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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ourchair" data-source="post: 5223169" data-attributes="member: 85362">I'm a relatively new DM who's always struggling to improve his synergy with other people and players (as opposed to wrestling with the rules, that's not a problem) and I've got a problem:I have a player who is generally a problem when it comes to allowing the entire party to make meaningful progress. It's hard to describe so instead I'll just cite various problem scenarios and let you guys do the diagnosis (there's my Psych degree talking):* I'm unable to tell whether he's being in character or making a crack and sometimes that leads to mistakes on my part but regardless, I need to verify his remarks in most matters outside of combat. I've taken to making NPCs mock him whenever he behaves in a 'silly' fashion, but I'm thinking that the way in which the world reacts to him needs to be stepped up to something more consequential.* In the interest of 'letting the rest of the party know' he routinely parrots what I say when providing check-induced lore results or flat out leading his character along through narration. (i.e. Me: "You know that the nearest Ghallanda operated rest house is the Broken Anvil, two miles north of here." Him: "The nearest Ghallanda operated rest house is two miles north of here. It's called the Broken Anvil.") Sometimes it can be disruptive as it really seems more like a cheap play for laughs.* He's subtly uncooperative or bossy about what he wants to do, and on occasion the things are nonsensical for his own amusement. The rest of the players don't mind him, but I think it detracts from party synergy. He will split the party, start bar fights, skin the carcasses of aberrants, wolves and any other creature in the hopes of selling them for loot and for the most part none of these actions further their goals, and eats up precious table time, as opposed to other players who conduct research, use their tools to perform forensics or take time out to consult NPCs.I think the problem really is that he has this idea of what role-playing is, based on an Internet concept of it ("Can I Intimidate? I skin the giant and try to sell it for monies! What the merchant won't buy it? Intimidate! If I put a wolf carcass on my shoulder do I get a plus to Intimidate?") and is generally playing it up for laughs and is only playing because he needs to be the center of attention, which the rest of the players are all too willing to let him.I don't want to make it look like I'm forcing my own campaign goals on him, but I lack experience in teaching players about how game behavior reflects on their character's in-world status, as well as how to handle this behavior on a metagame level.</blockquote>

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