thegreenteagamer |
2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. 19 people marked this as a favorite. |
I have read many threads on problem players, and regardless of the problem itself, the solution tends to boil down to the following:
Step 1. Talk to the player like an adult.
Step 2. If the problem continues, kick out the player.
Step 3. If it is not within your power to remove the problem player, leave the group and find another.
You're welcome.
thegreenteagamer |
9 people marked this as a favorite. |
Then you either put up with it and shut up, or move on. Trust me, if talking to them like an adult didn't work, anything else won't. Sly tricks, making them pay in or out of game, or any other passive aggressive nonsense will not work if rationality already failed. At that point it's not a question of what to do, it's a question of is it worth it to do the only thing that will work.
Hmm |
::Claps!::
That said, there are some problem players that are not evil, merely annoying. We have one in our current gaming group who is the most amazing combination of munchkin and incompetent that I've ever seen.
He combs rulebooks for hours, tries to get all sorts of rule-bending exceptions made for himself and then puts together completely ineffective builds with them. I asked our amused Gm how this player continually manages to do this, and the GM said, "Decades of practice."
In this case I put up and for the most part, shut up. I like the guy otherwise and he's not that unbalancing -- just bizarre.
Hmm
Gregory Connolly |
While you are 100% correct that this is what people should do it hardly ever happens. Social relationships outside the game have a huge effect on the game and any game you are in is going to impact your social relationships with the people you see outside of game. I would wager 95% percent of posters with social dynamic problems in their games have the same kinds of problems in other areas of their lives. It often feels like a posters are asking for therapy style help rather than game related help.
Igor Horvat |
How do you deal with metagamers?
depends on the amount of metagaming.
everyone metagames to a degree, it's unintentional as player knowledge beats character knowledge, and many players think that if they know it it's common knowledge and all characters are expected to know it.
There is no real answer, talk to players, maybe ban an action that they want to take if you think that the reasons for action is metagame knowledge.
Add chalanges and monsters that aren't "by the book".