notabaker's page

-- Compromise, but hold firm on that you can't have insta-knowledge of otherworldly things: Sit down and talk to the player and say, "Whether you think you can or not, you have never built a suit of power armor. Your character has the raw skill, but not the training. I will make sure you get the opportunity in-game to learn how to do this thing and advance your abilities, but you WILL not be able to do these things until you have received the in game training to do so."

-- Go in the opposite direction and use what Sebastian suggested -- let everybody gain special knowledge they wouldn't have IRL. This is after all a fantasy and escapism--and it's quite possible, what this player has in mind is to be able to play out the fantasy of being able to do these things, and there's really nothing wrong with that. If evening the playing field makes him happy and the other players are also fine with going in that direction as long as everyone's on the same page, then that works.

-- If he whines, screams, kicks, hollers, and generally acts like a douche when every effort has been made to talk this out with him in a...

A lot of good advice all around, especially these suggestions. I think it's important to clear at least one thing up - we've all taken a level in our new Pathfinder classes. I'm an alchemist, the GM's character is a druid, OP is a ranger, and the problem child is a fighter. So we're committed to becoming fantastic heroes on our quest to get home. We spent a year in-game training for our first level of these classes and we're taking it fairly slowly, but we're not stuck on doing JUST what a bunch of college-age people would do in fantasy land.

We actually did make fairly straightforward rules for character creation and, for the most part, they've been followed. I think most readers have caught on that the problem comes when, for instance, problem child wants to use one Craft skill for a dozen other uses, even when a more appropriate Craft skill exists. We're fine with his stats (though there is the distinct possibility of fudged HP rolls.. we don't really care at this point).

We've mostly just come to realize that he's not actually interested in this campaign. He keeps coming up with storyline ideas for himself that would be TOTALLY fine for any other character in any other campaign (found a knighthood, start making magical power armor, etc.), but that don't match who he is or the campaign world. And... I think we've come to terms with that. Ironically, it was his idea, but the three of us actually saw it through and he didn't. So I think we're going to make the best of it and play the three of us, plus an entirely fictional construct who happens to have the same name as one of our friends from "back home."

So thanks for all the advice - and keep it coming if you still feel like chiming in; it's always good to get more perspectives for the future. Here's to realizing the limitations of a problem and deciding to have fun anyway!

So is he like this in every game or just this one? If he is like this normally, then just deal with it. If he is like this for this game only, I'm thinking he has an ego issues and maybe needs to sit this one out for his own mental health before any arguments happen that can't be taken back.

I'm actually one of the other players in the group. The problem child isn't normally this bad, but he always displays something of an ego.

The kicker is, when we initially made characters, three people wrote down the stats they all thought the fourth player should have, and that player was given the average. Everyone went through this. One thing we missed: 1) We shouldn't have stopped there if we were going to do this.

The other problem is that problem child will argue that Craft: mechanical can be used for dozens and dozens of other things. Because of his knowledge of A,B,C, he should of course be able to do X,Y, and Z just as well. The concept of making an untrained roll for something he believes he would be able to "figure out" is completely foreign to him.

So we'll argue about it until everyone comes to a consensus and think that we can move on. But the next week, he brings it up again and refuses to acknowledge anyone else's points. It doesn't matter how ridiculous or absurd our examples get - he thinks he could flawlessly create a hidden pressure plate trap with poison darts IN REAL LIFE with no training even remotely related to that. But he "understands" machines, so he could do it. His delusional ego knows no bounds.

But he's my roommate and his ego will NOT allow him to be taken out of the campaign. If we ask him to step down, we won't be able to game here anymore, and living with him is going to be hell.

Do we change our original concept and just say screw the realism, or do we find some excuse to quickly kill the campaign and move on to the next one?