Player schticks that grind your gears

[dpmcalister]

In my group, if your character didn't want to join the group on the adventure, that would be the end of your fun for that night.

To be fair (to myself ), that's never happened. My character (Savanak) will always go with the majority decision, but he has his own views and is pretty set in his ways (I purposely made him as a 30+ year old human when the rest of the group were low-to-mid 20s). Maybe it's a bit too difficult to explain here (or maybe not), but I enjoy the conflict within the group. I don't (didn't) purposely go out of my way to cause arguments with the character, but I enjoyed the roleplaying that occured when things didn't go Savanak's way.

Role-playing is one thing.
Role-playing to the detriment of the fun of the group is something else entirely.

I completely agree. It's one of the things that made my old group fun. Nothing was at the detriment of everyone else's fun. In fact, I'm fairly sure that at least a couple of the other players enjoyed the in character arguments as well...

Of course, I would say that

 

[Ed_Laprade]

That's why I tell them to write it down. Amazing things, pencil and paper, you can quickly jot down a note and it'll still be there next week when you need it. If you can remember major NPCs and plot points without taking a few notes, great. Unfortunately, most people can't (or at least will forget parts).

I did that early on in my gaming life. Stopped real quick too. I write reeeel slooooow. At least, if I want to be able to read the notes a week or more later. It's a case of either the GM reminds me when I forget, or we waste a lot of time while I sloowwwly write out every single detail. No one cared for that, especially me!

 

[Chimera]

I have an incompetant character but you can't complain because it's an "interesting concept."

Been there, seen that.

Now I have one 'in-character' question: "What do you contribute to the group?".

If the answer is "nothing", then I refuse to adventure with you. You're less than no help, you're a liability. That doesn't mean that I won't play with the player, it just means that I won't play with that character, even if it means that I take a walk from the game group. (Only had to make this an issue once, and was able to convince the GM and the rest of the group that there was no value in having a non-contributing treasure and experience sponge "along for the ride".)

As a GM, I have no problems telling that player to get bent.

 

[Barak]

Mr "I die? No problem!"

So this is a WFRP campaign, but it could have just as easily been D&D. Guy's character dies. So does he roll up a new character? No. He just takes his character sheet and writes "II" next to his character's name. He even wrote an extra 'I' later on.

 

[Hammerhead]

So this is a WFRP campaign, but it could have just as easily been D&D. Guy's character dies. So does he roll up a new character? No. He just takes his character sheet and writes "II" next to his character's name. He even wrote an extra 'I' later on.

Heh. Knuckles the VI.

 

[Chimera]

Role-playing is one thing.
Role-playing to the detriment of the fun of the group is something else entirely.

Mr./Ms. Spoiler Takes great pleasure in wrecking havok on the party's plans, on playing stupid at the wrong time.


Played in a game where the GM's girlfriend played a low-wisdom Scout who was constantly (intentially, on the part of the player) spoiling our plans, blurting out the wrong words at the wrong time to important NPCs, basically trashing everything the group tried to do.

Unfortunately, the Face Man player of the group kept congratulating her on her "good role-play" (encouraging her), even as I (the tactician of the group) fumed over every act of sabotage. Worse, the GM thought I was being an expletive by trying to spoil her fun.

Eventually things came to a head and I turned to the other three players, who had been publicly silent up, privately complaining. All three finally came out and stated that she was ruining the game and making them unhappy.

The behavior changed.


I have the Ultimate Unbeatable Character Concept! (and nothing will disuade me from trying to play it, not even logic!)

I know a guy who keeps talking about his Telepath Concept. Thinks that simply because he can make a concentration check to show no outward sign, that he can do everything and anything with no consequences. I can just rip things from people's minds! No one will ever know it's me! Played it in a short-lived game and completely shut down as a player when NPCs made their Will Saves. Oh wait, I can't do X if there's the slightest chance of failure. (Um, hey, maybe you should get the clue that diplomatic NPCs tend to have high Will Saves, eh?) Unfortunately for every GM since (myself included), despite several attempts (involving other people as well) to convince him that that's not the way it works, he keeps talking about this concept and how much he wants to play it.

 

[Montague68]

Hey, you knew him too?

The guy I knew was a LotR freak who always played a Ranger. Badly. Never had any goals or ambitions, never had any background, never had any any clue.

One of the weirdest experiences I've had with a player was when one of the regulars brought a new player into the game. The guy brought a laptop filled with almost every reference book on PDF. He rolled up his character (a ranger, incidentally) no problem. Knew all the feats and what they did inside and out. Knew combat like the back of his hand. He was rather extroverted and enthusiastic. I thought to myself - "Cool, guy knows what he's doing."

