"....so we tossed the jerk out...."

[KRT]

I've never run across a player that I would kick out or stop playing because of. However there have been players and groups that I just didn't feel I meshed with mostly due to styles of play. In High School I had a large group of friends who played (about 15-20) its was too large for a single group so about 4-5 related campaigns sprung up. Some were fairly hack and slash intensive and others were very story driven epics with lots of politics and riddles. People gravitated to what they liked best and although they actively disliked some of the other players on a social basis, you would never know it in game. I guess we were lucky. 3 of the Dms were great facilitators as well as good DMs so that was probably a factor.

 

[shilsen]

Since then we set up a blinding voting system for resolving issues such as adding or dropping new players and out of game issues.

Please tell me you mean a blind voting system. I'm having a vision (pun unintended) of a group of gamers sitting in a circle and then one reaches over, rips another one's eyeball out, and says, "I vote to not game with Chris any more"

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I've only really encountered one truly obnoxious player; thankfully not at my house. Unforuntately not at my house, because the problems would have ended the first night. Imagine Hagrid without the charm, personality, or humor. Just the bigness, hairiness, and tendency to do things without thinking them through. He looked like one of the cannibalistic mutant hillbillies from Wrong Turn.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing I ever saw him do: I am sitting beside him, and he has an open bag of bubblegum. I gradually become aware that he is unwrapping a new peice of bubblegum every, oh, five minutes over the course of the night until the bag is empty. There are just smooth wrappers left, and no sign of old gum. His speech does not become slurred or muffled, so unless he is unusually gifted in that department or has cheeks like a chipmunk, he's not chewn but eaten an entire bag of bubblegum.

Slightly off color comment follows: Better hope e doesn't fart.


And one I have encountered once or twice - 'Treats group as a dating pool'.

The Auld Grump

 

[Dog Moon]

Well, I'll add my .02, though they aren't necessarily as bad as some of the others above. For some reason, it seems like every group finds one rude person, and my group was one of them. We had a person who came to game it seemed only because his roommate/friend gamed with us as well. He barely cared about the game, storylines meant nothing to him because he was always reading books [Dnd books, ironically] and only paid attention when we called his name for battles. He didn't even pay attention to the rest of the battle, only his turn. We did the whole 'Saying the rest of us can't make it anymore and actually playing on that day anything' thing. We were a LITTLE sorry to see the other friend go, but he was a rules lawyer and powergamer, so we weren't TOO sorry to see him go.

The other person we basically stopped inviting back was a person who was just really frikkin annoying. He somehow managed to turn nearly everything into some sexual reference. Never mention ropers or ANYTHING with a tentacle because he'd then start on about Hentai and tentacle rape and all that crap. I mean, the rest of our group jokes about sexual stuff OCCASIONALLY, though mainly if someone mistakenly says something and someone starts giggling, but this was totally nonstop. He also had one annoying habit. Apparently there's this show on Comedy Central where a guy goes "WHAAT?" in an annoying way. For some reason, this person continuously did that over and over again. He lasted two sessions, the second only because we were hoping the one time was a fluke; it wasn't.

 

[Psion]

I used to never beleive in screening players. Then "the couple" happened.

Met them though the message board at the FLGS.

He was a fan of D&D wanting to get back in the game. She was an anime and fantasy literature fan who was just starting.

She was a good player. Being a bit inexperienced with the game, I had to work with her a bit to get the character that she wanted. But she was enthusiastic and creative and was a good addition to the group.

He was not.

He would play dice games if the time between turns was too long.

He would accuse others of cheating and play "dice monitor".

He would get in political arguments at the drop of a hat.

He would get all whiny if he felt like anyone's character was better than him (he even beleived that sneak attack was overpowered.)

I hated to lose her as a player. But there was no way I could keep her and boot him. And he had to go.

I don't do this "move the game and don't tell them" business. I don't like confrontation, but I dropped them an email letting them know that they were no longer invited.

I never heard from him again.

