Is your group "High Maintenence"?

[Xath]

I think in this instance (speaking as a member of the group in question) the high-maintenance may be partially manufactured. What I mean by that is, we have a hosted forum on the boards (and previously various threads in the appropriate forum) where basically you get 24/7 (i exaggerate for effect) interaction about the game. This increases the likelihood that what would be minor personality conflicts (we all have them and none of this is meant as criticism or worse towards any individuals) in a standard once a week/once every two weeks/monthly game, has a chance to create real tensions or other problems, especially given the impersonal nature of this form of communication. I was once a regular contributor to this aspect of the group, but have chosen to no longer submerse myself in the daily goings on online. I've found that I enjoy the game much more, and I can get excited about it, if I haven't spent all week niggling over pittances and getting annoyed with people who are otherwise my friends.

In this case, at least, I think what is (or seems to be) currently a high maintenance situation could be reduced to a moderate maintenance situation with a little space.

Otherwise, I've never been in such a group. Usually IME, if you're not the GM, you're not thinking too much about the game on the weekend until it's time to roll the dice. But I'm a laidback kinda gamer who likes laidback games.

I think JC is right here (speaking as another member of the group in question). The people who seem to have the most issues about the game (myself included) are the ones who immerse themselves on the boards. I pulled away from our forum for a while, and I found that I was much more amiable about the game in general.

It's true that the boards do help us work out character issues and do other things with the game that we normally wouldn't have a chance to. But it's also true that alot of the tension comes from information on the boards, and it's often just a misunderstanding based on the overgeneralities of text.

 

[Glyfair]

Definitely in the middle. There isn't too much inter-character/inter-player conflict (partially because I actively discourage it). However, the party isn't much for determining their own direction unless they completely wander away from the story. Sometimes I have to lead them by the nose or we sit there.

On the other hand, I used to play with what might have been one of the most low maintenence groups ever. Two of my friends asked me to run a game after hours at Origins (back when it was in Towson, MD). They created characters, I gave them the hook and they headed through the wilderness to the area where they had to be. The characters got into an argument about the best way of hunting. After sitting there for a bit, I went to wander a bit to see what was going on in open gaming (while keeping an eye to see when they finished). After about 5 minutes I came back and they were still having the argument in character (with demonstration). During that session, I think there were 3 or 4 times where I wandered away from the table for 5-10 minutes at a time and wasn't needed during that time.

The main group, at that time, varied from 2 player to 12 players (usually around 8). We never really had a problem with the large groups. While the GM was focused on one subgroup, the rest of the group roleplayed among themselves.

Unfortunately, that group spoiled me. Now I expect my players to be self-directed. I leave them openings so they can interact with each other and they rarely use it. That leaves a lot of "holes" in a session.

 

[Algolei]

None of the above.

My players get along swell, never fighting or anything, but they work together about as well as the...well just really bad. For instance, today I was DMing them through the Forge of Fury. They took out the sentries in front of the entrance, then spent over an hour discussing how they would get through the front door.

And I had to keep pointing out the flaws in their plans, like, "That's solid rock, you can't walk through it," and, "But I keep telling you, none of you HAVE a silence spell!"

They kept 'agreeing' to different plans, then trying to puzzle out what the others were talking about. For instance, one of them 'agreed' to running up to the door as fast as possible; the second said, "I agree, we attack the arrow slits with molotov cocktails;" and the third asked which arrow slit they were trying to enter through.

 

[Allanon]

My group are angels... until they head into battle
There are two rules lawyers in the game who either disagree between themselves or disagree with me. And I'm hesitant to use the "Rule 0" card because that more often than not leads to even more fighting afterwards. :\

The last couple of sessions have been great, they're a fun group but as one of the more mayor BBEG fights is coming up, I've been catching myself rereading rules I already know by heart and writing down excerpts and pagenumbers so I can quick reference everything during the session just to keep the flow going (we've had minor encounters take more than 2 hours because of rules bickering). I love being DM

 

[cmanos]

I have one very high maintenance player in the group I used to DM for. He's caused me to quit gaming twice. Not gonna happen again.

In my current group in which I am a plyer, there are few conflicts in character but nothing is taken personally.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Occassionally my players get into heated debates about the direction of their choices. I run a supers game and they wrestle over some of their actions and wonder what the best option is for a specific set of circumstances. For instance, one player constantly wants to deal with the underworld in order to get information on 'bigger fish' while a couple of others think this is the worst possible thing they can do.

But other than that, things run smoothly.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

The group I DM for are almost angels. We've dropped players before that caused problems (and I interview / screen new players, although we haven't had to look for any or a couple of years). The characters often have conflicts (and sometimes they get very serious) that on a few occasions have threatened to spill over to the players due to their dedication to role-playing and staying true to their characters, but everyone has been mature and prevented it from getting serious (i.e. talking any issues over on our forum, in person, etc.).

 

[Ysgarran]

Wasn't sure how to vote. Those who don't play well with others are very quickly asked to leave. That means that we have had problems in the group dynamics in the past but those disruptive players are not invited back. Hence the current group of players get along famously.

We had one player who has showing up because he knew his boss was playing in our group. He had no interest in D&D, he just wanted to brown nose with his boss. He was very argumentative about everything, considered his ability to stand his ground and make a point about how the game could be more 'realistic' as a positive character trait. He didn't last very long.

later,
Ysgarran.