Ever had a Player Threaten you Like This?

[Silver Moon]

I don't do well with ultimatums. I have one player in one campaign who has basically threatened to quit the campaign if her character is ever killed, but I haven't let that change how I DM in any way.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Thanks for the responses, people. I admit that I let her down on the playing her character part, but I'd say that the XP still makes up for that. They don't get more or less loot whether a player is present or not. Hey, she's 18 but still a bit childish in her behavior, so perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised.

Hmmm, it is also possible that she got mixed signals from another player. "Mad Maxim forgot to play your character, so you didn't get any experience!' That kind of things.

Two people can jump further and faster when it comes to conclusions.

The Auld Grump

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Handle It ....

Does everyone at the table generally approve of your XP award policies?

If not, I would have a group discussion and devise an XP award system that everyone can live with.

If so, then anyone who complains about them should be quickly garroted for the good of the group.

 

[francisca]

4) Take their stuff
5) Divide it amongst the remaining characters

I like the way you and EvilGM think.

 

[Ranger REG]

This came up a couple of weeks ago. I had been DM'ing my regular group for 2-3 sessions without the group's only female player because she was rehearsing her part for a play she was going to be in. So, I promised to play her elf wizard for her since none of the other players felt like they could handle two characters at a time.

So far so good, but I end up forgetting to play her character for those sessions and forget giving her half the XP that the other characters get (that's a houserule of mine; if you can't make it for a session, you're awarded only half the XP). Then all of the sudden she writes to me and tells me that if I don't give her a certain amount of XP or gold, she'll quit the game. This ultimatum came out of thin air, no warnings, no "hey, I think you forgot to give me XP for the last couple of sessions", just a plain "give me XP or I leave!"

This amount of XP would be enough to take her from 7th to 8th level in one go, and that's where the players who have been to every session just got. Now, I'm not an unreasonable man and I apoligized for my forgetfulness. If she had just mentioned it to me, she would have been awarded a suitable amount of XP, but instead she just throws demands on the table and threatens to quit. I was seriously tempted to kick her out of the game for the rudeness, but we settled it with half the XP and apology.

Now, my question to you is: Have you ever had similar "encounters" with your players? If so how did you deal with them? And would you have recommended me to do something else?

First off, I make it a policy never to play someone else's PC, be it a DM or a fellow player.

Secondly, you did what you could to settle the situation and from what I gather that session went smoothly.

If I'm her friend before we became gamers, I would do what caring friends do after the game and ask "what's going on?" It's possible she may have brought unresolved issues to the game.

If you're not friends with her, then it's your choice.

 

[S'mon]

I don't do well with ultimatums. I have one player in one campaign who has basically threatened to quit the campaign if her character is ever killed, but I haven't let that change how I DM in any way.

I've been in the situation where I had a beloved PC in a Midnight campaign and when she died I didn't have much enthusiasm for starting over. I think there can be a problem if the campaign is roleplay-intensive with highly detailed PCs, but the ruleset is one designed for lots of disposable PCs. This is arguably a particular problem with Midnight. In my current campaign I use Fate Points to cut down (and hopefully eliminate) arbitrary PC death.

 

[SBMC]

This came up a couple of weeks ago. I had been DM'ing my regular group for 2-3 sessions without the group's only female player because she was rehearsing her part for a play she was going to be in. So, I promised to play her elf wizard for her since none of the other players felt like they could handle two characters at a time.

So far so good, but I end up forgetting to play her character for those sessions and forget giving her half the XP that the other characters get (that's a houserule of mine; if you can't make it for a session, you're awarded only half the XP). Then all of the sudden she writes to me and tells me that if I don't give her a certain amount of XP or gold, she'll quit the game. This ultimatum came out of thin air, no warnings, no "hey, I think you forgot to give me XP for the last couple of sessions", just a plain "give me XP or I leave!"

This amount of XP would be enough to take her from 7th to 8th level in one go, and that's where the players who have been to every session just got. Now, I'm not an unreasonable man and I apoligized for my forgetfulness. If she had just mentioned it to me, she would have been awarded a suitable amount of XP, but instead she just throws demands on the table and threatens to quit. I was seriously tempted to kick her out of the game for the rudeness, but we settled it with half the XP and apology.

Now, my question to you is: Have you ever had similar "encounters" with your players? If so how did you deal with them? And would you have recommended me to do something else?

If this came out of nowhere it is most likely one of 4 things;
#1 She is having a really hard time with something else in her life and she exploded on you.

#2 For some reason another player told her something outside of the game table that would lead her to beleive (or pehaps was told outright - true or not) that you were not going to give her the XP for some devious reason (have you had any issue with other players - in or out of the game?)

#3 She actually wants to quit; but lacks the guts to tell you so she is trying to get you to do the durit work for her ("suicide by cop" er se')

#4 She really is a nasty [insert choice explative] and has shown her true colors.

Happened to me once - it was #2; another player planted the seed; but inentionally in my case - the seed planter was ticked I would not allow some non WoTC stuff into the game; said player was revealed for all to se and fled by foot unto his vehicle never to be seen again. he was a jerk anways and the other players already told me they wanted him out...except for the one guy who brought him in (who was ashamed he had done so) as he was his buddy outside the game table (but not anymore).

 

[cmanos]

This came up a couple of weeks ago. I had been DM'ing my regular group for 2-3 sessions without the group's only female player because she was rehearsing her part for a play she was going to be in. So, I promised to play her elf wizard for her since none of the other players felt like they could handle two characters at a time.

"Thank you for your comment. Your services are not required anymore."

 

[MadMaxim]

If this came out of nowhere it is most likely one of 4 things;
#1 She is having a really hard time with something else in her life and she exploded on you.

#2 For some reason another player told her something outside of the game table that would lead her to beleive (or pehaps was told outright - true or not) that you were not going to give her the XP for some devious reason (have you had any issue with other players - in or out of the game?)

#3 She actually wants to quit; but lacks the guts to tell you so she is trying to get you to do the durit work for her ("suicide by cop" er se')

#4 She really is a nasty [insert choice explative] and has shown her true colors.

#1 is possible. She sits around doing nothing all day and I've been asking her if it wasn't about time she got into something like an education or just getting a job (I asked what to do about it in the off-topic thread about a month ago, and yes, it is the exact same girl I'm talking about here).
#2 is highly unlikely, though her boyfriend has of course told her about how the sessions went, but I don't think he'd say that she was missing out on XP.
#3 is also highly unlikely, but I can't be a hundred percent sure, of course. However, she is usually the one that feels like playing once a week is too little, probably because she has nothing to do any other time.
#4 could also be possible. As I've stated before, she can be somewhat childish at times and she can behave like a real b****, though I believe that's just a matter of her not being able to see who's in charge (that would be me). She gets her way with her boyfriend and may be that she doesn't know that she can't pull me around like she can with him.

 

[Arkham]

Can't say I've ever had a similar 'encounter'.

Should it happen the response would be a predictable, "Really? Great! Now maybe the monk can set _at_ the table instead of in the back." I'm not at a loss for players...

Generally either someone who is currently dead or disabled takes over the missing PC if the group needs the firepower. Or they miss out on all exp. The characters still divide the treasure as if the character was there ( if the character was there, but just in the background. )