Dealing with troublesome players (broken & passive)

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Randomthoughts]

How would you guys deal with this? Any advice would be appreciated.

So, if I was confronted with this situation, the first thing I would do is to mentally prepare b/c changing things (if it is possible at all) will probably take some time. It seems pretty messy, esp. if you don't have much choice and/or they're you're friends.

Second, I'd try to game with just a couple of your friends. Some times the ones that were less engaged will flourish when there is only 2-3 players in total.

Third, I'm a power gamer myself so here's what I would do:

• Address power gaming by the selection of game system. Some mechanics are easier to power game than others. For example, FATE is pretty hard to "break" (I think). But I'm assuming you're running some version of D&D. I've found the design parameters in 4e to match perfectly with my comfort zone that allowed me to not even care what powers/feats/etc. a player took. It was a liberating experience. I'm assuming you're using 5e, which I understand is reasonably balanced.
• Address power gaming during chargen. You have to have some level of system mastery to know if a build is truly "broken". But if so, have you said "no" to broken builds? It's perfectly legit to say that, even if that one player is intent on breaking the game (again, depends on game system). Sometimes it is hard to say no, but it would be better than a situation where (say) every encounter includes someone with Kryptonite (or equivalent). That gets old fast.
• On the flip side, are the other player builds too weak? They might not be super optimized, but are the playable? If so, as long as those players don't care, then it might not really be a problem.
• Another solution is to actually construct their characters (with their input of course) mechanically for them. For example, since I subbed the Character Builder for 4e and most of my players really didn't care, I helped them make their own characters, ensuring that they were in a reasonable "power range" from each other.

Gonna stop there to avoid length post.

 

[Lylandra]

- Tell them that you don't have fun DMing for CE characters that just want to get away with doing whatever they want.

- Maybe add a NPC to the group for a while to give the shy players someone for orientation that isn't a complete nutjob.

- Use story relevant NPC that directly address the shy guys and not the powergamer characters (they are unreliable nutjobs anyway... might get a bad reputation)

- Let chaotic stupid actions have consequences. That shopkeeper they just killed for the lulz? Oh yep, that was actually the lover of an adult copper dragon in human guise. Something like that.

 

[dragoner]

How would you guys deal with this? Any advice would be appreciated. I will also mention I do live Ina rural area so I don't have many options of finding a new group. This is the part of the US where geek culture is looked down upon, not really hated, but people here tend to focus more on farming, sports, and hunting, then getting drunk afterwards (or during).

Tell them that you are not having fun when they do the things you don't like, that is number one, communicate; which is tough, because communication is often looked at as being weak. Really though, the most important question, is what are you looking for out of the game? Is there a way they could change and you would be happy? Because at least right now, you know how they are going to act in any given situation. I think the answer, such as many others have stated, is to try another game to change things up.

 

[jasper]

You ain’t telling a story with that group you just playing one shots games. Do nothing for gamer and you tuber. If you don’t mind the power gamers play style, challenge them half time but have cheap raise dead near by for the passive players.


Drive by cross bowing on CE PC every time he commits an evil act.


This is a broken group. You can try a reset with session 0. If they are still broken, don’t play with the group. Find a new group. If you have to play with the group, just do one shot type adventurers and forget the story. You want a story, write!