Make his char a short tempered entitled disruptive person lol then have npc's react accordingly everytime the kids does something bad have a npc slap him behind the head lol
what kind of character does he play? Maybe a more "l33t" char would work better? Make him feel more elite anyway like a paladin against undead or a bard against skill checks or a rogue at a cloak and dagger
That's what I did when I had my little brother Interested in the game made him feel important
Or you could give him so much coffee he crashes ...
Or just use a tranq dart on him... If he finds out your shooting him with a tranq dart he will think it's so cool and no problems lol
Edit: on a serious note of he is disrupting almost everybody at the table you could talk to your friend explain that the disruption is hampering the play of all the players see if he can handle the kid better (not in those terms but similar) and if he says no tranq him and the kid muahahaha
As the GM, you have the power to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. Can you give him an in-game incentive to behave? If you reward the other players for their good behavior he may follow suit.
Talk to the parent. See if he has any specific suggestions or ideas to curb the behavior and then the two of you talk to the child. The conversation should be two-way, let the kid have some input. "My Way or the Hi-Way" will probably not work. Essentially formalize your social contract and then enforce it when he strays. If the child does not know what the limitations on his behavior are, he will always fail.
Like all player issues, it is an Out Of Game answer.
Oh, and use the kid gloves when you talk to him :)
So, ive recently gotten into Pathfinder 2 months ago, the first tabletop RPG ive ever played, decided to GM, and i have a group of friends that i am GM'ing through ROTRL. since a month ago, when i first started GM'ing, i've been reading everything i could find on how to GM tabletop games, how to deal with certain players, how to reward them, learn to never say no, and i even bought the Gamemastery guide.
However, i have found nothing on how to handle this particular player. My group consists of 3 adults and 1 young teenager. He is the son of my friend within the group, and he's 13 years old. His hobbies consist of playing call of duty all day, perfecting his "no scope" shots, making COD videos to upload to youtube to show off his, and i quote, "l33t" skills, and playing Magic The Gathering. I was not particular thrilled when told he would be playing with us, due to his disrespectful and sassy attitude, not to mention his eager competitive nature to be better then everyone else. But it was either that, or he plays COD in the same room screaming at the TV.
how do you handle kids such as this type in your groups? those with short tempers, who have a sense of entitlement, and who become too competitive against the other players? Everyone agrees, he is a disruptive, however he is my friend's son, at his house, and the kid does actually enjoy the game, in his own way.
Talk with your friend. He should be in charge of keeping his son under control. If he isn't able to do that, explain to your friend that you will have to choose between removing his son from the group, or the group from his house.
So, ive recently gotten into Pathfinder 2 months ago, the first tabletop RPG ive ever played, decided to GM, and i have a group of friends that i am GM'ing through ROTRL. since a month ago, when i first started GM'ing, i've been reading everything i could find on how to GM tabletop games, how to deal with certain players, how to reward them, learn to never say no, and i even bought the Gamemastery guide.
However, i have found nothing on how to handle this particular player. My group consists of 3 adults and 1 young teenager. He is the son of my friend within the group, and he's 13 years old. His hobbies consist of playing call of duty all day, perfecting his "no scope" shots, making COD videos to upload to youtube to show off his, and i quote, "l33t" skills, and playing Magic The Gathering. I was not particular thrilled when told he would be playing with us, due to his disrespectful and sassy attitude, not to mention his eager competitive nature to be better then everyone else. But it was either that, or he plays COD in the same room screaming at the TV.
how do you handle kids such as this type in your groups? those with short tempers, who have a sense of entitlement, and who become too competitive against the other players? Everyone agrees, he is a disruptive, however he is my friend's son, at his house, and the kid does actually enjoy the game, in his own way.
I started roleplaying when I was thirteen. Everyone else in my group was an adult. My "roleplay" consisted of launching arrows at things and digging through their pockets, 'cause hey, that's what i thought the game was.
The DM caught up with me one day and wanted to talk to me about it. Not adult to kid, but gamer to gamer. he wanted to know if the story bored me or what... i didn't even know there was a story, or that there was SUPPOSED to be. I thought it was just a highest-score-wins sort of game, combat simulation with pencil and paper.
Turns out I was wrong (of course) and he explained to me that the idea was to tell stories through the game, and since I was just whipping out weapons at every turn and digging for loot, not only was I disrupting things for him and the other players, but I was missing out as well. Since he and the rest of the group were interested in keeping me along, what we all did was a pair of social / plot-advancing scenes that would get my character involved in some way other than chopping through orc heads.
