Player schticks that grind your gears

[FolcoTook]

The Uptight Rules Lawyer: Believes in following the absolute letter of the rules and will stop play for hours if he thinks a DM judgement is wrong. Is completely unwilling to table such discussions until after the session.

The Jailhouse Rules Lawyer: Thinks he is a standard rules lawyer, but there is one very important difference... he doesn't really know the rules. He'll make a case based on a fragment of information, often out of context (for example, the summary spell descriptions in the PHB), but then refuses to admit defeat when presented with superior evidence countering his argument (to continue the example, the full spell desicription later in the PHB - not that I've dealt with this guy before).

Note - I don't have a problem with the Relaxed Rules Lawyer. That's the guy that knows the rules inside and out, is more than willing to share that knowledge when called on, but understands that sometimes the GM just has to make a ruling and go on. Will wait until after a game session to have any lengthy rules discussions so game time isn't disrupted.

-FT

 

[Stalker0]

Mr.Unraveling Character

He'll try any character concept, but will get bored quickly and his characters will all devolve into random chaotic lunatics.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I'm a drow renegade with two scimitars and my name is Grizzt.

I created a character named Trizzt Do'Arden and posted him on darkmoongallery.com/npc!

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

"What about that 'Ay-Oh-Oh' thingy? Explain it again and I will try not to forget it like the last 17 times."

 

[Shadowslayer]

The Grass is "Cooler" on the Other Side Player. This guy has a pet game that is the bomb to him, but no one else plays it. Whatever comes up...the other game does it better, and he'll tell you all about it. He talks suspiciously like the Band Camp girl.

Sometimes you can give in and play his game for awhile. Even have a little fun. But this guy seems to feel that now that you're playing his game, you'll be chucking your D&D books in the nearest dumpster because now you have "seen the light".

This guy grinds my gears, but ultimately I feel sorry for him. He's the one that always ends up the most disappointed in the end.

 

[jeffh]

You mean I need to remember stuff?
It's not the GMs job to remind the players what happened in the last game, much less so if the player was busily ignoring the game last time. As I tell my players nowadays, if they don't remember, their PCs don't remember (after all, they didn't have the luxury of having a handy writing utensil and parchment sitting in front of them while the story unfolded). More than one group has lost opportunities or gotten themselves into trouble because they apparently suffered from acute amnesia.

See, that, in my view, is poor DMing on your part. In fact, I've seen this attitude singlehandedly destroy a group.

For the players, this stuff happened a week ago or more, was at best quicly described to them, and is part of something they are doing as a hobby. They have jobs, relationships, other friends, and other hobbies. For the characters, on the other hand, those events may have happened a few hours ago as part of something they actually experienced, and this is information their lives may depend on.

How is it even possible for you to think they should be treated the same way? I seriously don't see how anyone who gave the matter a moment's thought could ever, in a million years, reach that conclusion. It's like saying two and two make five.

Forcing the players to take all the responsibility for this
1. Is utterly preposterous from the point of view of having a reasonable, internally consistent world
2. Is completely unsatisfying from the point of view of telling a good story
3. Is egregiously unfair from the point of view of running a reasonable game
4. Most importantly, is just not fun for anyone but the power-tripping GM (and, more often than not, is frustrating even for him)

In short, it's one of the few GM behaviours I am willing to say is, always and everywhere, completely unacceptable. It has, as far as I am honestly able to see, no upside whatsoever, no matter what kind of group you have - and gamers' tastes are diverse enough that it's very rare to be able to say that.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

My Name is...

Eager to join into your campaign, comes up with a well built character that will fit right into the party. The rest of the group meets him so asks for a description of the PC, and he waxes lyrical for a few minutes on all the details, bringing a great character to life. It's then you realise that you don't know the guys name...

Oh yes its Farkwarzel Dingly Dang

 

[arwink]

My Character Wouldn't Agree To This

The entire group is ready to head off, except the one player who feels like it's against his character to go along with the plot and leaves. While I'm all for playing the character concept you want to play, teamwork and compramise are a big part of the game.

 

[Mouseferatu]

5. The dark, mysterious basa$$ loner. You know the guy, the one that never works with the group, always going off on his own, and refuses to answer any questions directly. He's more concerned with looking cool and playing a clone of his favorite basa$$ than actually integrating with the group.

My Character Wouldn't Agree To This

The entire group is ready to head off, except the one player who feels like it's against his character to go along with the plot and leaves. While I'm all for playing the character concept you want to play, teamwork and compramise are a big part of the game.

*shudder, cringe, scream*

I've dealt with both of these on so many occasions, it's not even funny.

I have, however, finally come up with a solution.

"Okay, you go off on your own/refuse to join the group. Make a new character who will cooperate with the party. In the meantime, we'll be over here..."

 

[Numion]

The Non-Roleplaying Roleplayer

"Whaddayamean I don't get XP for roleplaying?"

"Your character hardly spoke the whole session"

"But that's how my character is - he doesn't speak much. I played him to a T, I should get the points!"

" ... riiiiight"

I have one player with this attitude. He makes characters who are best roleplayed by not roleplaying at all (silent, on the background), and then expects to get XP points for roleplaying.