First some clarification
'The Guy' Syndrome: As in 'I want to be the guy'. The need to always be in the spotlight, story-wise and combat-wise.
A friend of mine I've been playing with for years now always seems to want to be the party leader, or at the very least the big damn hero, regardless of actual aptitude or lack thereof.
Some examples include always getting angry at party member when they don't do exactly what he says, making incredibly tragic backstories, as well as getting audibly angry at players OUT of character, somewhat forcing them to change what they were going to do.
He's not a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination, but this problem shows up every time I've played with him.
Have you tried talking to him......
Have you tried threatening not to play with him...
Have you tried hitting him....(where it hurts, his characters ego?)
Have you tried beating him....(at his own game?)
Have you tried threatening his family......(with death?)
I would personally go through that list in order
I don't wanna confront the guy, he's sorta sensitive to criticism and I don't wanna force him out of playing.
He's got very low system mastery, to the point of literally just standing there and full-attack rather than trying to maneuver to flank, so mostly I'm just worried about him getting himself killed.
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I thought "I want to be the guy" syndrome was when a player constantly gets their characters killed over and over again...
I thought "I want to be the guy" syndrome was when a player constantly gets their characters killed over and over again...
No, he's just gotten other players characters killed
One especially bad example was when he was facing a skeletal t-rex alongside another player playing a cleric of saranrae. Cleric practically threw herself at the t-rex and got chomped for 2/3rds of her HP. He was a playing as a Paladin and rather than smite and attack, he just channeled energy to heal her.
She died next round, and THEN he used smite evil to kill it in one blow.
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It's actually "That Guy" the OP is referring to. (His Good counterpart is "This Guy".)
Anyways, That Guy can only be sorted by a stern talking to. Passive-aggressive methods at best waste time — Which is spent continuing to put up with him — And at worst can ruin a friendship if he's a decent guy outside of roleplaying.
If he persists, tell him to shape up or you won't invite him to RP anymore.
I don't wanna confront the guy, he's sorta sensitive to criticism and I don't wanna force him out of playing.
He's got very low system mastery, to the point of literally just standing there and full-attack rather than trying to maneuver to flank, so mostly I'm just worried about him getting himself killed.
Have you tried talking to the gm......so he could go easier on him
Have you tried threatening that he might not play if he is murderated...Have you tried hitting the gm....(where it hurts, not bringing snacks?)
Have you tried beating the gm....(at his own game?) this one seem somewhat still applicable
Have you tried threatening the gm's family......(with death?)
I would personally go through that list in order
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I don't wanna confront the guy, he's sorta sensitive to criticism and I don't wanna force him out of playing.
He's got very low system mastery, to the point of literally just standing there and full-attack rather than trying to maneuver to flank, so mostly I'm just worried about him getting himself killed.
Seriously though bud, if you really want to help the guy then do what I did when I was playing with my girlfriend. Be their friend in game. Be a buffing cleric. Allow him to face tank and cleave through enemies with his mighty buffs. Give him Guidance(the cantrip) or other social spells to help him shine.
It boils down to needing to talk to him about it, or being an enabler.
Maybe help him with his rule mastery issues? He may feel like he can't contribute effectively with his combat action, so he may overcompensate with his role playing.
So long as no one else demands the spotlight this should be fine. Just teach him how to work the system and make great characters so he can earn the spotlight he so craves. Also if he is gonna do something silly, like not smite the undead t-Rex, make the appropriate action sound bad ass. Destroying a skeletal dinosaur while saving your buddies life sounds pretty sweet and he is the glorious hero he wanted to be as he just saved his friend's life.
If his role play is part of what is bugging everyone I'm not sure how to handle getting him to do something different. I've been in a similar situation at one time and never really fixed it so much as we just stopped playing for whatever reason.
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I find Delicious Fruit are a good solution at first, but later on you may want to escalate to rocket spikes, the moon itself, or a wine glass thrown from Dracula's hand.
I can't really say too much because I'm quite guilty of this but I'm working to keep it in check. if everyone else in the party feels this way. why don't you all just agree that someone else will take on the leadership role. try and beat him to the punch. at the beginning of combat have someone else say "ready your weapons and be on guard" and have the others reply "Yes Sir" or "Aye Aye Captain" hopefully he'll get the message.
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If he is mature, talk to him out of character and privately about your concerns.
Since his actions make it seem like he is NOT mature, talk to your fellow players and GM privately and individually and see if they are having the same reaction to him that you are. If they are then someone, ideally the GM or most mature/reasonable person in the group that your problem player respects, has a private chat with them outside game day to tell them of the party issues.
In any case let them know that they are your friend and that will not change, you like having them around, having them play and in the group but tell them they may be steamrolling the other players and not even realizing they are doing it. Tell them that the other players fun is reduced because of it and ask them to monitor themselves in the future for this kind of activity.
As for system mastery, my suggestion is that ANY time there is a rules question during play, the GM should ask the problem player to look up the rules in question for him. This gets him focused on something else besides that table and makes him learn rules at the same time while being a helpful resource.
We have a player in our group who has system mastery issues. She has been gaming with us 12 years now and still gets confused on things like damage dice, what damage to add, etc. We started doing this with her and she has gotten a lot better. Mind you this is the only RPG she has ever played and she is not a 'gamer' otherwise so we cut her a lot of slack.
This can sometimes be a clash of playstyle. I ran a game for a group once that preferred trail of breadcrumbs/tell us what to do style games. I tend to run freeform character choice driven games, and when I invited a player from my other group, he seemed like "that guy" to these players because he was the only one who was proactive, rather than reactive.
I agree that you should check with the group to see if they feel the same about this player. It might be that the playstle of the group doesn't suit a particular player.