The Setting:
Almost 8 months ago, I sought out and put together a new group for a Rise of the Runelords campaign. For the most part, the six of us were new to gaming with each other. Three had significant pathfinder experience. Two had role-playing experience, some D&D 3.X but not specifically pathfinder. And one was brand-spanking new. We have a regular schedule, playing twice a month. I started with a short intro adventure, to acclimate the group to each other, before going into the meat of the campaign. We leverage a Facebook group and communicate heavily in it. We maintain an adventure log, maps, characters, and wiki in Obsidian Portal. While not without some hiccups (to be expected of a new group), I feel that things are progressing nicely. Everyone has fun, most of the time. This is a relatively drama-free group, and everyone is 30+ with families/lives/jobs/etc.
The Problem:
One of the players with roleplay-but-no-pathfinder experience has not adapted well to the Pathfinder rules. I say this kindly. He claims to have read them but plays as though he has not. He struggles when creating or leveling characters. He is genuinely nice, and I have no conflict regarding anything but his utter failure to understand the basics of the Pathfinder system. This is causing ever-increasing friction during the game and with the other players. If left uncorrected, I fear that it will lead to bad things with the campaign and possibly the group.
Here's what we've done so far
- When we started, I had a quick review of the basic rules.
- Then I paired up players for help and questions. one experienced with the new player, and the other experienced with both roleplay-but-no-pathfinder players. Instead of helping, I think this is becoming a crutch for the player in question, as it has resulted in protracted (and distracting) side conversations for several months.
- If a rules issue arises during the game, I call it out afterward and post a clarification/link/example to our Facebook group. This has helped the other players.
- I meet or text with him one-on-one for rules clarifications and character building and error correction. This is unscheduled but appears to be happening roughly twice a month.
- I have, unsolicited, sent him numerous emails and messages with nicely-worded suggestions. I am aware that some of the other players are doing this as well.
- He participated in an ad-hoc side adventure designed to help expose the newer players to a representative array of encounters and situations. This was intended to expose a fair portion of the working parts of the Pathfinder system.
- I was able to steer him away from complicated character builds. He was a rogue, now a barbarian.
- One of the players built for him an excel spreadsheet that will aid in calculating combat modifiers, attack rolls, etc...
- Created a level-up checklist for him to use in the hopes of minimizing mistakes.
- Directed him towards several class guides to help with leveling ideas, feat selection, etc..
Ok, so why the post?
After last session, I approached him and had a lengthy conversation about the effect he is having on the rest of the group. He has promised to read them again and learn them more. This is the second such conversation. Some of you will look to the boot, I am sure, and I am very close myself. But before we do, we want to make sure we have given every opportunity to help him learn, therefore I'm looking for some suggestions on approaches we can take to aid in his understanding of the rules.
Edit: Added some more things we've done to help.
