How to deal with different types of gamers

[Warboss666]

Hi all.

When I play with a group,I always come across two different types of people who ruin things for eveyone play.
These types of people are broken down into two groups, Power Gamers and Munchkins.

Power Gamers are people that want to just get more powerful in as much as possible until they are unkillable characters.

Munckins are people that just want to play how they want and make things difficult by exploiting rules.

How do I deal with these people?

[Thorkull]

Don't play with people who don't match your preferred gaming style.

[Talonhawke]

Trust me there are more than two types to ruin others fun. Just look for like minded people who have a similar play method as Thorkull says.

[Thorkull]

I should also mention that most people would consider "munchkin" a perjorative, and using is dangerously close to trolling.

[Talonhawke]

Thorkull wrote:

I should also mention that most people would consider "munchkin" a perjorative, and using is dangerously close to trolling.

Yep unless they actually hail from OZ.

[Thorkull]

I don't see why Aussies wouldnt be offended ...

;)

[Liz Courts]

Moved thread.

[Kip84]

I'm from Australia... Now excuse me, I have to take a drive down the yellow brick road to get some petrol from the munchkins before the wicked witch jacks the price up again! ;)

[Phneri]

First off, talk to your players. Find out what kind of game the GM runs, find out who makes what. Do they go RP heavy, or is it a hack n' slash game? I've run and played in both, and they're fun for different reasons.

Second, how do these people impact your fun? Are they making it difficult to run the game? Then throw in noncombat/skill-based encounters that let people other than the powergamer shine. If the munchkin is acting out of purpose he doesn't get xp for the session. Easy Peasy.

Now, if you're talking about being a player in someone else's game, how exactly are these guys making you have less fun? The powergamer, at best, is going to have maybe +4 or so more to do a given task than you. So specialize in a different task. Party diversity is good.

I'd also, like others above, question how these are the only folks interfering with your fun. I'm absolutely a powergamer. I've also run a half-dozen successful campaigns over the last year, make fun, interesting characters, and usually wind up being johnny-on-the-spot with rules for a group.

[DeathQuaker]

First of all, what Phneri said--talk to the group. Note there's some conflicting play styles and ask them what they want out of the group and what bones they might be willing to stop chewing on for the sake of group fun.

The GMG also has some good guidelines for descriptions of player types and how to work with them (these guidelines are in the book only, not the PRD).

[Josh M.]

There's a lot of give and take when it comes to playing with players like that. I play with some guys who are extremely bull-headed and want what they want, right ****'n now, and often times that conflicts with the kinds of games I run.

Sometimes the simple "game with someone else" isn't an option, due to a lack of available players, location, etc. If that's the case, as awkward as it can be, you really need to sit down with these guys and talk out playstyles and gaming expectations. If you are the DM, be open and clear about the kind of game you want to run, and what you expect of the players.

For example, I've had the unfortunate displeasure of trying to run a RP-heavy, story based game with players who didn't give a squat about anything happening in the setting, and just sought out to do their own thing. Basically only wanted me to react to their actions and throw encounters at them. We clashed pretty hard, and the campaign went down in flames. But, I know what to expect next time, so lesson learned.

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm sort of in the same boat. I've been playing with the same "core" group for over 20 years now, but with all the rights and privileges that come with being a middle-age fat guy with a greying beard, it's hard for us to get together as often or for even as long as we used to.

My thing is world-building. In the past I've created really immersive (sp?) settings that my players loved. I created customs, local dialects, even foods particular to a region. But now, we get to play once a month at best, with 5 hour sessions, and things have boiled down to the super-optimizer who really just plays anymore because he enjoys the hanging out with friends aspect and the guy who whinges and whines about "too much detail to keep up with so let's not even worry about making up a setting or even using an established one".

I do have players who want more detail about our little homebrew, but it's not worth listening to the belly-achin' of the others.

Sigh.

[Warboss666]

The last time I was GM. This one guy was being a complete ass.He would just use the rules, wored play and all that to get to his own end.

People thought it was funny then after a very short time, they grew annoyed with him.

I ended up asking him to stop dong what he was doing, he said no.
I asked him to leave, and he said that he still had a character and so he couldn't leave.

To give me some entertainment, I made the party go through the Tomb of Horrors. To just get him out og my hair and out of the game, I made him face the brunt of all the traps and he eventually was killed by the Great Green Demon Head.

The funny part was that he tried for ten minutes to figure out a way to twist 'permanently destroyed with no possibilty of ressurection'.

When ever he walks into the club now, he is treated like a pariah.

[Warboss666]

I run Pathfinder and I allow, within reason, material from 3.5 D&D and so I am very open in my games.

[Pan]

When I am between games and looking for players I use PFS. The perfect environment to screen local gamers for compatibility.

[Warboss666]

I find Pathfinder Society is annoying as their is a level limit, no item creation feats and you have to end a character and never use it again.