Would you drop this player?

[Hypersmurf]

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.

Not in this case, though: "Help people I don't know, or take their things? No contest really."

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

Perhaps, though it takes real talent to accidentally misinterpret "willing to risk personal harm to jump in and help a stranger in trouble" to the extent required to make the player's actions an innocent translation error!

-Hyp.

 

[pawsplay]

I'd sniff out the "burglar with a heart of gold" angle and if he isn't at least willing to make a friendly connection with the rest of the party, cut him loose. The bottom line is that if he wants to jazz with the premise of the campaign, it's up to you to accept that or reject that, and in this case it sounds like there is a distinct danger of his character becoming part of a completely parallel adventure.

 

[Thanael]

He doesn't even know the name of any of the other PCs! I don't see how they'll be able to discern that he's not one of the thieves without meta-gaming. That is, without straining disbelief and work on the part of the other players, he can't even learn their names.

Well have him arrested and charged and later escape narrowly or on parole, so that he has a vested interest in proving he was not the burglar. This way he can somehow join with the group and try to catch the real culprits. Put a mark of justice/geas on him just in case.

 

[Set]

You said 'Running a Superfriends game!' and he signed up and then handed over the Punisher as his character? It's what, 10 seconds into the game and he's already making it less fun by trying to mess up the introductory scenario?

You surely don't owe any antisocial troublemaker who wants to come in and wreck your game the chance to do so.

Tha Boot.

It's a PBP. People who *want to play the game as advertised* get priority over random warm bodies who just want to cause trouble and 'be different.'

 

[Delta]

Give him one warning. Boot him the next time he breaks it.

 

[Nimloth]

I second (or third, or whatever);
talk to him and give him another chance, but if he doesn't shape up...boot him.

He might have an innocent excuse, but it sure sounds like he wants to disrupt the game for some reason. Don't let him.

 

[Armadillo]

He doesn't even know the name of any of the other PCs! I don't see how they'll be able to discern that he's not one of the thieves without meta-gaming. That is, without straining disbelief and work on the part of the other players, he can't even learn their names.

Exactly! He's going to have to try and talk his way out of this spot, AND he's got to find some way to integrate his character into the game. If he's not willing to do this, then drop him.

 

[justanobody]

This thread has sure taught me a lot about the people here. First thing they do is jump to some conclusion based on partial information that leads them to think someone who may have misunderstood something is acting out of malice and purposefully trying to disrupt a game.

This community seems to assume bad faith of everyone, and that is a sad state not only for the community, but for the entire world.

Why is that? Were many people here so burned by someone that they instinctively think that any misunderstanding is automatically someone trying to destroy a game?

We don't know all the details, and it MAY be what this person is doing, but the way many have spoke in this thread, seem to be acting like everything is the worst case scenario.

Well thanks so much for the good tidings for the holidays and all the hate this thread has inspired leading into them.

Again, I hope this is a case of a misunderstanding, and either way can be resolved with discussion, but cannot for the life of me figure out why so many want to assume bad faith right off the bat.

I would start a poll thread about assuming good faith or bad faith, but feel Boz, the resident wikipedian around here, would be much more inclined to know about that than myself.

Please do let us know how it turns out raven_ravin, and I do hope for the best for your game. Don't let all the negative people here lead you down the road of automatically thinking the worst of everyone you meet.

 

[Raven Crowking]

This thread has sure taught me a lot about the people here. First thing they do is jump to some conclusion based on partial information that leads them to think someone who may have misunderstood something is acting out of malice and purposefully trying to disrupt a game.

Not at all. The motive of the player doesn't come into it, IMHO -- he is either willing to play in the campaign the DM sets up or he is not. If he is not, the DM is not required to figure out why.

This is at least partly because the DM has a responsibility to the other folks at the table, as well as to himself. If you have 5 players, plus yourself, and one of them is making the game unfun for the others, then that person either needs to change or to seek a game more to his tastes. Why that person is making the game unfun doesn't enter into the picture at all in most cases.

Yes, if the guy just had a death in the family, or just lost his job, or has just been hit with some other serious bad news, you should cut him a great deal of slack. Most of us, though, are living our day-to-day lives on a day-to-day basis. The DM can and should talk to the guy, but he is under no obligation to run games for him.

Which is another thing. Almost every response here started with -- or included -- "Talk to the guy first" (or words to that effect), so I really have a hard time seeing the sort of "malice-seeing" that you are talking about.

@ the OP:

In one game, I played a lawful evil magic-user who turned out to be the most honorable and heroic member of an otherwise "good" party. Mind you, he was evil, but his twisted nobility prevented him from waking up the Mayor at midnight to collect a reward. Sometimes, playing against type is playing into type.

As a secondary note, if I were to become a thief in real life, I would certainly not wait until a burglary were being investigated and then decide it was a good time to do some burglary. Just saying. Others are scouring the area for Burglar 1...and Burglar 2 decides this is a good time to steal? Let Burglar 2 be mistaken for Burglar 1, and all sorts of comedy will ensue.......

I'm not a big fan of the DM being able to tell players what their PCs can or should do. That said, if the players signed up for "Savage Tide" (say), I would expect them to take the hooks that Savage Tide offers. If you are playing in a sandbox, it is more reasonable for the players to assume that they can follow whatever hooks grab them.

Finally, the player might just want to monopolize your time in the game. In your case, you can follow the main action, refuse to be distracted from the main action by the problem players, and then give the problem player some quick narration as to what his character sees and hears. If the problem player realizes that he cannot monopolize your time, he might settle into the group.


RC

 

[justanobody]

Which is another thing. Almost every response here started with -- or included -- "Talk to the guy first" (or words to that effect), so I really have a hard time seeing the sort of "malice-seeing" that you are talking about.

"Almost every", but most of the ones that do that think the guy is in the wrong think it is being done on purpose to disrupt the game. I won't name individual posts, but at least 4 on the first page, and one recently just prior to my last post seem to suggest the player is doing it on purpose for the purpose of disrupting the game or just not playing along.

Again, this may be true, but it is sad to see people first think that way; then later suggest communication. My own first post here included starting with negative assertions about the game.

Maybe it is something in the ENWorld water this week.

We need a mead icon smilie around here. :mead: