One of the PCs is actively trying to be a murderhobo, help me stop them.


Gamer Life General Discussion


I'm GMing a game with seven players, weekly.

In our last session, (two players missing, not feeling well) they came across an intelligent, lawful good, zombie.

This zombie is a story hook, and is supposed to lead them to a town, where the story can continue.

Our Neutral Evil Rogue has attempted to be the face for the party, but has degenerated into basically being chaotic stupid, and openly told party members that they'd kill the undead, to take a book from him.

(The book has some magic qualities, the properties of which are unknown to the party)

The problem is, that there are characters in the party who I know for a fact would stop this from happening, yet were unable to attend.

Basically, I don't know how to deal with a player that is exploiting another player not being present.


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Have an out of game discussion saying this is unacceptable behavior and if it continues they will be asked to make a new character who better meshes with the party or they can find another game.


No one should ever willingly party with a Chaotic Evil character. Not even other Evil characters.

Is the rest of your party okay with him being a complete monster? If not, they kill him in his sleep, no save, no perception check, tell him to make a not stupid character.

(Stupid does not refer to his Intelligence, and I'm sure the player knows that.)


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This doesn't seem to have anything particularly to do with being a murder-hobo. It seems instead you have a party that fundamentally can't work together.

If you want your party to be heroic, you probably shouldn't allow evil alignments. I would imagine, that if the others players had been there the outcome would have been worse, not better, as players stopping other players from doing what they want seldom ends in a constructive and fun gaming session.

In any event, you should certainly outline what the consequences of missing a game would be, (at the very least I would imagine not being able to influence what the party chooses to do is one of them.) After that, it isn't really your job to worry about missing players disproving of other players choices.

IF the real problem is that you think this player is disruptive, you need to talk with that player and explain your expectations for the game, and probably inform them that if they can't meet them they will no longer be invited.

As an aside, never ever have one thing that you need your party to do for the story to continue. I can pretty much guarantee that if you do, that that is the one thing the party will, in one way or another, not do. Have multiple ways to get the clues/hook/etc to the party and maybe....maybe...they will manage to get one of them right.


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What Dave said.

Also, no matter what cool plans you have, lawful good zombies qualify as a "mixed signal" to the players.


The game concept sounds messy in general. A Lawful Good zombie as a story hook in a party with an Evil Rogue? Your party doesn't sound like it has an identity. Perhaps you should look forward to matching your party and your world concept in a way that doesn't create so much obvious tension.

Sovereign Court

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How to deal with the player in three easy steps:

Step 1: Reach across the table

Step 2: Slap him upside his head

Step 3: Tell him to stop it


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Does the group has any means to know in character they're dealing with a homebrew LG zombie?
Does the group has any reason to believe that instead of believing this is a trap laid out by somee necromancer/lich/other BBEG?
If any of those is a no, then the rogue is justified in killing the zombie.
If they kill it, have the book have any info necessary written on it with a folded map indicating the town being used as a pagemarker.
Also: Absent players don't get to vote, unless the characters are beign used in battles even with the players absent.


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Charon's Little Helper wrote:

How to deal with the player in three easy steps:

Step 1: Reach across the table

Step 2: Slap him upside his head

Step 3: Tell him to stop it

or you can use 1 easy step and just tell him to stop, violence will only encourage him ("Oh, so now slapping is in the mix!")

but seriously, who introduces a LG Zombie into the mix and is shocked when they kill it, at least make it a Ghoul so it can live long enough to tell them its not One of those types of Undead, bad encounter design in my opinion. although the person playing a NE Rogue isn't completely faultless here, the onus is on the GM.


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If you know characters not in attendance would stop this happening, have the npcs stop it from happening.

Not a fan of the LG zombie, a Gheden might be better and they are still (mostly) alive, not undead. Also you missed an opportunity for the "I'm not dead" skit.


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Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I can't be Lawful Good, or have to go without respect.


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captain yesterday wrote:
at least make it a Ghoul so it can live long enough to tell them its not One of those types of Undead. although the person playing a NE Rogue isn't completely faultless here, the onus is on the GM.

