Preface to question is first paragraph; the situation as it stands is second.
My players for Shackles are comprised of three friends, a player's sister, and my wife. My wife has told me often that she hasn't enjoyed playing because one of the other players - who, I should I mention, is the Captain of this crew and the defacto leader of the party - is consistently refusing to let her (my wife) have a say in the party's course of action, or even let her get a word in edgewise. It's been hard for me to see what she is talking about, but I noticed it in our previous session: they encountered a pirate ship whose captain was hell-bent on killing my wife's character, Nala. Once defeated, the party interrogated him, and to sum it up: "Where are my axes? Give me my axes! Where is she, where are my axes?!" he ranted and raved (Nala had taken both the handaxes in question). Our Captain (Galadon) asked "Do we want to keep this guy around?" Nala said that she wanted the man sent to her quarters, bound and gagged until she could deal with him. At this, our Captain said "Let's just keep him in the brig until we can deal with him later." My wife pointed out to me secretly that was what she had been talking about.
So, after session, my wife discussed the possibility of starting a mutiny against the captain. As her husband, I fully support this decision - he has been acting like he is the most important person in the party and that every decision falls to him; I feel like he needs to be brought down a peg. As the GM, I understand that I must not tip the scales in her favor, in order to be fair to all members of the party. Additionally, my wife considered changing characters - she hasn't been able to explore Nala as a character very much because, as my wife puts it, "I just don't feel like I can do anything when everyone else is grandstanding." If she decides to roll up a new character and leave the mutiny to Nala, I will take control of Nala and consider her an NPC. Here is my question, then: Have any other GMs or players encountered a situation like this, whether in Shackles or any other campaign? What should I do in this situation?
We aren't playing for at least another three weeks, and I would greatly appreciate input on this matter.
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The odds of this mutiny resulting in everyone at the table having fun is worse than the odds of winning the lottery.
Generally the first course of action is to speak with the other players at the table and see if they feel the same way about the captain. Whatever the response, you then talk to the captain player out of game and ask them politely and kindly to reign it in a bit. Just talk it over. They may not realize they're that overbearing.
If they refuse, then perhaps you can consider the mutiny.
That said, if your wife is feeling like the only one without real moments to shine, perhaps you can make occasional moments for her to do just that. Or it could be possible that she might just have to take some of the spotlight for herself "forceably" in game. I'm not sure making another character would fix everyone else grandstanding and making her feel less important. It might be something she just has to do. Grandstand a bit herself as it were.
I agree with Third Mind. Additionally, I think some people feel that the only way they can lead is by making independent decisions and hogging the attention. While there is a time and place for those things, "all the time" is not the best thing to do. Talking to the player and resolving the issue out of game is the best thing to do IMO. Even if it is, "what my character would do," the group still has to balance their roleplaying with RL feelings/matters/fun.
I would suggest against a mutiny. Unless the players (including the captain's player) all agree, there are going to be hurt feelings. Hurt feelings tend to lead to a group falling apart. It could be fun roleplaying the whole thing, but only if everybody is on board.
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This is a player problem, not a character problem, you'll almost certainly only solve it by dealing with players.
As someone who currently *is* playing the Captain in a Skull & Shackles game I've worked very hard to avoid this exact thing, asking my officers for their input and ensuring that in almost every situation we discuss and agree on a course of action. The few times that something needs to be decided NOW and I've done so on my own the party has always supported me because it's so rare and they know that there's not time for a consensus.
Talk to your players as players, make sure the Captains player understands that yes, whilst they do hold rank as the Captain as character, as a player everyone is equal and it is only right that they all get to have fun. If it helps, remind them that in real pirating the Captain was voted into power, often had little more say than much of the crew and the Quartermaster had more of a say in things in most cases. They may have gotten carried away in the role and not realised, make sure you try to talk this out first imo. If the Captain plays the frankly bullying, "it's what my character would do!" card then tell him he is in control of his character so he can damn well change what his character does if it's making the game less fun for people.
If that fails then... things get tougher, hell, each pirate had one vote regardless of rank, if your wifes character is charismatic have her sway the crew to her side and demand a new vote for Captain, refusal of that *should* cause an entire crew to leave their Captain or mutiny, and if the vote goes ahead, the crew vote her Captain.
Regardless, I would try and avoid direct PvP and personally we specifically had the GM say he wouldn't allow it (attack another character and enjoy a fatal aneurysm). Worst case, they murder your wifes character and things get even more upset.
Pathfinder is not a PvP game. No one can "Win" pathfinder any more than everyone having fun.
Handle this situation out of game. Talk to people and ask them to handle it better, offer suggestions, etc.
If this continues Skull and Shackles might not be the adventure path for the group. Maybe run one where there is less of a chance of one player taking charge.
Handle this situation out of game. Talk to people and ask them to handle it better, offer suggestions, etc.
Would you all recommend that I approach the Captain first, separate from everyone else, or bring this up sometime out of the game or the day of the session?
I would talk to the Captain privately and tell him how his actions are affecting the group specifically your wife. This is a game first and foremost and if people are not having fun then what is the point in playing. The player in question may be completely unaware of how he is coming across to the rest of the table.
I strongly advise against a mutiny. There is absolutely no way that is going to end well.
What level are your PCs currently?
The party is level 10.
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This is exactly the way my Skulls and Shackles game flamed out. Talk privately to the Captain, and then have a larger group conversation. Let people air grievances and decide if/how they want to keep playing. Maybe propose doing away with a single captain role and instead move to a more team-focused role.
