Disruptive Player Issues

[Djeta Thernadier]

I think you cross the line if you continue even after the others (and/or the DM) talked to you about it. Before, you might just not have known you were in error. But after that, you know it and continue out of spite.

I agree. Now he knows, and if he wants to continue doing things this way, I would say either have him face consequences in game (ie, having his character get arrested and all his possesions taken away) or by having him face consequences in the real world (ie, kicking him out of the game).

If he is ruining the fun for you & the other players, then what good does it do to keep him in the game?

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Find out what games he has played in the past. I've found that generally those kind of tactics come from people who have played Cyberpunk 2020. I'm not dissing CP2020, I love the game too it is just that you have to be more self reliant in that game since you can't trust anyone. I remember I kind of ruined my first game of Shadowrun because I applied CP2020 thinking to the game. I was playing a Street Samurai and my team got shot up pretty bad. Even though we won I had to be taken to the hospital for recovery. The party mage took it upon himself to cast healing magic on me while I was unconcious in the ER and then helped himself to what he thought was a fair amount of my credits for the service. When I came to and found out that my credit account was low I questioned the party members on what happened. The mage told me what he'd done and actually expected me to be thankful. In typical CP2020 fashion I whipped out my Manhunter Smartgun Pistol, put the barrel to his head and told him that he was WAY out of line taking my money. The way my character saw it he was in the hospital and was healing up with non-magical means just fine... he didn't need magic though it did speed up the process. The mage was shocked and said he'd give it back but that he was totally justified. Now get this... the mage THREATENED me when he then went on to tell my character that the word would get out about how I'd treated him and I'd never get any magical support from anyone in Seattle again. I told the mage that he was right, that I couldn't risk him telling other mages about the incident and then in true Cyberpunk fashion told the GM that I then pulled the trigger and blew a hole right through the mage's head. After they both pulled their jaws up off the floor I got a lecture from the GM that Shadowrun is more team oriented than Cyberpunk. I was only playing how I thought the game was meant to be played since I was equating it to CP2020 and Shadowrun IS a Cyberpunk-ish game.
Anyway, the point is that previous game experience can shape how your players play. Talk to him and if you have to, lecture him the same way I was lectured. He may not realise he is doing anything wrong.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Let the other PCs deal with it in-game and in all likelihood absolutely refuse to work with his PC. Make it clear to him that it's what their characters would do.

May not help at all. If anything it may make him have his character be more self-reliant. See my previous post regarding CP2020.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

I remember I kind of ruined my first game of Shadowrun because I applied CP2020 thinking to the game.

That's so weird; in our high school gaming group (where I first ran across Shadowrun and CP2020), it was the other way around. Players who came out of Shadowrun always assumed the worst, trusted no one, always sold out to the highest bidder, and their PCs were ready to kill anyone and anything in their way at the slightest provocation. On the other side, the players who came out of CP2020 worried about their PCs' reputations, generally held everyone to a basic standard of fairness, relied on their partners, and only resorted to lethal force when confronted by the same. Funny how that works out.


As far as the disruptive guy Animus is asking about goes, it sounds tricky. To be honest, it sounds like he's looking for more of a "the PCs are the individual stars of their own ultra-cool action movies" vibe from the game than a "party of like-minded specialists are confronted with obstacles in the real world" sort of thing. He took an opportunity to go do his ninja thing and hopefully blast the bad guys out of existence single-handedly, assuming that it would work, when the game he was playing was actually assuming that such an attempt would be noticed, prevented, and punished.

Is such a thing fixable? Probably not. He's likely to keep throwing action-movie loner heroes at the game, because for some reason that's what he's dying to play. If you guys already talked to him about the kind of party you want in the game and it didn't sink in, I'm not sure that there's much else you can do to break him out of this.

You could try asking him why he likes to make characters who do nothing but make trouble for the other PCs and see if he gives an interesting answer, I guess. It might at least give you guys an idea about how to work around him, or hint at the words you need in order to explain to him why his characters aren't working out and why he's wrecking everyone else's fun.

Or at least give you a good story to tell here that will make us all shake our heads and wonder how it is that such a person could walk the earth as a free man.

