Rogues stealing from their own party

[genshou]

My current game is Forgotten Realms, and adventurers are something else entirely compared to previous campaigns. In those, starting adventurers had to belong to a guild which determined all the rules for distribution of wealth, what constituted stealing or failing to distribute party wealth. For a group of PCs to be accepted as a licensed adventuring party outside of a guild, they had to receive an adventuring license from a city government, as well as writing up a formal code of behavior and contract, to be stored in the kingdom's archives. If a PC had attempted to steal from another PC, the contract would have been invoked both IC and OOC. Writing out a contract kept a lot of otherwise disparate bands together in my games.

 

[diaglo]

My current game is Forgotten Realms, and adventurers are something else entirely compared to previous campaigns. In those, starting adventurers had to belong to a guild which determined all the rules for distribution of wealth, what constituted stealing or failing to distribute party wealth. For a group of PCs to be accepted as a licensed adventuring party outside of a guild, they had to receive an adventuring license from a city government, as well as writing up a formal code of behavior and contract, to be stored in the kingdom's archives. If a PC had attempted to steal from another PC, the contract would have been invoked both IC and OOC. Writing out a contract kept a lot of otherwise disparate bands together in my games.

Forgotten Realms still have adventuring charters. Mostly b/c there are very few places that haven't been explored.

In the campaign (story hour in my sig) i'm playing we have a charter in Cormyr. The Stormslayers.

The crown or other nobles can hire you. Also it makes it easier for bards to recognize the party members when they want to write odes about your derringdo

 

[Psychic Warrior]

So as a gamer, do you appreciate being in a game where the realism enforcement is on and you can steal from each other or do you meta game an agrement that players won't steal from each other?

Meta game? No, I don't 'meta game' an agreement that the party members don't steal from each other. I role play it.

 

[Aus_Snow]

JoeGKushner: "realism enforcement"?. . . wow, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one.

Um, do you mean that the norm is for players and GMs not to be concerned with realism in the slightest, albeit in fantasy/sci-fi/other strange contexts?

If so, I guess that is one way in which I and the people I roleplay with are not er. . . 'normal'.

If a character has any tendency toward dishonesty, covetousness, moral ambivalence, dishonour, even kleptomania for that matter, it will no doubt come out in the ways it will.

There are no 'metagame agreements' about anything, except topics that might be offensive - even if it's just to one participant - and in fact, there's really no 'metagame', I guess.

So, in short, if stealing happens, it happens, and the consequences follow from there, just as they, well. . . would. I've only been in sessions where it has happened a couple of times, mind you. Different consequences each time.

 

[Falkus]

Stealing from the other players is on the same level as player killing, and therefore, doesn't happen in any campaign I run or play in.

 

[genshou]

Forgotten Realms still have adventuring charters. Mostly b/c there are very few places that haven't been explored.

In the campaign (story hour in my sig) i'm playing we have a charter in Cormyr. The Stormslayers.

The crown or other nobles can hire you. Also it makes it easier for bards to recognize the party members when they want to write odes about your derringdo

Sure there are adventuring charters, but there are places in the Realms where they are not needed, and probably plenty of freelance parties that don't have one. The party in my Story Hour (though I'm not caught up to the point where said party actually forms) is like this. When it comes to adventuring in Cormyr, the PC is a Paladin and a noble to boot, so it's not too much of a problem to work around the lack of a formal adventuring charter.

 

[Li Shenron]

So as a gamer, do you appreciate being in a game where the realism enforcement is on and you can steal from each other or do you meta game an agrement that players won't steal from each other?

I'm glad it never happened to us. If it does when I am the DM, I would definitely rule out that the following are forbidden:

- attacking another party member
- stealing from another party member
- sexually harassing another party member

unless the other party member has given his/her permission.

I think those situations require serious maturity and RP experience not to harm the game. Frankly, I doubt I've seen anyone who could handle them easily. I'd just remind the players that the most realistic thing is that such a character would definitely need to retire from the group. (The attack situation is the worst, since it may result in someone else having to "retire" as well, without having caused the problem)

And in any case, it doesn't matter to me if the PC are evil. If the players want to play evil characters, it's still their responsibility not to endanger the party, and they have all the rest of the world for them to harm freely, in the most hideous ways.

 

[Simon155]

So having read this thread, is it fair to say that:
1) A thief using his character class as an excuse to steal any significant amount of loot from the party is just a douchbag?
2) Small thefts ie picking a gold from a pocket to buy a round of drinks is funny and ok.
3) It's down to the DM to control is. If the DM isn't handling it, you have a substandard DM?

 

[Dioltach]

Wow, thread necromancy!
About your third point: I don't think it's down to the DM to control. Inter-PC relationships should be resolved between the players, unless they expressly ask the DM to step in. (That said, a player whose character steals from other party members will most likely stop that behaviour if the DM gives him or her opportunities to use those skills constructively.)

 

[Crusadius]

Wow, thread necromancy!
About your third point: I don't think it's down to the DM to control. Inter-PC relationships should be resolved between the players, unless they expressly ask the DM to step in. (That said, a player whose character steals from other party members will most likely stop that behaviour if the DM gives him or her opportunities to use those skills constructively.)

Kinda like a warrior stops killing other party members if and when the DM offers opportunities to use those skills constructively.