Whining & Complaining

[Elf Witch]

I just feel the need to say, I think a Lion named Mittens is awesome.



As one of those players who would avoid tavern stuff since my PCs don't drink or want to deal with people when they do, I'd be annoyed if the ENTIRE session ended up being in the tavern scene and I didn't get to do anything. Part of a DM's "job" is to make sure players have fun and to give them "spotlight time," usually a chance to shine but in this case...a chance to do anything at all.

I've had sessions where it ends up being a long combat that eats up most of the night and I get frightened or paralyzed or something early on in it. Coming to your once per week (at best!) game and ending up sitting it out kinda really sucks.

I guess what I'm saying is, I don't think she was upset because she chose to do nothing, she was upset because the DM didn't provide her with anything to do. "Go join the party in a social situation that you/your character will hate or do nothing at all" isn't a real "choice."

They were going to the tavern to meet with a bard who had information on a NPC who had gone missing. They were not going there to socialize. After that they went on to check out a place that the bard had said the missing NPC sometimes hung out. They the party choose not to go back and get the other PC. I think the majority were irritated with her refusing to come in the first place.

They got into a combat that took the rest of the session.

As for getting paralyzed in combat yep it sucks when it happens but it is part of the game we all choose to play.

Part of the job of a player is to engage in the game and not sit around expecting your DM to come up with an excuse for you to do something. It is a two way street as the DM I come with ways for the players to shine. In the combat I planned I put in an encounter that played to the wife's strengths and I was a little frustrated that she pulled the I am going to stay in and sew.

Let's say that a night of gambling and drinking had been on the agenda by not joining and and saying I stay in my room sewing how as the DM am I supposed to come with something for her to do? First of all she was in a shielded temple that is almost impossible for an outsider to get into. Should I have had her make rolls for how well the sewing was going or if she pricked her finger on a needle.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Ah, I see you are sewing. Well, put it aside- Mother Superior has a task for you..."

1) "... Pigs don't slop themselves, you know."

2) "...She needs a message delivered to this address on Tanner's Street."

3) "...I don't know what, though- she said the task was for you and you alone to know."






Just sayin'.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

9. That player finally left the game after getting mad because I wouldn't allow her to name her animal companion "Marshmallow". I simply didn't want to make a mockery of the game and I don't allow silly names. She even went as far as to use the French word for Marshmallow to "trick" me.

My friend was running an Alternity game for our group and he let us decide what we should name our starship. Immediately I came to the natural conclusion that we should name it the "Rusty Slut". To me it was an aptly derogatory name for our junker and it didn't make me take the game less seriously. The rest of the players liked it too but the GM stamped it with a veto because he wanted it to have a noble, valorous name.

We tabled naming the ship until the next session and in the down time since I was studying intro Russian, I translated "Rusty Slut" (as best I could) into Russian. I made up a tale that the translated name was a early Russian mythological warrior goddess who represented honor and valor and such, then talked to the players privately to see if they'd want to play along. Everyone was enthusiastically on board so at the next session I told the GM the new suggested name and origin, he ate it up, and everyone else played along that they liked the name too.

It wasn't until the end of the campaign that we revealed the real translation to the GM, so throughout the game everyone won: we had our Rusty Slut and the GM had his "goddess"!

 

[Crazy Jerome]

The side effect for my players? I will no longer put them in a position where they can name things.

One of the nice things about running a large group is that I can let the players run wild with naming things. Heck, half the time, I make them name things that really I should be naming. That way, when someone suggests a name that crosses the boundaries of our social contract, the other players mock that player mercilessly. They enforce a social contract that they can live with.

I already get to name a ton of stuff anyway--and suffer that mocking when I screw up. I figure what is good for me is good for them, too.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

On another note, in the Final Fantasy I-based game I'm playing in now (actually played in it 4-5 years ago, it got disbanded before finishing, and just now are we picking back up where we left off), I had/have a Moogle companion that I named Mallow.

Been that way since the original game, and just now did I realize that it was (marginally at best) relevant to this thread. Of course, I didn't name him after Marshmallow. I named him after a character from one of my all-time favorite videogames.

 

[Elf Witch]

"Ah, I see you are sewing. Well, put it aside- Mother Superior has a task for you..."

1) "... Pigs don't slop themselves, you know."

2) "...She needs a message delivered to this address on Tanner's Street."

3) "...I don't know what, though- she said the task was for you and you alone to know."