--
which is arguably the best reason to ask him why he does this
ryan

 

[Calico_Jack73]

That's so weird; in our high school gaming group (where I first ran across Shadowrun and CP2020), it was the other way around.

That is strange... Shadowrun actually took balance into account to make sure that there were needed roles in a party. Street Sams were generally the baddest mama-jamas in the physical world but if they ran around without mage/shaman support inevitably some mage would take em down. Give a mage a high power telescope and you've got a sniper without equal. Cyberpunk didn't even bother with balance. You knew going into the game that if you got into a straight up gunfight against a Solo with a non-solo character that you were pretty much dead. It wasn't unheard of for our group to be made up soley of Solos. You don't need a medic because everyone can aford a Trauma Team account from day one and NOBODY starts out the game without one. You could also pretty much intimidate any of the other PC types to do whatever you wanted. Granted... our GM was nice and never had the cops come to the hospital to inquire about our black market cyberware while we were getting patched up.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, make sure his new charaters come back one level lower than his latest fatality. When everyone else is fifth level and his PC is third level, he should get the message. If not, ask him to leave the group, since the game is obviously not for him.

 

[jasper]

excuse me you talk with FRIEND and did not get through? Excuse me Bolo Bob my dear friend but your actions in game are ticking me and the other players off. I don't care how YOU think you should get away with everything but I guess if you don't straighten out we can no longer game together when I dming.
BB will either straight out or become a explayer at the table.

 

[Kesh]

This character was caught on tape planting explosives in a building? And the FBI was tipped off?

He's promptly arrested, charged with terrorism, and disappears into the system where he's not heard from for at least 18 months of game-time.

Then, tell the player in no uncertain terms: the entire point of RPGs like d20 Modern is for everyone to have fun. His solo act is disruption the fun for everyone else. If he can't create a character that's willing to work with the group, you'll have to ask him not to come back to the game. Perhaps, in that case, he would find more enjoyment with a different group, that has a different focus for the characters.

He'll either admit he was wrong and come back with a better perspective on the game, or he'll leave. Either way, you'll be able to run the game in a much more enjoyable manner. If he argues that your game should change to suit his definition of fun, you can cite either 1) the majority rules, or 2) that this play-style is what you find fun, and running his play-style wouldn't be fun for you.

Most folks are mature enough to realize that sometimes they just don't play a game the same as others, and it won't hurt their friendship. Others are just a bit immature, and will claim it as a 'betrayal of trust'. Personally, if someone uses the fact that you don't game well together as a reason the friendship can't work, I'd say it wasn't much of a friendship in the first place.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

excuse me you talk with FRIEND and did not get through? Excuse me Bolo Bob my dear friend but your actions in game are ticking me and the other players off. I don't care how YOU think you should get away with everything but I guess if you don't straighten out we can no longer game together when I dming.
BB will either straight out or become a explayer at the table.

Bolo Bob?

 

[BSF]

Communication.

In this case, the player isn't directly disruptive. The character is disruptive. If the player habitually plays lone-wolf mavericks, then the player might not be well-suited to the group. Some people like to have group strife in their games. It makes it feel more "real" to them because then everyone isn't smiling-shining-happy-people-holding-hands in the party. But, it is possible to have RP conflict between PC personalities without sabotaging a mission. The player can accomodate his style to be a disagreeable team player rather than the lone-wolf maverick if he wants. But, if he doesn't want to, then he is disrupting the game.

However, it is also possible that the player doesn't realize he is causing a problem with his character choices. That is why you need to communicate. You need to understand his motives first. Perhaps the player does not understand the campaign setting. There may be bad assumptions on what kind of PC works in Urban Arcana.

You also comment that you have not gamed with this person much. Is the player new to RPG's? Is he kind of going wild with the concept of "anything is possible"? If so, you just need to control this enthusiasm and guide it down team-oriented work.

Finally, before allowing a new character, you can have the player write up the character background. Department-7 is going to have a dossier on the potential PC and might not assign the character to the party if the character doesn't have the proper skills and profile to complement the group. After all, Department-7 is looking for successful operatives.