Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Illithid13 11-28-05, 09:57 AM	Ok, so I am in this group that games on Sunday's at the local hobby shop in a game that a long time friend is DMing. He is a fantastic DM and I've been waiting for him to run his campaign in Eberron just so that I could play a shifter character. Now unfortunatly, this group of gamers is full of teenagers. I say unfortunatly because 3 or 4 of them feel like they can take swings at other players in a group. Under certian situations, I can see "in-fighting" permissible as I have killed other characters befor for "personality differences," but in this group, it happens every 15 minuts. We started out on seperat erands, and mystically teleported to a location where we find member of our pre-established mercenary group. Imediatly, 3 people take swings at other people. Their excuse? "I'm a rogue and that is what I do," or "I'm a bard that acts as a rogue, and that is what I do," and "I'm a warforged, I'm built to fight, so that's what I do." I've tried to tell all 3 of them that yea, that might be what you do, but you are a professional mercenary in a group, you know better than to stab your brother in the back. None of them seem to really understand all of this. 2 of them have decidedly stuck to targeting eachother (the warforged and bard) for the expressed purpose of "this is how we say hello." that, I can accept as it is a wierd expression of friendship/comrodary, and who knows how many times I've seen some form of this shown before. But the rogue is not so willing to understand. He said that he was planing on disbanning from the Merc opps as soon as we return to the home base, but as all DMs like to do, we have been cought up in an epic adventure and now stuck with it. My character, while not the offical leader, seems to have become one of the "designated officers" for this small adventure. And as such, my character has confrounted the rogue on several occasions along this issue and to make matters worse, the guy is a Meta-gamer (using out of character knowledge to influience his character's actions.) Specificaly the knowledge that only his strongest poison would be able to kill me if I failed the fort save, and he specificaly said he is saving it for my character because of this. I can see his character not liking mine, especially since my character's methods of resolving issues is through making promises of physical injurie (I'm a barbarian, what do you expect?) but is specific knowledge of only his best poison can take me out and him "saving" it for my character? This is just a sign of a poor player (and he started a 2nd game after the one I participated in as the DM... I avoided that game like the plague). My question is this, how do you deal with an immature meta-gaming moron like this one? Is it worth trying to bring him in line, or should my character just outright slaughter him? I'm very capable of it, and my character could easly snap and take him out. and honestly, everyone is a little sick of this guy's character. As to have the DM deal with him, he tried. He had him make up a new character, and this past session, he played both with the ultimate goal of the rogue dieing, and his cleric taking over... well, the cleric met with an untimely death, so now he is left with just the rogue (who is pilfering the dying wizard before we can get him healed.)
Tyler Do'Urden 11-28-05, 10:01 AM	My question is this, how do you deal with an immature meta-gaming moron like this one? Leave. These minds need to simmer for a few more years before they're ready to deal with other people.
Moon-Lancer 11-28-05, 10:47 AM	ether the dm is going to have to flex is muscles, and do something, or your going to have to quit. You could try killing his charicter off though, if you cetch him doing things like looting a party memebers eq. Persionaly i think you should ask the dm to boot the player though, as it seems like he is makeing the game less fun for more then just you.
Draco Strang 11-28-05, 11:27 AM	Leave. These minds need to simmer for a few more years before they're ready to deal with other people. Addendum: If there are any players worth retaining in this group, try your damn best to get them to leave with you. It's hard to find good players. Keeping one or two with you goes a long way towards getting a new group started.
lord warrior 11-28-05, 05:00 PM	You can either: a) Fight fire with fire, thus killing their character, over and over again, untel they learn. b) Use the universal solution of breaking players' leg. c) Have the GM perform 'b' d) Buy those players Munchkin (tm) RPG, and continue to play seriously, while they're performing 'a'.
