Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Dealing with overly cautious players!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jeff Wilder" data-source="post: 5406229" data-attributes="member: 5122"><p>The general solution to this seems pretty B.F. Skinnerish ... reward the behavior you want.</p><p></p><p>The problem is that you probably have to punish the behavior you don't want, first, because they've already got bad habits.  ("Bad" from your perspective, not necessarily objectively.)</p><p></p><p>The good news is, it's easy to do.</p><p></p><p>For example, while they're searching a large and complex cavern, start audibly counting the time spent doing so.  As time passes, start describing tremors, progressing to gravel falling from the ceiling, progressing to larger chucks and actual shaking of the terrain, and so on.  Describe that things seem to be more stable further into the cavern complex.</p><p></p><p>When the first player (or more than one, if the response is quick) bolts deeper into the complex, he or she narrowly avoids the collapsing ceiling, while everyone else in the room starts rolling saves to avoid damage.</p><p></p><p>There are two important things to remember:</p><p></p><p>(1) Rewards don't need to happen every time to be effective.  Just ask pigeons.</p><p></p><p>(2) The "reward" for risky and heroic behavior can be bad for the <em>character</em>, but still extremely fun for the <em>player</em>.  To encourage the behavior, you generally don't want to kill or maim characters, but pretty much anything else that gives the player the chance to be the center of attention and do cool or memorable things will work wonders.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jeff Wilder, post: 5406229, member: 5122"] The general solution to this seems pretty B.F. Skinnerish ... reward the behavior you want. The problem is that you probably have to punish the behavior you don't want, first, because they've already got bad habits. ("Bad" from your perspective, not necessarily objectively.) The good news is, it's easy to do. For example, while they're searching a large and complex cavern, start audibly counting the time spent doing so. As time passes, start describing tremors, progressing to gravel falling from the ceiling, progressing to larger chucks and actual shaking of the terrain, and so on. Describe that things seem to be more stable further into the cavern complex. When the first player (or more than one, if the response is quick) bolts deeper into the complex, he or she narrowly avoids the collapsing ceiling, while everyone else in the room starts rolling saves to avoid damage. There are two important things to remember: (1) Rewards don't need to happen every time to be effective. Just ask pigeons. (2) The "reward" for risky and heroic behavior can be bad for the [I]character[/I], but still extremely fun for the [I]player[/I]. To encourage the behavior, you generally don't want to kill or maim characters, but pretty much anything else that gives the player the chance to be the center of attention and do cool or memorable things will work wonders. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Dealing with overly cautious players!
Top