DM / Player problems

[Snailkeeper]

Hey everyone! This past Saturday my group's DM retired. I was elected to be the next DM, and I ran my first campaign.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly, until the third battle. The group was against three spirit nagas, which were using displacement. The party's rogue rolled to hit, and when I rolled the miss chance, the player started arguing, demanding to know what I was rolling and why. I tried to explain that she didn't need to know, but she just continued being rude and obnoxious. She put all her papers and dice in a pile and didn't even roll up damage for the one time she did hit. We had to prompt her three times for her to roll damage. She single-handedly brought the game to a complete stop.

I'm not sure how to handle a situation like this. I tried to tell her again that she didn't need to know, but I would tell her after the battle, and she still acted the same.

Any advice?

~SK

 

[Thalantor]

I would have just said "for the miss chance of their displacement ability. Do you want to know more about the monster and thus ruin the suspence of not knowing what to expect"? That usually works.

Still, she sounded a bit too sulky. Were there other things influencing this situation as well, or did she just not trust you as a DM?

 

[Thanee]

Apart from telling her to grow up?

Well, you could explain in a little more detail, that some information is just not obvious to the characters and therefore you prefer not to tell the players to improve their experience to view the scene through their character's eyes.

Also, be sure to describe what would be visual to the character. A solid hit, which was turned away by the Displacement miss chance, should give the character some hint about what's going on, since the weapon must have passed right through the creature.

And don't forget to ask her, what exactly made her angry in that moment.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shallown]

Is there any personal history between the two of you?
Did this player act this way before with the other GM?
What is the players history with the previous GM?
Was the previous GM's departure as GM an agreeable one?

In general I would just talk to the player and simple ask "Why did you act that way?" An important part of finding out why people act the way they do is simple askingthem. Maybe they don't know and haven't thought about it. And then ask "what do you think I should do nexttime this happens"

And go from there. My advice may change based on knowing more though.

 

[TheEvil]

As Thanee said, I would have described the solid hit at passing through the naga without effect. Had a GM do this to me, and I assumed that the halfling was an illusion and annouced such to the party. Then I got stabbed in the back.

As far as the sulking goes, she could be taking outside problems out on the game.
By way of example, in a recent game, one player cast Calm Emotions, which effected the the two fighters in front as well as most of the bad guys. After much grousing and complaining by the effected PCs, the effects went forward. One Fighter failed her save and went into a severe sulk much as Snailkeeper described. She complained about not being able to make her full attack, when it was her turn loudly complained that she couldn't do anything, despite having several valid options pointed out to her. When the spell was broken by an attack, proceeded to move away from the foes she was next to, drew 4 AoO, then made a single attack against a new foe. All of this while loudly complaining again that she had been denied her full attack. While the entire table pointed out to her that she wasn't under the effects of the spell any more. She proceeded to play in an antisocial and antagonistic manner the rest of the evening, treating everyone this way, not just the guilty cleric. We were mystified by her behavior as it was completely out of character for her. Once she had left at the games conclusion, we learned from the host that she had shown up early, complained about having been hit and run earlier that day, and that she was spoiling for a fight. :\

 

[Tom Cashel]

Sounds like this will work for you:

ERISIAN MAGIC RITUAL - THE TURKEY CURSE

Revealed by the Apostle Dr. Van Van Mojo as a specific counter to the evil
Curse of Greyface, THE TURKEY CURSE is here passed on to Erisians everywhere
for their just protection.

The Turkey Curse works. It is firmly grounded on the fact that Greyface and
his followers absolutely require an aneristic setting to function and that a
timely introduction of eristic vibrations will neutralize their foundation.
The Turkey Curse is designed solely to counteract negative aneristic vibes
and if introduced into a neutral or positive aneristic setting (like a poet
working out word rhythms) it will prove harmless, or at worst, simply
annoying. It is not designed for use against negative eristic vibes,
although it can be used as an eristic vehicle to introduce positive vibes
into a misguided eristic setting. In this instance, it would be the
responsibility of the Erisian Magician to manufacture the positive
vibrations if results are to be achieved. CAUTION- all magic is powerful
and requires courage and integrity on the part of the magician. This
ritual, if misused, can backfire. Positive motivation is essential for
self-protection.

TO PERFORM THE TURKEY CURSE:

Take a foot stance as if you were John L. Sullivan preparing for fisticuffs.
Face the particular greyfaced you wish to short-circuit, or towards the
direction of the negative aneristic vibration that you wish to neutralize.
Begin waving your arms in any elaborate manner and make motions with your
hands as though you were Mandrake feeling up a sexy giantess. Chant, loudly
and clearly:

GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

The results will be instantly apparent.

You can thank me later.

 

[Arnwyn]

Any advice?

Yeah - be at least a little forthcoming. Saying "you don't need to know" isn't very helpful and may even seem to be a bit confrontational (even if you don't mean it to be).

I'm on the same page as Thanee (above). Displacement is a 'visual' affect for the characters - I'd have tried to describe what seemed to be happening from that character's point of view. Remember - the characters can only know what you describe to them... so be clear and concise.

Any further complaints, though, would get a big "grow up" comment from me. (Though, I like Shallown's advice of asking "why did you act that way". Good stuff. Let the player do the talking.)

 

[Tom Cashel]

I'll agree also with Thanee and Arnwyn...some description to the effect of, "Though the hideous reptilian aberration was there only a second ago, your blade passes through empty air as the beast is actually a foot to the left!" is absolutely necessary. Otherwise it's the players rolling hits--palpable hits--while the DM makes a secret roll and announces, "Nope. You missed," and that's totally obnoxious.

But assuming you did give them a clue about what they were seeing, it's TURKEY CURSE all the way.

 

[cmanos]

My GODS! Other people have the same players in their group too!!! I'm not the only one cursed with a silky childish player!!!

 

[Tom Cashel]

I'm not the only one cursed with a silky childish player!!!

Sounds like a blessing to me. Mmmmmm, silky.