Thorak 11-28-05, 07:26 PM	Their characters are antisocial. Get everyone else in the group agree that they don't want to pal around with a nutjob. Kick the character out. If they complain, tell them as a player that they better play nice. There's absolutely no reason everyone's PC has to put up with a nutjob PC. They wouldn't. They'd kick him out and go their merry way without the psycho. Think about it, if you had a friend who decked you when you disagreed with him, would you still be friends? Let alone trust him in battle? Especially the Warforged. That's the kind of character you let valiantly charge into battle, and discreetly fade into the background, so that he either dies alone due to overwhelming odds, or at least is distracted long enough for the rest of you to leave.
^Graff_EpsilonIX 11-28-05, 07:44 PM	Take a stick and repeatedly poke their immatureness. If that fails ask them why they are immature. Either that or administer an "ageing potion".
JC99 11-29-05, 08:52 AM	First of all, don't immediately attribute the problem to the players age. In the group I play with, players range in age from 14-23, and I myself am 15, and have been playing D&D for about three years. Our most immiture player, and the only one to attack another played thus far, is almost 21, and claims he started playing at 7. As for what to do about it, recommend that he buy a portable gaming system. Our problem player bought a DS recently, and we haven't had many problems with him since. Instead of being disruptive, he'll sit and play quietly.
green_yawgmoth 11-29-05, 10:00 AM	Kill his character. Just coup de grace him in his sleep. Then tell him "if you can metagame to be an ass, then so so can I." Then leave the game, because none of them will be mature enough to handle human interaction for quite a while. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/yawgmoth/kittyjig.gif
pres_man 11-29-05, 10:10 AM	Did his character tell your character that he had poison that he was saving to kill your character? Or did he tell you that he had poison that he was saving to kill your character? If he told you, then you are using metagaming knowledge as well. On the other hand if his character told your character, then you should have had your character attack his immediately. I mean who in their right mind would threaten a barbarian to their face, a class for whom the phrase: "Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry.", has actual meaning for.
tarsia 11-29-05, 10:53 AM	I would say to drop the group and try to take the other good players with you to start a new group. There's no reason to put up with a player like this if it's not your style of play. It just makes the game non-fun. Or convince the DM to kick the player. Either way would work. One thing I have found from a previous group - there were two 'idiot' players, constantly pulling stupid crap. We then found that when one of the two wasn't there, the one remaining one was a decent player. Maybe not very imaginative, but certainly acceptable. So maybe just getting rid of one of the trouble players would be enough. 'Cause then the rest could shepard the other two along a bit. But looking at the situation from the point of view of the characters - there's no reason that I can see why the party would stay together.
Tiran 11-29-05, 02:44 PM	You say your character could easily snap and slaughter him? Well do this. 1. Warn the rogue, in character, next offense, he's out or he's dead. 2. When he slips, back up your words. He dies, or is driven out of the party and has to make a new character. If he's still being annoying, just get the other players on your side and see if the DM will kick him out
Nom 11-29-05, 04:08 PM	Ok, so I am in this group that games on Sunday's at the local hobby shop in a game that a long time friend is DMing. He is a fantastic DM and I've been waiting for him to run his campaign in Eberron just so that I could play a shifter character. ... As to have the DM deal with him, he tried. He had him make up a new character, and this past session, he played both with the ultimate goal of the rogue dieing, and his cleric taking over... well, the cleric met with an untimely death, so now he is left with just the rogue (who is pilfering the dying wizard before we can get him healed.)No, the DM hasn't tried nearly hard enough. Just because you're playing in a shop doesn't mean that you have to take anti-social play. If it was miniatures, and a player obviously cheated, threw dice, or abused other players, the store-owner wouldn't have a problem with you saying "Get lost" - he doesn't want jerks chasing potential customers away from the shop. Same goes for players who spoil the game for others. Just uninvite them for a session or two. And don't take any sophistry about "character coherency". It's a social game first. Either he spontaneously fixes his character or his character spontaneously dies and he walks.
