Keeping the players from looking around the screen
- Thread starter SnowleopardVK
- Start date
Holy Bovine
First Post
Joking: Pepper spray. When someone looks behind the screen when your find is back there, spray until the can is empty.
Serious: Ask them why they keep doing that, and if slowing down game and lessening challenges are things they're really looking for in a game.
I once heard somebody on a different board outline his group's issue. They were playing 3.X, and somebody went online and found a bunch of "tricks" to "win" all the time. They'd fight, extend a Rope Trick (opens a pocket dimension where they can rest unharassed), and then they'd recover spells and kill another group. Then repeat. They did this about four times before the DM did something I thought was amazing.
When the group said "we exit the Rope Trick, and go through the door looking for the next group," the DM simply said, "you kill them, and are able to Rope Trick again. It works all throughout the rest of the fortress. You go on to level up, defeating hundreds and then thousands of opponents and propel yourselves to epic levels. You win."
They were dumbfounded. The DM said, "is this what you want out of the game? To win? Or do you want to play and take some risks?" The group decided they wanted to play, and they picked up coming out of the Rope Trick. They didn't use that "trick to win" or any others like it anymore.
Just make them really successful when they cheat. Look at an NPC or monster stats so they can kill it easier? The NPC or monster dies, then and there, for no reason (still gives full experience). Same things for bypassing traps. But, don't let the game progress like this, just skip over all the juicy combat, saying they win whenever anyone cheats. Then, like the other DM, ask if that's really how they want to play.
If that's really what they'd prefer (winning, but never getting to play out anything again), then you have an incompatible group (from the sounds of it). If it's not, maybe they'll stop, or the other players will make the 24 year old stop acting out.
Just my thoughts. As always, play what you like
This is brilliant, imo. THe pepper spray I mean
Seriously though I would follow through with everything James lays out here. Once they see how "exciting" the game has become they should desist (if they are beyond the maturity and intelligence of an 8 year old - actually scratch that - even my 8 year old nieces don't like cheaters!)
Holy Bovine
First Post
Then why is he playing D&D?
The Human Target
Adventurer
Does he understand that he has the maturity of an 8 year old, and that winning is meaningless if you don't play by the rules?
OnlineDM
Adventurer
I'm a supporter of the "forget the screen" method. When I've run games the traditional way I've not bothered with a screen, and this has worked great for me.
Then I fell in love with using MapTool to run games online, and I got a projector so that I could run them in-person with MapTool as well. I've never had a problem with players looking at the unrevealed parts of the map or at my notes, but then again it's a lot harder to do when the maps and notes are on a computer screen that's facing me.
I still use dice from time to time when the drama is appropriate. If there's a situation where the result of a bad guy's die roll could mean the difference between a PC living or dying, I'll sometimes ask the player to roll for the bad guy. I miss the fun of rolling dice in the open (the computer does it for me now), so I try to find ways to bring that back when I can.
Then I fell in love with using MapTool to run games online, and I got a projector so that I could run them in-person with MapTool as well. I've never had a problem with players looking at the unrevealed parts of the map or at my notes, but then again it's a lot harder to do when the maps and notes are on a computer screen that's facing me.
I still use dice from time to time when the drama is appropriate. If there's a situation where the result of a bad guy's die roll could mean the difference between a PC living or dying, I'll sometimes ask the player to roll for the bad guy. I miss the fun of rolling dice in the open (the computer does it for me now), so I try to find ways to bring that back when I can.
Pentius
First Post
Speaking up in support of screens, here.
I keep things behind them that I don't need players knowing. Monster stats, maps, notes. Die rolls, because some rolls are best unseen. M&Ms, in case one or more of your players is grabby.
I've never found it to block my view of the players. How big are screens, in your neck of the woods?
I've never found it to create a DM vs Player atmosphere. That may have happened with one of your players, but I haven't seen it in any of my games, from either side of the screen.
I keep things behind them that I don't need players knowing. Monster stats, maps, notes. Die rolls, because some rolls are best unseen. M&Ms, in case one or more of your players is grabby.
I've never found it to block my view of the players. How big are screens, in your neck of the woods?
I've never found it to create a DM vs Player atmosphere. That may have happened with one of your players, but I haven't seen it in any of my games, from either side of the screen.
