He just...quit. The kid that for weeks at a time everyday would ask me "when are we gonna play" and would always jump at the oppurtunity to drive home to grab his dice and all that wonderful stuff just quits on us right in the middle of Prince of Redhand.
Why? Apparently it's because I bugged him too much to play and he's still 'pissed at me' because after hanging up on me twice even after I'm trying to be the graceful one by not being offended, etc- Telling me he doesn't know when he'll play again, then telling others that I suck. As to why I suck, either as a person, DM, or both, I can't figure. I guess I'm being modest.
It's not that I don't mind him wanting to quit, but it's just that my other players want to kill him now. In real life. That's not good. Can somebody give me a similar story and what happened? Just randomly quitting right in the high arc of the campaign?
Love the character/hate the player...
I don't remember the detail but once I was DMing for a group of my friends that begged me to DM a game for them again and so I thought what the hell give them another chance right. Well i'm running the adventure just comming up with stuff on the fly and then bringing them ever closer to the final incounter of the night with the main baddy of the plot. Well the players cycled through there combat actions and then when the final blow needs to be smacked on the baddy the player whos turn it was just gets up and say "I'm done", stands up and walks to the door. I'm like dude final blow just roll the dice. "Naw I am good" he says. I was like fine skiped him when to the next person in the round who was the bad guy and proceded to mop the floor with the remader of the group. I wanted to leap over the table and strangle the guy. So did the others. Needless to say will never run or play in a D&D game with them again.
It's not that I don't mind him wanting to quit, but it's just that my other players want to kill him now. In real life. That's not good...
I know it sucks to have someone just leave in the middle of things. But you, and the other players, have to remember that this is still just a game. Would they want to kill the guy if he left a game of Monopoly? Surely not. This is the same.
The game will go on, with or without that player. That player definetly has issues to resolve. The best thing you can do is to tell him (or her) how dissapointed you all are and offer assistance (an ear) should he or she needs it.
Ultradan
I'm guilty of quitting DMing and D&D in the middle of a campaign. I was just so frustrated with the game system (2e) and frustrated with the game in general after 22 years of straight playing that I just quit.
...came back 2 1/2 years later with 3.5, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, but my players still don't quite trust me. I don't blame them.
Dear friend,
This has happened to the most of us at least once. Or something of the sort. And I am no exception. One of our "ex-dnder" is still my friend. His name is Robert, and we still talk and are friends. Though it did get us a little frustraded when he said he was leaving because it was too nerdy. And for that my friends do not like him but I am fine with it. He will never play an adventure again in his life he says. I doubt it. Other than that though the whole reason why everyone was angry was because one: my character had got him alot of stuff(some cost exp)and two: he quit after the 1st part of AOW and now we only have 3 ppl for that adventure(we are on part 7 now)
Although your problem may somehow be different because he is telling everyone you suck you maybe should confront him and tell him strait up to stop the bad person spreading. Because it's just wrong to tell anyone that someone sucks IMO. So I hope your problem gets better. Oh and my group has gone from hating Robert to Disliking him(althought i'm still friends). Good luck friend!
~GtG
Every one in the group I metioned is still my friend and I treat them as such. We all still hang out play other games and video games and all that. Just not D&D. I forgot to put that in my first post. Its not all there falt that I don't play D&D with them anymore but this was the bigest reason. My story about the guy quiting was just one of intense fustration at him because he just needed to hit him one final time. It was more like ok well if you don't want to play anymore thats fine just roll for this last thing. He did not even give us that gester. I did have fun wiping the party out though. This is just one of the drops in the buckit of my DMing for that group.
I've suffered the odd player dump here and there...mostly I just roll with it and use it as an opportunity to swap to a new game. Fortunately my present group has a pretty loose clutch and can shift gears quickly and easily.
I've had a few good games killed by their GMs right as they were getting good--and have shot the odd game in the head myself a time or two (though usually to avert player friction). Some of these games I've played in that have died premature deaths, I will sometimes hijack and run for those players left with characters in limbo.
Every once in a great while a player will quit and I'll have to do some troubleshooting. Usually it's a just a matter of time and a little TLC, but a time or two its resulted in an ugly rift. Nothing to do about that kind of thing though, so I try (mostly unsuccessfully) not to let it bother me. Most recently I've had a good and longtime friend find religion--which has lead to all sorts of problems, ranging from spurning me as going against his "christian walk and conversation" to ridiculing the games we've done as meaningless wastes of time. Oh well...
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I met the same problem with a new player who likes to play (he plays the cleric as he does for computer games), but I had to send him 2 mails and call him 2-3 times each time we intend to play. It's so annoying.
Since as a DM, my group don't play often (a big session every 8-10 weeks), and we're about to begin Age of Worms (at last), my group needs a cleric who is played correctly.
I asked an experienced player (who was just coming back in my group after a while) to grab that PC : he was ok, but I had to transform a human cleric of Trithereon into an elf cleric of Corellon (no big deal), and to get one of NPCs get killed (there were 3 NPCs).
I think my group is beginning to be balanced, with 5 player characters and 2 NPCs (one I actually play, the other one played by one of the players).
Kyuss, here we come...
Coming back to your problem, I guess you have to face the guy to make him stop spreading rumours, and you could recruit a new player ready to take his PC (and be ok for little changes here or there).
Good luck !