Party/DM help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Party/DM help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dharan_Aelorothi
05-29-06, 09:40 PM Yeah, we (my gaming group and I) are having a bit of a problem. I have the most annoying party ever! It consists of me (my elven ranger), Ivellios Trevillian, a half-elf sorcerer, Aranel Lightbringer, a human cleric, Hans, a human thief, and Orloss "Bluegem" Rivenstone, a gnome druid. The sorcerer, Ivellios, is a really bossy person who really wanted to be chaotic neutral, while everyone else is good-aligned. This causes much trouble in the group because he always does stuff the other members don't think is ethical and right, and whenever they mention it, he gets PO'd at them. Eventually, this has gotten to the point where they can't make any decisions for themselves, for fear of him getting mad at them (it doesn't help that one of them is his little brother). Also, the only person who thinks out of the box is our druid, Orloss. He actually has really good ideas, but everyone else would rather not listen to him and barge in to the room, lightning bolting everything to oblivion. More often than not, this results in a TPK, making them angry at me (more often than not, the DM). If I just catered to their whims, then it would be a pretty linear beat-em-up, with nothing deeper than deciding which weapon to trade in and which to keep. Help me!
Hastifer
05-30-06, 12:31 PM You have two or three choices.

1) Quit while you're ahead. If they're really friends they'll still be friends when you do this.
2) Negotiate with the majority. The GM isn't there to rule, he's there to have fun with his friends. You want RP, they want Hack/slash. Make it a mix, if you can. If hack/slash players are in the majority, the game will be mainly hack/slash, even if you have the entire game set in a spacious, peaceful, frollicking elven court. (Sir Lancelot of Holy Grail fame certainly fit this in his part in that wonderful movie)
3) Run it your way, headaches and all.

And the 4th thing, goes with all three options. The one jerk player may not realize he's being a jerk. Tell him gently (like, without using the word jerk). If he doesn't accept this, and continues his jerkiness, jerk him out of the game. Once you've warned him and he continues, he is actually choosing to remove himself.
Dharan_Aelorothi
05-31-06, 11:47 AM Thanks alot, all of that is good stuff to consider. Also, I looked back at those "Save My Game" articles, and those helped a bit. Actually, most of my players (well, 2 players and me) are a majority over the hack-n-slash (the jerk player). The other one (our cleric) just does whatever the jerk does (it doesn't help that he's his little brother). The jerk is just really commanding. He also doesn't have that urge to play like the rest of us. Whenever we have a problem, he just threatens to leave, and unfortunately for us, he'd actually do it, too. There goes our sorcerer, and most likely our cleric, too.
Dharan_Aelorothi
05-31-06, 11:52 AM Yeah, this is a continuation of the last post.

I mentioned to him that he was ruining our gaming sessions, but he just denied it. This was my third attempt. My first, asking him to please let the other players think for themselves instead of you making decisions for them, just got me an incredulous look. My second attempt was emailing him the URL for that "Save My Game" article that describes the different types of players. He asked me if I was implying anything. I just flat-out told him that he was being a jackass (excuse the language), and to stop being so selfish and ruining everyone else's gaming experience, and he actually listened. I think he's one of those people who holds grudges, because little things started turning up, like his insistence to be DM. This in itself is not bad, because personally I way prefer to be a PC than to DM. Then came the abundance of cursed items that only I would find whenever I opened a chest. That new suit of +2 Mithral Elven Chain I just spent a whole lot of time/money/XP having crafted being destroyed by a kobold with a Rust Ray wand.

