New Player out of Nowhere!

[Edgewood]

Okay, I have two players in my game with room for two more. Suddenly out of the blue, one of my players fires me an e-mail saying "hey one of my buddies wants to join the group, here's his character he'll be there the next game" (which is this coming Saturday). Great, I have a new player.

What gets me is I have no idea who this person is, they don't know my homebrew campaign world, knows very little about the story and the character was made without my input, review, or anything.

Personally I like to ease a person in, introduce them to the game world, make sure their character at least fits in. I'm now confronted with how this character joins the group, where are they from, how prepared the player is and etc. Is it just me? Am I overreacting? How do you handle this? Should I just go with the flow or perhaps meet him first? I don't want to lose a new player but I would like a bit of a heads up prior to having someone join in.

 

[Rechan]

No, not overreacting. In general, just saying "Hey a guy is showing up and here's his character" is kind of rude. Typically you want the DM's approval. Something like:

"hey, my friend is coming into town, and he's a gamer; would it be problematic if he joined?" Or "Hey I have a friend who's interested - can he play?". It's just polite.

Not to mention you're not getting much a chance to vet the charactersheet.

 

[wedgeski]

I would certainly want to meet someone before they joined the game, especially if the game took place at my home, which my weekly one does (the important thing about that first meeting, though, is that you have to be prepared for the possibility of saying "no"). To my mind, the personality of the player is way more important than campaign or character considerations.

 

[Wepwawet]

Not to mention you're not getting much a chance to vet the charactersheet.

Why the hell not?

Yeah, the way your player introduces a new one is very rude.
But all you have to do is ask for the new player's email, check his character, and tell him to change whatever you feel doesn't match your campaign. And send him the campaign setting as well.

You can tell how good he knows the game from how he builds his character.

Personality is very important, though. At the very least chatting over IM would be advisable.

 

[fba827]

You're not overreacting - you weren't asked if the new player could join, you were told. And in any sort of organized system, that is just inconsiderate/rude depending on the nature of your personal relationship.

If you generally trust the player who did the invite of the new player, then try and go with the flow BUT now just make your followup be "can i have his email address, i want to flesh out his pc to make sure it fits with the setting and also send him a campaign primer" (or something to that effect)

When working stuff out with the new player, -consider- keeping the tone more akin to "guest spot" player and refer to him as such until after a couple sessions have passed to see how well he/she fits in with the group. Though considering your only down to 2 other players, he'll have fewer personalities that he has to potentially get along with (i.e. it's harder to fit in with a 6 man group than a 3 man group).

In a very "by the way" sort of conversation, mention that "hey, for next time, if you find a new player, could you tell him/her you need to ask me first, and then ask me. It won't necessarily be a problem but it just gives me a bit more heads up. thanks."

 

[vagabundo]

If I only had two players I'd give the new guy a shot - although you should have been asked first, not told.

Tell your friend that you'll see how things work out with newbie. It leaves the door open for you kicking him if things go wrong. You can then work with the new guy to fit him into the campaign.

 

[Gilladian]

Personally, I'd contact the player who did the inviting and say something like "this is great, but tell your friend you jumped the gun a bit. He's not guaranteed a permanent spot in the game until we all meet him and agree to it."

Put your friend back in the position of having to explain, since he was rude enough to do the inviting without your input.

Then get the guy's email and talk to him about the campaign. Vet his character that way, and go from there. Let him know that you always give new players a 2 session trial run, both to see if they like the game, and to see if their new character fits the game. There's nothing wrong with being honest upfront.

 

[Dausuul]

Personally, I'd contact the player who did the inviting and say something like "this is great, but tell your friend you jumped the gun a bit. He's not guaranteed a permanent spot in the game until we all meet him and agree to it."

Put your friend back in the position of having to explain, since he was rude enough to do the inviting without your input.

Good answer here. You just don't invite new players without consulting with the rest of the group and especially the DM.

 

[S'mon]

It seems very rude. You need to assert your authoritay and make sure the PC and player fit your game.

 

[EnochSeven]

Personally, I'd contact the player who did the inviting and say something like "this is great, but tell your friend you jumped the gun a bit. He's not guaranteed a permanent spot in the game until we all meet him and agree to it."
.

This is a great reply, which I will remember should this situation happen to me.