This reads like the exact opposite of the Skull and Shackles game I'm in, my character is the Captain and she may as well be the ships figurehead for as much as the ships officers care what she thinks.
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Yeah, let the player of the captain know that the issue exists and suggest bringing it up at the next session to discuss it openly with the entire group. Unless the player things that private discussion can solve the issue, which is possible. Either way, the player should be given a chance to adjust his actions at the table.
I definitely would NOT bring this up with the other players. If they haven't expressed any concerns to you, going around asking them if they are upset is not necessary, and you can pretty much expect that the player in question will end up hearing about this from someone, and will end up feeling ganged up and that you are talking behind his back. Beside, it really doesn't matter if his behavior is pissing off everyone or pissing off one person, he needs to change his behavior.
AS for making sure everyone gets input in the party's decisions, I would talk to them privately, and explain the situation and ask him for his ideas on solutions that will make the game better. Getting him invested in finding the solution will likely make a huge difference in the solution actually working out.
"I feel like he needs to be brought down a peg." This is 100% the wrong attitude to have. That most definitely is not part of your job, and will almost certainly lead to the ending of the game, and possibly friendships.
I will also note that there is a distinct difference between one person (your wife) not getting to have input in party decisions and always getting what they want. You particular example doesn't really give me the impression that it is necessarily the former. From what you wrote, it seems your wife wanted to either torture or murder the prisoner unilaterally, the Captain didn't want to be precipitous and the other players expressed no opinions (at least not that you presented.) Holding the prisoner in the brig doesn't seem crazy in that situation.
I will also say that deciding to make a new character because you feel you don't have enough play time to explore a current character doesn't make any sense, and almost certainly won't solve the underlying issue.
This isn't to say that you don't have problems that need to be solved, but unless you are sure what the problems really are, you won't be able to solve them correctly. My guess would be that what you really have is a style problem in your party where some (your wife) want a more dramatic storytelling role play experience where deep character motivations are explored, and others want a more tactical numbers based game focused primarily on the action, but that is just a vague guess based on reading a few things between the lines.
Thanks for everyone's input. I spoke with the Captain and he said he would back off. The point is almost moot, though, because further discussion this afternoon with my wife has led us to the possibility of her leaving the campaign anyway. This decision is not solely based on this situation, but has much to do with her fitting the dynamic of this particular party. She has told me before that she doesn't really connect with Captain's Player and Bloodrager's Player - who are married in real life. So, she'll come up with a definitive answer before our next session.
To be honest, though, it's been difficult having my wife in this party. Yes, she doesn't fit with the dynamic of this party, but also two of the other players are quick to understand what's going on in the game. My wife constantly forgets that she has abilities that she can use, and she's complained about not being effective in combat. It's just a game, so I don't feel like hitting her over the head with "Well, you choose to be a ranger even though you didn't like it the first time." Doing that puts the game before our marriage.
She loves the Carrion Crown party we have and connects with the couple we have in it, so she's not leaving Pathfinder altogether - just this Shackles party.
<snip>She has told me before that she doesn't really connect with Captain's Player and Bloodrager's Player - who are married in real life. So, she'll come up with a definitive answer before our next session.
To be honest, though, it's been difficult having my wife in this party. Yes, she doesn't fit with the dynamic of this party, but also two of the other players are quick to understand what's going on in the game. My wife constantly forgets that she has abilities that she can use, and she's complained about not being effective in combat. It's just a game, so I don't feel like hitting her over the head with "Well, you choose to be a ranger even though you didn't like it the first time." Doing that puts the game before our marriage.
She loves the Carrion Crown party we have and connects with the couple we have in it, so she's not leaving Pathfinder altogether - just this Shackles party.
Fair enough, players don't always mesh with each other and sometimes it's better to recognize that fact and move on rather than try to make a group work that isn't working quite right.
That said, I agree a bit with Dave Justus on the whole brig issue. Having played a captain in a Skull and Shackles campaign, I'd have overruled any player wanting to keep a prisoner in their own cabin too and thrown the NPC in the brig.
Well it seems like its becoming resolved one way or another.
As an aside for anyone else running the Skull & Shackles and facing similar 'Captain' issues. My understanding is that the Captain only had such authority in naval combat. The rest of the time the crew had equal decisions in most things. The quartermaster acted as liason between the crew and the captain, and at any time the crew could vote the captain out of power.
An update:
In talking with a good friend and fellow player (but not involved in my campaigns currently), I told him about this situation. He suggested, if my wife wants to leave the party for player-to-player reasons, she could still stick around by co-GMing with me. What are your thoughts on allowing her to work with me for the rest of this campaign as a fellow GM? If we decide to do this, what would you advise us to do?
An update:
In talking with a good friend and fellow player (but not involved in my campaigns currently), I told him about this situation. He suggested, if my wife wants to leave the party for player-to-player reasons, she could still stick around by co-GMing with me. What are your thoughts on allowing her to work with me for the rest of this campaign as a fellow GM? If we decide to do this, what would you advise us to do?
I see no issue with co-GMing. Obviously make sure the players are fine with it first, but I don't see an issue?
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It might work, but be certain that she's not harbouring any unconscious resentment of the current Captain and such otherwise you're putting her in a bad situation both for her and the game, which could quickly be ruined. Honestly, as a player I'm not a fan of switching GMs back and forth unless there's a solid reason to do so, it can open up all sorts of situations where the players don't know where they stand, i.e; GM 1 says an ability/situation works one way but GM 2 says it works a different way, etc. Although that's a personal quirk and I'm aware it can certainly work well.