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<blockquote data-quote="Timeboxer" data-source="post: 3135991" data-attributes="member: 21471">This one is a player behavior question from perhaps a unique perspective -- one of the other players.So last session of my D20 Modern game we'd just come out of negotiating a settlement with a pimply necromancer and his undead mother to write a tell-all book about how Disney ripped off the Pirates of the Caribbean from their famiiy history.&nbsp; (Long story.)&nbsp; In the group are me, my roommate, a mutual friend, and my roommate's boyfriend as the GM.After some back-and-forth it turns out that our boss, while pleased with our performance, is unhappy with our expense report, and accordingly is going to reduce it until everything evens out.&nbsp; My roommate is unhappy with this and the following conversation ensues.Player (as character): &quot;I will guarantee that the book deal will turn out and we will recoup our losses.&quot;GM (as boss): &quot;Would you stake your job on it?&quot;Player (as character): &quot;I would.&quot;GM: &quot;Okay.&nbsp; Tell me what you would do.&quot;Player: &quot;What?&nbsp; Just tell me what rolls I have to make and I'll do 'em.&quot;GM: &quot;No, you got yourself into this, so you're going to have to get yourself out.&quot;Player: &quot;No.&quot;GM: &quot;No?&quot;Player: &quot;No.&nbsp; I'm not going to do this.&nbsp; If the entire session were about this plotline it would be ---ing boring.&quot;GM: &quot;Yes, but your character made the decision to stake his job on it.&quot;Player: &quot;Fine, but I'm not going to play it.&nbsp; We are not going to play this plotline.&nbsp; Tell me what rolls I have to make and move on.&quot;At this point the game had to be called for ten minutes so people could stalk off while the other player and I looked at each other nonplussed.&nbsp; Eventually the two of us talked my roommate into apologizing, though perhaps not in the most ideal way, and the game got back on track after an extended effort between the two of us to lighten the mood.So, yes.&nbsp; I must admit that I would not be surprised if something similar were to happen in the future, so, any advice or experiences someone can share on how to handle a situation like this, either as a GM or fellow player?&nbsp; Saying &quot;Just eject her from the game&quot; is fair enough, but the personal relationships involved make these things much harder to deal with.Edit: Just to point out, the rough expectation of the GM (and I didn't convey this properly in the original post) was that the character would find an excellent ghostwriter of some sort, would somehow invest in the marketing campaign, or otherwise pull strings of some sort.&nbsp; We had the deal already but the details were up to higher-up administration (i.e., not-us) to figure out -- the implication was that the character would take on some of that responsibility and thus either the success or failure of the project.&nbsp; This did come out in discussion at the table.Having thus done so, it seemed as if ensuring that the venture succeeded was going to be the focus of the whole session.&nbsp; The issue here, at least in my eyes, though, is that the player said, &quot;No, we are not going to focus on that.&nbsp; Give us something else to do.&nbsp; I will roll the rolls you need me to, but I won't spend any time on this narrative path.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Timeboxer, post: 3135991, member: 21471"] This one is a player behavior question from perhaps a unique perspective -- one of the other players. So last session of my D20 Modern game we'd just come out of negotiating a settlement with a pimply necromancer and his undead mother to write a tell-all book about how Disney ripped off the Pirates of the Caribbean from their famiiy history. (Long story.) In the group are me, my roommate, a mutual friend, and my roommate's boyfriend as the GM. After some back-and-forth it turns out that our boss, while pleased with our performance, is unhappy with our expense report, and accordingly is going to reduce it until everything evens out. My roommate is unhappy with this and the following conversation ensues. Player (as character): "I will guarantee that the book deal will turn out and we will recoup our losses." GM (as boss): "Would you stake your job on it?" Player (as character): "I would." GM: "Okay. Tell me what you would do." Player: "What? Just tell me what rolls I have to make and I'll do 'em." GM: "No, you got yourself into this, so you're going to have to get yourself out." Player: "No." GM: "No?" Player: "No. I'm not going to do this. If the entire session were about this plotline it would be ---ing boring." GM: "Yes, but [i]your character[/i] made the decision to stake his job on it." Player: "Fine, but I'm not going to play it. We are not going to play this plotline. Tell me what rolls I have to make and move on." At this point the game had to be called for ten minutes so people could stalk off while the other player and I looked at each other nonplussed. Eventually the two of us talked my roommate into apologizing, though perhaps not in the most ideal way, and the game got back on track after an extended effort between the two of us to lighten the mood. So, yes. I must admit that I would not be surprised if something similar were to happen in the future, so, any advice or experiences someone can share on how to handle a situation like this, either as a GM or fellow player? Saying "Just eject her from the game" is fair enough, but the personal relationships involved make these things much harder to deal with. [b]Edit:[/b] Just to point out, the rough expectation of the GM (and I didn't convey this properly in the original post) was that the character would find an excellent ghostwriter of some sort, would somehow invest in the marketing campaign, or otherwise pull strings of some sort. We had the deal already but the details were up to higher-up administration (i.e., not-us) to figure out -- the implication was that the character would take on some of that responsibility and thus either the success or failure of the project. This did come out in discussion at the table. Having thus done so, it seemed as if ensuring that the venture succeeded was going to be the focus of the whole session. The issue here, at least in my eyes, though, is that the player said, "No, we are not going to focus on that. Give us something else to do. I will roll the rolls you need me to, but I won't spend any time on this narrative path." [/QUOTE]

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