D&D General What's the most problematic D&D player you've ever played with?

[Marc_C]

A failed DM who could not stomach being a player. He left by himself in the end. I was too patient with him. I should have told him not the come back much sooner.

 

[J-H]

"Problematic" these days seems to refer to social/political views from only a certain end of the spectrum most of the time. I usually consider the term problematic problematic as a result.

I played a bit at a FLGS and everything was generally fine. We had one guy whose grasp of the rules was sub-par and who maybe had a few issues, but he was nice and an enthusiastic player, so it was cool. FLGS is now shut down.

A lot of my play historically has been on play by post 3.5. I remember one where we made 1st or 2nd level characters, were sent out to investigate "giant bugs" on a farm. It turned out to be some sort of fiendish creature (don't recall what) with DR 10/substance, and nobody had the substance. We were supposed to ask more questions or something instead of just responding immediately to the emergency. The DM got mad when we decided to retreat, and said that cold iron (or whatever) was cheap and we could have started with some, and that the barbarian could have damaged it if he used power attack. I think that was the end of the campaign, and I avoided that person's games after that. Some sort of communication in advance would have helped, as this was at least partly a mismatch; I don't think any of my characters have ever carried around regular+silver+cold iron+whatever weapons just because.

There are a few other people whose games I just flat avoided for PBP because I saw them create too much drama by making everything about their sexuality or personal issues or taking offense at anything and everything in various forum threads. Not worth the risk.

I did have one player who is older and has back problems, and was drinking too much while playing to where his personality would change to "murderhobo the enemy." We were going to potentially lose another player over it, and I wasn't super happy either. He and I talked about it, and there haven't been any issues since. If he's imbibing during out games, he's kept it to a level where I can't tell, so it's cool. Yay for adult conversations and settling things through communication.

Maybe I'd have had more issues if I started playing with a bunch of randos at college instead of in my '30s with a crowd where everyone's over the age of 20.

 

[Flamestrike]

But are you DMing for--as we found out--your overbearing and abusive brother in law?

I likely wouldn't invite such a person to my table, and if he was invited, its my way (the DMs) or the highway.

I tend to find bad players are usually the DM's fault (for not coming down hard on that bad behavior, allowing it to happen, or not acting when it does).

If a player wants to be a team killing jerk, chaotic/ lawful/ evil/ good stupid, 'Kharn the Betrayer; Paladin', rules lawyer or argumentative tool, that can be smacked down early and conclusively with a firm 'Nope, and this is why, no arguments allowed'.

If it continues, sack the bad player and get on with the game.

There is NOTHING forcing a DM to tolerate jerks in his games. One of the core responsibilities of the DM is to manage the game (ensuring players are engaged, rules are consistent, everyone is comfortable and enjoying themselves etc). Most people are human and will listen and reign in bad behavior when called out on it by the DM, or conform to table and campaign etiquette when required.

For everyone else, like creepy sex pests or players that want to argue alignment, play disruptive or team killing jerks, they can tell their story walking.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but 'my way or the highway' DMs can often become just another type of problematic player.

As is blaming the victim in this case where the brother-in-law forced his way into the guy's game.

 

[Burnside]

I thought I had had some bad experiences with a few players, but then I read this thread and man, I really haven't.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

People that are horders or smell bad along with other issues are likely suffering and deserve some empathy.

This is true but it's worth noting that "Cat Piss Men" specifically are the result of a very specific issue which is not necessarily directly connected to mental health issues, nor learning disabilities or neurodiversity.

I found this out when I once, for an afternoon, became Cat Piss Man. It was horrifying.

Turns out that odour has a specific, replicable source - if you leave clothes damp, and then say, put them in a suitcase (and it's not in a super-dry environment so they don't somehow instantly dry in there), and they get a bit "mildew-y" smelling - which isn't the strong catpiss smell, it's just that faint "uh-oh" odour - and then you let them dry, and then you put them on and start walking around, and maybe it's warm so you sweat (and I'm not talking sweat heavily, just like, at all), then you too can become Cat Piss Man with the unique and utterly devastating odour.

Most embarrassing thing - I was literally on the way to the gaming store (Orcs Nest to be precise) when I realized I was the source of that smell - so I was very nearly Cat Piss Man in a gaming store. Like, minutes away.

And I guess the reason this happens at gaming conventions is that a lot of people going aren't used to doing their clothes-washing properly (sometimes because their mum does it, let's be real), so they wash their clothes, and before they're dry, they shove in the suitcase, and it's off to GenCon or w/e, and then they arrive, and their clothes smell like that, and apparently they just decide to wear them anyway, rather than miss any convention time going out to find some non-stinky clothes, because they're too excited to be there (this is no different to some dude who goes to the beach and won't go back and get the suntan lotion or whatever so gets burned to a crisp). Also, once you've got that smell in clothes, it is NON-TRIVIAL to remove it, note. Non-trivial. So if you're some dude who just went to college or moved out or w/e and you aren't good at washing clothes and you get this started you might be stuck with it until you do some serious washing (and possibly clean the clothes-washer too).

I was reminded of this recently when a random piece of clothing I washed had this issue for reasons unknown.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Most problematic player, hands down goes to this fellow:

• Abysmal hygiene
• Tried to visit brothels constantly (despite me saying "this is an open table and therefore is rated PG-13")
• Sabotaged social encounters with insults, frequently shouting at the table and drowning out the other players
• Said heinously inappropriate sexualized stuff (the worst was probably when some new lady showed up and picked an elf from the pregen pile, and he said something about "We'll be making some half-elves!")
• Cheated at dice until I told him if he didn't knock it off, he'd be out. He did it one more time less than an hour after the first warning

 

[Charlaquin]

One player refused to learn that LSD is not an appropriate party snack for D&D.

…I feel like that would make it very difficult to play the game.

 

[Umbran]

Not while playing D&D, but the worst I had to deal with was a player who sexually harassed another player, using emotional abuse to try to get the victim to sleep with them.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

…I feel like that would make it very difficult to play the game.

For 45 minutes he played fine.
For another hour, it was a little weird.

…. after that, it was all Bat Country.