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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kensanata" data-source="post: 3864745" data-attributes="member: 47845">Empower PlayersWhen I started a new campaign after a long hiatus a year ago, including two salespeople in the group, I was confronted with two people who liked to argue. They liked to argue in game with shopkeepers instead of rolling for Appraise or Diplomacy, and they liked to argue out of game with me instead of just running along with the rules. I did several things:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I told them repeatedly and very clearly that even though they enjoyed arguing I did not. I also made exagerated sighs, rolled my eyes, etc. Just making absolutely sure they realized how serious it was. It was not just a minor annoyance, it was a major drag for me and it absolutely had to stop.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I realized that I had a strong vision for the game that often precluded player influence. I considered handing out action points or something similar to help me accept player changes to the scene (instead of arguing) and to help players learn that the number of discussions or changes was limited per session. In the end this was not necessary. I just forced myself to say YES more often. Perhaps the lack of resistance also lessened the payback for some players. So when they met major NPC X and started with "surely he would know ... be prepared to ... of course ... seriously!" I would abort the discussion and just ask the player to describe the NPC's reaction to us, the rest of the group.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I started to involve other players. Player X would start a discussion on rules or gameplay or NPC reactions, and I'd turn to the other players and ask: "What do you think? And you? Do you agree?" Either way, the discussion ended.</li> </ul>I think that players derive two kinds of reward from starting a discussion: Being important to the game, and asserting autonomy (to fight frustration). Both are things I would like to encourage. I just don't like the means these players choose to achieve their end. So the most important part has been to empower players, while protecting me from drawn out discussions.Should the above not help, ie. the discussion just spreads, instead of you and a player it's suddenly half the group against the player or something similar, then I think it's time to split.</blockquote>

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