Shame is a powerful thing.
We haven't had cheating problems in the tables I've played in, thankfully. Either that or someone has cheated and has never been caught.
If talking don't work, prank em.
Once when I was playing with 10 year olds, one kept peeking over the DM screen. I planted a sheet with normal orcs. I ran them from a hidden sheet of anti mages.
Anti mages are like normal orcs except they have a defect that they have to eat magic to live. After a magic missile got sucked up they kind of figured it out. :)
I don't buy into the words thing, but Bribery usually does the trick. We had an issue where players cheated with dice (said ones were something else). Now, every time someone roles a one (at appropriate times), they get an extra 100xp.
We also have an Oracle in the group who can have players reroll a d20 if they don't call it out. It is once per day for that player but that also helps the cheaters to not cheat.
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The "words thing" is the results of a scientific study. A lot about human behavior is not intuitive.
The delightful people in the CIA and [former] KGB who specialise in torture would tell pupils always to tell their victim "You are making me continue" rather than " Talk or I will torture you more". They consider it very important, and it seems so senseless.
If an NPC said that, when my character would kill them first chance and the last words they would hear are, "You forced me to slay you, how does it feel!" Then they would seek an atonement spell.
The "words thing" is the results of a scientific study. A lot about human behavior is not intuitive.
The delightful people in the CIA and [former] KGB who specialise in torture would tell pupils always to tell their victim "You are making me continue" rather than " Talk or I will torture you more". They consider it very important, and it seems so senseless.
The CIA/KGB isn't about a game with friends. When one friend says to the other to not be a cheater, the other can smile and say "NO". Because he knows nothing bad is going to happen. If the player can not cheat and get something in return there's a good chance he won't cheat.
Now the CIA/KGB. Could they Bribe? maybe. But that Victim has other issues on his mind like surviving the night. The Player doesn't have that issue.
ngc7293- I agree with you. Although I have certainly met players who have had me consider protracted torture as a gaming option.
But my point was human behavior does not make intuitive sense. And we should take some notice of what scientific studies tell us about human behavior.
My point was, you have to first acknowledge you did something wrong before you can atone in any way. If you torture someone, you are doing something wrong. If you believe it's their fault, you are still doing something wrong. It's not about if you are caught or not. It's about what you did and if you are going to do it again.
If you announce at the next game that from now on, the GM must read each die or it becomes an automatic one, then they will stop hiding the dice and grabbing it away.
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The "words thing" is the results of a scientific study. A lot about human behavior is not intuitive.
The delightful people in the CIA and [former] KGB who specialise in torture would tell pupils always to tell their victim "You are making me continue" rather than " Talk or I will torture you more". They consider it very important, and it seems so senseless.
The CIA/KGB isn't about a game with friends. When one friend says to the other to not be a cheater, the other can smile and say "NO". Because he knows nothing bad is going to happen. If the player can not cheat and get something in return there's a good chance he won't cheat.
Now the CIA/KGB. Could they Bribe? maybe. But that Victim has other issues on his mind like surviving the night. The Player doesn't have that issue.
Players usually want to have fun, and when someone is outright cheating, they can ruin the fun for everyone else.
I don't buy into the words thing, but Bribery usually does the trick. We had an issue where players cheated with dice (said ones were something else). Now, every time someone roles a one (at appropriate times), they get an extra 100xp.
As a player who tends to roll lots of 1's, I like this houserule.
Something I say to my kids all the time: I can't MAKE you do X, but I can make you regret not doing it.
When dealing with my kids, "X" is something like homework, cleaning their room or taking out the trash the first time I ask. With your players you could just substitute not cheating.
I don't buy into the words thing, but Bribery usually does the trick. We had an issue where players cheated with dice (said ones were something else). Now, every time someone roles a one (at appropriate times), they get an extra 100xp.As a player who tends to roll lots of 1's, I like this houserule.
One of my old GMs had a house rule that you learn best from new ideas or failures. One of the best ways to get XP in his games was from critical hits or critical failures, to be fair to non-combat areas he devised a critical success and failure system for ALL skills and abilities.