DISCUSSION: Have you ever had to boot somebody from a game?

[dungeonguru]

I've been DM'ing for about 20 years and I've only ever booted one player from the group, not just a game. The individual in question had gotten so abrasive that the remainder of the group actually came to me as a group on a non-game day and asked me to boot him. I wasn't a pleasant conversation to have, but at least my good group members agreed to talk to him as a group, so it didn't single any one of us out as the bad guy.

 

[Warpiglet]

Sure. However half of the group is him and his two brothers. Even if it doesn't really damage friendships it may lead to the end of the group. Or at least dropping me to 3 players and I don't know any more RPG gamers really and don't plan on recruiting strangers from a game store to my home. So its just a tricky situation, we will see how it goes tonight.

Hey man! You lose too many players let me know! I live in your neck of the woods! Ha!

 

[Valetudo]

Its happened a couple times. A common problem is when a player invites a friend without permission, in the middle of a campaign. The new guy is ussually not interested and or drunk. Although years ago, one of my players brought his neighbor over in the middle of a d20 modern game and he ended up being a regular. Another problem can be the "Girlfriend/Boyfriend". They can really mess a game up and I have ejected a few players over that one.

 

[Imaculata]

Another problem can be the "Girlfriend/Boyfriend". They can really mess a game up and I have ejected a few players over that one.

Yeah, I'm not fond of having couples in the group. Often a recipe for disaster.

 

[Imaculata]

When asked about it after the player lauhged and said he wondered why it kept going. he had figured he would be booted long before and laughed at how long he had been allowed to %#^ on folks.

Jeez, what a jerk.

One of my now long standing rules at session zero is that as gm i will throw them together and give the pcs a chance to work together, but staying together and getting along and so on is on them so if someone plays a character that makes the others not want them around they can be bounced from the party into NPC etc. That tends to weed out the disruptive types right off the bat - mostly. Had another who worked more subtly to cover their own side-bar at the expense of the PCs who is now no longer invited into any game i run.

When I do a session 0, I make sure that everyone makes characters that can (and will) work well together before we start playing. I want to avoid a situation where a character needs to be booted from the party. Key to that I think, is getting everyone to agree on the goal of the game. If everyone understands and agrees what sort of game we want to run, then they'll make characters that fit that purpose.

 

[5ekyu]

Jeez, what a jerk.



When I do a session 0, I make sure that everyone makes characters that can (and will) work well together before we start playing. I want to avoid a situation where a character needs to be booted from the party. Key to that I think, is getting everyone to agree on the goal of the game. If everyone understands and agrees what sort of game we want to run, then they'll make characters that fit that purpose.

I also insist characters submitted "can" work together. The "will" is why i have the onus on them to keep being a desired partner in character, cuz none of my problem cases in the past were ever from a character that at chargen could not eork with the team.

Basically, each game start-up info provides the extent of solo vs team play expected and pretty clear about some common cases and examples.

It of course varies a bit from setting to setting and size of group. Two to three man Vampire game is looser than six man DnD fantasy style team- up.

 

[jasper]

Hi I am Jasper and I need boot a player!
"Welcome to BOOT!"
"B is for bad gamers who ruin the fun for everyone!"
"O is for Odious gamers who are detestable!"
"O is for the Obnoxious who must go!"
"T is for Toxic no matter friend or pickup!"
"And What do we do!"
"BOOT! BOOT! BOOT!"

 

[Eltab]

Another problem can be the "Girlfriend/Boyfriend".

In my old Tiamat group, one player invited his girlfriend, who took a legit interest in the game. When he began to treat her badly, the general opinion around the table was that we should boot him before he could drive her away. In the event, they broke up and both stopped attending.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Oof, that’s rough. I’ve been there, too. Where the one problem player has the potential to take other, decent players with them if they leave.


The way I see it, you can work to minimize whatever problem behavior is going on for the sake of those other players (that’s what I did at the time), or just directly address the problem player or outright boot them and take the possible hit. When the person’s a friend, it’s already a difficult thing to address. In an ideal world, you could tell a friend, "Hey, this behavior that you do is making my job as a DM harder, and making the game less fun for all. Please don’t do it anymore." But no matter how polite you are, they’re more likely to ignore the request or deny that they’re doing anything wrong, and/or get angry over it. It’s a no-win situation.

Sure. However half of the group is him and his two brothers. Even if it doesn't really damage friendships it may lead to the end of the group. Or at least dropping me to 3 players and I don't know any more RPG gamers really and don't plan on recruiting strangers from a game store to my home. So its just a tricky situation, we will see how it goes tonight.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Actually once I start bitching we have one of the better game nights in a while! Funny how that works. Part of it was I think its finally settling in their minds that you can't really play S&W like 5e and problem player kept his politics to himself and mostly paid attention. Lets go for a 2 week streak next Wed!