Punishing cheaters

[shilsen]

What ColonelHardisson said. Now that he's told you and deleted it, unless he starts pulling out and using information from the module in-game, it shouldn't be a problem.

If you're worried about his knowledge causing a problem, wait and see. Meta-knowledge isn't a problem with the right player. In my group we have a couple of people who take turns DM-ing (me included). Another person is DM-ing the RttToEE module. Since I spend a lot of time on these boards, I often run into information about the module, since everyone doesn't provide spoiler tags. My DM knows that I've known a lot of stuff before they occurred, but I never used the information, so it was never a problem.

Give your player the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Mark]

Re: Re: Punishing cheaters

Do you realy think any punishment on your part is going to make it less likely he'll do it again, or have any other positive outcome?

That's really the bottom line in all this.

Switch a few things around and keep an eye on his reaction. If you don't trust him because of how he reacts, then maybe boot him from the group. Otherwise, drop it. No good can come from punishing or lording over him something for which he admitted and already showed remorse. Reward his honesty by letting go of the matter and moving on.

 

[Larry Fitz]

Shave his cats. Contract a disease and engage in questionable behavior with his family members. Have all the NPC's inexplicably swear a blood oath on him and his entire spiritual lineage, so they can attack him and any other character he plays on sight. Shoot him in the calf and wait a full minute before letting anyone bandage it (brandish the gun menacingly if they try).

Sorry, everyone was being so ridiculously reasonable I felt a need to provide an opposing viewpoint. Really if I were you I'd just pick up the pieces of your shattered trust in that player and try to find a way to move on. Oh, and I'd eat more salty foods.

 

[jdavis]

burn down his house that'd teach him.

Of course you could realize that this is just a game people play for fun and point out to him that looking at the module takes away from both his fun and your fun, by knowing what's going on he is just taking away from what he gets out of gaming. It's sort of like watching reruns on TV if you know whats going to happen then it's just not as interesting, he's just taking away from his own enjoyment of the module. Point that out and let it go.

of course burning down his house would send a clear message that this type of behavior would not be tolerated in your game.

 

[Drawmack]

I have a very strict meta-gaming rule at my table. Before everyone jumps on me I have 3 of 5 brand new players and needed to implement the rule cause they were always trying to prove how much they had been reading the books. That rule is use meta game knowledge for an encounter and loose all xp for that encounter.


That being said. I write almost all my own adventures. If I wrote the adventure I make it freely available to the players. If I did not write the adventure I tell them where they can obtain a copy and the price of the adventure.

Why would/do I do this?
There are a couple of reasons actually.
1) If I try to hide something it makes the new players more, not less, likely to find out what I'm hiding.

2) I tell them that they can read the adventure but all they'll be doing is spoiling their own fun and inform them of the meta-knowledge rules.

3) Every new player reads the adventure the first time I do this. Then they know better then to do this in the future. I have never, ever had anyone read the adventure more then once until after we've played it. At which point they like to go through and see what they've missed and what else could have happened.

 

[Joker]

When I first became a full-time Dm the players didn't really respect me in any way or form because of a past experience Dm-ing that didn't work out. But then I started bringing in my trusty M4a1 Colt Carbine loaded with hollow points and every since then they have been very polite and orderly. I didn't even have to punish anyone. What a little hardware won't do for you.

Tata.

 

[Psion]

Did he read it, or just download it?

In any case, just switch stuff out.

Better yet, switch stuff out so it is dangerous if you assume it will follow the adventure as written.

 

[Mark Chance]

Better yet, switch stuff out so it is dangerous if you assume it will follow the adventure as written.

Excellent suggestion. I'd recommend switching stuff out no matter what, even if there is no reason to believe anyone other than you has read the module. I've never run a published module the way it was written. I even got frowned at by an RPGA event coordinator at a convention when word got back to her that I'd rewritten the RPGA module I'd been given to GM.

 

[DaveMage]

I would suggest discussing it with your entire group. Let them know what occured and how they would like to proceed.

I know that as a player, I would be annoyed if someone in my group had this type of knowledge and used it in play.

Kinda takes the fun out of it when someone knows what's going to happen. Why bother playing?

 

[Lichemaster]

I can't burn his house down! we play there. But I have already changed a few things an the ending is completely different, the druid is not thereand replaced with a worshipper of orcus,which will lead to another prebought book.
Everyone thanks for your imput, for those of you who want to make him pay I salute you!