Just sayin'.

There is no mother superior, she was totally alone in the temple , and this was not the first time she had engaged in lone wolf behavior and I was not in the mood to reward her for it.

You know if it had been one where the rest of the party had just wanted to blow off steam in a tavern and she didn't but she was willing to help me by coming up with something else like say I am going to go to the town library and do research I would be okay with it. Something anything that would allow me to have her interact with the world other than me racking my brains trying to figure out something for her to do.

But this player was a PITA to get her to do anything was like pulling teeth. After awhile I got tired of trying it was to much work.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

No, the player doesn't have the right to do whatever he/she wants. Sorry, I disagree with that 100%. A player can't name a Dark Sun character (or pet) Darth Vader just because it's his character and he has the right to do so.

At a con my friends and I were invited to play in a Star Wars game. We were very excited to get to play in it but immediately after getting our "character sheets" (which were duplicates of the same generic pilot NPC stat block) we realized that it was really an ongoing campaign with the long-term players playing actual characters and chumps they picked up (like us) playing cannon fodder NPCs.

Usually I want a seriously toned game and sillyish names are very off putting to me but since obviously it was a throwaway game for us I immediately started not taking it seriously. Hence the famed X-wing pilot, Greedo Calrissian was born!

I named him that simply to amuse my friends and I until combat since we weren't involved in any of the drama. But the crowning point in the session was when my character, the lone survivor of the climatic battle, was being dressed down by our commander for fleeing and he demanded my name. "Greedo Calrissian, Sir!" It was beautiful.

 

[Oryan77]

this was not the first time she had engaged in lone wolf behavior and I was not in the mood to reward her for it.

Plus, I'd assume that giving a "lone wolf" player some personal solo quest during the group game will only encourage him to split from the group more often. From the sound of it, your player definitely sounds like the type that would do that.

I love it though when a PC won't join in the fun with the tavern scenarios and goes off to their room instead (usually cause the PC doesn't drink and is generally a bore). Then something cool & interesting happens in the tavern (sometimes relating directly to their quest) and the player sits there squirming in his seat because he wishes he could be involved but knows his PC has no reason to suddenly leave his room.

 

[blargney the second]

I get Oryan's naming thing. It really can get in the tone of the game.

For example, in an Eberron-ish game I ran, I let the PCs name their airship. I left the room while they conferred, grabbing food or something. When I came back, I learned they had named their ship the "Milennium Falcon".

"No."

"Okay. Yesterday's Hummingbird". Or something to that effect.

This went on, with the whole group whinging (and they usually don't whinge) until finally I relented. Unfortunately, the fact their ship name (and I wanted the ship to be the central focus of the mini campaign I was running) made me cringe every time I said it. Ruined the game for me.

The side effect for my players? I will no longer put them in a position where they can name things. Which is kind of sad, because I would love to run a campaign where PCs could name geographical locations and castles and such. But they have shown they can't be trusted.

The only name we pitched was Tomorrow's Hummingbird. Sure, the process we took to get there was a regression from Millenium Falcon (Century Pigeon, Annual Sparrow), but not one of those names was ever proposed to you. We didn't even mention them to you until you summarily shot and killed Tomorrow's Hummingbird.

Btw, one of the reasons we settled on that name was it had a florid poetry that fit with the names of airships in Eberron novels. Additionally, we could contract it to The Hummingbird for use in dialog. We put thought into it, and made sure that it fit the parameters you gave us. Wait, what's that? You never gave us any parameters? EXACTLY.

Just think: you had 5 players come to a consensus about naming something. That's unusual enough on its own right there!
-blarg

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I love it though when a PC won't join in the fun with the tavern scenarios and goes off to their room instead (usually cause the PC doesn't drink and is generally a bore). Then something cool & interesting happens in the tavern (sometimes relating directly to their quest) and the player sits there squirming in his seat because he wishes he could be involved but knows his PC has no reason to suddenly leave his room.

I like that being a non-drinker makes someone a bore. *eyeroll*

Cause we all know a tavern is where all the action happens! Why, on an almost nightly basis, earth shattering events of dire political and world importance transpire at the bar stool. Why bother ever going to old abandoned castles, deep underground dungeons, or the fairy realms of the fey? All the excitement in any game happens right in your local watering hole!


This is why playing Rogues is awesome. When the party goes to do something idiotic, like consume alcohol, I can just go do something fun and of varying legality and be totally in character.