King_Namazu |
I am GMing my first campaign and most if not all my PCs have no experience with the game. Things haven't been smooth but they have been relatively fine and enjoyable until recently, lately members have taken a liking to cancelling on game night giving me no more than 2 hour notice if any at all putting stress on me to rebalance encounter CR on the fly. The group is arguing with each other, getting on eachothers nerves and not gettin much progress between that and bad rolls, their team composition is less than ideal with not a single magic user or person competent in spellcraft so mid to high ac creatures cause major frustration. Their composition as a whole is awful despite us all having known each other for 5-14 years and seeing each other on a daily basis and as a beginner GM I have no idea what I should be doing beyond game balancing and smoothing shit over between friends
Dox of the ParaDox twins |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It sounds like you need to sit your players down and talk to them, I know it sounds harsh but you may wanna kick out the players that cancel most often. Also you probably should have coached their character creation to balance their party a little better. But most of all, try to remain friends, if this game doesn't work out than don't force them to play, RPG's aren't for everyone
Glorf Fei-Hung |
Unfortunately it looks like you have multiple problems. And none of them are really easy to 'Fix and move on', they all require work and dedication on your part, and your players.
Cancellations- If you aren't already start with some sort of tracker on who is expecting to show up, whether it's a web page/form players post on, or response to any email you send out. Find out far enough ahead of time (only you know what's acceptable), but if your normal prep day is 4 days before the session then require to have a response in no later than the time you start prepping.
First having players publicly committed ahead of time should reduce the number of last minute drops. Basic psychology will have people try harder to be somewhere when they have informed others that they will do it. You'll still have people that have legitimate reasons come up for a late drop, but hopefully those will be fewer and may be even advanced notice that it MAY happen, so you can prep easier balancing options (adding some extra mobs so balancing without the person is just removing those extras).
Argumentative- Unfortunately without details as to what is causing this issue it's really hard to make recommendations for you. Issues with Character differences in game are handled vastly different between issues with players out of game, or even issues with players out of game as a result of what someone's character does in game.
The generic solution is to take some time before the next session actually starts and have a discussion with the players, found out what the underlying issue is and see if you can come up with ways to resolve it. Most of the time issues like this are either misunderstandings or ill feelings because something happened and players don't like how it was handled. Simply having a forum to voice their concerns and bring it out in the open where it can be dealt with can release a lot of tension.
Composition- If no one wants to play a caster/buff class, then this may just be an issue that can't be resolved. It's not a good idea to force a class/character onto someone that doesn't want to play it. Neither can the players expect the GM to constantly cherry pick only the enemies with appropriate AC/abilities that make encounters easy for the party in question. In fact if they are still winning, then they should feel good they're succeeding even though the opponents are well defended against their primary types of attacks.
Perhaps one solution may be to have an NPC character (I would suggest a bard) that could fill in with the party. The GM(you) can control it easily enough and the character could just be there to start singing inspire courage and do spellcraft/knowledge checks.
GM Advice- Finally as for GM advice there is a LOT out there already, read through the GM forums here. Check out youtube videos, even search through other gaming forums. The basics on tips and advice that a GM can use are not pathfinder specific. AD&D or D&D5 tips on GMing can be just as useful in Pathfinder.
King_Namazu |
Unfortunately it looks like you have multiple problems. And none of them are really easy to 'Fix and move on', they all require work and dedication on your part, and your players.
The arguements generally start from clashes in personality, the tank has no counter because there's no magic users or firearm users and he likes to twist the other characters arms to get his way because he knows he'll win, it's just his character as he's a bit of a mercenary. Others are more for s%!#s and giggles and just want to fool around in and out of character like the stereotypical bard and others want to be serious characters. I've given them some npcs and I have tried to teach them the rules however they argue with me whenever I haven't made a rule clear or a mistake yet they won't take the time to read crb themselves.
bitter lily |
Glorf Fei-Hung wrote:Unfortunately it looks like you have multiple problems. And none of them are really easy to 'Fix and move on', they all require work and dedication on your part, and your players.The arguements generally start from clashes in personality, the tank has no counter because there's no magic users or firearm users and he likes to twist the other characters arms to get his way because he knows he'll win, it's just his character as he's a bit of a mercenary. Others are more for s%!#s and giggles and just want to fool around in and out of character like the stereotypical bard and others want to be serious characters. I've given them some npcs and I have tried to teach them the rules however they argue with me whenever I haven't made a rule clear or a mistake yet they won't take the time to read crb themselves.
On the conflicts between the giggling players and the serious ones, can you see to it that both have time to have fun? I'm playing in a group with some similar differences, but when we're in a gripping RP situation or intense combat, we all tend to focus. It may be that you aren't driving the group hard enough.
Do you have a bard? Then you have a spell-caster. Maybe not a well-built caster, but you can make suggestions as the character levels. Maybe even allow a free rebuild.
As for the rules arguments, you may need to switch to a simpler game! (I say that with condolences.) I'm GMing Pathfinder for the first time now, even though I've played for years. And I'm constantly tripping over rules that I never needed to look up as a player. It's a very tricky, rules-nitpicky game. You'll likely go on for some time making mistakes or finding out that the rules are much more complex than you first said. (When you go look something up, you may find that half of the relevant rules are in two different sections other than the one you first read.) Either the group agrees (in so many words) to forgive you, or I don't see how Pathfinder can work for them.
Glorf Fei-Hung |
I have tried to teach them the rules however they argue with me whenever I haven't made a rule clear or a mistake yet they won't take the time to read crb themselves.
Ultimately as a GM in a home game, the rules are yours. If the players have something wrong that's a clear case of they are not applying the rules properly then inform them they can't do that and go over it with them in detail after the session. If it is a case of unclear text that you can see it being interpreted either way then possibly allow it to happen that time, but inform them in any future occurrences it will not be allowed.
In any case where a player has to devote feats towards trying to perform something if they are unable to perform what they intended consider allowing them to retrain the feat. If they still get valid use out of the feat, just not in their 1 misunderstood concept, I would probably have them have to use the retraining rules. If it is for a feat that they were only ever planning on using it in those situations, then offer to let them do it for free. (Just do this once, if you have to do it, recommend the player come to you with how they intend to use a feat if it's questionable at all.)
King_Namazu |
Do you have a bard? Then you have a spell-caster. Maybe not a well-built caster, but you can make suggestions as the character levels. Maybe even allow a free rebuild.
As for the rules arguments, you may need to switch to a simpler game! (I say that with condolences.)
I have a problem with memory so everyone is understanding , as for if we have a bard no we do not the only spellcasters we have is a ranger with too low a wis score to cast spells anyways and war priest only interested in healing himself and using a greataxe
GhostPepper |
In terms of arguments over the rules, something to make very clear at the start of a campaign is Rule Zero: The GM is right.
One of the keys to good gameplay is flow, if you're stopping every few minutes to look something up (a process that stalls the game for a couple of minutes) then it's going to create frustration, boredom, and open space up for arguments.
Instead, when you hit an unclear area, make a decision that seems as fair as possible and move on with the game. If you find out later that it wasn't consistent with the rules then learn from it and get it right next time. Decent and fast is better than totally correct and slow.