She, on the other hand, took it really hard. She wrote us emails about how horrible I was to turn away her friendship, what cheaters and "meanies" (not the actual term) we were. Sigh.

 

[papa_laz]

I've put this in another thread a long time ago but... I was running a serious Dark Sun campaign using 2e. There were 5 players. Four of them were serious about it too. The fifth one, playing a Mul Gladiator, thought it would be funny to name his character Grizzly Rectumshaft. He always introduced himself like James Bond. That campaign didn't last long. We were in our early 20's. I expect a name like that in middle school not in college.

ROFLMAO!!!! Ohhhh, lordy, that is gold. I havn't read anything that funny in a long time. Granted im slightly delerious from lack of sleep, but even so kudos to the man who came up with that name.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

We had a real jerk. In 2e, he always used to roll really high ability scores and always played elves. So we had a cheater with little imagination. Our gaming group used his house, however, which didn't make it easy to get rid of him.

Things only got worse in 3e. When I ran my first 3e campaign, he was an elf (no surprise there) who rolled really high stats. His first attack roll in the game (I was using called shots) was a natural 20. That campaign didn't last long, however, so I didn't really notice the problem. I never used called shot rules again.

In all campaigns I run, I insist on keeping character sheets with me. A few players don't like this, so I copy their sheets and let them keep the original.

In the next campaign I ran, I used point buy. Everyone but him had no problem with that. He "rolled his dice" away from me and presented me with a character sheet with ridiculously high ability scores. Fortunately, he wasn't too bright. We were playing at his house, and he "lost" his character sheet there. When it reappeared, it had been modified to have reasonable stats. He didn't even notice the change.

He met a woman through our group. They would start to engage in "extra-curricular activities" at inconvenient times. Any time the in-game action would slow down for even a little, the two would disappear into a back room. Apparently she bit a pillow or something to not make noise, but even they admitted they were having sex while the rest of us were gaming. We started timing them ... no, better not go down that road.

During various campaigns we ran, some used dice-rolled stats. Guess who always had the highest stats in these campaigns? I always used point buy however, and made it clear to him I would not tolerate the alternative.

I personally became aware of his in-game cheating when I ran a New Year's Day one-shot DnD campaign. He wanted to use a great bow, a cheesy weapon. +1 damage and no penalties that count! I let him have it because it was a one-shot. Oh yeah, he was an elf, too. He rolled a number of criticals - way too many. He was cheating.

After being involved in a D20 Modern game, and seeing the GM have to move out of town, I started my own Modern game. I've run two so far that weren't intended to be one-shots. Alas, this first one failed. The bad player was not the primary reason for the campaign failure - it was mainly my fault. Hey, I can admit my mistakes. (And it was my first time running D20 Modern. *Ahem*) Still, the blatant cheating... he was a 3rd-level Tough Hero with the Burst Fire feat, which basically lets you double the damage a firearm does if you take a -4 penalty to hit. (He was also playing a character six feet tall, but only had a Strength 10. He didn't have the Wisdom 13 requirement for Burst Fire - Wisdom is nearly useless for most D20 Modern characters, so it's a serious cost.) He only missed once. His character had an attack bonus of +4, so when using Burst Fire it should be +0. Meanwhile, opponents with a Defense of 16 were very common, and yet he never missed, except that one time, right after I expressed suspicion, too.

The final straw was a DnD campaign that was "light on rules". The DM let us play PrCs at first level, and we rolled stats. So yeah, it's safe to say game balance was not important for this campaign. He decided to play an elven samurai. And I mean the atrocious class in Complete Warrior, rather than something that actually vaguely resembles a samurai. He started with two 18s and a 16 in his stats, and the 16 was his Con score. I did mention he was an elf, right?

