D&D 5E What to do if a player keeps reading the adventures

[Umbran]

Politely discuss the matter like a rational adult. Ask him point blank why he reads ahead - just in case he has some reason that turns out to be valid. Express your concerns that his foreknowledge is apt to impact the course of play, and you'd like him to stop reading ahead.

If he refuses to stop - if this is in your own home game, where you have control of who attends, ask him to leave.

If you are playing in an open game, where you don't fully have the right to boot people, let him know that he won't get XP for anything that he's read ahead, and magic items he gains have a 50% chance to be cursed if you see sign that he's using foreknowledge.

 

[jgsugden]

Tell him not to cheat. If he continues to do so, ask him to leave. Everything else is a partial measure likely to cause ongoing drama and/or frustration. If he is to learn, then there needs to be consequences for his actions. Right now, you're allowing him to continue to cheat and get away with it.

 

[Dragonsbane]

Metagame trap:

Flip something in the adventure that won't affect non-readers.

Perhaps a trap door that quietly enters the keep on the north side and bypasses resistance is now on the south side, and the north side actually a nasty ambush, ready as it so happens for exactly the cheating's PCs weakness (lowest ability score save, etc).

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

Yes. I've known for a while he's had access to the module but he'd stated he wasn't reading ahead, though that didn't stop him looking at the end of adventure fight. I've managed to ignore it and changed a few things here and there either on purpose or accidentally, but last night he basically blew a whole section of roleplaying by letting everyone know he knew an NPC had a secret but as he'd read it he was going to sit it out and let the other players handle it. Straightaway all the other players knew there was a mystery and who to talk to to solve it. So yeah it did kind of ruin things a bit.

Yeah, this is where I'd call him out for being a complete <edited> tool.

Or have a pack of umber hulks claw their way through the floor right under his character, drag him offstage before anyone can react, and proceed to take his character on a one-way "solo adventure."

Or both.

 

[Rune]

Call him on his crap when it comes up in the game. Lay it out in the open. Explain that by providing you with so much extra work he is making the game unfun for you. That he is pushing you towards burnout. And that he needs to stop or you can't be his DM, anymore.

If he is, as you say, an "alright guy," he will not put his own fun in front of yours. If he does, he is not an alright guy.

 

[aramis erak]

Yes afraid it is. Not only some dodgy suspicious rolls going on, add in a chunk of power gaming and now reading the module ahead of time!

He's axiomatically a problem. Boot him.

He cheats his dice (making him a poor choice for DM - as he's willing to be unfair), and disrupting your flow of game by OOC knowledge.

Get rid of him.

 

[QuaziquestGM]

Well, modules are modular..... I'd suggest running older material, or free material from drivethurpg, and graft it to the modules you are already planning to run. Mix things up a little.

The basic format of most adventures runs like this:

Clue leads to cross county trek to dungeon with different floors.....

Change the random encounter table for the trek (or use a planned encounter not in the module).

If it is a goblin themed dungeon, just swap it out for another goblin dungeon (there are lots out there). If you are running Sandpoint, just sub the Kobold King dungeon, use the kobolds but describe them as goblins, add in any mcguffins you need from the goblin dungeon, and when they find the lost kids, no one realized they were missing yet...

Or, if you know he has studied up on book 3, then skip to book 4 and either drop the difficulty of the monsters a bit, or just use the book 4 dungeon populated with the book 3 monsters. That should cause enough of a change in tactics to make it interesting....

 

[the Jester]

Yes. I've known for a while he's had access to the module but he'd stated he wasn't reading ahead, though that didn't stop him looking at the end of adventure fight. I've managed to ignore it and changed a few things here and there either on purpose or accidentally, but last night he basically blew a whole section of roleplaying by letting everyone know he knew an NPC had a secret but as he'd read it he was going to sit it out and let the other players handle it. Straightaway all the other players knew there was a mystery and who to talk to to solve it. So yeah it did kind of ruin things a bit.

This would be the point at which I gave him an ultimatum (well, I probably would have done so long ago) along the lines of, "If you it or look at it, you can't play when I run it. Period." If he didn't like it, he could walk away from the table.

But then, I don't think I'd tolerate cheating, either, so your willingness to accept bad behavior is probably higher than mine.

 

[the Jester]

The group is composed of some relatives so not a simple guest player. I guess I'm trying to figure out ways of attempting to change his play style as otherwise he's an alright guy.

Just because he's a relative doesn't mean he gets to cheat. Screw enabling his bad behavior; "I can't kick him" is pretty much never true. If you need to, find a new group; if you need to, create new players by showing them how much fun it is. The only solution to a "I cheat with the dice and read the modules in advance!" type of player is usually harsh action. Until he realizes that there are consequences to his bad behavior, he will continue to behave badly.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Seriously, I'd just ask him to go play with someone else. He's violating such a basic rule of the "roleplayer social contract" that I don't even understand why people are considering other options above...