LadyAthena 11-29-05, 04:17 PM	I'd suggest first trying to kill his character. As you've said, you have plenty of reason. Continue killing him or ousting him until he learns. If that doesn't work, ask the DM to tell him next strike and he's out.
Talonz 11-29-05, 05:43 PM	Cut and run. Seriouslly. You signed up to play a game, not play parent to somebody else's children. And let the DM know you're very interested in joining a more mature group when he puts one together (which odds are will be soon after the current one implodes).
Inverse Icarus 11-30-05, 12:27 AM	Kill his character. Just coup de grace him in his sleep. Then tell him "if you can metagame to be an ass, then so so can I." Then leave the game, because none of them will be mature enough to handle human interaction for quite a while. "I'm a barbarian acting like a rogue. It's how I say hi."
guru7892 11-30-05, 01:25 AM	"I'm a barbarian acting like a rogue. It's how I say hi." i'm a north-western lumberjack whos great grandfather was a half-orc, and grandmother was a dryad. i have an expertise in all things related to 'axes' and 'trees and plants'. and do to my rough upbringing i can chop down a tree twice as fast as the ordinary man, not to mention i get a +10 to disguise checks to 'dress up like a women' when i will 'hang around in bars'. oh, im a lumberjack and i work all day... note to self: move to the city, the mountain-esque air and trees will have you in flanelle by the 'morrow. yeah when he finds out your a man... its priceless... *** ok if the people are really imature, just set an example for them, draw a new charictar every time he kills yours and he will get tired of it. remember, be like jesus! or Ghandi, but i prefer jesus since he ate more food then Ghandi... remember, violence is met with only violence! stop tyhe cylcle BE LIKE GHANDI!! WWGD! remember, if it works for india, it can work for you... so dont be afraid to have your peopl work several hours a day as tech support...( ok, that was mean, but then again they get paid weller(new word) than they otherwise would)
Illithid13 11-30-05, 10:33 AM	Did his character tell your character that he had poison that he was saving to kill your character? Or did he tell you that he had poison that he was saving to kill your character? If he told you, then you are using metagaming knowledge as well. On the other hand if his character told your character, then you should have had your character attack his immediately. I mean who in their right mind would threaten a barbarian to their face, a class for whom the phrase: "Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry.", has actual meaning for. He told me, but I haven't acted on this, and will not act on it until he actually tries to do something to me or makes a threat of it. I kind of wished that his character had told mine... Then It would be an excuse to have killed him... One of these days, I'm hoping to catch him in the act of looting a friendly... then I'll pretend I'm arabic and we'll be calling him stumpie from now on. And I can't wait till he trys to say that he applyed his poison to his blade just before he stabbed me... he doesn't have poison use, and seems to forget that he cannot do that as a quick action.
Lincoln Hills 11-30-05, 04:59 PM	I would not attempt to run anything more than a series of one-shots if I were a DM who was "contributing time" to his FLGS. That's what DMing in a game-shop is, you know: community service to the gamer community. Your regular campaign might be a thing of art and beauty, but any game you design to play in a FLGS is really more like a... social mixer. "Anybody with a character can sit at this table" leads to this situation very, very often. You might be best off asking the player... while you're both out of character... to lay off your guy. Don't react in-character or you are just reinforcing the behavior. Without trying to intimidate or bribe him, just tell him you're trying to play the game. Your barbarian will be alert to outside threats thrown at all the players by the DM, which will allow his rogue to spend more time stealing from the party. It sounds pretty dumb, but it works. I've run a gnome rogue in a game-store campaign who was the only good-aligned character in the group, who took height jokes and thefts and boasts and "accidents" with good grace. Soon all the sociopaths decided to leave the gnome alone... because he was the only party member who kept his eye out for outside threats, kept his mouth shut during bragging sessions, and could be trusted to come to the rescue when one of the sociopaths got in trouble. However, being the Den Mother does grow tiresome in the long run. Eventually you'll probably split off with the better players to form a "house campaign".