His girlfriend and I sat on each side of him, making sure he wasn't cheating on his dice rolls - even she was annoyed at his cheating. But that wasn't what got him tossed out. It was his inability to roleplay. It was bad enough he was playing a class that had "rod up posterior" as a class feature. He couldn't play "lawful" to save his life, either, playing like a lawful stupid character, with the emphasis on stupid. But he got tossed into jail for murdering a crook, rather than taking him to justice. (Well, the bandit leader attacked first, but he did surrender.) This isn't necessarily a bad thing from him, however. A paladin might have done the same.

Naturally, when you go to jail, they take away your weapons. Anyone care to look up the "ancestral daisho" class ability? We had to bust him out. We risked our lives to do so, starting orc riots and fighting guards to do so. One character was a weaponmaster, focusing on swords, but was forced to use a longbow during the fight. He shot at the guards through the prison cell's small window, and only one character (a halfling, played by his girlfriend) could actually slip into the cell and get to him. She could pick the lock from the inside and free him. The bad player refused to leave the prison, however, since he "couldn't live without his swords". This sparked a long argument. One guard lived long enough to shoot him into unconsciousness with a crossbow, solving that issue. We killed the guard and took the unwilling, but unconscious, "samurai" with us - the halfling was forced to shove him through the tiny cell window. He woke up, but was still suicidal. We had to tell him we were going to get his swords immediately, and only the lack of "appropriate weapons" kept him from killing himself. (Samurai found all kinds of interesting ways to do so... but he knew nothing about samurai, of course.)

We then went to a lot of trouble to get his swords back, then ran from town. Ironically, he was the only person to not get stopped by suspicious guards on his way out.

He complained to his girlfriend (in front of us) how he was trying to roleplay a "flavor-filled class" and we were all turning against him for his RPing. We really should have let him stay in prison until he got executed. Once we left, we all complained about him. Even his girlfriend.

Shortly after that, we got another friend to host our games. We dodged inviting him. For more than a year, he was out of the group in all but name. Our whole group (me included) was too wimpy to confront him and toss him out. We formally tossed him out a couple of weeks ago. His girlfriend dumped him and remained with us, however. She's not sleeping with anyone in the group.

Ultimate irony - this guy was a wimp physically, but that's not the reason we were afraid to kick him out once we started gaming at another friend's house. However, he was a mental wimp as well (and I don't just mean lacking in smarts). One time he went to Wendy's with the group, and ordered a burger. His came back with something missing - the meat! People pointed this out, but he claimed he was okay not getting any meat in his burger. Really, he was too wimpy to confront the person behind the counter. Another group member had to confiscate the mutilated meal and take it to the front, demanding a free burger in return. If I had known that earlier, I would have got the group to confront him a lot earlier. Well, at least we learned our lesson. Next time we have a problem player, we toss him. We've already prevented an interested player from joining the group for just that reason (some of us know him from other gaming groups).

 

[SweeneyTodd]

Man, this seems like the perfect thread to bring up the Five Geek Social Fallacies.

http://sean.chittenden.org/humor/www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html

They seem relevant to half the posts in this thread.

 

[Dougal DeKree]

So we are not only freezing him out of the game but actually calling Child Protective Services on him.

This is scary...

This IS scary. Wow. Good luck for the child.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I've posted this before, but it never really gets old...

One of my players (well-thought-of RPG industry freelancer, the late Nigel Findley) asked if he could bring a friend from work to our weekly game. My near-instant response: "Certainly!" (more players cut from Nigel's cloth would add to the group immeasurably).

Due to circumstances beyond his control, Nigel was unable to attend or get ahold of his work-friend to tell him. So the guy shows up anyway. No problem so far.

We invite him in, get him a coffee, and let him play the character of a guy who had just recently left the group (A Were-tiger). The system was GURPS. This is where we join the story....

Dramatis Personae

• Fraser: Playing a Human mercenary
• Ian: Playing a Human wizard
• Mike: playing an elf bard.
• Myself: Playing the frustrated GM
• El Creepo: Playing the Were-Tiger.

Teflon Billy: Ok, so you guys are in the tavern where we ended last session, as you are sitting at the table...

El Creepo: Is there a serving wench around?

Teflon billy: Um, sure. "what would you like stranger?"

