Well, I've recently been extraordinarily careful about not making characters that tend to steal away the focus of the story, but what are some useful keynotes for avoiding this kind of playing?
I've played once with a "Diva" (term I've heard used the most), and it was NOT fun. Their character always had to be on the front the most (demanding own singular sessions), and when I as a GM made an encounter that was out of his comfort range I got some flak for it, even though others were completely fine with a different kind of encounter that I presented.
And when this player was a GM, they decided to make their GMPC the most important person in the entire Golarion (with no explanation why he didn't do all his quests himself...) And they decided "You know what? this one player seems more to my liking, giving them more loot and bonus feats, plus revolving the story around them seems like a good idea of fun"
Anyone else have these horror stories/Advice on balancing the spotlight among the group?
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It's a fact of life that some people are more "needy" in social situations, and RPGs are social situations.
All you can do is talk to him, gently but frankly, and try to explain that what he's doing is detrimental to everyone else's fun. But at the end of the day, if he can't or doesn't want to hear you, there isn't a lot you can do.
Regarding DMPCs, there is one sure-fire method. Go to the local inn, and slip away, one by one, leaving him to pay the bill. If the entire session is about the rest of the party hiding from and running away from the offending DMPC, the attention hog DM *may* just realize that for you, his DMPC is just an annoying NPC that your characters don't want to associate with. IF that doesn't do the trick, and if the DM throws a fit about you all cutting his DMPC out of the party, I'm afraid there's no hope for this guy.
YMMV.
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It's a fact of life that some people are more "needy" in social situations, and RPGs are social situations.
All you can do is talk to him, gently but frankly, and try to explain that what he's doing is detrimental to everyone else's fun. But at the end of the day, if he can't or doesn't want to hear you, there isn't a lot you can do.
Regarding DMPCs, there is one sure-fire method. Go to the local inn, and slip away, one by one, leaving him to pay the bill. If the entire session is about the rest of the party hiding from and running away from the offending DMPC, the attention hog DM *may* just realize that for you, his DMPC is just an annoying NPC that your characters don't want to associate with. IF that doesn't do the trick, and if the DM throws a fit about you all cutting his DMPC out of the party, I'm afraid there's no hope for this guy.
YMMV.
Well, we ran moreso into the issue of the DMPC always somehow finding us and threatening to "Off the scum and find others to replace them", so even IF we got away, this DMPC (like 15th lvl Rogue who used lvl 2 people to do "World saving tasks") would deal with us
And well, this person once made an assassin who did REALLY well at their job, but once an encounter came along "This is stupid I can't hit flying opponents" And rage quitted...And that was like 3rd time this person rage quitted. In the end I had enough, left the group and now i am in a better group thankfully| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There's not much you can do, unless you talk to them.
Unless you're really good and old friends, there's always going to be some friction. Some people do things out of character just to either troll or because they don't think about it.
In our recent session we had an Oracle put his finger inside a fountain that was CLEARLY something magical and possibly evil (it was spawning Zombies with blood basically), yet he did it.
His reply was that his character was curious. I understand that, but doing so during combat, and when we're facing an enemy for the second time because we had to run away the first, doesn't make any sense.
Solution? You can either get mad, or just ignore it and go with it.
Just to make it clear... because of this player's decision, our fighter was subject to FOUR coup de grace. He had to roll TWO d20 every single time to save or die because he was under the effect of misfortune.
It was honestly an horrible decision, but it's the only one so far.
Try talking to them, or make them understand that having a spotlight is good, but you're gotta be considerate when you're doing it. It's nice being the party face, but let others have their time as well. I mean, I can understand giving people time to learn, but if you lack basic social skills you shouldn't go out
Honestly to avoid being a diva is asking for peoples help even when you do not need it.
For combat set them up to take the winning strike. In social circumstances build on what they say to do things.
Include people in your actions and plans.
I tend to dominate tables I sit at, and I almost always include other players in my actions. I focus on the players that seem the least likely to speak up.
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Being a team builder seems like a good plan. Bards are usually welcome for all.
You might want to avoid being a scout, as that can eat up table time solo, and some people can get miffed about that. (I think it's foolish to not scout if you can though, but I digress.)
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Be the kind of player you would like to game with, and remember that everyone is at the table for each other's amusement. It is everyone's job to make sure everyone else is having fun. Some people just haven't realized this yet. Maybe a reminder would help.
