HeapThaumaturgist said:
TALK TO HIM.
Or
KICK HIM OUT
There's not exactly a lot in between. I guess I could come up with some more esoteric advice.
Hrm.
I advise you to buy a ballerina costume and a 'magic wand' at the local Target. Halloween is close, their displays are already out. While you're there, pick up several party strobe lights. Get some body glitter from the girls' make-up section. Next proceed to the Sporting Goods section. Buy yourself a pulley, a carabiner, and a section of rope with a test strength greater than your weight. Next, proceed to the electronics department. There you should purchase a portable stereo system with the largest wattage you can find, preferably one with some sort of enhanced bass boost and built-in extra subwoofer. Also purchase a Slipknot CD.
Take these things back to your apartment/dorm-room/rental home. Attach the pulley to the tree outside of your room-mate's window. Securely attach the carabiner to the rope, and thread the rope through the pulley. Get a strong friend, or group of friends (enlist the rest of the group, whom this player is disturbing!). They should hold the end of the rope not attached to the carabiner.
As he's your room-mate, you have access to him during the hours he normally sleeps. Make sure the window to the room is unlocked. Wish him a good night as he retires for bed. Feign that you, yourself, are leaving to do something entirely uninteresting, like buy hemrhoidal cream at the local all-night department store. Sneak outside and slip into the ballerina costume you purchased earlier. Liberally apply body-glitter to any areas of exposed skin, including your face, hair, and facial hair. Grab the strobe lights and the stereo (with Slipknot CD). Turn the volume knob as high as it will go, make sure the bass boost is enabled. Turn everything else to 11.
Attach yourself to the rope with the carabiner and have the rest of the group hoist you up to your room-mate's window ... or, if it's a 1st floor room, just walk up to it. Open the window and carefully, quietly climb inside. Then, before your room-mate awakens, engage the strobelights and hit PLAY on the stereo. Jump onto his bed and scream as loudly as you can with the music, then fall to your knees, pinning his arms to the bed. Get in his face and scream:
"I AM THE RPG FAIRY!! Your play style is bogarting the fun for everyone else in the group. You will immediately cease and desist playing sick, depraved, psychotic killers. You will STOP watching Sin City. You will play characters whose personalities and actions aid and add to the fun of every other member of the play group. If you do not, I, the RPG FAIRY will return and totally kill you like Marv did to that Spiderman/Charlie Brown lookin' dude in Sin City. It will NOT be cool."
Then, real quick, grab your strobes and the stereo and JUMP OUT THE WINDOW. Everybody on the other end of the rope should then hoist you up out of sight so it looks like you're flying.
This should be sufficient to solve your issue.
--fje
This brilliant solution could certainly be used to solve more than one player problem, I'd wager. It's elegant AND hysterical.
Oh, so he likes Tarantino movies, huh? OK fine. Give him what he wants. Have his character pulls up to this strip bar that's actually the top part of an Aztec pyramid. Have the strippers give him a lap dance, then tear his throat out as they suck his blood.
OK, let's get serious. People game for a handful of different reasons. Some want to let out some tension/aggression/frustration built up over the course of the week. Some want to "be someone else" for a little while. Some want to play out their fantasies.
If he's citing the "let out tension" reason, ok, that's not as disturbing as "playing out their fantasies". But regardless of where this is coming from, if it's interfering with OTHER people's desire to play out their fantasies, or other people's ability to be someone else, then it's not fair to those other players.
If this guy was in my campaign, here's how I'd tackle it:
1. Meet him one on one.
2. Acknowledge that the "real world" blows, and that people can be utter crapheads, certain to build up frustration levels in even the most patient of people.
3. Tell him that his "let out tension" reasons for playing are valid, and are no better or worse than any other reason to play. No one's judging his motives.
4. Remind him that he doesn't play in a vacuum, however, and that other people would like to relax and have fun, and doing ultra-violence ALL the time is off-putting.
5. Suggest that he find other ways to channel it out, not actually getting rid of the ultra-violence, but simply expanding his repertoire of 'dealing mechanisms.' All things in moderation, you know?
6. If all else fails (and if you have the time), offer to run a few one-on-ones with him, low XP yield so that he doesn't get ahead of the rest of the party, some side quests where he can be an ultra-violent droog to his heart's content, and possibly have some nice dark secrets that are hinted to at the rest of the party but are "best left unmentioned".
7. If after all this, nothing changes for the better, then perhaps it would be best if he found a campaign that's more tailored to his motives and tastes. Again, this doesn't have to be a judgement, condemnation, or personal attack. But be prepared for the person to make it personal, or just be a complete jerk about it, taking it in the worst way possible. If he does that, there's not much you can do about it. Stick to your guns, and don't change for one person.
Oh wow....I'm having a flashback here of a time when I had to deal with some irrational players. But it didn't have to do with too much violence, simply the overall tone and theme of the campaign, and my DMing style. This is an extremely rough paraphrase of how things went:
Crazed, Easily Angered, Overly Defensive Psycho Bee-atch: "Blah-blah-blah, change this, change that, yadda-yadda-yadda, favoritism, blah-blah-blah."
Me, the DM: "Well, I'm sorry, but this is the way the game is run. I cannot and will not change either my style or the direction of the campaign, especially since well over half of the group has no problems with it. There's also no favoritism, as everyone in this group has gotten a break on more than one occasion, including you. If you don't like the way it's run, then maybe you need to find a DM who runs things more to your liking."
CEAODPB: "Oh, so what you're saying to me is 'It's my way or the highway!', huh?"
Me: "Well, I didn't put it that way. You did. If you want to twist my words, fine. I guess the bottom line is the same, eh?"
CEAODPB: "I see. Well, my trust in you is gone. I'm leaving."
Whipped Boyfriend of CEAODPB: "Uh...I agree with her, even though you and I were on the verge of working out a decent compromise."
Close Friend And Former Lover of CEADOPB: "Um...while I agree with some of what she says, I don't think things are that bad. But I've spent the last year getting back into her good graces, and I'll be jeapordizing it if I break ranks with her. So, I'm leaving too."
ME: "Buh-bye."
CEAODPB: "I'm going to be complaining about you in my blog!"
ME: "Let me know how that works out for you. On second thought, don't."
EPILOGUE:
We lost those 3 players, and one other was uncomfortable with the situation, so he drifted off. We got some new players and the group is OUTstanding!!!
LMAO. no, really.
