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<blockquote data-quote="Tom Cashel" data-source="post: 212412" data-attributes="member: 321">Tar, please realize that I am not trying to excuse the player for putting on headphones and playing with a laptop during your game.&nbsp; That's definitely rude.But you yourself said that you only summarized the encounter with the gruff captain, and basically said &quot;No, you can't do that.&nbsp; He hates you.&quot;&nbsp; That's very frustrating to players.&nbsp; Players want to feel that their actions have consequences, and even if they're bad consequences, so what?In that situation, I would have let them do what they wanted: role-play the bargaining session where they try to buy the ship.&nbsp; If they ended up in a fight with the captain and his crew, all the better.&nbsp; They'd get to the coveted hack n' slash faster! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />&nbsp; If they win, and end up stranded on strange world...well, what's wrong with that?&nbsp; When PCs strand themselves on a strange world they try to solve the problem themselves...it's much better than the DM deciding that the next adventure will involve being stranded, and that this one involves taking a ship away from some formians (couldn't looting a formian hive be considered looting a dungeon?).So they're stranded...you've already decided that there's a hive of formians nearby who know how to fly and maintain these ships.&nbsp; The PCs would have to be creative in either parlaying with or simply forcing the formians to help them.&nbsp; Everyone wins: you get to use the material you created, and the PCs get to feel like there is some course of action available to them besides the ones you've already decided upon.I'm offering this alternate view since I think people are being very harsh in saying, &quot;kick him out.&quot;&nbsp; If you kick everyone out of your game who has different ideas from you, the game will get real stale real fast.&nbsp; I also notice that, in your posts, you claim not to be &quot;railroading&quot; the players, but you also worry that the PCs actions will &quot;derail&quot; your adventure.&nbsp; Well, is your adventure on the rails or can it go in other directions?In short...if the PCs are willing to be creative and make up weird, silly, impossible plans, then consider yourself lucky to have players who are willing to use their imaginations.&nbsp; Too many players are content to sit back and let the DM lead them by the nose, stumbling into every ambush, trap and plot hook along the way.&nbsp; Sure, make them feel the consequences of their actions!&nbsp; But instead of thinking of it as &quot;derailment,&quot; use their ideas as springboards for your own: &quot;Okay, they've made a horrible blunder and stranded themselves...how does this affect their interactions with the formians?&quot;But if the PCs make the effort to &quot;wing it,&quot; then you have a responsibility as DM to do the same thing.&nbsp; As DM, you must entertain.&nbsp; I suspect that this player's rudeness was born of frustration...if there's no way to affect the plotline, why bother trying?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tom Cashel, post: 212412, member: 321"] Tar, please realize that I am not trying to excuse the player for putting on headphones and playing with a laptop during your game. That's definitely rude. But you yourself said that you only summarized the encounter with the gruff captain, and basically said "No, you can't do that. He hates you." That's very frustrating to players. Players want to feel that their actions have consequences, and even if they're bad consequences, so what? In that situation, I would have let them do what they wanted: role-play the bargaining session where they try to buy the ship. If they ended up in a fight with the captain and his crew, all the better. They'd get to the coveted hack n' slash faster! :) If they win, and end up stranded on strange world...well, what's wrong with that? When PCs strand themselves on a strange world they try to solve the problem themselves...it's much better than the DM [i]deciding[/i] that the next adventure will involve being stranded, and that this one involves taking a ship away from some formians (couldn't looting a formian hive be considered looting a dungeon?). So they're stranded...you've already decided that there's a hive of formians nearby who know how to fly and maintain these ships. The PCs would have to be creative in either parlaying with or simply forcing the formians to help them. Everyone wins: you get to use the material you created, and the PCs get to feel like there is some course of action available to them besides the ones you've already decided upon. I'm offering this alternate view since I think people are being very harsh in saying, "kick him out." If you kick everyone out of your game who has different ideas from you, the game will get real stale real fast. I also notice that, in your posts, you claim not to be "railroading" the players, but you also worry that the PCs actions will "derail" your adventure. Well, is your adventure on the rails or can it go in other directions? In short...if the PCs are willing to be creative and make up weird, silly, impossible plans, then consider yourself [b]lucky[/b] to have players who are willing to use their imaginations. Too many players are content to sit back and let the DM lead them by the nose, stumbling into every ambush, trap and plot hook along the way. Sure, make them feel the consequences of their actions! But instead of thinking of it as "derailment," use their ideas as springboards for your own: "Okay, they've made a horrible blunder and stranded themselves...how does this affect their interactions with the formians?" But if the PCs make the effort to "wing it," then you have a responsibility as DM to do the same thing. As DM, you must entertain. I suspect that this player's rudeness was born of frustration...if there's no way to affect the plotline, why bother trying? [/QUOTE]

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