How to stop my players from doing these things?

[Henry]

1) The "Loner" hero.

Ask every player to come up with one paragraph of decription of their character. Ask they to include two ways in which they have previously known at least two other characters. Tell them that they don't have to provide any background, but inform them that if they do not, one WILL be provided for them. Then you have free reign to insert as many long-lost uncles, cousins and lovers as you see fit.

2) The really really odd PC.

Give them only the races and classes from the core books. Even then, seven races and eleven classes is a darned wide range to make characters in! If they can't play something original from that mix, then they need to start getting more creative. I've played at least once to thrice a month for the past 4 years NON-STOP, and there are STILL races and classes I want to try!

3) The PCs not knowing each other.

The first suggestion would take care of this.


I hope some of these are useful!

 

[Dimwhit]

3) The PCs not knowing each other. Now, I'd like to keep a fairly wide range of options open(see above, I know I'll get the complaints if I don't), but I'd like to avoid the "you all meet in a tavern" cliche. How to get the PCs together but keep the options open for what they can play?

We've had this problem a lot. Our PCs don't know each other, and often end up not getting along much. So next campaign, we're going to try a "Theme" campaign. We'll all start out as Fighter-types in service to a King (all will be Good-aligned), and go from there. That way, we'll all start out knowing each other and (in theory) getting along. From there the campaign will take off. We're all pretty excited about it.

But we've toyed with a number of Themed campaigns, so you might start there. The caviat is that everyone needs to be willing to conform slightly to the theme you all agree on. But there is still a lot of options.

Just a thought.

 

[blackshirt5]

Yeah, let me clarify a bit on my buddies "powergaming comment"("I like to keep it interesting with the weird PCs. And yes, I powergame it a bit. Don't we all?"). I'm a hard DM. I tend to gear things for more high-powered characters. If you have a ranger who's dumping everything into learning to be a diplomat, and spending your feats on skills instead of learning how to use your schnazzy weapons, and you've got a retinue of sparrows as your animal companions, you're not gonna live long in my gameworld. While I'll make concessions for newbies(as I sometimes do for another friend, Chris), they know what they're getting into. I'm not asking for super-optimized killing machines. However, all my players know that my encounters can be very hard, and I don't like killing PCs if I can help it. Hence, everyone powergames a little bit in my games. So, he's not alone.

 

[ledded]

Well, with the werewolf PCs, he always wants to be one who can control it. The next time he asks, I'm pointing him towards the Hengeyokai, and the Shifter PrC, because that's more what he's looking for. IMC, werewolves are evil. Always have been, always will be.

And I can understand his motivation(he wants to "keep things interesting" as well as, admittedly, powergame a bit), but it gets irritating. Just once, I'd love to see a sword and shield fighter. Once.

Maybe try and help him realize that it's not the classes and race that makes your PC stand out, it's the way he's played.

I once ran a D&D campaign where everyone was part of a rogue's "crew", organized crime with competing Guilds in a city like Venice. Almost everyone took at least a few levels in rogue, but every last character was completely unique and different. We had a dwarven fighter-rogue, a growling, hard-to-control bag-man and part time forge-man. We had a rogue-wizard, who was into alchemy, scared of heights and often squeaked in surprise, specialized in setting fires. We had a female half-orc barbarian/rogue legbreaker and shylock. A cleric/rogue faceman and swindler, whose lover was the wife of one of the leading councilmen in the city. A third-story wizard/rogue that talked like a New Jersey goombah who used his monkey familiar to perform ingenious feats of breaking and entering.

Each was very interesting, specialized, and unique even though they were very similarly classed.

Encouraging him to pick something and make his character good at it, while developing a style and habits for the PC that make him unique, will pay off if you can get him to buy into it.

I would also reward PC's with good backgrounds with something passed on by family or prior events, as well as use that backstory to weave events in parts of the campaign to highlight the benefit of having an interesting character. Sure, you can use ties in a negative way, but often it's much more rewarding to the PC's when visiting a city and a semi-important NPC goes "Oh hey, you're one of the *Barlington* Joneses? Hey, I knew your great uncle Mike, come on in and have a drink...".

 

[blargney the second]

Your problems sound like three variations of the same thing: players who want to play distinctive individuals.

Ask your players if that's what they're really looking for, and try to find out how you can help them achieve that. See if there's some deep-seated need that you've previously failed to address when DMing.

