Different player types hogging the spotlight?

[Varianor Abroad]

Also, this is D&D. You can't expect players to get information from obvious enemies before fighting.

Mine do it all the time.

 

[Rvdvelden]

Attacking people on sight without determining if they are evil is an evil act in itself, especially if it is done over and over again. What is the alignment of the powergamer? Warn him that if he continues this behaviour, his alignment will change and he will take a HUGE XP penalty along with it. This way, he has been forewarned and knows to change his act without an actual need to change the plot everytime he foils it with his particular gaming style.

 

[werk]

Or go the other way. Give them XP bonuses for identifying plot points.

I assumed they were already doing this...

Doesn't everyone do this?

 

[Old Drew Id]

XP points for identifying plot points is good. The reverse is also good. Killing the BBEG is only worth XP if you know what his plan was. Otherwise it was a nice fight with no XP reward at the end of it. At least that will get the powergamer willing to talk enought to make someone "XP-worthy."

One other trick is to haunt the character with "what could have been". After he fails to find the merchant's hidden treasure, he returns to town to find that the merchant had also kidnapped a princess, and the king is offering 1,000,000 gp to the person who can find her. Only problem is, the merchant is dead, so the princess can not be found.

Later, he finds a treasure map, with a treasure worth 10,000,000 gp, where the labels are written in a code. He asks around, and finds out that the guard he killed was the only one who knew that code. Too bad he killed that guard.

Next up, a rare artifact that would grant immortality. The only missing ingredient to activate the artifact? A whisper from any descendant of the ancient hero, Sir Whatever. And who was Sir Whatever's last remaining descendant? Yep, that guy on the street that he killed for no good reason...

 

[JustinM]

I assumed they were already doing this...

Doesn't everyone do this?

Considering that's not how XP is prescribed in the DMG, no, not everyone does it that way.

 

[Merkuri]

I assumed they were already doing this...

Doesn't everyone do this?

You'd be surprised. A lot of groups don't care enough about the plot to assign "roleplay bonuses" as some people call it. Some people find it too arbirtrary, as if the DM just decided to hand out XP because he felt like it. And, like JustinM said, it's not in the DMG that way and some groups don't like making up their own rules.

I think it would be great (as long as the players are on board as well) for the DM to identify key points in the plot and give them XP values ahead of time. The players have to unlock these XP bonuses by NPC interaction or puzzle-solving.

The fact that the DM has them laid out beforehand makes them feel less arbitrary, though this means that the group has to stick with a plot/adventure, and if the PCs go off in a random direction the DM may not have any plot bonuses planned. You'd have to play that by ear just like you would any monkey wrench players throw at a DM.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

So now he's a wanted man (he doesn't know yet) and I will be introducing new bounty hunters pretty soon. So he has the captain of the guards hunting him & there will be several bounty hunters hunting him. I'd say I could get some good roleplaying scenarios out of it but I'm sure it'll end up being pure hack-n-slash.

Depends on whether or not the bounty hunters are fair fights.

Another idea...

There is an old (real) world solution for deaths under ambiguous circumstances: weregild -- literally "blood money".

Once upon a time, the world was run by very violent men. Violent men have a bad habit of fighting even when it is not necessary.

In the good old days, people did not necessarily care so much about fine legalisms surrounding deaths outside of a proper battlefield. They wanted vengeance to protect the family honor. It doesn't really matter why your brother/cousin was killed, even if he threw the first punch or pulled out his sword, you just cannot let people think they can get away with that kind of thing.

Weregild was a means to both compensate for the loss to the clan (and possibly the lord of the man in question as well), and to prove a degree of sincerity for the death or injury caused. Regret having been proven by cold hard cash, family honor of the injured party was preserved.

Of course, it was always a good idea to leave the area for a while until tempers cooled, e.g. Beowulf.

I am not sure what money amount to suggest in the funky world of D&D economics. But 2x or 3x the wealth of the victim seems like a good starting point.

 

[sniffles]

Sounds like you've really only got one player hogging the limelight here. You mention that the casual gamer isn't getting to do much lately.

I question whether the powergamer is really just hack 'n' slashing. Perhaps he is roleplaying his PC. Maybe he sees his character as an impulsive type who attacks first and asks questions never.

Also, are you sure the casual gamer is really feeling bothered by the lack of roleplaying? The way I understand the definition of "casual gamer" is someone who's basically just happy to be at the table. Maybe he likes the roleplaying moments, but doesn't really care if there aren't many of them.

You should talk to both players. But remember, you can't make every player happy all of the time, and it may not be possible to get either of them to change their style.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Try putting them in situations with the NPC's where they can't fight right away - a dinner party, for example, where both the PC's and the bad guys are present, but no one can jump the gun and start swinging away...

...Your merchant guy should have his wares well-hidden, away from pesky, murderous adventurers.

...Have the local authorities hire the party to find a batch of murderous thugs who are terrorizing local merchants and nobles. They have to find them first, of course, so they need to start asking some questions - and the descriptions of the thugs sounds an awful lot like them...

 

[Oryan77]

Does the powergamer PC ever talk to non-hostile NPCs?

I can't really think of a time when he started a conversation with a non-hostile NPC. He'll reply to NPCs if I initiate the conversation.

Also, are you sure the casual gamer is really feeling bothered by the lack of roleplaying? The way I understand the definition of "casual gamer" is someone who's basically just happy to be at the table. Maybe he likes the roleplaying moments, but doesn't really care if there aren't many of them.

Yeah I'm sure because she's my wife and for many sessions now she has been slumping at the table in boredom because the current adventure has been very hack-n-slashy. When the BBEG started talking to them she perked up real fast and went right into asking him a question. I could tell she was ready to get her roleplay on. But that was when the other player announced again that he goes for an attack and I had everyone roll initiative.

She's a casual gamer because she doesn't read the books, barely keeps up with her character abilities, but she likes to hang out with everyone and play the game. She doesn't mind combat but she would be fine without combat for an entire session. What she likes out of D&D is the roleplaying part of the game.