We play out the obligatory intro scene and immediately the new guy gets a deer in the headlights look. One of the regulars (the guy who brought him in) starts talking to him in character. The new guy just sat there and stared at him and was totally speechless. The regular asks him who he was and what he was doing there. The new guy told him his REAL name! When the regular player said "I'm not talking to YOU! This is in character." He didn't seem to get it. Finally the new guy sort of slips into character and the regular guy repeats the question. All the new guy could come out with was "Well, my name is....*turns to sheet*... Reginald.... I'm a ranger... that's.... that's what I do...."

Come to find out that this guy played D&D for years without even the slightest shade of roleplaying. Not even the barest of bones speaking to blacksmiths, innkeeps, or anything of that sort where even the hackiest of slashers sometimes roleplay by accident. Apparently in the games he was in, the DM teleported them to dungeon after dungeon, trotted out monster after monster, gave out treasure, acted as storekeeper and moneychanger, then rinsed and repeated, all without the barest hint of a game world or any NPC interaction.

He gave it the old college try over a couple of games but quit soon thereafter, and his friend told us that he considered us "too weird" and we took the game too seriously. Heh.

 

[Greg K]

My Character Wouldn't Agree To This

Actually, I have done this and the GM thought it was very appropriate.

Among the things that the GM told me at the beginning of the campaign that the monks in his world were paladin-like fanatics with a strong moral sense of wrong and right. They will act on these convictions rather than sit idly by as some injustice is being done-- even if this meant death as their convictions are that strong.

So, the party, after a long campaign and the destruction of the BBEG, went off adventuring in another part of the world. Shortly after arriving, the party came to a city where people were being prepared for execution. After questioning onlookers, the party learned that the people were being executed for such things as stealing bread for their children, not bowing low enought to a noble, etc. My character felt punishment did not fit the crime and wanted to intervene, but the party didn't want to take action without learning more about the city.

THe monk informed the party that he would not sit idly by and watch people put to death for such trivial offenses. He was told by another party member that they understood, but, if I took any action now, the Monk would have to leave the party- the party could not be associated with his actions which would endanger the party. The party needed to wait and learn more about this new place before trying to set things right-unfortunately, that meant the current executionees were expendable for the greater good. Obviously, this was unacceptable.

I told the GM, that based on what he had told the monk order and how the character had been played in the past, my character would not sit by and watch the excectuion. He would find it imperative to take action. If necessary, I'd make up a new character and have the current character become an NPC.

The GM aggreed that it would have been out of character for me not to try and free the people about to be executed. Then, he surprised everyone. He told me that there was no need for me make a new character. He played out the rescue in which all anyone saw was a a rapid blur of movement (thanks to some spells and magic items) in which prisoners were freed and guards disarmed.

The GM then cut to the party and played out two weeks of game time in which they learned more about the town and discovered a resistance organization which they tried to join.

Occassionally, the GM would cut to me and play out a quick one or two round encounter before going back to the main group. He'd then mention that there were rumors of a vigilante fighting crime, rescuing women being accosted , and championing the poor. He'd also mentioned reward posters were going up and guardsmen were out searching for the mysterious figure before cutting back to the party.

Then, GM set in motion events to bring my character back to the group. He had my character stumble upon information about a plot against the party. THe monk left them a warning and began watching their backs from the shadows.

Eventually, the party got ambushed, my character was caught while coming to their aid and we were all recruited into the "resistance".

The party was back together.

 

[KenM]

I did that early on in my gaming life. Stopped real quick too. I write reeeel slooooow. At least, if I want to be able to read the notes a week or more later. It's a case of either the GM reminds me when I forget, or we waste a lot of time while I sloowwwly write out every single detail. No one cared for that, especially me!

No comment.

 

[wingsandsword]

So this is a WFRP campaign, but it could have just as easily been D&D. Guy's character dies. So does he roll up a new character? No. He just takes his character sheet and writes "II" next to his character's name. He even wrote an extra 'I' later on.

Sounds like somebody needs to be playing Paranoia instead of D&D. I've heard of players like this, but never really seen it in D&D.

The closest I ever saw it to being in action was in a Wheel of Time campaign, where by some freakishly bad dice rolls involving a critical hit for maximum damage, and nobody being able to heal him in time, a PC was dropped in the first action of the round of the first fight of the first session of the campaign.

His replacement PC was a character with identical gear (1st level starting gear), stats (point buy), feats, class and skills. He had a similar name, and was the other character's brother. This player only did it once, in that limited case though, because it was at the very outset of the campaign and the death was pretty much a freak accident.