Rogue thought there were weapons in the store because, as far as I can tell, everytime you had an oppurtunity to spend money in his campaign, the store sold everything in the player's handbook, regardless of where you were or why. The monk tied the rogue up because the rogue is kind of a responsibility of his (it's the Monk's job to keep him out of trouble). All I can say in my defense about everyone in the store being told to leave is that the town is VERY unfriendly towards adventurers and that the Rogue had worn down his last nerve. Also, if it makes the situation seem less like I'm making this up, the reason my gaming group and I are such idiots is because the average age of the players and I is 13. (3 14 year olds, 4 13 year olds, a 12 year old and an 11 year old).

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Re: Re: Re: Alignment Question

They were caught, no, that's a deffinite possibility and I've addressed that issue in the party conflict thread. (And if anyone has read any of my other rants about my players, they will know that I have the most screwed up gaming group you could pray to keep out of your nightmares) Thanks for replying!

Salutations,

Ugh, you have my sympathies.

Is there any way you could cut the group down to 4 players or so and take the cream of the crop? Even if they are still pain in the necks, you will have less pain in the necks to deal with at one time. And I notice once pain starts.. the others tend to follow suit.

To this situation- does the group act like this a lot?

Here is a bit of a heavy handed solution:

Have a local lord/king/whatever recognize this group of rabble rousers, and give them a warning. If they disturb the peace in his lands once more, then he will make sure they are incapable of doing so again.

When they do it again (yes, when), if they get capture- they are fitted with psionic/magic neck braces that force them to obey the lord/king/whatever's orders or take damage for every round they disobey.

He can send them on missions with a promise of release from the bonds as they prove themselves good and loyal subjects.

Again, good luck to you!

Respectfully submitted,
FD

 

[TiQuinn]

If the players start acting goofy, just tell them that they really don't think there are weapons in the store, and that the store clerk isn't lying to them. Just push them along til they get to where they need to be. Or if they need weapons though, and they're in a town where they can get them, just let them buy what they want and get it out of the way. It all depends whether buying items is a really important part of the game. Sometimes, they really can't find what they want, and they have to improvise or do without.

And if they get really out of control, make the militia all about five levels higher than they are. Sure, it's not realistic, but they're not really acting like they're characters would, now are they?

 

[Agback]

Then, the town malitia entered, told them they were under arrest, and they tried to fight their way out of it! So, I was wondering what you all could suggest I do to these unruly adventurers?

Well, you need to deliver a firm lesson in world consequences right now, or you'll soon have them playing "one move and the idiot gets it". On the other hand, if you whack them severely this early they'll be put off and might leave the campaign. So have each of the characters fined 6 silver pieces for creating an affray, with an extra 6 silver pieces fine for "malicious wounding" to anyone who actually tagged damage on a militiaman. And then have them thrown out of town.

If this happened in my campaign I would fire the player who was playing the rogue, but I guess your players are less experienced than what I am used to. It takes time for players to learn that the goal of playing RPGs is to amuse one another, and that that sort of thing won't do it.

I guess that your basic problem is that you and the players aren't exactly on the same page about what the roleplaying world is about. You are thinking of it as having its own alternative realism, while [some of] the others think of it as a sort of fancy interface mode for the part of a computer game in which you equip your characters. It's probably a good idea to talk to the other players about this issue. But remember that they are your friends, not your subjects, and that your way of looking at things is just different, not necessarily better [for them]. So be prepared to meet them half-way. And remember, the best way to win them over to your way of doing things is not to lay down the law from your position as GM. Rather, ask them to try it your way, and then knock their socks off with a burst of really top-notch GMing.

As a final note: at nine character-players, your group is a little larger than I prefer for myself. I find that most players' enjoyment is related to the amount of attention they get from the GM. And when I try to share out my attention among more than about five players each one gets long stretches during which I am ignoring him or her. And therefore (unless the person in the spotlight is being unusually entertaining) they get bored and easily distracted. You might want to try splitting your group in two, and/or persuading someone else to run one group (in which you would get to play a character!).

Otherwise, try to deal with each character's 'bit' fairly expeditiously, so that you can get back to the others without a long delay. In that scene withthe importunate rogue, for example, you might have switched out of the person of the storekeeper's clerk and into the narrative voice, and said something like:

"Well, you pester him for half an hour, but it doesn't do any good, because he really doesn't have any weapons."

Then turn to someone who is waiting for you to deal with his character. The rogue's scene is over, and the player wasted it. With any luck the player will just fall quiet and that will be that. Only if he or she insists on something that you have made clear is useless do you then end up with that irrelevant and annoying sequence that you got.

Anyway: chin up! They'll get better.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Moe Ronalds]

Is there any way you could cut the group down to 4 players or so and take the cream of the crop? Even if they are still pain in the necks, you will have less pain in the necks to deal with at one time. And I notice once pain starts.. the others tend to follow suit

I wrote down the names of everyone in my group, looked at it, wondering who I could cut out. I discovered of the 8 players, I want to play with 2, another 2 are *way* too sensitive to have cut, another 2 I could cut out and while they probably would understand, friends of theirs that are in the group wouldn't, and the last 2 (see how neatly this worked out) haven't really done anything wrong yet. I plan to use the king idea though, and many of the other worth while ideas that have been presented on this thread. I'd write more, but my dad's gonna have to be institutionalized if I don't let him on.