Greedy player doesn't know when to quit

[Herobizkit]

I have been running a solo pre-gen megacampaign and I'm roughly 2-3 sessions away from wrapping it up. My solo player is eager to finish as well... but he's even more eager to loot.

Because of the solo nature of play, we have agreed that the PC (and crew) will simply "follow the left/right wall" and encounter what may. On numerous occasions the PC has discovered the entrance to "the next level" early, and chosen to go back and ensure that EVERY SINGLE ROOM has been covered lest he miss any loot.

I advised him that he has one more "maze" level to deal with (a temple) and then it's a (more or less) straight shot to the boss. There are lots of chambers in the temple, and I'm sure all kinds of phat loot. I am really wanting to skip it and just get to the end. The PC and crew has had little difficulty with encounters, generally winning every one within a few rounds (especially given opportunity to buff and prepare, and there has been no in-game reason to prevent them from doing so). Combat just seems to be a big waste of time for this group. I am really dreading another level of wading through monsters and recording loot.

In short, the player essentally has an "I WIN" button in his PC/NPC group of and will flat out refuse to continue the adventure unless he has assurances that ALL treasure has been found.

So, as a DM, what would you do in my situation?

 

[fba827]

For him, the fun is "the stuff" and for you, the fun would be deminished by dragging on time for things that are a sure win. So either remove the time or remove the drag. Thus ...

just hand-wave it and say "Your mad fighting skillz allowed you to wipe the orcs with ease," and then let him have the loot.

OR lessen the rooms that are on the map and any loot that would have been in those rooms gets moved to the corner of some rooms that you do keep. (ignore those other rooms as if they don't exist at all).

Or both ... ?

 

[humble minion]

Without knowing exactly your situation, it sounds like the PC in question is wasting a lot of (in-character) time.

You say the next 'maze' bit is a temple. Well, temples aren't just static piles of purely reactive encounters. If some adventuring meathead blunders in and starts systematically looting the place (following the left wall all the way round) he's going to be there for a while, and that gives the denizens time to raise the alarm, summon the guard, buff up, organise and coordinate a counterattack.

Make the bad guys be a bit proactive. The player might learn that sometimes speedy hit and run can be a better tactic, rather than a grim trawl for every last gp in the place.

 

[Turtlejay]

It sounds much more complicated than you let on.
- An auto-win button party is as much (or more) the DM's fault as the players.
- Wanting to 'clear the dungeon' is natural, and not always related to loot.
- Your seeming lack of control is odd, considering you are God of his world.

You have some options to fix this. You can make the combats meaningful (harder, more varied, etc) so the loot is seen as earned, rather than found. You can rewrite part of the upcoming adventure to cut out parts of the temple, eliminating some of the useless running around. You can do as was mentioned upthread, and narratively deal with it. You can be a rat bastard and not award him *anything*.

Underneath it all, I think there are som bigger issues, but without more info, I'll never know....

Jay

 

[ggroy]

Give him a "bag of devouring" that is a masquerading as a "bag of holding".

 

[Herobizkit]

I know a large part of it is my impatience. I want this adventure OVER so we can semi-retire the overpowered characters and concentrate on world-building. The PC has already constructed a fortress via a collection of Lyres of Building, and he is essentially trying to bring civilization to a wild land (to use WoW as a comparion, imagine if the Blood Elves had created Silvermoon City smack dab in the middle of the Barrens).

The reality is, he wants as much loot as possible to have as large a wealth base as possible for creating Portals (as per FRHB), and I don't begrudge him that.

I guess I'm just frustrated that we're so close to finishing and he still wants to take the time to collect loot FIRST. I'd be tempted to just write all the loot down, say "you find all this" and just move aside, but I think that takes the thrill of the discovery away. I don't even feel liek ramping up the challenges because I'm dealing with 4 gestalt characters, each around level 15. It's a headache, and every fight takes about an hour to play out. Now put 25-30 fights in a maze, add in that we only play once every couple of weeks (if that), and that just means MONTHS of waiting for this dumb thing to be over.

Bleh.

 

[Grue]

If the BBEG is aware of his presence (that adventures are in his base and killing his guys;-), just have the boss gather any remaining forces at his disposal, send a hit and run probe his way, and hopefully draw the player into a final encounter ambush.

Or if the boss figures he doesn't have enough forces to have even odds of winning...just have him run. Anti-climatic but either scenario would drive home an adventurer's main tactic is to hit hard and fast and worry about the swag second (after the opposition is dead or on the run)..

A viscious variation would be to set fire to the complex or collapse part of it.

 

[Jack7]

I don't know HBK, but, I do know that phat loot is usually a lot easier to carry than fat loot. Cause fat loot is a lot harder to move.

So maybe if you threw in more fat loot he'd eventually get the message and move along.

Then again, maybe he'd just hire elephants and porters.

 

[pogre]

It sounds like he is having a lot of fun.

Perhaps streamline the adventure - remove the maze and a lot of the chambers. Really load up the remaining encounters with tons of loot. Let him win and end the campaign.

Following the campaign you need to have a sitdown with your players to explain your expectations for the new campaign. It is vital that you have fun too. It sounds like you may have a mismatch in play styles and need to compromise on the next run.

 

[the Jester]

In short, the player essentally has an "I WIN" button in his PC/NPC group of and will flat out refuse to continue the adventure unless he has assurances that ALL treasure has been found.

So, as a DM, what would you do in my situation?

Er, how does he have an "I Win" button? Aren't you writing the encounters? Turn the difficulty up.

As to the treasure, if he spends hours of extra time searching for treasure, have the other inhabitants of the dungeon discover the killin' he has already done and respond, setting up defenses and sending scouting/assault parties to intercept him.