In both my Jade Regent and Carrion Crown game, I have identical players. During noncombat social sessions, one player steals the spotlight every single time and none of the other characters get to say anything. When they try, this player generally just talks over them. Despite me talking to him about it, he still does it, and I've come to believe he can't help it.
How can I get my less active players engaged in the conversations and overall story, and stop one player from overrunning them in RP every time?
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Have the NPC interested in knowing what the silent PCs have to say. It is all about RP really. How would you react RL to such an obnoxious person ?
There are many great RP opportunities in Jade Regent and NPCs might want to know what the Wizard or the Fighter can share on magical or martial topics for example
In fact everybody loves talking about their job and hobbies. Have the NPCs start the talking with other PCs rather than having them wait for the PCs to start
What is the talkative PC's build BTW ?
Have the NPC interested in knowing what the silent PCs have to say. It is all about RP really. How would you react RL to such an obnoxious person ?
There are many great RP opportunities in Jade Regent and NPCs might want to know what the Wizard or the Fighter can share on magical or martial topics for example
In fact everybody loves talking about their job and hobbies. Have the NPCs start the talking with other PCs rather than having them wait for the PCs to start
What is the talkative PC's build BTW ?
In Carrion Crown, it's a Skinwalker Inquisitor, in Jade Regent it's a Elf Wizard.
It became increasingly apparent in CC. During the actual Trial of the Beast the player became annoyed if anyone besides him was allowed to present evidence or was called on to give an argument.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Have the NPC interested in knowing what the silent PCs have to say. It is all about RP really. How would you react RL to such an obnoxious person ?
There are many great RP opportunities in Jade Regent and NPCs might want to know what the Wizard or the Fighter can share on magical or martial topics for example
In fact everybody loves talking about their job and hobbies. Have the NPCs start the talking with other PCs rather than having them wait for the PCs to start
What is the talkative PC's build BTW ?
In Carrion Crown, it's a Skinwalker Inquisitor, in Jade Regent it's a Elf Wizard.
It became increasingly apparent in CC. During the actual Trial of the Beast the player became annoyed if anyone besides him was allowed to present evidence or was called on to give an argument.
Then have the player annoyed, and let the NPC call up another player for their opinion, confirmation, etc. The problem with a player who get territorial "talking is MY thing" or "you cant melee thats my thing" is that they havent been challenged yet.
Ofcourse in the case of a trial it makes sense why they would ask everyone in the party, have the main face do the blunt and then the players around could add to his.
The point is to make these players share their territory and make it out to be a GOOD thing, its a good thing that the other players helped as it gave us more leeway etc.
I like having individual story themes and NPCs linked to specific characters - ideally springing from their background.
For example if the ranger started off as a scout in the army, have one of his old officers reappear to interact with him. Perhaps giving quests or having a solution to another problem.
If the problem player tries to interrupt this reunion the old colleague gives them the cold shoulder. If they keep doing it, then out of game tell the player to butt out and let the other player have his moment.
DO NOT allow every roleplay encounter come down to a dice roll. Characters tooled for social situations will often try to use the dice to force your hand. Don't allow them. As DM you decide how NPCs react, not a characters dice roll.
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Remember, there is no rules that state that a natural 20 or natural 1 on a dice is a auto-success or auto-fail in skill checks.
The social tooled player might try, but he could fail as the character in question is not willing to give in to his words.
So i agree with The Sword, do not let the players use the dice to force you, but dont go so far on the other side of the spectrum that you dont allow the players to succeed even unlikely events. Find a balance.
This is not a character problem and solving 'in game' is not going to work. However, you will probably have to solve it during the game, since your out of game conversation has not had any effect.
You will have to do something like this:
Sally: "I want to ..."
Joe: "Cruntheor the mighty is going to intimidate the prisoner, 'You will wish you had talked you fiend'"
GM: "That's nice Joe, but you interrupted Sally. Sally what were you trying to say".
Sally: "I was thinking of casting charm person ..."
Joe: "Don't waste your spell, I can get it out of him"
GM: "Joe let Sally finish her sentence. You need to not interrupt people."
Repeat as needed. Your rules should be that you always, politely correct this behavior and that your NPCs don't react to players acting outside of their 'turn'. Obviously non-combat situations don't have turns the way combat ones do, but the players still need to share the spotlight and behave in a polite manner.