I've seen it all too many times, now... One PC in a group, running around all over, trying to interact with the NPCs, trying to wring information out of the stingy Universe, trying to find the clues, decipher them, put them all together... In short, running all about like a headless chicken!
Meanwhile, the other PCs get annoyed. They want "to get to the good stuff" (combat, apparently). They grow increasingly irritated with the "headless chciken", who becomes annoyed at them, as well...
In the last game I played in, we had a situation like this. The problem seems to be exascerbated by the crawling rate of online play. Anyway, the headless chicken player (HC, hereafter), and one other player (who saw no reason for his lawful PC to "abandon his post" and accompany the adventurers) were sent a private E-mail by one of the "Do-little" players, asking if they weren't "overdoing this roleplaying", and (in the eyes of one PC, anyway), telling them how they should be playing their characters...
This greatly annoyed one player, whose PC promptly left the party. He E-mailed the GM and other players several times. The GM basically said "Can't we all just get along?" and let it go at that.
The upshot was, the Lawful Cleric, seeing no reason to abandon his post (and only two PCs even attempted to argue the point with him (including HC, of course!), out of a party of eight or so), stayed behind. The Player of the HC Cleric quit the game. The party then had no Clerics whatsoever, after starting with TWO!
So, are HC Players a problem in your campaigns? (If so, how do you handle them?)
Is this problem unique to online play? (I'm not interested in your opinions on online play, in general.)
Is there a better solution to this problem than angry players quitting the game?
Help!?!
Meanwhile, the other PCs get annoyed. They want "to get to the good stuff" (combat, apparently). They grow increasingly irritated with the "headless chciken", who becomes annoyed at them, as well...
In the last game I played in, we had a situation like this. The problem seems to be exascerbated by the crawling rate of online play. Anyway, the headless chicken player (HC, hereafter), and one other player (who saw no reason for his lawful PC to "abandon his post" and accompany the adventurers) were sent a private E-mail by one of the "Do-little" players, asking if they weren't "overdoing this roleplaying", and (in the eyes of one PC, anyway), telling them how they should be playing their characters...
This greatly annoyed one player, whose PC promptly left the party. He E-mailed the GM and other players several times. The GM basically said "Can't we all just get along?" and let it go at that.
The upshot was, the Lawful Cleric, seeing no reason to abandon his post (and only two PCs even attempted to argue the point with him (including HC, of course!), out of a party of eight or so), stayed behind. The Player of the HC Cleric quit the game. The party then had no Clerics whatsoever, after starting with TWO!
So, are HC Players a problem in your campaigns? (If so, how do you handle them?)
Is this problem unique to online play? (I'm not interested in your opinions on online play, in general.)
Is there a better solution to this problem than angry players quitting the game?
Help!?!
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