Would you drop this player?

[justanobody]

The thing is you only asked for people wanting to play heroic characters here.

Did you say something more in your thread, or give them some exact heorics they must act out, or did you leave the term up in the air as to what you mean by heoric, so there is a chance for misinterpretation?

If you didn't say you wanted some type of exact heroics and then later expected someone to know what you meant without explaining, then it is asking a lot. There would be no forewarning that you meant something else, if they went about heroics another way.

You also did not state here that they had to jump in and help the first stranger in need, or that it was only a single encounter.

There is much left unknown about your PbP game and what actually transpired.

If all you said was what you presented in the first post, then there is a lot of room for interpretation for all parties.

Hopefully your PM yields some positive results.

 

[Lancelot]

If he was a friend of mine, I wouldn't drop him. I'd talk to him privately about the intended theme of the campaign, and make it clear that he's making it much harder to create a cohesive story / fun experience for everyone. I'd likely look for some sort of compromise - maybe add in a couple of story hooks that allow him to exercise his larcenous tendencies in a more constructive fashion.

 

[ravin_raven]

I always assume incompetence before malice. I wouldn't cut him lose just yet.

That seems like a very reasonable way to approach things, in gaming and in general.

I have a random story where this has happened before. We tried to add a fourth player that we met through unconventional means. He came and sat in on two sessions to see if he liked our play style, and he then e-mailed me a 5 page complicated background that fit into my homebrew world. We exchanged emails for a week, making more and more ties for him into the game. He showed up at the next session, met the PCs, and decided after ~1 hour of roleplaying that the group didn't do a good enough job of recruiting him into the party.

That is, we had discussed clearly what would motivate him to join the quest OOC, but IC it wasn't good enough. Why even waste so much time? If he had cold feet, he could have just said "I'm not really interested". I can't imagine that something in that hour scared him off that hadn't occurred in the first 6 hours he observed. Truly and utterly bizarre.

 

[ravin_raven]

If he was a friend of mine, I wouldn't drop him. I'd talk to him privately about the intended theme of the campaign, and make it clear that he's making it much harder to create a cohesive story / fun experience for everyone. I'd likely look for some sort of compromise - maybe add in a couple of story hooks that allow him to exercise his larcenous tendencies in a more constructive fashion.

I agree. In person, I would handle things much differently. I think a tabletop game where you don't reach a consensus is asking for disaster. In PbP hundreds of potential players can see you concept and decide if they want to buy in. There's no reason to make a PC for a game you won't buy into.

 

[ravin_raven]

Did you say something more in your thread, or give them some exact heorics they must act out, or did you leave the term up in the air as to what you mean by heoric, so there is a chance for misinterpretation?

I struggle to find any reasonable interpretation of heroic by which you can justify robbing an innocent victim.

But you're also correct, that I haven't been able to describe the entirety of our interaction here, so it can be hard for others to draw conclusions. I'm just looking for general advice, I suppose.

Hopefully your PM yields some positive results.

I hope so.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Verify he is intentionally going against the announced intent of your game. It already sounds like he clearly is. If so, drop him. He can go find a game more to his liking, rather than forcing you to make your game to his liking.

This.

Also, re-read Hypersmurf's post, because he is bang on here. The DM is allowed to set the ground rules of the game.


RC

 

[Morrus]

It's easy. Is this person your friend, and do you enjoy their company at the game?

That's all you need to know.

 

[justanobody]

I struggle to find any reasonable interpretation of heroic by which you can justify robbing an innocent victim.

Well that is where many people had problems with the old D&D alignments and such as well.

One thing could be stealing something form someone who wishes not to part with it that is needed for the greater good of the community.

This can happen quite often in D&D.

Also as someone said before, there are heroic rogue such as Robin Hood can be considered that very often took from innocents in so far as the law was concerned.

But I don't want to turn your thread into some alignment debate, just saying that it is possible to happen that some may see some thefts heroic.

You just happen to have a very strange case on your hands, which I hope does turn out for the best.

But you're also correct, that I haven't been able to describe the entirety of our interaction here, so it can be hard for others to draw conclusions. I'm just looking for general advice, I suppose.

Hiding the future details for a DM can sometimes make public talks hard on you.

 

[Mark]

When someone is invited to play a game and they show up to play a different game, they are just not interested in the game to which they have been invited. If the player is not interested and is just ignoring you, they are being disrespectful. Not a good way to start and likely to become increasingly problematic. Do what it takes to nip it in the bud either through communication to get the player on board, changing the game or letting the player know they are not going to be playing.

 

[Roman]

I struggle to find any reasonable interpretation of heroic by which you can justify robbing an innocent victim.

In RPG terminology 'heroic' sometimes means 'powerful' rather than 'altruistic' or 'good'. He could have interpreted the term in this manner.

What I really think happened is that he just glossed over the 'heroic' term when reading the game description. That can happen. I believe in second chances, so I would recommend you do speak to him and give him another chance if he wants it, but if his game expectations are different than ditch him.