Rules Lawyers, how do you deal with them?

[Damror]

A helpful rules lawyer is usually not a problem. Although this guy seems to be more disruptive than helpful, I think ther are a few things yuo can do to limit his disruptions.

You say it slows the game down when he turns to the books to find a rule. I guess this means that it is his turn when he does this, thus everyone is waiting on him.

What we do in my group is, the DM never looks up rules while the game is going on. He has too much to deal with and he is involved with all the players at the same time. If he stops to look up a rule, the whole game stops. By contrast, the players are not always doing something. Often times, the players are sitting there waiting for their turn. So, we deligate responsability. If there is a rule question, whoever is not DMing, and not about to have a turn, is elected to look up the rule. This keeps the game going.

Also, if the player knows (suspects) there will be a rules question when his turn comes up, he should look up that rule BEFORE his turn happens, so when it is his turn he can take x action and if the DM questions it he already has the book open to the page.

If he doesn't do this, you might consider putting a time limit on how long players have to announce their actions each turn. That will help him realize that he needs to be ready when it is his turn.

And you (the DM) should take the time to read up on any vague rules that might crop up before the game session even starts. It is annoying to have your rulings questioned, but like other people here have mentioned, everyone at the table needs to be playing with the same set of rules or there will be misunderstandings and confusion.

Finally, I think your real problem is just the newness of your group. Give it a few more weeks, or even a couple months and you will notice that your group willl be begin to operate more smoothly.

 

[Percy]

Re: Rules Lawyers

My experience is...

You outline to the players what way you, as GM, like the game to run. This includes allowing/disallowing rules arguments in the middle of something.

You point out to the player acting the maggot that his behaviour, however well-intentioned, is interrupting the flow of the game in the very way you all agreed earlier was a no-no. You suggest that next time he does it, you may have to ask him to look into joining another gaming group.

You ask him to leave after he's mucked up his one and only chance not to annoy the heck out of you. This last sanction sometimes is the only method of getting him to believe you're actually SERIOUS. Naturally, you have to MEAN to excise him from the fun-loving body of the game group and have a hard enough heart NOT to allow him back in.

Throwing out a player puts manners on all the others. Or it makes all the others leave. So be careful.

 

[madriel]

Zerovoid, arguing with those groups was LG rules lawyering. They didn't understand the game mechanics behind AOOs (and readied actions), you taught them how it worked. Who could be offended by that? We have a LG rules lawyer in our group as well as two guys who DM other groups, so sessions sometimes dragged a lot at first but we learned how to play.