Dealing with arrogant characters (players)?

[Hannibal King]

I am not taking it personally Hjorimir, I guess as a player I don't make such comments, sure a wise crack here or there but never a straight out "Surrender cause you gonna die." Heck this is D&D, it involves DICE, dice roll RANDOMLY.

There is a possibility however small that a weak opponent will takeout a strong one. I'd rather not jinx myself ;-)

I like Sejs idea if the NPCs surrendering and combing back later. In fact last session one of the character let a captured NPC go so that may come back to bite them in the...

And Mallus I guess I am not one of those players indulging their power-fantasies, or sexual fanatasies as some immature gamers tend to do.

It's good to be The King

 

[hong]

I am not one of those players indulging their power-fantasies, or sexual fanatasies as some immature gamers tend to do.

It's good to be The King

 

[Pseudonym]

I find that this attitude only appears in my Saturday group when I try to run a superhero game. Any other genre, and it's never a problem.

If it's become a real issue for you, then why not let someone else have a turn behind the screen?

 

[sword-dancer]

Read "The God in the Bowl" by Robert E. Howard sometime ... Conan is astoundingly rude to everybody in that story. Heck, half of his dialogue could be read as successful Intimidate checks. The key is, they give him just as much grief back.
:

Tell the story full, these guys are mostly nothing more than in cruelity delighting thugs, one of them rammed the eye of a child with his fingers, open at court.

He also ends up running off into the night with his tail between his legs after a failed SAN check (to borrow another system's mechanic), so much for arrogance.

Not before he killed the creature, ad he didn`t run for fear but before an obscenity.

 

[TheEvil]

I like Sejs idea if the NPCs surrendering and combing back later. In fact last session one of the character let a captured NPC go so that may come back to bite them in the...

Unless you want them to kill every person who opposes them, I would REALLY recommend against this.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

I like Sejs idea if the NPCs surrendering and combing back later. In fact last session one of the character let a captured NPC go so that may come back to bite them in the...

...and a month from now, we'll all be happy to read your "Dealing with bloodthirsty characters" thread, in which you complain about how the PCs systematically hunt down and murder everyone who crosses them. I can't believe they accepted the surrender of those NPCs, tied them up, and then slit their throats! Or the time they chased those last two orcs for six rounds just to kill them! They never take any captives and interrogate them! Why are they acting like this?!

Seriously, this sounds like an excellent way to train your players to never leave an opponent alive. A few experiences with giving a bad guy an even break and getting screwed for it will get them in a nice "Take No Prisoners" mindset, I promise.


Oh, and I'll echo the people who are confused/disturbed that you're upset about the PCs trash-talking thugs. That's expected, isn't it? They're not going to be making friends with those guys, they're going to be fighting them, and a little intimidation (and/or overconfidence) up front is just good fun.

It's when they're always mouthing off to local magistrates and innocent civilians that you've got a problem. That's the kind of behavior you should be worried about, not a little "Hey bandits, you might not want to get us angry, 'cause you won't like us when we're angry" bravado.

--
aren't the bandits using the old "give us the money and we'll spare your life" line, anyway?

 

[Hannibal King]

LOL! I'll pay that Hong.

But seriously it's my job to keep the PCs alive as long as possible, I am definately not on some power trip. I like to see my stories go somewhere and they don't when your dealing with stupid and arrogant characters who trash talk NPCs, especially powerful ones who are trying to be nice.

Once again if you don't like your DM to realistically portray NPCs, play a computer game, cause at least you can load your save game when the computer NPC kicks your...

D&D is a game where everyone is supposed to have fun, it's not just for the players enjoyment, those of you are missing that concept, well... <shakes head>

The King

 

[Mallus]

And Mallus I guess I am not one of those players indulging their power-fantasies, or sexual fanatasies as some immature gamers tend to do.

Damn, how did you know I was gearing up to run The 120 Days of Sodom D20??

So you don't think RPG's inherently involve an element of power fantasy? See, I'm asking the question again since you choose not to answer the first go round...

And how's your Pride and Prejudice D20 campaign going? Or has your group switched to The Bostonians D20?

 

[BSF]

Damn, how did you know I was gearing up to run The 120 Days of Sodom D20??

So you don't think RPG's inherently involve an element of power fantasy? See, I'm asking the question again since you choose not to answer the first go round...

And how's your Pride and Prejudice D20 campaign going? Or has your group switched to The Bostonians D20?

OK, my DM doesn't run it explicitly as Pride and Prejudice, but there are times when the political machinations are very close. I know he also uses Pride and Prejudice as source material. Of course, I play a Bard. He is arrogant, and he is very skilled at the social skills. He doesn't mouth off to NPCs unless they deserve it. Nor does he kow-tow to NPCs. Though he will respectfully defer to them if they have an area of expertise that he acknowledges.

It is not always easy to maneuver through all the interactions, but it is infiinitely more interesting to me than going in sword-a-swinging. I mean, combat is relatively easy to handle. Trying to avoid getting into combat is harder.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I like to see my stories go somewhere and they don't when your dealing with stupid and arrogant characters who trash talk NPCs, especially powerful ones who are trying to be nice.

I thought you were talking about thugs before. Could you give some examples of this? What do the PCs say and who do they say it to?

I appreciate that it's annoying if the PCs attempt to threaten or bully everyone they meet from the highest to the lowest. It's downright bizarre behaviour, not to mention liable to get them killed.

My own GM has been complaining about that lately - players that are always mouthing off to powerful NPCs then expecting to get away with it. Not me, I hasten to add. I sook up to the big nobs.