a DM in need [Archive] - Wizards Community

a DM in need [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Darf ED
02-08-06, 07:44 PM Hi

My grope has been rping for over 2 years and in that time we have played quite a few games.

We have been playing D&D for just over a year and we are having problems one member of the grope tends to take things dun I caricktor personally witch upsets her.
One member plays the game like a online game so you can’t tell what is in caricktor and what is out he min maxis all the time witch tends to get on peoples nerves.
One guy is so void of caricktor that he has all his actions written on A4 sheets of paper.
One new player ho tries hard and has fun but has a habit of over doing his caricktor so we end up with a strange combination.
And a well-rounded long-term player who has never died and is several levels higher than any over player but is caricktor is great.

The problem is that up until now we have goten along well and had a lot of fun but things are going down hill we argue in and out of caricktor and things are bad there are accusations of favouritism (to of the players are married) I need help

So any advice for a DM in need?

Soz bult the spelling
WCH
02-08-06, 07:46 PM A DM in need of a basic skill at English, mainly...
Twitchkidd
02-08-06, 07:50 PM I saw 'dm in need,' and really wanted to help. Ten seconds later, I want to have you publicly executed. How can this be? Tell me, how can this be?
trapspringer
02-08-06, 08:05 PM It sounds like an ESL case, so I will refrain from criticism on the subject.

Don't hang out with people you don't enjoy hanging out with. Simple social rule.

If you want to salvage this, address the problem players privately about their respective problems and start a new game where everyone is the same low level and everyone's character is a PHB race and posseses only PHB classes, feats, etc.

See how things go and play it by ear. Again, the game is all about having fun, so if you aren't you shouldn't continue on the present course. There are always other groups to play with.
Vacerious
02-08-06, 08:22 PM For following posters, allow me to translate this post.
Greetings fellow gamers,

My group has been playing for over 2 years.

We have been playing D&D for just over a year, and we are starting to have problems. one member of the group tends to take things that are done in character personally, which upsets her.
One member plays the game like it is an online game, so they tend to metagame.He also min/maxes a lot, which is starting to get on the other players' nerves.
One guy almost completely refuses to roleplay whatsoever. He is so devoid of character, that he has all of his character's actions listed on a piece of A4 ( :confused: ) paper.
One new player, who tries hard and has fun, has a habit of over doing his character, so he ends up with a useless character build.
And a well-rounded, long-term player powergames and is several levels higher than the other players, but his roleplaying abilities are great.

The problem is that, up until now, we have gotten along well and had a lot of fun. But things are going downhill. We argue in and out of character and things are bad. There are accusations of favoritism (two of the players are married). I need help.

So, any advice for a DM in need?

Sorry about the bad spelling.
Board_Rider
02-08-06, 08:56 PM Only give XP for defeated encounters. Be a tactical DM so the guy who has all his stuff written down has problems and may expand the characters tactics. Tell the other guy that this isn't an online game. Tell the girl to stand up for herself. Tell them all to grow up and play a bit more mature.
trapspringer
02-08-06, 09:12 PM Damn. Three lines.
revnk
02-08-06, 09:12 PM One guy almost completely refuses to roleplay whatsoever. He is so devoid of character, that he has all of his character's actions listed on a piece of A4 ( :confused: ) paper.

It's a size of paper (a little longer and very slightly wider than "letter" sized paper) commonly used outside the U.S., which tends to confirm that some folks kind of jumped the gun when they criticized the poster's spelling, and that trapspringer was very perceptive in addition to offering good advice.

Speaking of which: I agree with trapspringer. Do what he suggested. And good luck.
Mock26
02-08-06, 09:26 PM A DM in need of a basic skill at English, mainly...

Given the example of quoting an A4 sized peice of paper, the chances are that the original poster is a person who speaks at least two languages, and I'd guess that English is the second language. How many languages do you speak, WCH? I don't know about you, but to me being able to write a second language poorly is an obvious sign of intelligence. I mean, come on, the person is smart enough to learn a second language! If you can't see this, then you are dumber than your post.
TheChilliGod
02-08-06, 10:18 PM What? You mean you Americans don't have A4 paper?
Cwazy...

Anyway,
For the game/reality confused, explain to her that it is a game, nothing less than playing a game on the internet, or Monopoly or something. Tell her that she doesn't have to stand up for her character, the character himself can stand up for itself perfectly fine.

For the metagamer/min-maxer, set him up with roleplaying situations, to test his RP capacity. The guard that the party needs to get by, and will not listen to the good RP'ers because of their race or class. Or convincing the guards to let the good RP'ers out of jail, because they got framed or something. But don't force something to happen, it has to happen naturally.

For the plank of wood (I got one of these) I would suggest handing out roleplaying experience for good acting in character, and set him up in roleplaying situations as with the metagamer, maybe together.