Also, frustrating things happen in game so we can later laugh about them outside of the game.
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I once had a player like this. She was actually the GM for years, but when she was a player her characters were always magic users of some sort that specialized in charm spells. Then she'd charm the entire party so she could remain in control of the game.
It was not fun.
Fortunately I left that gaming group a little less than a decade ago, and it lead to my discovery of pathfinder!
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It's a hard balance, and I worry if I cross the line from time to time. In particular, I will drive the plot forward (forcefully sometimes) if there is more than a little analysis paralysis going on. For example, the group is discussing how to enter the next room suspecting something is there. If they can't figure it out in 5 minutes, or are clearly going in circles, I just open the door and walk in and damn the consequences. I should also note our area has trouble finishing most scenarios without going 10-30 minutes over, and sometimes an hour.
As a result, particularly when I'm feeling rushed, I tend to just keep moving down the path I suspect will move us towards the conclusion. I will also lead up RP if nobody is speaking up or if they don't jump in. I find I can't really tell if it's because I'm driving too much or if they would rather someone else talked, but I do have some people jump in and lead, which I always bow to and take a more passive role (though I'll chime in normally for my character).
One character I have is built to be arrogant. Mixed in with the above impulse it can make for a dominating character, but I back off when others are trying to take the lead (I just can't keep myself from jumping in with lines once in a while... he's so much fun to play). I've gotten nothing but positive feedback on him, but I'm always worried I've gone a bit too far.
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It's a hard balance, and I worry if I cross the line from time to time. In particular, I will drive the plot forward (forcefully sometimes) if there is more than a little analysis paralysis going on. For example, the group is discussing how to enter the next room suspecting something is there. If they can't figure it out in 5 minutes, or are clearly going in circles, I just open the door and walk in and damn the consequences. I should also note our area has trouble finishing most scenarios without going 10-30 minutes over, and sometimes an hour.
As a result, particularly when I'm feeling rushed, I tend to just keep moving down the path I suspect will move us towards the conclusion. I will also lead up RP if nobody is speaking up or if they don't jump in. I find I can't really tell if it's because I'm driving too much or if they would rather someone else talked, but I do have some people jump in and lead, which I always bow to and take a more passive role (though I'll chime in normally for my character).
One character I have is built to be arrogant. Mixed in with the above impulse it can make for a dominating character, but I back off when others are trying to take the lead (I just can't keep myself from jumping in with lines once in a while... he's so much fun to play). I've gotten nothing but positive feedback on him, but I'm always worried I've gone a bit too far.
That doesn't sound too bad. My wife played a dwarf fighter in a group that was acting very timid, having trouble making decisions, arguing, etc., so she took it upon herself to follow the dwarf fighter trope of being brash, impulsive, and quick to draw steel. It actually helped, despite the fact that she kind of took over. If nothing else, it helped shake things up and encourage others to get on with it.
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In this case a GMPC should be a no-no as it sounds like the GM can't separate himself from his desire to be the lead character as well.
In the case of a player being a diva in play - while I've had to deal with this as well, there isn't anything inherently "wrong" with this style of play. If a player wants their PC to be up front most of the time, then that's just how they play. You should feel free to play your character as you like as well. If the "diva" talks over you when you try to act, then feel free to give them reminders such as "I'm in the middle of taking my turn, do you mind waiting?" Or remind them that your PC is just as capable or more so at a particular task at any given moment.
Playing with people that want to make the entire game about them can be difficult, but it is manageable. Once you find a happy medium, everyone will be satisfied playing as they like instead of worrying about who is being a "diva" this session.
Good luck.
I pretty much Diva'd out a recent character who had massive social skills and was always in the front of the action. I got a LOT of story play because I set the character up that way. BUT, because I put so much into being a social genius, I pretty well sucked in combat, comparatively. We ended up with me sucking up a bunch of RP, but when combat ramped up, the other players basically took the glory. It worked well.
But I don't ALWAYS make a social diva type character. If this one player has one character who seems to suck up a lot of time, that's one thing. If the player is always doing it (as it seems), you definitely need to have a talk. Don't put it in terms of what the player is doing wrong, so much as that the other characters need some story time as well, even if their players are not as outgoing as to demand it.