My Game Is In Trouble :(

[KenNYC]

I am DMing Caverns of Thracia. My group is the following:

One player who likes to DM from the backseat and correct you on rules at all times
One player who refused to do anything except for dumb sitcom nonsense
One player who finds the sitcom player hilarious
One player sort of new to D&D and these are the only people he has played with so that's all he knows

We also have guest players who come and go:

One player who just learned the game and doesn't really know how to play

Someone's girlfiend

One player who is a math whiz in real life and for whom rules are his safe zone, so he plays with an eye toward rules, the narrative is irrelevant to him. It's a logic puzzle you just need to know the rule to solve.


They all play murder hobo style.

I have been trying to DM Caverns of Thracia for them. They don't know enough to be on the lookout for traps. They watched the ranger fall into a trap door and die (he just forged ahead without worry) so they just decided to step around the trap and of course fell into a trap of their own.

They don't think to search for secret doors.

The Ranger went into the woods and I mentioned this might be a good time to scout around and see what the place is about. He decided that no, he just wanted to look for berries.

The adventure concerns warring factions and I first had them meet one group who actually namedropped someone (their leader) but that just went in one ear and out the other. I sent three small groups of gnolls at them and had each group the last member surrender hoping they might question him, "take me to your leader", let him go and follow him, something to get the basic idea out in the open to the players, but no they just kill the gnolls even if they drop their weapon.

They found a clue telling them to look for a squat black building, but they didn't. They ignored it.

They needed help rules wise since they were just barging in everywhere acting foolish. They ran into a creature that had 3 attacks per rd for 2d10 +4 of damage. They are second level and were getting their heads handed to them, so I split up the three attacks having the monster take 2 attacks with his 19 initiative but saving his last attack for next to last in the rd. The idea was to give them a chance to kill this thing before he attacked with his third attack. The rules lawyer told me this is wrong, and one player told me don't do that. I told them in D&D the DM can change rules around, but the backseat DM is fighting every call I make.

The sitcom guy played a gnome ranger because he found it funny he can't see through the grass and he wanted a longsword. I said that seems pretty impossible to me and I could see a dagger or a short sword as a stretch. I was told by the guy who finds sitcom funny "what difference does it make?!?"

Should I drop this game?

 

[Imaculata]

Seems to me like you need to run a different style of campaign with this group. This doesn't seem like the sort of group that will follow the plot, or clues. A sandbox may be more up their alley. One with a less serious tone.

Alternatively, you can look for a more serious group of players.

 

[Jhaelen]

Someone's girlfiend

A girl fiend? Now that sounds interesting

This is obviously a case of different expectations. Apart from the rules lawyer DM and the math guy, this group seems to be looking for some beer & pretzl fun, ideally of the silly kind. The adventure you've chosen doesn't seem to be a good match. The most important question is: Are you prepared to run a game that suits their style?

I recently started DMing for a group of newbies and I could already tell from the "One Unique Things" they picked (this is a 13th Age game) that were hoping for some silly fun. For me it's a nice change of pace. Since the combat encounters were quite tough, I refrained from playing them too intelligently, instead playing up stereotypes and their internal bickering. I think it went quite well and the group's looking forward to our next session. I think it helps that the 13th Age rule set recommends a more relaxed approach and allows players to go ahead and help describing the game world. It's also really easy to improvise and work with the players' ideas, even if they're completely over the top.

 

[Tapdance]

I agree. Your game's in trouble.

My suggestion would be to 1) discuss with the group what they actually want the game to be like. 2) Drop the current adventure and throw an oldschool dungeoncrawl at them. No major plot, no "realism", just one room after another filled with monsters, traps, and loot, and then top off the dungeon with a "boss" monster.

The backseat DM has to be told that while it's OK for him to point out what RAW is, the DM is the final arbiter of what goes and does not go in his game, and if he has a problem with that, you probably isn't the right DM for him.

Sitcom dude just wants to have fun. A dungeoncrawl should be right for him. No need to engage with the game on a deep level, just casual monster killing.

Sitcom enjoyer should be fine with a dungeoncrawl too.

Newbie player will probably be fine to, but I'd suggest talking with him about the situation out-of-game, and possibly inviting him to join another game with a different group of more "serious" players, who will provide him with a different experience. But again, it depends on what he wants from the game, and whether or not he's happy with how things are at the moment.

The biggest issue I seem to detect here, is that you don't sound like you are very happy with the situation, and that this isn't the kind of game you want to run. So the question is whether you would be happy running a dungeoncrawl game with no real plot, beyond "Kill the monsters, get the loot"?

Good luck.

 

[Nagol]

If you are not having fun and you don't think there is a substantial chance that will change then drop the game.

Determine what sort of game play would allow you to have fun. Talk to potential players (the ones in front of you and any others) about what you want to run in sufficient detail that everyone can make an informed choice about participating -- "Let's play D&D!" isn't enough as you've discovered. If you attract sufficient players to run a game then go for it. If you don't then hopefully some of the suggestions/counter proposals others make during the discussion are of interest and a compromise can be found.

 

[TerraDave]

Probably time to reboot.

I am not sure what you are running, but its real easy to find 5e players right now.

 

[MNblockhead]

In this situation, I would likely end the game or find a different game.

If you are up for DMing it, I would recommend a game like Paranoia for this group. The index card RPG is another game that is good for beer & pretzel play.

If you are set on running D&D and want a more serious game, I would scrap it and start over and have a session zero where you discuss expectations and lay ground rules.

 

[iserith]

Some of this is probably your approach to DMing. Some of it is probably the player personalities and desires. But ultimately it's a mismatch of expectations which has two main solutions: (1) A group discussion to get everyone on the same page before moving forward or (2) Going separate ways.

Having a Session Zero where expectations are set prior to getting a campaign started goes a long way toward resolving these issues before they become a problem at the table. If you didn't do this for this game, I recommend doing so for future games.

 

[Istbor]

The main rule I try to stick to in D&D is always, is fun being had?

Are they players enjoying themselves and the campaign?
Is the DM enjoying running the game?

If one or neither of these are true, then something should change. No one wants to be dragged to a gaming session they aren't enjoying.

I certainly don't want to prepare a campaign which fails to excite me. Where it starts to feel like work.

As others have said, it may be time to stop, and see what everyone wants to do. And unfortunately, if that thing or style isn't something you want to do, you may need to find another group, or refrain from being the DM for a spell.

 

[The Fighter-Cricket]

I only can reiterate what the others said:

Tell your players that you aren't having such a good time as DM and tell them in broad strokes what kind of game you would like to play or what you are expecting from this round. If the players say that they are cool with that, have another session, try it out.

If it works: great! If not: then the group constellation isn't really working and everybody is expecting something different from the game. Just call it quits and search for some other players. I'm sure in your part of the world there will be plenty!

And next time, when you start with a new group, you can tell the group what kind of game you would like to play and ask what they would like. (But be warned: Sometimes people don't know what they want and the information you get can be misleading. Then just try out what you think will be good for you and the group and after two or three sessions ask again if everybody is enjoying themselves.)

And keep us informed how it went!