My players did the smart thing...

[SonOfLilith]

I was DM'ing a horror RPG, (CoC in this case), and it was the first time they have very played it. Mabey they where tired or something, but they just didn't want to play along. One player went to his house and hid under his bead. I tried to get him to come out, even to the point where he heard a little girl crying for help down the hall, but he just wouldn't move. So I went to concentrate on the other characters. He heard something rattling in back of his car, so he pulls into a gas station, and blows it up along with the car. I didn't want to get to extreme, because I was affraid that if I flat out killed them then they wouldn't want to play again. I mean, the players arn't the greatest of role-players, but I think blowing your car up for what you think is a loose muffler is a little extreme. And, the worst part is, they called the game boreing, and we'll probably never play it again! It was only boring because they didn't want to play! What should I do?

 

[Crothian]

Play something more to their liking. Not all players are for all genres. I tried to run a horror mystery game for my group and they totally failed at it. They missed clues, didn't think, they totally didn't get it. So, back to fighting in fantasy with a gently sprinkled amount of Role playing.

 

[rounser]

He heard something rattling in back of his car, so he pulls into a gas station, and blows it up along with the car.

That's awesome.

It seems your players don't want to play "in genre" - they're acting as if they know they're in a horror story. In response, I suggest taking the Army of Darkness approach to horror, and let the players kick ass and take names as their tactics suggest they would be more comfortable with. For inspiration, see American BadAss's posts on this thread:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=4491

One of the highlights:

there was a great funeral for drizzt and jimmy played stairway to heaven on his electric guitar, there was not a dry eye in all of mythril hall as the etherial song eccoed throughout it.

Pure class.

 

[milo]

I like a little bit of Roleplaying mixed in with a lot of killing. Mostly it is just my druid getting killed though. Some people just don't like to roleplay. I played with one group who just wanted to run arena matches because they liked to battle.

 

[Geoff Watson]

That's a real problem with CoC. How do you justify multple adventures for the same characters? Realisticly, people would not want to get involved in that sort of stuff. Realistically, they would run and hide. You need to come up with the stupidity common to horror movies to get the campaign going.

Geoff.

 

[mmadsen]

I was DM'ing a horror RPG, (CoC in this case), and it was the first time they have very played it. Mabey they where tired or something, but they just didn't want to play along. One player went to his house and hid under his bead.

Why did he hide under the bed? Was he horrified by something he saw? That would be in character -- not at all heroic, but certainly understandable. Or did you say, "We're playing Call of Cthulhu" and he said, "I hide under the bed"?

I tried to get him to come out, even to the point where he heard a little girl crying for help down the hall, but he just wouldn't move.

Did he have a reason to believe it was certain death?

So I went to concentrate on the other characters. He heard something rattling in back of his car, so he pulls into a gas station, and blows it up along with the car.

Excuse me? He hears something rattling...so he blows up the car? Did he have any reason to think the rattling meant Death From Beyond?

And how exactly did he blow up his car anyway? Does he carry C-4 everywhere he goes?

I didn't want to get to extreme, because I was affraid that if I flat out killed them then they wouldn't want to play again.

It sounds like they didn't want to play even the first time.

I mean, the players arn't the greatest of role-players, but I think blowing your car up for what you think is a loose muffler is a little extreme. And, the worst part is, they called the game boreing, and we'll probably never play it again! It was only boring because they didn't want to play! What should I do?

I feel justified in saying your players sabotaged your game and didn't give it a chance. With immature players, I'm not sure there's much you can do, but I generally suggest hiding the nature of the game from the players so they don't make meta-gaming decisions. If they're not sure whether it's a super-spy game, or an alien-invasion game, or a psychic-investigator game, then they won't assume everything is Great Cthulhu coming to kill them.

The last thing you want to do is gloat about how they're all going to die. If you do, they might give up -- and sabotage your game from the get-go.