-blarg

 

[Xath]

1) The "Loner" hero. you know the type; doesn't really have a backstory, or his backstory consists of "my family was killed; I'm the only one left." Often seems to be a dodge to get out of having their background "exploited" to help the story.

The Universe, my GM at present, doesn't let the "my parents are dead" thing get in the way of messing around with our family trees. He seems to have great fun with making the PCs in the campaign related to good and evil NPCs and each other.

 

[Falstaff]

Just run a HackMaster campaign and you will not have any of these problems.

 

[BSF]

First of all, don't reward backgrounds/concepts that do not facilitate the game you want to run. This is different from trying to screw the guy over, but don't provide a reward for the "lone wolf" or the "freak".

Second of all, decide what kind of game you want to run ahead of time and build limitations around that. You want the PC's to know each other? Tell the players that ahead of time. Let them come up with a way to explain it. You want them all to be good aligned? Say so from the beginning. It is good to have an openendedness to the game, but ask yourself if you really want to run a game where anything goes? As the DM, you need to be able to run the game you want to run as well as allowing the players to play in a game they want to play in.

Thirdly, bring in character backgrounds and use them. Use them as story hooks for and against the party. It is easy for Players to be afraid that their background will be twisted and used against them. Don't fall into that trap. Yes, it is acceptable to use background elements to drive the story, but don't always do it in a manner that is negative.

In the end, it is easier to integrate characters with detailed backgrounds, who are team-oriented and who fit the game you want to run than it is to fit the mysterious loner who is just as likely to betray his companions as he is to attack their foes. Be up front with your players and explain what you are trying to achieve with the game. They will probably be pretty open to your ideas.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My group has examples of the good and the bad in background. Everyone made their characters in a vacuum, maybe knowing the class each was planning to play to to be sure needed bases were covered. Too often I have used the tavern thing (last time they stepped up to defend the sorceress who was being hit on my a drunk sailor, all got arrested and had to work off their fines). We have always rewarded the backstory with some kind of gift (usually minor magical or masterwork item).

The good example is the player with a 17 year old sorceress who ran away from her wealthy and influential family because they did not like her practicing that "filthy sorcery stuff". Her parents have been searching for her and on several occasions, the people they hired to find her have gotten very close (i.e. fun side encounters that do not involve combat, but instead misdirection, evading pusrsuit, bluffing and the like to slip away). I granted her a couple of bonus spells for her character to know that fit her story really well, but were so not useful in game terms she was hesitant to use her precious Spells Known slots on them. She loves them and is always ready to cast them if the situation is right.

The not so good example is the player who bought his fighter all kinds of equipment and armor, but could not afford the Double Orc-axe that he wanted, so he wrote his story so that his parents were dead and he was raised by an orc who gave him his masterwork axe with his dying breath. No ties, just a reason to get a weapon he didn't want to spend money on. The only saving grace is that he has refused to use any other weapon, even if magical, because his axe is so personal to him.

Next campaign I am planning to have the group make their characters together and work out realtionships from the start. You won't need to know everyone, but everyone needs to know someone else in the party to tie them together. I am hoping to drop the gifts aspect and explain that I hope to use a well written backstory to provide more depth to the characters and maybe some hooks. Yep, you might have to rescue your kidnapped sister, but you also might find that your uncle has connections into that organization you are trying to join.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

First remember that you are the DM and you have every right to set limits and expectations on your players for YOUR game.

Loner - I've had these before but they almost always work themselves out. Basically, I don't script them into the game. They are forever doomed to be sidekicks and background characters. They'll follow the other players around but never have an adventure focused on their characters. Make it obvious that you are scripting the campaign with input from the PC's backgrounds.

Weirdo - I have one too. She wanted to play a half sun elf/half drow swashbuckler in the Forgotten Realms. I made the mistake of allowing it but I made up for it by enforcing racism in the setting. I also canned that game later and switched settings and specifically told the players from the outset what was allowable... everything else not mentioned was NOT. Standing firm on allowable choices is the easiest way to go... much easier than taking it back or allowing a weird character to ruin the feel of your campaign.

Meeting - Have them meet as slaves/captives and have them free themselves. They won't have any possessions at the outset and you can use it as a tool to ensure that they don't aquire any weird items through character creation that you don't want them to have.