[ot rant] a player who annoys me to the point of psychotic thoughts

[Kichwas]

I've found that whenever I recruit players from outside my social circle it's a near given that I will get one or two who just don't match the group no matter how hard I try to screen.


So you have to be willing to weed people out.
You can just say there's a style conflict and leave it at that.

Another thing I notice is the ages. People at 22 are still mostly teenagers. They're in a different world than people at 26.

More than likely there's a difference of having a profession, possibly a family, and all kinds of responsibilities that a kid of 22 still thinks is just something 'foolish' their parents got stuck with that they can avoid...

It can be hard to socialize across that boundry. Once you've "joined the real world" as they say you lose touch with the values of the people not yet there.

Though in this case both parties are right on the edges of the gap. There's still a gap. The average 22 year old has more in common with a 15 year old than with the average 26 year old.

 

[Fade]

Hit him with a shovel and bury him in your backyard.

 

[Trellian]

In the past, I have used a variety of methods of getting rid of players. I have been playing for 8 years, and when we started, I was only 14 years old.

As you can imagine, some of the players were quite childish, but so were we all, and we enjoyed monster slaying and treasure hunting at first, moving over to thicker plots, puzzles and mysteries after some years.

Some players have left voluntarily, some have not. Whenever the others in my group were fed up with a person, we simply voted. If the majority voted for the person to be kicked out, so he was.

Two players have been kicked out because they were harassing the other players. One even started pinching and tugging on one others hair!! He was a boy, she was a girl, I guess it was flirting, but we were 15 years and out he went.

One other player was kicked out because he twice in a month filled the other players shoes with snow! He had to leave early due to having to catch a bus, and before he left, he gave one of the players a little present. His intent was to fill the shoes of the above mentioned tugger and pincher, but instead, he mistakingly filled the shoes of the more high-regarded players.

He was asked to join again after a month or so, and is still part of my group.

The third player was also kind of obusive to the others. Taunting them, making jokes on their behalf etc.. Players would rather quit than play with him in the end.. but none wanted to "vote him out". We were all 18-19 at this stage. Fortunately, I had to leave for army duty around this time, and so the group temporarily dissolved itself. When I returned from the army, I restarted the group, WITHOUT the abusive player...

The fourth one was a recent addition. He had played Diablo, and wanted to try RPGs. We're 20-21 now, so we certainly have moved from hack & slash to character and plot driven adventures. Anyway, this player found that style of play to be quite dull, and one time, he actually fell asleep on the couch while playing.

"Hey, somebody just cast sleep on him," one of my players remarked.

So we just stopped telling him when we were playing, and he's not complained about it.

OK... lot of ranting here, but I guess a lot of these stories are quite amusing. All of these have been my friends, both before and after they were playing. None of them feels any bitterness towards me. Since you met this guy in the internet, and probably don't socialize with him other than your game sessions, I don't really see why you shouldn't kick him out...

 

[Humanophile]

I'm afraid there is a reason that gamers have the Android Dungeon fanboy stereotype, and this guy seems to be it. And while I wouldn't really have anything to say against kicking him to the curb (He's not really a friend or anything, you can cite differences in play style and tell him it's not working out), what to do depends ultimately on what you think of him outside of the game.

If you don't really care, you don't need the players, he's an active bore/annoyance, and/or normal talks to rein him in don't work, give him the "our play styles just don't mesh" talk. If you know any less mature groups locally, do him a favor and connect him there so he can get his crap out of his system. Even/especially a bad open LARP to get his kewl concepts/p0werz cycled out of his system. (Admit it; most of you reasonable, mature roleplayers out there probably went through a munchkin phase, a "rip off my favorite work of fiction" phase, and a dark white wolf phase before settling. Give this guy a chance to find his place even if you have to write him off for now.)

If he's likeable outside of his fandoms, you're too nice a person, and/or you don't want to mess with your plot to remove him totally, try giving him some books or such that are more your DMing/playing style. Hopefully he'll be ripping off something closer to home, but at least that'll be more manageable. (If you're playing FR, make SURE not to give him those novels, though. We don't need another Drizzt clone.) That, or find/found a jedi-like paladin order somewhere in your campaign world, give him some good basic stereotypes to get into, and hope that if you meet him halfway he'll meet you there.

 

[herald]

Tell him that your banning all talk about his Star Wars character while you playing the game. If he has to talk about it, he can do it before or after, just not during. And if he asks you why, pull him a side and let him know that youu and the others don't like it when he does it.

 

[Maddenus2]

1 warning then boot him

I've played with someone like this

If he is mature enough to take the warning he will stop if not boot him.

on past experiance people like this dont actually listen so you end up booting them. These are the people that give D&D a bad name obsessing over every fantsy thing.
Explain that they wont fit in this game, maybe suggest they go bak on the net and find people that are playing a starwars campaign. or tell them to conform and shut up.

"No i dont want to play a Half ogre ninja berzerker called Raphel and I really cant see why ogres would use paired Sai and wear silly sashes across their eye, and yes i know that this is a Fantasy game therefore anything is possible but i would rather you attempt to get your 1st level fighter to jump across a 100 meter wide gorge on a pair of wooden and paper wings and a rocket attached to it than let you play THAT"

now if that didnt get the message across (which it didnt) then you just dont tell them you are playing and after (several months, death threats, promises of summoning demons, ninja night visits) and every just killing his chrs off every time they got the chance he got the message

One problem that makes this scary is that he could be one of THOSE nutters.

 

[Wild Karrde]

Hit him with a shovel and bury him in your backyard.

I second this motion. Always works for me when my players are causing problems.

 

[Talon]

Just a thought here, but why not give him what he wants...sort of. Allow him to play a PsyWarrior. The class has some of the powers that he, in his "Fanboy" mode, could be happy with. Add a crystal Psychic weapon, and he's all set, for his Jedi Knight.

If he complains after that, you just say "I gave you what you wanted, you're not happy, so maybe it's best if you don't play with us anymore."

That way you as a DM, have tried to meet all of your players needs, and can get rid of him[if the situation still warrants it] and not feel guilty. You have at least tried.

Chris

 

[Zappo]

I second this motion. Always works for me when my players are causing problems.

'tis good for the flowers, too.

 

[eXodus]

talon: i offered up the monk/psychic warrior combo as a option to fill his jedi-seeking ways. but it was not good enough for him.

he cannot even really justify why he should be allowed to play a jedi in a d&d game.

come on? how in the hell does one make a technological marvel like a lightsaber in d&d?

and he even thinks that it is all balanced. that really throws me for a loop. the jedi knight is so much more powerful than any other warrior-classed character.

i am going to give him the choice of either playing my game or don't play.

simple as that.

we shall see on monday how it goes.......