Escaping Violent Players

[Marc_C]

I was a player in the first session of a Role Master new campaign early 90s. One player kept drinking beer and became increasingly more violent. He almost came to blows over a ridiculous role-play situation I barely recall. He threw is chair and displaced the table. That ended the campaign. Didn't make any friends, never went back there. Didn't need that naughty word. Still don't.

No gaming is better than bad gaming.

 

[Umbran]

Ugh. That sucks.

I have never had anyone become violent in a session. I did have to ban someone from my home (where the game was hosted - I was not the GM) for toxic behavior.

 

[Blue Orange]

At that point, it's a job for the police, not the DM.

If you are physically threatened, get out. You don't need an excuse. Just flee.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Ugh, that's a horrible situation to be in. I've been at tables where people have had too much to drink (once, as a DM, I even was that person...I certainly didn't get violent, and wasn't totally blotto, but I was past where I should've been while running a game and actually forgot that the party had already killed the one enemy). They generally got less and less effective as they had trouble tracking the game, but never violent.

There are some horrific stories about players from back in the day. Now, thankfully, it's easier than ever to find a gaming group or gamers, so there's no reason to tolerate that sort of awful behavior. Not that there was a legitimate reason back then, either. But when it was harder to find other people that played, I know I put up with a lot that I wouldn't now.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Never had a player get violent at the table, but did have one group blow up when a husband & wife duo in the group suddenly were dealing with him being charged- credibly- with sexually abusing her kids.

…and she was taking his side.

It was so shocking that the group essentially disintegrated immediately and completely. I found out via a awkward game night were he was obviously in the doghouse over something, so he was constantly trying to get back in her good graces. Then, a few hours before the next session, I got a flurry of cancellations, with the story revealed in trickles from one player in particular. We never met again.

I’ve only maintained contact with one of the others at that table, and him I knew from a a decade or so previously. (Never did hear how the criminal charges played out.)

 

[Bedrockgames]

I was a player in the first session of a Role Master new campaign early 90s. One player kept drinking beer and became increasingly more violent. He almost came to blows over a ridiculous role-play situation I barely recall. He threw is chair and displaced the table. That ended the campaign. Didn't make any friends, never went back there. Didn't need that naughty word. Still don't.

No gaming is better than bad gaming.

Thankfully I haven't had much experience with violence at the table. But early on, when I first started, I had a kid bodyslam me because my character got higher level than his (and he seemed to take it personally, telling me that he was still more powerful than me in real life, and he demonstrated that by slamming me onto the ground). However we were very young, like 11 or 12). I also saw a fist fight between two players at a game shop table for a game I wasn't part of (I just happened to be there when they were gaming).

 

[Morrus]

Yikes, that sounds horrible.

I had one verbally abusive person in my group who had real anger management issues, but they solved that problem themselves with a ragequit.

 

[ART!]

Yikes, yikes, and double-yikes. That is some class-A bv!!$#!+ that no one should have to deal with.

Setting aside the rigors and outbursts of gaming when I was a teenager among teenagers, I've only had to pull aside a new player to our group for being overly competitive and somewhat aggressive. I pointed out that we don't roll like that, but that we really liked him otherwise and wanted him in the group. He came around quickly and all was well.

 

[MGibster]

I was a player in the first session of a Role Master new campaign early 90s. One player kept drinking beer and became increasingly more violent. He almost came to blows over a ridiculous role-play situation I barely recall. He threw is chair and displaced the table. That ended the campaign. Didn't make any friends, never went back there. Didn't need that naughty word. Still don't.

Many years ago, I was playing a table top wargame called Chronopia, and my opponent was just having the worst luck I've ever seen. Seriously, it's been more than twenty years and I still remember how poorly he was rolling (even if I can't remember whether he was rolling high or low). As the game progressed, he continued to become more, and more agitated and slam his fist on the table knocking down miniatures and terrain. While I was a bit uncomfortable with the situation, I never felt as though he were threatening me. But I resolved never to play another game against him. No gaming is better than bad gaming.

 

[Marc_C]

I had one player throw a d20 at me after a string of bad rolls. I ducked and it punched deep into the basement styrofoam sheet insulation. We all yelled at him. He calmed down instantly and behaved after. We were 14-15.