If the kid is enjoying hte game, that's a good sign; if he was being disruptive just 'cause he's bored then hell, let him go play COD or whatever has his attention. But it sounds like he wants to be there, and I imagine that you kinda want to keep him since otherwise you wouldn't be here.
Basically approach him like any other new player who's being disruptive. don't come at him like you're his better, but as someone who wants to help him step his game up for everyone. Odds are he just doesn't know any better and could just use some mentoring.
since a month ago, when i first started GM'ing, i've been reading everything i could find on how to GM tabletop games, how to deal with certain players, how to reward them, learn to never say no, and i even bought the Gamemastery guide.
Sorry to say, you're already on the wrong foot. This attitude will especially not work with younger players that are used to getting everything they want.
Myself personally I totally agree with the never say no strategy. He's ten... Let him play the way he wants. How will he ever get bored of killing everything until he's had a chance to do it. Some kids never will and some kids will bore of it naturally over time...
I'm a firm believer in letting kids playstyles develop naturally because nobody is better at convincing a kid he's not having fun doing it the way he's doing it than the kid himself. You can tell him not to do it until you're blue in the face and he might never listen or he might be resentful that a game that's supposed to be about free will is so tightly controlled. But if killing everything he meets starts to get boring and he starts bringing it up, then its a great time to talk to him about other options the game brings to the table.
The game's design, or at least the *intent* of the game's design was to be a game that brought all of the different player types together... Where a wargamer, an explorer, and a thespian can all cme together in the same game and there's enough content of all types for everyone to get what they want out of it.
My current table literally has at least one of each type of gamer at it, and pathfinder can handle that playstyle fine as long as the gm makes sure to orchestrate ways to make each playstyle relevant. If you insist on trying to manipulate the kid's playstyle, try doing it ingame instead of out of game... Have other players in the party go *whoa whoa whoa!* when he starts charging into battle when it's a battle they'd rather try talking through. Give them a chance in character to discuss some party tactics... That means less 'ambushes' for now... and that's ok.
*sorry your excellency... Ragnar the short tempered has had a little too much ale before joining us to parlay this evening....*
*stay your blade, brave Ragnar... we have matters to discuss with our quarry*
Call of duty respawns your dead guy. In pathfinder coming back from the dead is neither as easy or as cheap. Consequences might be a new concept for him in gaming...
One of the players at our table of mostly late thirties players is the son of another player, and he's a ten year old wargamer like you describe... We have often discussed a plan with him only to have him bravely completely ignore it and charge into a battle. Our party would wait until the enemy laid waste to him and afterwards discuss in character amongst ourselves if it was worth selling his loot to resurrect him... Watching his reaction to the possibility of having to make a new guy proved the interaction was... very instructive. Now he's much more cautious, but in a way he *convinced himself* far more than we convinced him. And thats a way more effective and longer lasting lesson.
TLDR: Regulate a kid and he will be regulated for a day... Teach a kid to regulate himself and he'll self regulate the rest of his life.
Problem with the "kids will have to learn at their own pace" is the REST of the players. They may not be interested in a screaming, non-roleplaying player of a murderhobo, especially if they are more tactically or socially inclined.
Are you really suggesting sacrificing everyone else in your group because one person cannot have their child play games in their own way somewhere else?
Problem with the "kids will have to learn at their own pace" is the REST of the players. They may not be interested in a screaming, non-roleplaying player of a murderhobo, especially if they are more tactically or socially inclined.
Are you really suggesting sacrificing everyone else in your group because one person cannot have their child play games in their own way somewhere else?
I am. I'm not a fan of the idea that just because someone doesnt enjoy the game in the same way that you do that the best answer is run them off... That's sort of the opposite of the direction the hobby is trying to go. Alienating a gamer is not being a good gamer. Sometimes gaming isnt the easy cakewalk of 'everybody plays the same way I do' that you'd like it to be and skilled gamers don't just know how to deal with this relatively minor problem but are also willing to and constantly curious to find new ways to deal with this relatively minor problem.
