PC Issue

[IvanDragonov]

Okay guys I wasn't quite sure where to post this so I decided on 2nd edition since I run a second edition campaign lol I run epic adventures so, horrible things happen, characters die, bad guys are out to do evil things. One of my players has a Knight, and is disgruntled considering retiring his character, because 'bad things happen all the time'. Point in case a temple was often attacked by a mummy who confused it with his former temple for various reason. A emperor was possessed by a demon, villians managed to attain the magical items they had been searching for. A war has broken out among several countries and an evil demon lord is being 'raised' by the villians. He says his character can"t handle all the negative factors. FYI, they defeated the mummy and saved everyone, his knighthood which was outlawed, received a pardon for defeating said mummy. They cured the emperor thus saving the entire empire and received various plots of land. They defeated and slayed numerous enemies, major villians actually. Overall fairy equal positives for negatives. Mind you this knight has like a +6 to hit and +10 to damage through the character min/maxing, and plans to give up his character or playing outright if he loses a single point of strength. Also no one has permanently died once in all the months of playing, and those who have died have been ressurected. I usually never do ressurection or hand out tons of magical items (2 for each player), but have done so with this current party. Is it just me or does this player seem to give up at ANY negative turn? Adventuring and fighting ghosts and vampires equals yes there is danger of score losses and death...monsters would lose their edge and it'd be pretty boring fighting bad guys that have no real affect on you. How do I handle this? I feel like this player thinks he should only gain and gain and gain, and never suffer effects. Seems unsportsman like to me. Any thoughts? I'm kinda in a bind, and ps. he gets mad they fight tough villians who they must gain levels (which they have) in order to defeat. sorry for the novel-long post, but HELP!!!!

pps the party has 3 players all of 6th level

 

[billd91]

I kind of empathize with your player. I've been in campaigns that have a very strong oppressive element before and it can get pretty psychologically taxing, even if you thwart most of the antagonists' plans. In the campaign I played in, the bad guys always seemed a step ahead of us, were much more powerful, never seemed to stop harassing us, and their plots were always epic in scope. Though the DM had always built in ways for us to prevail (though often through close-fought campaigns), the general atmosphere, sense of dread, and feeling of onrushing entropy took its toll.

I think it's important to have some breathing space in there, some lighter adventures, rather than have everything be all-epic, all the time. Give the players a chance to set part of the agenda, choose where they want to go, and see what happens. Where they end up doesn't have to be tied into the next world-destroying epic adventure.

Gaming is supposed to be fun. While it can be fun to be on the edge of your seat from time to time, it's painful after a while. I can't do it all day, my behind gets sore and that's not fun. While that's a joke more than anything, it also applies to the mental aspects of being on the edge of your seat.

 

[interwyrm]

sorry for the novel-long post, but HELP!!!!

Splitting things up into paragraphs would help a lot. Here's what I extracted from your wall o text.

A player is frustrated because things keep going wrong despite their continued success. You think he's being a pantywaist and want to know what to do.

My advice is to switch up the action a little bit. All of the plot points you have are of the threat-response style. Try giving them the opportunity to go on a mission of exploration instead of constantly having to respond. Try taking something like the holy grail as inspiration.

 

[IvanDragonov]

Ah two very very helpful suggestions. Definately gives me lots of ideas. They are on their way to rescue an npc which will be the first part of the next adventure, something light afterwards seems like a good idea

 

[Oryan77]

I just think some people would rather feel like they are playing D&D in GOD mode. I don't mind bad things happening to my PCs. I actually find it interesting as long as it was legit. I don't really like playing D&D with people that would throw a PC away for the slightest hardship...I really hate that reaction. One of my previous players was captured and had his wizards spellbook taken from him. He said that if he doesn't find it, he'd rather make a new PC than go through the hassle of regaining his spells again. I understand the logic behind this...but my thought is, why play D&D then? Why not just play a video game so you can revert to the last save point when things don't go your way? I'm not trying to be a smartass, it just seems like D&D is more of a hassle to a player like that and playing a video game would simply be more convenient to that play style.

I don't know what advice to offer that hasn't already been offered. Maybe cater to the players and throw several really easy encounters at them? I try to do this often so my players feel tough...but with my group, it backfires on me a lot. Their lvl 9 PCs have run from a CR 2 rat swarm before, but were all gung-ho about taking on the CR 17 encounter that was not meant to be fought So even making them feel tough can be difficult