No offense, but this is going on the thread for sure. :P


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If you know characters not in attendance would stop this happening, then delay the event. Have a random encounter or something until they are back.

But the cat's already out of the bag compounded by the fact that you allowed an evil PC in your game.

NPC's are not snowflakes and if the player has good reason for his actions that say goodbye to your LG Zombie.

In the future try and save any campaign hooks for when everyone is present.


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All the information the zombie could provide is in the book.

Done.


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Having played shadowrun, I assume the PC's will kill any NPC who serves a plot function.


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Grave Ol' Salty wrote:

Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I can't be Lawful Good, or have to go without respect.

I've been known to use odd-alignment monsters at times. However, zombies are non-intelligent, they can't have an alignment.

The closest one could come to this is something that looked like a zombie but had a mind. That wouldn't be a zombie, though.


I made a thread a while back that I'm really hoping gets more links. I'm not bragging, but I compiled a guaranteed method to solve all problem-player related issues, based upon analysis of many threads on the subject.

Handling Problem Players (Works EVERY Time)


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I am feeling like murderhobo is becoming overused. How did you rp this LG zombie Soilent? Honestly, would he seem as shady as a rotten apple in the shade? How obvious is his rot and undead nature? Are undead otherwise hostile and evil in your games?


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Zombies are assumed to be evil in the rules, but i personally consider them neutral due to the fact they are mindless and due to the fact negative energy is energy. but then, you can have a token evil teammate in any party composition, as long as neither the token evil team mate or their companions are abusive to one another and are willing to work together for a shared cause. even if they have different reasons for sharing that goal

Shadow Lodge

Zombiness aside, You let your players be evil and now are complaining that they are killing the good guys... um yeah, that's what villains do. Don't let PCs be villains unless your playing a campaign where the PCs, well, are supposed to be the villains.

Shadow Lodge

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Destroying undead does not make one a murder hobo. And can everybody stop with the intelligent unintelliget undead thing. We all know that The Walking Dead is cool, but what makes a zombie a zombie is being a mindless, soulless killing machine. If you describle something to a player as, "You see a zombie,but it seems different, almost intelligent" your players stopped listening at, "You see a zombie."

Sure custome creatures are fun, but don't screw yourself as a GM by expecting players not to react to common knowledge while you set up something you think is cool but is really contrived bullcrap. If you want an intelligent shambling humanoid call it a human leper, introduce him as begging for help, and then if the party kills him they qualify as murder hobos. Zombies are already dead so its not murder.


I agree with parts of this, but not the whole thing. PCs should pay attention to their surroundings otherwise they miss stuff.


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The LG Zombie thing is definitely a miss. I had a DM that would play these kinds of mind games with us all the time - present an obvious enemy that isn't an enemy at all, even going so far as to play the character as threatening, then suddenly turn on the players about how they killed a good guy, they're evil now, bla bla bla. Moral grey areas are one thing, but playing silly mind games is another. It's a poor way to try and create tension or a plot twist. IMO ditch the LG Zombie as quick as narratively possible and move on. Don't go into this territory again.


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DM of mind games: "You killed the lawful good zombie, alignment change, you are all evil now!"

Player of... evil: "You mean we can play evil characters now?"

DM: "..."

Happy player: "Woo-Hoo!"


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Undead are kill on sight for most of my PCs. If the plot involves intelligent good aligned undead better tell me in advance.


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Have a serious talk with the player. Tell him to stop being a jerk and metagame like he's doing. Don't accept 'but I'm just playing my character' because that's an excuse to continue acting like a jerk.
If he insists on playing a jerk, show him the door.


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We should be honest, if the party cleric waved their holy symbol and exploded the LG zombie into tiny bits, it would have been pretty funny.


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Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Have a serious talk with the player. Tell him to stop being a jerk and metagame like he's doing. Don't accept 'but I'm just playing my character' because that's an excuse to continue acting like a jerk.

If he insists on playing a jerk, show him the door.

