D&D 5E Sensing a rift growing between players

[Azurewraith]

So in my last session there was a slight issue between my group, pretty much the entire group minus one person.

The party had just found them selves a mech one person jumped in it had a fiddle and hopped out then another person jumped into it promptly shot a fire ball at a wall blowing up the party. He had no way of knowing this would happen as no one in the party could read the HuD or knew anything about it he just well pushed the wrong button. Now this fireball dropped two pcs to 0 one who went blind in one eye the other one got hideously disfigured. Everyone seemed ok just they kept there distance from the mech I mean i would if it just blew me up they arrived at a boat and then the the two pcs that got dropped refused to let him in the boat unless he ditched the mech he refused and as a result got left behind.

So do we think theres an issue here or am i just being overly sensitive. One of the players afterwards had a lil moan about the cleric(guy in mech)just wanting to be iron man and should pass it up to the fighter as he cant cast spells in it(he tried).

 

[Zardnaar]

It happens. Often there is one person in the group who likes not fitting in (wants to play evil, goof off, always hit the red button, always do stupid and/or risky things).

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Whether or not there is a problem entirely depends on the group.

If the players are fine with any of the following, there is no problem: A) continuing play as two separate parties given roughly equal session time on a per-player basis; B) the player of the left behind character making a new character that has reason to actually go along with the rest of the party and play continuing focused on that new party while the mech-piloting character remains off-screen; C) the rift between the characters being repaired through role-play or by out of character changing of the mind such as "Yeah, I'll ditch the mech so the party can stay together" or "I guess we'll actually put up with keeping the dangerous and annoying mech around."

If the players aren't actually fine with one of those solutions, then yeah, there is a problem, and it'll likely grind the entire campaign to a halt if not addressed quickly and effeciently.

 

[Uchawi]

If you sense a rift or problem then everyone should reflect including the DM. It could be a reaction to what the DM presented or a reaction to another player. My initial reaction is why you have detailed damage in the game like blindness in one eye or disfigured. Is this the first time you introduced the detail? On one hand you now have to consider how the characters can recover and they will also have a constant reminder. My preference is to not have critical injuries that maim but that gets into a hit point argument.

 

[delericho]

So do we think theres an issue here or am i just being overly sensitive. One of the players afterwards had a lil moan about the cleric(guy in mech)just wanting to be iron man and should pass it up to the fighter as he cant cast spells in it(he tried).

Is it an issue between players or an issue between characters?

The thing is, if it's just an issue between characters, you can probably just let it run - it'll blow over quickly enough, and anyway it should be fun while it runs. After all, half of the fun of the Avengers and X-Men movies is the strife within the teams of heroes.

If it spills over into an issue between players, though, I'd recommend taking action quickly to nip it in the bud - remind everyone at the table that it's just a game, give the two PCs affected a way to undo the permanent damage to their characters, and thus restore the status quo. And go from there. If you leave it unchecked, it's likely to grow and you'll lose people as a result; better to take action right away.

 

[n00b f00]

What they said. If they are all more or less okay with it, it's cool. If not it needs to be addressed out of game. If players are beefing over loot and won't work together. That's disruptive. None of us were there, so we can't read the table. But if they don't have a clean solution themselves, I'd just step in and have a chat about it, get everyone on the same page.

 

[Azurewraith]

If you sense a rift or problem then everyone should reflect including the DM. It could be a reaction to what the DM presented or a reaction to another player. My initial reaction is why you have detailed damage in the game like blindness in one eye or disfigured. Is this the first time you introduced the detail? On one hand you now have to consider how the characters can recover and they will also have a constant reminder. My preference is to not have critical injuries that maim but that gets into a hit point argument.

Been running the optional lingering injuries and its not the first time its come up I have had several limps a few minor scars a few major scars and now a missing eye. I don't think there fussed with tgr injuries well at least not 1eye she spent the next 2hours with an eye closed to get a feel for it

 

[Azurewraith]

Is it an issue between players or an issue between characters?

The thing is, if it's just an issue between characters, you can probably just let it run - it'll blow over quickly enough, and anyway it should be fun while it runs. After all, half of the fun of the Avengers and X-Men movies is the strife within the teams of heroes.

If it spills over into an issue between players, though, I'd recommend taking action quickly to nip it in the bud - remind everyone at the table that it's just a game, give the two PCs affected a way to undo the permanent damage to their characters, and thus restore the status quo. And go from there. If you leave it unchecked, it's likely to grow and you'll lose people as a result; better to take action right away.

I'm not 100% sure whether it is an in or out of game situation maybe something like 75% in 15% out I just don't want it to get out of hand. Were all good friends so im hoping it'll turn out ok.

 

[n00b f00]

Yeah if it doesn't seem like a deal, just let it run its course. If they start acting crazy, just have a talk about it. We're all playing a game, the mech was just a little for fun item. No reason to beef.

 

[jgsugden]

RPGs are storytelling games. Tell a good story, and everything usually works out.

Good stories where characters come into conflict require resolution. Either they kill each other, or they work out their differences and come together to beat a common foe. Whenever I have PCs and players in conflict, I give them something in the story where their combined efforts play off each other and result in a big win for the team.

To think of it another way, there is a saying in the NFL that only losing teams have bad locker rooms. Winning fixes a lot of problems. If things get too angsty, give the group a flashy win and a lot of problems dissipate.