Primitive Screwhead
First Post
Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk
Primitive Screwhead
First Post
Sorry bout the empty post..I hit 'discard'..
Anyway, screen or no screen...that is a style preference that won't impact the issue here.
I recommend talking to the group about your perception of cheating and enforce my favorite rule.."anything the players get, the DM gets as well"
This rule applies to cheating, rope tricks, automic weapons... etc...
I have successfully used this rule for years. If a player cheats, I level the playing field for the group and cheat back. I had one player that never missed. I mean never. So the monsters he attacked happened to have more hit points and were really good at hitting him.... The games kept going well, he had fun.. and he didn't overshadow anyone. Nor did his cheating mean the other PCs got stomped on.
YMMV, of course
Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk
Anyway, screen or no screen...that is a style preference that won't impact the issue here.
I recommend talking to the group about your perception of cheating and enforce my favorite rule.."anything the players get, the DM gets as well"
This rule applies to cheating, rope tricks, automic weapons... etc...
I have successfully used this rule for years. If a player cheats, I level the playing field for the group and cheat back. I had one player that never missed. I mean never. So the monsters he attacked happened to have more hit points and were really good at hitting him.... The games kept going well, he had fun.. and he didn't overshadow anyone. Nor did his cheating mean the other PCs got stomped on.
YMMV, of course
Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk
Crazy Jerome
First Post
We long ago had a rule about treasure, adopted from my parents' rule at Christmas when I was growing up: If you knew about it before you opened it, you didn't get it. This was to stop snooping. I felt the same way about treasure, but I haven't invoked that in years.
I haven't used a screen in a long time, and love rolling out in the open (no fudge). If I need to have a search check or something like it hidden, I just roll the die behind a cupped hand. Works great.
Moreover, I fragantly and repeatedly provide misinformation to the players. NPCs lie, sometimes in subtle ways. Clues are put in to mislead. The agent that hired them has an agenda he doesn't share. Misinformation is in my notes, and not clearly marked as such. (I have no trouble keeping it straight, and thus don't need to so mark it.)
Then metagaming, I'll casually mention things in passing, often that has nothing to do with the game in progress. Remember that link to the spider-killing spider someone posted a couple of weeks back? I sent that to all my players and said that I'd never troll the internet for new monsters research. (Biggest fears of the table--magical cats, giant spiders, and mind flayers. I never pass on an opportunity to invoke those fears.) There were no spiders in any of the places they could have gone, and I had no intention of adding any.
The funny thing is that the players all know that I do this, but it still works.
So, the upshot is that they do not want to see my notes. I'll leave them out on the table, uncovered, when we take a break. No one even thinks about peaking. Heck, a couple of times a player has covered the notes up because they were afraid to see them. As far as they are concerned, the notes are Scribbles of the Old Ones, and to be avoided at all costs! They would no more look at my notes than make a hastily worded wish or draw from the Deck of Many Things.
I haven't used a screen in a long time, and love rolling out in the open (no fudge). If I need to have a search check or something like it hidden, I just roll the die behind a cupped hand. Works great.
Moreover, I fragantly and repeatedly provide misinformation to the players. NPCs lie, sometimes in subtle ways. Clues are put in to mislead. The agent that hired them has an agenda he doesn't share. Misinformation is in my notes, and not clearly marked as such. (I have no trouble keeping it straight, and thus don't need to so mark it.)
Then metagaming, I'll casually mention things in passing, often that has nothing to do with the game in progress. Remember that link to the spider-killing spider someone posted a couple of weeks back? I sent that to all my players and said that I'd never troll the internet for new monsters research. (Biggest fears of the table--magical cats, giant spiders, and mind flayers. I never pass on an opportunity to invoke those fears.) There were no spiders in any of the places they could have gone, and I had no intention of adding any.
The funny thing is that the players all know that I do this, but it still works.
So, the upshot is that they do not want to see my notes. I'll leave them out on the table, uncovered, when we take a break. No one even thinks about peaking. Heck, a couple of times a player has covered the notes up because they were afraid to see them. As far as they are concerned, the notes are Scribbles of the Old Ones, and to be avoided at all costs! They would no more look at my notes than make a hastily worded wish or draw from the Deck of Many Things.
Similar Threads