El Creepo: I'd like your company for the evening. I am a very wealthy man.

Fraser: Does that gnome who was here last week still want to sell us a potion?

Teflon Billy: You don't see him aroun...

El Creepo: What is her answer?

Teflon Billy: Huh? Oh, she laughs and mentions that her husband, the hostler, would likely have a thing or two to say about that.

El Creepo: Hrrmmm

Mike: Ok, so what are we going to do about the head in the box we found? It claims it's the rightful ruler of Cros Mogmun right? Do we believe it?

Ian: Well, I don't. But I think we should try and...

El Creepo: Where did the serving wench go after we spoke?

Teflon Billy: Upstairs, said she was calling it a night and thanked you for your patronage.

Mike: I give her an extra gold piece and tell her "the pleasure was all mine" and give her a sly bardic wink.

Fraser: Anyway, we should definitely get that gnome to...

El Creepo: I'm heading upstairs.

Teflon Billy: For what?

El Creepo: How long does it take me to get up there?

Teflon Billy: Not long, less than a minute, it's only a three story building.

El Creepo: Can I use my tracking to find out where the wench went?

Teflon Billy: (pause) okaaaaaay......(rolls some dice) she's in the third room on the third floor.

El Creepo: I'm going there.

Ian (puzzled) What's up?

El Creepo: I'll knock on her door.

Teflon Billy: She answers and asks "what do you want?"

El Creepo: I push my way into her room and explain to her again that I want her for the night.

Teflon Billy: (getting pretty fed with this guy already and we aren't 2 minutes into the game) Yeah, well...she explains again that she is a married woman, and while she is very flattered, she is simply not interested. Get me?

El Creepo: Well, what she's interested in means very little to me. (gestures to his character sheet) Am I this strong without switching to my tiger-form? How do I make a roll to grab her?

Teflon Billy: What?

El CreepoI'm going to try and pin her down. Can I do that with one hand so that I have the other one free?

*Disbelief all around the table*

Fraser: I'm rolling danger sense...

Ian: I'm preparing a fireball starting now...

Mike: I load a silver bolt into my hand crossbow...

Teflon Billy: (rolls dice) Danger upstairs! Third Floor! Third Room!

My Guys: a ton of babble translating as "we charge upstairs"

El Creepo: Can they react like that? They don't know what's happening up here.

Teflon Billy: You grapple the serving girl easily enough...she draws a knife from her bodice and makes a called shot stab to the vitals (rolls dice) well, she hit.

El Creepo: Only silver can hurt me...

Teflon Billy: No, silver damage doesn't regenerate, but you still take the wounds. In this case, 3 for her roll, tripled for impaling to the vitals is 9.

El Creepo: Well, I'm still up. I guess I'll have to kill her...she should've just cooperated.

Teflon Billy: *shakes head and grumbles* Make your roll.

*She is badly injured, but still up*

Teflon Billy: Gentlemen, you arrive...

El Creepo: That seemed awfully quick

Fraser: Tough !

Ian: I unleash my fireball at him (El Creepo's character is burned for a lot of damage…added to the knife wound he is pretty banged up).

Mike: I'll send a silver bolt into his torso (The damage is not huge, but is non-healable)

El Creepo: What are you guys doing!!!????

*Silence + glares*

Teflon Billy: You're up

El Creepo: I jump out the window!

Teflon Billy: Ok, make a jump roll (he fails) damage to both his legs breaks one, sprains the other and puts him unconscious.

*Silence*

Teflon Billy: Well...that was fcuked up!

* A confused babble erupts where El Creepo claims that he was told we were mature and could handle mature themes*

Unbelievable to me to this day!

• We had never met this guy before
• His first action upon meeting us was to try and roleplay out a rape scene
• He started this basically as I said "you all meet in a tavern"
• he was going to do this in the presence of someone he worked with!

It's one of the few times in my gaming life when I actually "hit the reset button", announcing that none of that had happened and calling the game for that week.