A ten year old isn't 'born' knowing how to be the kind of gamer thats going to fit into any particular gaming table, and sometimes the journey to fitting in involves... you know... time and effort and... dare I say... inconvenience to the other players. It's a social game and developing social skills and ways to interact successfully and problem solve and grow as socially engaging individuals with people who, at the end of the day, may just be plain different than you is one of the great things about this hobby. No doubt there are some people and tables that aren't interested in growing another potentially great gamer from scratch even amongst the brood of their current fellow gamers.
Hats off to the OP for asking, and hats off to the posters who say its a goal worth pursuing and that its a reasonable expectation that he can be gamed with whether he changes his playstyle or not.
YMMV
I am absolutely suggesting that I'm the kind of player that thinks such sacrifices are worth it.
I'd follow the example set by Gnome parents. If the kid wants to put a fork in an electrical socket, let him... If he lives, he'll not want to do it again.
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"It takes a village to raise a role player". This shouldnt fall squarely on your shoulders. Any way you can include the father or other players in on your plans to guide this youngling? I am not in favor of correcting gaming behavior through rewards/penalities as some posters have suggested. I also prefer "try not to say no" over "never say no" dont be afraid to throw soemthing out if its going to be too much trouble. Try and think of ways to encourage the youngster to role play and the more you can engage the other players as a group the better.
Keep at it. He'll either figure it out or decide he wants to play COD instead.
Maybe you could find another player around his age to play with you... He sounds like he gets bored and what interests 30 somethings doesn't always interest early teens.
Should be a 'trial run' though... Might be too disruptive, or might mellow the situation.
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Be funny to make a magic the gathering card show up as loot in the campaign.
"Cool! What does it do for me?"
Nothin... Its just cool loot.
don't make the mistake of trying to get him to play his character the "right" way because he is young and inexperienced. let him make the choices he's making for his character and assign the logical consequences you, as the gm, feel are appropriate for them in game.
he can sell the staff for a cloak of stealth if he wants; players sell items the gm thought they should keep all the time. he can use all his spells up quickly if he wants; the party might begin to treat him as a liability rather than an ally if he doesn't contribute to the group for most of the day. he can even get mad at you if the bar maid doesn't like him if he wants; no player is happy with their gm's decisions or their own treacherous dice 100% of the time but that doesn't change the way the barmaid feels about him.
just play the game like you normally would. he will learn and adapt. or he will not, which means he'll never fit in, never enjoy himself and most likely stop playing on his own. as long as he's not actually screaming at anyone, throwing the books on the floor or being destructive, physically attacking anyone or doing anything else that is not socially acceptable in ~any~ situation, you should feel no special need to accommodate or control his character in game.
if his behaviour is disruptive out of game, that's something else entirely. it is very difficult to tell our friends that their children are rotten brats but that might be the situation you are facing. there is no shame in telling someone, even a child, that you do not like their behaviour if you feel they are rude, demanding, selfish or what have you and you can't expect to solve an out of game problem with in game tactics.
i have had the displeasure of having to tell a fellow player "sorry, but our group can't abide by your atrocious behaviour so you are no longer welcome in this game." it was horrendously unpleasant however it was much more preferable to the entire party killing themselves so they don't have play with that one guy they don't like. or withholding healing and buffing from that one guy. or actively plotting against that one guy, to get him killed or captured. or refusing to share treasure with that one guy. or stealing from that one guy. or ditching that one guy in town. or any of the other seriously cruel, passive-aggressive ways that i know of other groups employing in game to communicate their dislike of a player rather than just simply telling that player out of game.
...making COD videos to upload to youtube to show off his, and i quote, "l33t" skills...
People still use that term? LOL - I'm not a terribly "hip" person when it comes to "l33t-speak," so I guess I assumed the kids would have moved on from that term by now.
Anyway, the tough part is that this kid belongs to your friend. For friendship's sake, you do not want to "discipline" the kid too much. I have a 13-year-old (who is thankfully a great kid who participates wonderfully with our group - perhaps because he has been watching and gaming with us since he was a baby) and I know that on the few occasions a friend has been critical of my son, it caused a great deal of discomfort.
But here's the thing... I don't think you're going to get a change or the help you need in this situation, if you do not recruit the parent into the discussion. Talk to your friend, remind him that the game is a cooperative affair, and ask him if he can help his son to be a little more cooperative with the group.
It will be uncomfortable. But the alternative is much worse. It involves either the situation devolving until somebody explodes, or you possibly stepping over the line with regards to how much "policing" your friend thinks you can use on his son, possibly putting a dent in that friendship.