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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6340442" data-attributes="member: 4937">This is why you have a Captain aboard a starships instead of trying to run them by committee. Isn't it interesting how the persons who most demand others submit to their whims are always the ones that think everyone else is being inconsiderate?No, that isn't it.  You said the problem yourself.From everything you've said about him the type of player I call an 'ego gamer', in that a large part of the reason he plays RPGs is self-validation.  You're probably dealing with a fundamentally insecure personality and RPGs feed the need for affirmation.   This can be functional or dysfunctional depending on how the player deals with his need for affirmation.   Everyone who plays RPGs, even if the primary goal of play isn't affirmation, enjoys receiving affirmation and the illusion of success.  The one part of the 'Community' D&D episode that really played out true to life for me is that both the hero and the protagonist were the same sorts of persons gaming for the same sorts of reasons - the need for self-validation.  In fact, the recognition that the game could be affirming to the protagonist was the whole motivation behind the session (pity gaming?).  But the two different players ultimately took two completely different approaches to how they received their affirmation.The fact that the player in question is also a power gamer isn't the problem.   Power gaming can be socially functional or dysfunctional depending on how it is done.   The problem is you have an ego gamer, who is a power gamer, who has poor system mastery and so is always looking for some sort of short cut to success.   Players with really high levels of system mastery not only don't need all the short cuts he's been taking, but are capable of creating characters that look innocuous on paper but become insanely powerful in practice (CoDzilla's for example).   That of course is also potentially dysfunctional, but a decent power gamer knows to dial down the impact on play until you reach that point were you are facing defeat/TPK, and everyone at the table doesn't want that outcome.  Then you get to be the hero, and the DM is happy about it because the consequences of failure aren't something he wants eitherl.The problem is that many ego gamers just simply can't dial it back, and have to win big all the time and not only have to win big have to remain the focus of play at all times.   They don't just have to 'beat the DM', they are actively always trying to 'beat the other players' to.     Then you have a problem.   If this is the same player that has showed up in 5-6 prior threads with the same problems, I don't think there is much you can do about it.  In his mind he's being creative and interesting and every good idea he has is getting unfairly squashed.   I don't think he's a good fit for the table, given that the table seems to be hard core setting geeks or you wouldn't be running quasi-historical campaigns in the first place.  It's possible you guys are competing against a prior table that was run very permissive and gonzo, and as such he's like, "Why can't you guys see how much fun this could be?"Let me say that its been clear from the beginning that the player in question has ZERO interest at all in RP.   Every single one of the problems he's created have been the result of trying to find flavor to justify the mechanics he wants for his character.   Not once has he actually been committed to a concept and looking for mechanics that fit it.</blockquote>

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