Ever had a Player Threaten you Like This?

[Pbartender]

...just a plain "give me XP or I leave!"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you quite right. I'm a trifle deaf in this ear, you see. Would mind repeating yourself, please?"

Sometimes I make mistakes as a DM. I have no problem with a player pointing them out, so I can rectify them. I do not, however, tolerate impolite demands from my 6 and 7 year old children, much less one of my players -- who are arguably old enough to know better. I'd give one chance to rephrase the question, and then its up to the player to decide whether or not he wants to keep playing with the group.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

My houserule is that if you leave your PC with me or one of the players who is coming to the session, you have equal chance for death, XP, treasure, etc. as if you were present. If you do not want your PC to be played by either myself or another player and you don't leave it, then you get nothing, but cannot be killed (assumed rear guard duty, supply run, or similar).

I can't understand forgetting about her character unless that PC is just useless to the party. At any rate, "done bun can't be undone." Apologize and expect the same from her. You goofed, you admitted it, she was upset by what she perceived as you breaking a commitment to her to play her PC. You were upset by her ultimatum, which she probably felpt she needed to give, since she felt her trust in you had been betrayed. Not that it justifies her behavior, mind you. However, if she gives another ultimatum, I would consider it a pattern and treat her in kind by giving her the ultimatum that if she holds to that ultimatum, she is welcome to leave the game.

DM

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Never had a player act like that before...reminds me a little too much of my younger brother yelling that since he didn't get what he wanted he just wouldn't play with his toys anymore.

 

[Hussar]

I'm going to chime in with another of the "Wait and See" thoughts. If this came out of the blue, it's probably just a miscommunication. Give her a nudge, find out what's the issue and let it slide. If it becomes a habit, then give her the boot. But, it sounds like she had a bad day, someone probably said something about her not getting xp and she took it way too far. An idea might be to actually show her the message she sent and point out why you think it's inappropriate. Be polite and firm and it will likely be smooth sailing.

Only ever had one episode of violence in a game. Couple of buddies of mine were playing across the table and I was DM'ing. I'm looking for something when suddenly the one guy takes a poke at the other. I was utterly shocked. Found out later that buddy thought the other guy said something racist. Complete misunderstanding. To this day, I have no idea what was said.

In all honesty, this girl likely doesn't realize what she said. Point it out to her and ask about it.

 

[TheGM]

Wow, you give absent players 1/2 exp? For my table, if you miss a session, you get nothing. Of course, if the rest of the PCs feel like sharing treasure with you, that is their perogative.

I was thinking that

 

[Imruphel]

For the past three campaigns that I have DMed I have kept everyone at the same XP totals. Item crafting comes from a common XP pool and absences are fine with the player being able to choose whether or not to allow someone to play his character (if the character does not appear he may forfeit treasure but not XP).

Hmmm, perhaps I'm a Marxist DM....

 

[ForceUser]

Wow, you give absent players 1/2 exp? For my table, if you miss a session, you get nothing. Of course, if the rest of the PCs feel like sharing treasure with you, that is their perogative.

IMC, characters gain XP for overcoming encounters regardless of whether the player was present or not. If the PC was there, he gains XP. Of course, PCs might also die regardless of whether or not the player was present, so it balances out. What the PC doesn't gain with an absent player is role-playing XP, which IMC is substantial, and the lack of which is how absent players drift behind. You snooze you lose.

 

[Elf Witch]

Seveeral people have said that is was possible she was upset because you forgot to play her character and maybe this made her feel marginalized. That could be very true she was hurt and angry because of that.

Or she could have just been having a bad day.

The wise thing to do if this has not happened before is ask if anything else is wrong. Let her know she came on a little strong and that you acknowledge that she is upset but that it does not help anyone to give such a drastic ultimatum.

 

[S'mon]

Now, my question to you is: Have you ever had similar "encounters" with your players?

Um, no. :\ I occasionally have had a player ask for more XP but "give me XP or I quit!" would be met with "Goodbye".

 

[S'mon]

IMC PCs typically earn around 200 XP/level/session (I give half standard XP). If player is absent but PC is present (thus running risk of death) the PC gets half XP, as for a cohort, around 100 XP/level. If player is on a scheduled absence & PC is absent the PC will get some XP for off-stage activity, currently something like 100 XP/level, usually a bit less than a present PC would get. Absent PC with unscheduled absent player gets 0 XP.