I think I'm just going to kick him from the game. I know some girl gamers that would probably want to play, anyway. Crap, I should've posted this under the DM Help category...
Starchaserva
05-31-06, 10:01 PM To be honest, removing the jerk from your game is probably your best bet, especially if you can get replacment players who care more about the overall fun and not just their own whims. Even if he says that he's changing, yet turns into an uber-ass when he DMs (and focusing it on you), just proves that he's not changing, and in reality is just trying to turn the tables on you. I've known "game-killers" like that before, and it's best just to dump them for someone who you can rely on more.
Dharan_Aelorothi
06-01-06, 02:58 PM Thanks for the advice, but I pulled him aside and we talked things over. We resolved it, and now there are no problems (as of now, I still got the whole "God's shoelace falls on you" thing ready, just in case).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dharan_Aelorothi 05-29-06, 09:40 PM	Yeah, we (my gaming group and I) are having a bit of a problem. I have the most annoying party ever! It consists of me (my elven ranger), Ivellios Trevillian, a half-elf sorcerer, Aranel Lightbringer, a human cleric, Hans, a human thief, and Orloss "Bluegem" Rivenstone, a gnome druid. The sorcerer, Ivellios, is a really bossy person who really wanted to be chaotic neutral, while everyone else is good-aligned. This causes much trouble in the group because he always does stuff the other members don't think is ethical and right, and whenever they mention it, he gets PO'd at them. Eventually, this has gotten to the point where they can't make any decisions for themselves, for fear of him getting mad at them (it doesn't help that one of them is his little brother). Also, the only person who thinks out of the box is our druid, Orloss. He actually has really good ideas, but everyone else would rather not listen to him and barge in to the room, lightning bolting everything to oblivion. More often than not, this results in a TPK, making them angry at me (more often than not, the DM). If I just catered to their whims, then it would be a pretty linear beat-em-up, with nothing deeper than deciding which weapon to trade in and which to keep. Help me!
Hastifer 05-30-06, 12:31 PM	You have two or three choices. 1) Quit while you're ahead. If they're really friends they'll still be friends when you do this. 2) Negotiate with the majority. The GM isn't there to rule, he's there to have fun with his friends. You want RP, they want Hack/slash. Make it a mix, if you can. If hack/slash players are in the majority, the game will be mainly hack/slash, even if you have the entire game set in a spacious, peaceful, frollicking elven court. (Sir Lancelot of Holy Grail fame certainly fit this in his part in that wonderful movie) 3) Run it your way, headaches and all. And the 4th thing, goes with all three options. The one jerk player may not realize he's being a jerk. Tell him gently (like, without using the word jerk). If he doesn't accept this, and continues his jerkiness, jerk him out of the game. Once you've warned him and he continues, he is actually choosing to remove himself.
Dharan_Aelorothi 05-31-06, 11:47 AM	Thanks alot, all of that is good stuff to consider. Also, I looked back at those "Save My Game" articles, and those helped a bit. Actually, most of my players (well, 2 players and me) are a majority over the hack-n-slash (the jerk player). The other one (our cleric) just does whatever the jerk does (it doesn't help that he's his little brother). The jerk is just really commanding. He also doesn't have that urge to play like the rest of us. Whenever we have a problem, he just threatens to leave, and unfortunately for us, he'd actually do it, too. There goes our sorcerer, and most likely our cleric, too.
Dharan_Aelorothi 05-31-06, 11:52 AM	Yeah, this is a continuation of the last post. I mentioned to him that he was ruining our gaming sessions, but he just denied it. This was my third attempt. My first, asking him to please let the other players think for themselves instead of you making decisions for them, just got me an incredulous look. My second attempt was emailing him the URL for that "Save My Game" article that describes the different types of players. He asked me if I was implying anything. I just flat-out told him that he was being a jackass (excuse the language), and to stop being so selfish and ruining everyone else's gaming experience, and he actually listened. I think he's one of those people who holds grudges, because little things started turning up, like his insistence to be DM. This in itself is not bad, because personally I way prefer to be a PC than to DM. Then came the abundance of cursed items that only I would find whenever I opened a chest. That new suit of +2 Mithral Elven Chain I just spent a whole lot of time/money/XP having crafted being destroyed by a kobold with a Rust Ray wand. I think I'm just going to kick him from the game. I know some girl gamers that would probably want to play, anyway. Crap, I should've posted this under the DM Help category...
Starchaserva 05-31-06, 10:01 PM	To be honest, removing the jerk from your game is probably your best bet, especially if you can get replacment players who care more about the overall fun and not just their own whims. Even if he says that he's changing, yet turns into an uber-ass when he DMs (and focusing it on you), just proves that he's not changing, and in reality is just trying to turn the tables on you. I've known "game-killers" like that before, and it's best just to dump them for someone who you can rely on more.
Dharan_Aelorothi 06-01-06, 02:58 PM	Thanks for the advice, but I pulled him aside and we talked things over. We resolved it, and now there are no problems (as of now, I still got the whole "God's shoelace falls on you" thing ready, just in case).