D&D General I want to fire a player.

[Lanefan]

The DM asked a player to leave a campaign I was playing in, after talking to the rest of us. We had a steady weekly game, and a year+ into play that player started running a game every other week - on the same night. It was because he wanted to get his wife back into the game and that was the only night she was available, but that meant both him and his adult son who was also part of our game were gone every other week. That swing of two players was too much, and when we couldn't find a day to move our game to we asked him to drop out of that game. He then completely severed contact with everyone in the group, sad as he was a fun guy.

Competition for nights of the week - particularly weekend nights - can be a problem in groups where multiple DMs want to both run games and play in others' games, says he who has been low-key dealing with this on and off for nigh-on 40 years now...

 

[iserith]

Also it's worth noting that if you're playing on a VTT as the OP is, you never have to settle for players or a DM that aren't fun. There's a practically infinite pool of DMs and players (more players than DMs though). Keep rotating them in and out until you have the perfect group.

 

[Blue]

Competition for nights of the week - particularly weekend nights - can be a problem in groups where multiple DMs want to both run games and play in others' games, says he who has been low-key dealing with this on and off for nigh-on 40 years now...

Agreed. As work and then family has taken more and more time this has gotten harder for me as well, and I would place us in good company.

The fact that he was in a game and started another game the same night - if it was me and I wanted tho start that game (he had gfood reason), I would have bowed out of the weekly game I was already in, and hopefully gotten a chance to play with those people at a future point. Expecting that game to every week go up and down two players (him + his adult son) was not a reasonable expectation to the group.

 

[Jaeger]

In the past but every time we start a new game the same stuff comes back up.

First of all, due to personal issues he randomly doesn't show up (we play VTT) but even worse when he doesn't the game is better.

Mort fixed this for you:

we finally just stopped inviting him to game with us.

Yes, he is your friend. But sometimes RPG's with friends just doesn't work out. Yes it S.U.C.K.S....

But you need to look at it as ripping off a band-aid: A quick sharp pain now in exchange for much less ongoing pain down the road.

 

[Andvari]

Is it deciding what to, resolving the action he chose, or both, that's taking so long?

 

[MNblockhead]

I do not. I've been exposed to businesses having to fire clients before, so I am used to that kind of use of the term.

So have I, but a TTRPG group is not a buisness. The DM probably isn't paying his players. I just find using the word "fire" strange in a non-employment situation.

 

[MNblockhead]

I have two players that struggle with the VTT. It’s made me consider moving to a ‘lighter’ VTT and trying for a more ‘at the table’ kind of experience.

Paper character sheets, trust in honest dice rolls and move on. I haven’t gone down that road but I definitely need to test it.

Check out Role (Role - Every story, every world, every version of you.). More of a video conference platform optimized for gaming. I've also heard good things about Owlbear Rodeo. Sure you can just use Zoom, Google Meet, etc. But I like shared roles. Not because I don't trust my players but it is fun for the group to see and react to each others rolls.

If you play 5e and use DnD Beyond, you can use whatever video conference tool you want and do your rolls on DDB. That works well for theater of the mind play, but I like sharing battlemaps and tokens at least for more complex battles. Role gives a nice compromise between full VTTs and pure video conference tools.

 

[Umbran]

So have I, but a TTRPG group is not a buisness. The DM probably isn't paying his players.

That sounds... like it is ignoring my example and trying to counter it at the same time?

My example was about a service provider firing a client, not an employee. If that's strange to you, well, sorry, but it is a common enough use in my experience.

While money doesn't usually change hands (though these days sometimes it does - there are people who GM for $$) the GM/player relationship isn't far from a service provider/client relationship.

I just find using the word "fire" strange in a non-employment situation.

Okay. I didn't try to tell you how you should feel, so I'm not sure why this is directed at me.

 

[MNblockhead]

That sounds... like it is ignoring my example and trying to counter it at the same time?

My example was about a service provider firing a client, not an employee. If that's strange to you, well, sorry, but it is a common enough use in my experience.

Oops. Yep. Poor reading on my part.

"Fire a client" is a common phrase. True. Not sure why that doesn't rankle when "firing a player" does. I guess because a gaming group generally isn't (and not in the OP's situation, afaik) an commercial relationship. Similarly, I would find it odd for someone to say they fired their girl/boy friend.

While money doesn't usually change hands (though these days sometimes it does - there are people who GM for $$) the GM/player relationship isn't far from a service provider/client relationship.

I see the analogy. Not sure I like it, but sure.

Okay. I didn't try to tell you how you should feel, so I'm not sure why this is directed at me.

I probably should have just posted without replying. Not really meant to be directed at you, just generally commenting on the conversation over whether using the word "fire" when kicking someone out of a gaming group seems odd. To at least a number of posters in this thread it does. Anyway, not trying to start an argument. Doesn't really bother me if someone says they are going to fire a player. Just strikes me as odd, I've not really heard people use "fire" in this context.

 

[Andvari]

The company I work for uninvited several employees not long ago.