With respect to the rules arguments, tell your players that the constant rules arguing is annoying, and therefore you'd like to institute a new rule: they must hold all rules argument until after the encounter - then they can mention the rule, but even if they are right about the rule, whatever happened still happened, though you will make a mental note to use the correct rule next time (unless you want to institute a house rule to override the standard rule). Explain to them it's more important that the encounter be fun for everyone (inclding you as DM) than that every little rule be followed to the letter. Discuss this with them and see if you can get them to agree to this concept.
As for the player that wants to change his character, find out if this is because he is unhappy with his current character, or just power gaming to find an even more powerful race/class combo. If it's the latter, just limit everyone to the core rules races and classes, with no prestige classes. Those are pretty balanced and still allow a lot of variety. If he wants to change character because he really is not enjoying the one he has, though, I'd allow him to change as long as what he is changing to is still balanced in your view. If you force him to play a character he is bored with, the game is not likely to be fun for him.
As for the NPC elves that your players find annoying, I'd say have them leave. Having NPCs along can take away from the fun for the players, as it takes the spot light away from the player characters. You can always bring them have them secretly follow the characters and if the PCs get into a really big jam and are about to get wiped out, you can decide to have the elves show up and help. But at most do this one time. Even one time may be too often. It's better to let the player characters succeed or fail on their own. If you don't think they have enough player characters, maybe let them be one level higher so they can take on the challenges without help from NPCs.
|
Dude, I always start whatever game by admitting my lack of omniscience as dungeonmaster. That being said, whatever I say goes, and if anyone feels cheated I give out magic items to make everything right depending on circumstances. Karma, man. Karma.
You can't be everything to everyone all of the time, but you just gotta live for those moments where everyone just has to admit you are the bomb.
I've run into this a time or two myself. I just got back into D&D a couple of years ago, my attempt to get my son out of his Yu-Gi-Oh, spend-more-money-to-win phase and into the realm of imagination and companionship. Being the "wisest" of the bunch, and the one who owns most of the books, I get to be DM all the time. I tell them that I will not argue about rules. I WILL make every encounter a chance for them to shine, learn how to "role"play, and earn some cool swag. Instead of waiting for them to argue, I ask questions. "Can you get your sneak attack if you just walk around someone and stab them?" It makes them dig into the books and justify their actions. When we play with the whole group, I am fair, but always right. I am learning while they are learning, so they feel useful and smart as well. It's fun.
I do have one player who likes to tweak and tweak, on and on, and plays some cool characters as a result. I reward his hard work and systematic thinking by killing him quickly ;-) No, really, I try to spread the love around, but give him his moments to shine. He has become a quality player, and I'm proud of him. He's my son, after all.
Don't get frustrated. Give them a heckuva ride, let them crit all they can, and then go home knowing you helped shape some mighty roleplayers.
One thing I'm instituting in my next campaign (this one), is that anything the PC's have that isn't in the PHB needs to have a book and page number on the character sheet so they can find it quickly if they need to. If it's in a book that isn't commonly at the game, I'm requiring them to have a xerox of the pages, and if it's in a book I don't have, I get a copy, too. This was prompted by the player in the last campaign who could never remember what book his prestige class was in...
|
|
Just a few more suggestions.
1) If a character forgets to use an ability they have (declaring dodge, remembering racial bonuses to saving throws, etc), you don't go back. If they fail a save they OUGHT to have passed, hopefully they'll remember next time.
If this is the case, you might consider being nicer with secondary effects that happen outside of combat. For example, once the combat is over, the poison might not work, even if they fail the second save (since they would have passed the first).
2) Allow players to state why they think that is wrong. QUICKLY! Then make a ruling. Tell them that the ruling stands until after the session. They can remind you then, and you'll look up the rules. You should make it plain that you're trying to adjudicate the rules correctly, but fun comes first. You'll try to get it right, and you'll learn for your mistakes, but you're not going to look up every rule for every action in every round of combat. Accept the fact that mistakes will be made, but that you'll do your best to make sure that mistakes on your part won't count against the PCs.
3) Don't be afraid to rule in favor of the PCs on occassion if you're not sure of the rule. If you give them something they can't actually do, just award less XP. Like the time I let someone with Great Cleave take a 5-foot step between cleaves - he killed 12 Rust Monsters in a single round.... They stayed dead. We didn't re-run the combat. It was my mistake but we let it go.
4) If a player wants to make a new character or suicides an existing character, have them come back at 1st level. If a character does die in the game, have them come back at average Party level -1 or -2. Minus 1 is the same as if they had their character raised. -2 is better, since it makes sticking with a raised character better. That prevents equipment optimization that occurs when you start someone as a high level character.
Ha! Now that's funny. Reminds me of something I actually did once. A player at my table wanted to argue about a rule, and wouldn't quit, so I threw the book at him. Literally. A hush settled over the group as all eyes looked down at their dice. I went out and had a smoke, came in and apologized, and we had a meet-Jesus speech about arguing with the DM. I can admit when I'm wrong, and often do, but persistent arguing that encourages the same must be squashed quickly.
The player was my own son, which made it more troublesome for me. We had a chat on the way home, and he still loves me. But he doesn't argue much about rules anymore, especially while in the middle of a game. The whole situation has developed into a bit of a running joke in our group. "DON'T go there! Books HURT!"
I like this thread: it's nice to know that there are other DM's out there with the same problems as me!
Intersting: seems like your complaints seem to mirror alot of mine, Dee, up to and including their hatred of Fario and Fellian. (And more, I have a rogue character who INSISTS on sneaking about, doing his own thing, seperating himself from the group, you get the idea..)
I've tried to explain that A) I don'tknow all the rules by heart, and B) "You many know the rules better than me, but unless one of you wants to step up and DM, I'm making the calls."
That said, I do try to obey the rules as much as possible, but if I deem a rule needs changing, or am just unaware of a paticular shading, we address it afterwards, so the story keeps flowing.)
A bit harsh, I know, but it seems to be working OK: we're midway through "Flood Season" right now, and the game flows more smoothly, and if anyone has any issues, they know they can address me between sessions.