I think the metagame is a real person not being horrified by an undead creature and wanting to see it destroyed. I think metagame is investigating creatures that seem like obvious threats when you have the power to destroy them - saving your life and the lives of others.

Sovereign Court

What.

The Exchange

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Arturus Caeldhon wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Have a serious talk with the player. Tell him to stop being a jerk and metagame like he's doing. Don't accept 'but I'm just playing my character' because that's an excuse to continue acting like a jerk.

If he insists on playing a jerk, show him the door.
I think the metagame is a real person not being horrified by an undead creature and wanting to see it destroyed. I think metagame is investigating creatures that seem like obvious threats when you have the power to destroy them - saving your life and the lives of others.

This, as confusing as it reads, is exactly why my character actually freaked out and screamed like a little girl the first time a skeleton reached out of a tomb and tried to grab him. Had my GM laughing his ass off and half the other players looking at me like I was nuts. We were first level PCs in Sandpoint. Only the cleric had actually seen an undead creature before, but the rest of the party acted like it was normal. Not me. First level characters should freak out every so often.


Qakisst Vishtani wrote:
Arturus Caeldhon wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Have a serious talk with the player. Tell him to stop being a jerk and metagame like he's doing. Don't accept 'but I'm just playing my character' because that's an excuse to continue acting like a jerk.

If he insists on playing a jerk, show him the door.
I think the metagame is a real person not being horrified by an undead creature and wanting to see it destroyed. I think metagame is investigating creatures that seem like obvious threats when you have the power to destroy them - saving your life and the lives of others.
This, as confusing as it reads, is exactly why my character actually freaked out and screamed like a little girl the first time a skeleton reached out of a tomb and tried to grab him. Had my GM laughing his ass off and half the other players looking at me like I was nuts. We were first level PCs in Sandpoint. Only the cleric had actually seen an undead creature before, but the rest of the party acted like it was normal. Not me. First level characters should freak out every so often.

I salute you, oh unpronounceable one.

The Exchange

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Qa - Kis - st,

Three sylables; very simple. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. we do not have vowels in The Voice of Fire; what you call Ignan. So the sounds break up in a much more natural fashion.

:)

Anyway, back to the murder hobo thing.


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What I get from your name is that a bad doctor is a member of a vaguely Roma culture set in the Demiplane of Dread.

Quack is Vistani, right?

...I'll just go now.

The Exchange

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My adopted mother's family name was Vishtani; and she was a Harrow reader and bard. So I took her family name.

I was born in Qadira; but I don't like to talk about that much. Not many good childhood memories from Qadira.


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Qakisst Vishtani wrote:
Arturus Caeldhon wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Have a serious talk with the player. Tell him to stop being a jerk and metagame like he's doing. Don't accept 'but I'm just playing my character' because that's an excuse to continue acting like a jerk.

If he insists on playing a jerk, show him the door.
I think the metagame is a real person not being horrified by an undead creature and wanting to see it destroyed. I think metagame is investigating creatures that seem like obvious threats when you have the power to destroy them - saving your life and the lives of others.
This, as confusing as it reads, is exactly why my character actually freaked out and screamed like a little girl the first time a skeleton reached out of a tomb and tried to grab him. Had my GM laughing his ass off and half the other players looking at me like I was nuts. We were first level PCs in Sandpoint. Only the cleric had actually seen an undead creature before, but the rest of the party acted like it was normal. Not me. First level characters should freak out every so often.

I don't think so because these things exist in their world, much like tigers exist in our world, and in fantasyland people are actually capable of fighting these things. Now if they were as helpless as were are against many common animals where even the best of us is likely going to die, and has no hope of winning in combat that would be different.


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off topic, but saying QA as the first syllable doesn't help when we're speaking English, and Q without a U doesn't have an official pronunciation. Phonetic spelling doesn't use ambiguous symbols such as Q or C, but instead references absolute sounds, such as K or S instead of C, or KW instead of Q. When I read QA, it could be Kwa or it could be Kah.

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