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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mordane76" data-source="post: 2890563" data-attributes="member: 7172">But I did read that the group games at the problem player's house, so ditching him creates a whole other nest of issues.  The other thing missing here is age - I didn't see Elephant say how old everyone is, or how long everyone had been playing, both of which could be important to understanding the why's behind this whole situation.My thoughts/feelings on your rules - Good for you.  D&D is a cooperative system where everyone has fun, but part of D&D is that it is a game, and that games must have rules.  D&D is different from most games in that you have the freedom to choose how much or how little of the rules you want to use, and from what you've said you did it right: you told everyone up front how much you were comfortable with using, and laid out what you expected of your players to make your life easier.  I've read over some of the other responses and have seen people questioning your call to set limits and call it your game, but it was YOUR game - you're doing the work preparing game (even if it is from a module), and you have a life outside of the game just like everyone else.  The limitations you set allow you to enjoy running the game without it feeling like work - if you have to do much more reading and preparing than you're comfortable with or presently capable of doing, then DMing isn't fun: it becomes a job, and I suspect you already have either schoolwork and/or a real-life job... and nobody needs more work than they can handle.  Just because this guy didn't like the limits you set didn't give him the right to simply disregard them - he's supposed to have fun, and I can accept that maybe playing a core-only character might not be fun for him, but it's also supposed to be fun for you.  What other characters has this guy played in the past?  Does he have a habit of playing the odd-man-out character?  Is this his first time playing?The tone of the letter is pretty ugly, really.  It comes across very threatening, and leaves little room for discussion.  As a DM with a fair bit of experience and a great, flexible group of people, I feel for you - you drew the short straw with this situation.  I don't feel you really did anything wrong in this situation: you told your group what you were comfortable with before starting the game, and they had the option at that point to say they weren't interested or to debate with you and try and change your mind or compromise with you about adding on material as the game progressed and you became comfortable with your role as DM.  My personal feeling on the materials you've shown is pretty simple - this is not someone with which I think I would want to continue playing, possibly even after this issue is amicably resolved - it just feels like something else is going on here beyond the problem with the character and your turn at the DM pole.  Did you do something to this guy outside the gaming table, or did you say something in your emails to him that could be construed as threatening to elicit such a response?  Like Jester said, this sounds completely over-the-top for such a seemingly trivial problem like a 1st level game gone sour.  If he had simply said, "keep pushing the issue and I may leave the group," I wouldn't be asking this, because that would be the response of a rather childish person licking their wounds, but to threaten to throw-down with you in front of the whole group... them's fightin' words.</blockquote>

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