For the over-doer (My aforementioned plank of wood is also this) it shouldn't be much of a problem, unless the player is complaining that he keeps on getting beat. Either ask the metagamer/min-maxer to help him make his character better (using the fact that if the player doesn't want to change anything on his sheet, then he doesn't want his character to be better) or go through the character yourself. If the player is fine that he sucks, then he isn't even a problem.

For the all-rounder, if you feel it is necessary (and it shouldn't be, unless the gap is severe), politely ask him to take his character down a notch or two, or make a new one, because he is of a higher level, which isn't that fair to the others. In any case, the 3.x experience system makes sure that those at a lower level catch up to the higher level guys anyway, so it's all fair.

Overall, I recommend more roleplaying situations/experience, and for you guys to work together as a team, instead of a bunch of quirky strangers pretending to be elves.
Twitchkidd
02-08-06, 10:29 PM oof ... if english isn't the origional poster's native tongue, i'm really sorry. i should know better, too, two other boards i frequent are multilingual.

if it WAS stupidity, i hold no pity.
trapspringer
02-08-06, 11:08 PM Given the example of quoting an A4 sized peice of paper, the chances are that the original poster is a person who speaks at least two languages, and I'd guess that English is the second language. How many languages do you speak, WCH? I don't know about you, but to me being able to write a second language poorly is an obvious sign of intelligence. I mean, come on, the person is smart enough to learn a second language! If you can't see this, then you are dumber than your post.

Hang on, I'm all against back lashes, too. The OP did not say that he wasn't a primary English speaker, and he has no location listed. The clues are all contextual and circumstantial, relying on recognition of the whole to make sense of the pieces. They require either past experiences with difficult foreign langauges or an unusual knowledge of subtle and niche elements of other countries (and the typical paper sizes employed in those countries).

I don't think it is wrong to expect decent English on an American web site.

It is very easy to come in and say "Oh, well this person is clearly struggling to learn a second language" after the fact has been established. It wasn't, at least to me anyway.
arvis
02-08-06, 11:09 PM American Paper:

Letter - 8.5" X 11"
Legal - 8.5" X 14"
Ledger - 11" X 17"
Newsletter - 18" X 24"
VirgilCaine
02-08-06, 11:19 PM It sounds like an ESL case, so I will refrain from criticism on the subject.

I have been on this board for four, IIRC. I have always found ESL posters to have excellent grammar and spelling...and then they apologize for their bad english. The posters with the worst grammar/spelling never ID'ed their location.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Darf ED 02-08-06, 07:44 PM	Hi My grope has been rping for over 2 years and in that time we have played quite a few games. We have been playing D&D for just over a year and we are having problems one member of the grope tends to take things dun I caricktor personally witch upsets her. One member plays the game like a online game so you can’t tell what is in caricktor and what is out he min maxis all the time witch tends to get on peoples nerves. One guy is so void of caricktor that he has all his actions written on A4 sheets of paper. One new player ho tries hard and has fun but has a habit of over doing his caricktor so we end up with a strange combination. And a well-rounded long-term player who has never died and is several levels higher than any over player but is caricktor is great. The problem is that up until now we have goten along well and had a lot of fun but things are going down hill we argue in and out of caricktor and things are bad there are accusations of favouritism (to of the players are married) I need help So any advice for a DM in need? Soz bult the spelling
WCH 02-08-06, 07:46 PM	A DM in need of a basic skill at English, mainly...
Twitchkidd 02-08-06, 07:50 PM	I saw 'dm in need,' and really wanted to help. Ten seconds later, I want to have you publicly executed. How can this be? Tell me, how can this be?
trapspringer 02-08-06, 08:05 PM	It sounds like an ESL case, so I will refrain from criticism on the subject. Don't hang out with people you don't enjoy hanging out with. Simple social rule. If you want to salvage this, address the problem players privately about their respective problems and start a new game where everyone is the same low level and everyone's character is a PHB race and posseses only PHB classes, feats, etc. See how things go and play it by ear. Again, the game is all about having fun, so if you aren't you shouldn't continue on the present course. There are always other groups to play with.
Vacerious 02-08-06, 08:22 PM	For following posters, allow me to translate this post. Greetings fellow gamers, My group has been playing for over 2 years. We have been playing D&D for just over a year, and we are starting to have problems. one member of the group tends to take things that are done in character personally, which upsets her. One member plays the game like it is an online game, so they tend to metagame.He also min/maxes a lot, which is starting to get on the other players' nerves. One guy almost completely refuses to roleplay whatsoever. He is so devoid of character, that he has all of his character's actions listed on a piece of A4 ( :confused: ) paper. One new player, who tries hard and has fun, has a habit of over doing his character, so he ends up with a useless character build. And a well-rounded, long-term player powergames and is several levels higher than the other players, but his roleplaying abilities are great. The problem is that, up until now, we have gotten along well and had a lot of fun. But things are going downhill. We argue in and out of character and things are bad. There are accusations of favoritism (two of the players are married). I need help. So, any advice for a DM in need? Sorry about the bad spelling.
Board_Rider 02-08-06, 08:56 PM	Only give XP for defeated encounters. Be a tactical DM so the guy who has all his stuff written down has problems and may expand the characters tactics. Tell the other guy that this isn't an online game. Tell the girl to stand up for herself. Tell them all to grow up and play a bit more mature.
trapspringer 02-08-06, 09:12 PM	Damn. Three lines.
revnk 02-08-06, 09:12 PM	One guy almost completely refuses to roleplay whatsoever. He is so devoid of character, that he has all of his character's actions listed on a piece of A4 ( :confused: ) paper. It's a size of paper (a little longer and very slightly wider than "letter" sized paper) commonly used outside the U.S., which tends to confirm that some folks kind of jumped the gun when they criticized the poster's spelling, and that trapspringer was very perceptive in addition to offering good advice. Speaking of which: I agree with trapspringer. Do what he suggested. And good luck.
Mock26 02-08-06, 09:26 PM	A DM in need of a basic skill at English, mainly... Given the example of quoting an A4 sized peice of paper, the chances are that the original poster is a person who speaks at least two languages, and I'd guess that English is the second language. How many languages do you speak, WCH? I don't know about you, but to me being able to write a second language poorly is an obvious sign of intelligence. I mean, come on, the person is smart enough to learn a second language! If you can't see this, then you are dumber than your post.
TheChilliGod 02-08-06, 10:18 PM	What? You mean you Americans don't have A4 paper? Cwazy... Anyway, For the game/reality confused, explain to her that it is a game, nothing less than playing a game on the internet, or Monopoly or something. Tell her that she doesn't have to stand up for her character, the character himself can stand up for itself perfectly fine. For the metagamer/min-maxer, set him up with roleplaying situations, to test his RP capacity. The guard that the party needs to get by, and will not listen to the good RP'ers because of their race or class. Or convincing the guards to let the good RP'ers out of jail, because they got framed or something. But don't force something to happen, it has to happen naturally. For the plank of wood (I got one of these) I would suggest handing out roleplaying experience for good acting in character, and set him up in roleplaying situations as with the metagamer, maybe together. For the over-doer (My aforementioned plank of wood is also this) it shouldn't be much of a problem, unless the player is complaining that he keeps on getting beat. Either ask the metagamer/min-maxer to help him make his character better (using the fact that if the player doesn't want to change anything on his sheet, then he doesn't want his character to be better) or go through the character yourself. If the player is fine that he sucks, then he isn't even a problem. For the all-rounder, if you feel it is necessary (and it shouldn't be, unless the gap is severe), politely ask him to take his character down a notch or two, or make a new one, because he is of a higher level, which isn't that fair to the others. In any case, the 3.x experience system makes sure that those at a lower level catch up to the higher level guys anyway, so it's all fair. Overall, I recommend more roleplaying situations/experience, and for you guys to work together as a team, instead of a bunch of quirky strangers pretending to be elves.
Twitchkidd 02-08-06, 10:29 PM	oof ... if english isn't the origional poster's native tongue, i'm really sorry. i should know better, too, two other boards i frequent are multilingual. if it WAS stupidity, i hold no pity.
trapspringer 02-08-06, 11:08 PM	Given the example of quoting an A4 sized peice of paper, the chances are that the original poster is a person who speaks at least two languages, and I'd guess that English is the second language. How many languages do you speak, WCH? I don't know about you, but to me being able to write a second language poorly is an obvious sign of intelligence. I mean, come on, the person is smart enough to learn a second language! If you can't see this, then you are dumber than your post. Hang on, I'm all against back lashes, too. The OP did not say that he wasn't a primary English speaker, and he has no location listed. The clues are all contextual and circumstantial, relying on recognition of the whole to make sense of the pieces. They require either past experiences with difficult foreign langauges or an unusual knowledge of subtle and niche elements of other countries (and the typical paper sizes employed in those countries). I don't think it is wrong to expect decent English on an American web site. It is very easy to come in and say "Oh, well this person is clearly struggling to learn a second language" after the fact has been established. It wasn't, at least to me anyway.
arvis 02-08-06, 11:09 PM	American Paper: Letter - 8.5" X 11" Legal - 8.5" X 14" Ledger - 11" X 17" Newsletter - 18" X 24"
VirgilCaine 02-08-06, 11:19 PM	It sounds like an ESL case, so I will refrain from criticism on the subject. I have been on this board for four, IIRC. I have always found ESL posters to have excellent grammar and spelling...and then they apologize for their bad english. The posters with the worst grammar/spelling never ID'ed their location.