Its kinda stressing sometimes because i like lore and read so i know a lot of rules i am a clear lawyer in our group but i try not to step on anyone toes rather than gently remind how things actually is and give dm the room to make the deciding call. Adding to that i have bad sight and instead of putting my head on the table trying to get as close to the dice as possible i pick it up and see what it is. I never fudge it because thats the fun in it what happens happens and you never k ow what it is. Never the less everytime i pick the dice up i feel like criminal
i really like that in some of your videos you take a hot topic such as "problem players" and then start the video by saying "before we really get into this, we should really zoom out and look at this whole thing from another angle". you do it here by contending that these are problem BEHAVIORS more than problem players. another great example is your "making a pantheon" video, which you open by offering up alternatives to a full pantheon and the storytelling merits of religions. it shows that you guys don't just have a lot of first hand experience running the game, but also that you've immersed yourself in the online discussion and you want to encourage some alternative viewpoints and discussion. it's not like its clickbait, either, because you do eventually discuss then title of the video. it's just prefaced with a refreshing new angle. great stuff.
@@paulhumphries7246 Not really. The title presents the video via the terminology most are familiar with, and then contains an argument for challenging that terminology.
I got one guy I used to play with, he would roll his dice in the book and pick up his dice sometimes and other times leave the book open and yet succeeded on all rolls involving his char a but fail on those for others..
I ask all my players to roll in a dice tray in the center of the table and if i dont see the role it doesn't count, seems to nip that in the bud. online i use rolz.org which is a free web browser roller that everyone can connect to and see the results.
One thing I miss about older versions of DnD, is that every character wasn't expected to be a combat god. In older editions, if a thief character was stealing from the party, the fighter would pick them up by their ankles and shake them until the item fell out. There was a bit of a power dynamic where thieves knew that they would lose out on some confrontations, so they moderated themselves to a degree.
Played 2E for over 30 years, DM’d a 3.5 campaign for 7 years. Now DM’ing 5E campaign… can say hands down that 5E is the smoothest edition and the one I’ve enjoyed the most. Thac0 is a pain in the arse, spellcasting speeds on initiative mods, weapon speeds if you use them etc etc… 3.5 cheese builds for metagamers are a nightmare…. I had to nerf tonnes of 3.5 rules and abilities. 5E isn’t perfect, especially if you run raw (which I’m currently experimenting with doing) but Rai and a few tweaks and it’s a spot on game to me.
You don't think rogues are weak in 5e? I'm not talking about a min/max situation. But...I haven't noticed Rogues being at all a powerhouse in 5e. They aren't even necessary anymore. You could literally go an entire campaign without a thief and that, to me, is kind of bizarre. An entire pillar of earlier editions--nuked.
The biggest problems with players I've had were... Male Player, playing a female character, was claiming dibs on a Philter of Love because his character "has womanly urges" (that was probably the worst instance I had with that player, but it's probably emblematic of why I don't play with them anymore) Another player was always wanting to make up new spells for their character (as a DM, I actually love cooperatively homebrewing spells with my caster players), but he'd always come up with the ideas mid session and want to hash out the details in full on the spot, even in the middle of combat when he definitely wouldn't get to cast it either way. And this one player who would constantly tell me that something I was doing wasn't how Matthew Mercer does it. Full disclosure, I don't actively keep up with Critical Role, but I do love the show when I do watch it, and I think Matthew Mercer is great, but don't compare your DM's to him, especially not out loud to their face whenever they do something you don't like.
@@krayos13 There's also the fact the entire table is actors. They may not act in front of a camera for a living, but everyone on CR knows how to do improv acting well. CR isn't just the way it is because of Matthew Mercer, it's because of everyone there. If a player is complaining that the DM isn't Matt then the DM can complain about the player being different from Sam or Travis. Or, we could all play the way we want and not judge people.
@@onyxtay7246 my DM (1st time DM, and I'm a 1st time player) has mentioned Mercer and so have I - we both love the show - but when he mentioned something about "not being on the same level" it actually hit me that IDGAF. He's great in his own rite, he engages the party and facilitates our shenanigans. You're so spot on with the player comparison too. If none of us can RP or even just play like Liam et al, why would we expect 50 different voices from our DM? The dude stared into my eyes while RPing a Nothic, telepathically revealing that he knew my secrets, and I was fucking INVESTED. Actually, I was fucking terrified, and I loved it! His girlfriend was hilarious too saying "babe he's too high for that" (I was indeed high, but not too high I think) I was like "nah fuck it this is GOLD, carry on you creepy fucker" So much of the game is in the moment, and in the mind. Putting it down to some amazing voices and prep work from a bunch of guys who have been doing this for YEARS is lazy. Also, don't expect Mercer if you're a fucking Murderhobo 😂
Honest to God it's all the sex pests furries wanting to rp their weird sex crap every single game that pushed me away from DnD and the main reason I play CoC now, a game surprising clear of sex pests. Sometimes you get the one annoying player that really can't drop how racist HPL was but nowhere near as much freakshit as you pick up in DnD nowadays
Why not have an episode series where you guys just bring up some game stories from your personal experience. It's always cool hearing other DMs and Players war stories.
In my expirience that was the best way to get players to understand the perspective of the DM. I was way more understanding about how my DM at the time handeled stuff after I tried my hand at it. And mostly those conflicts seem to be a matter of perspective.
A lot of these issues like players fudging rolls, peeking at the DM notes etc usually boils down to two things. 1. They feel like they need to 'win' at the game. And this is likely because of my next point. 2. They are too attached to the narrative they told themselves about their character. Example - player makes a rogue with expertise in sneak so be the ultimate stealth character. But he notices that he had been failing some of his rolls recently which causes him to start fudging rolls, asking for advantage for no reason, cheating in other ways. Him failing at stealth doesn't fit the narrative he wrote for himself so he tries to manipulate what he can to reinforce it. For some players, it's more important that the other players see them as the 'stealth guy' and will continue to do as a mentioned before. Players, don't marry the idea/narrative of your character. Let them grow, learn, and share the glory and misery of the dice rolls. It's part of the game.
I've had issues with looking at things I'm not supposed to look at when the DM doesn't hide it well because I'm ADHD and have to look at literally everything vaguely interesting. It's better if I just sit opposite the DM.
This sounds like a great opportunity to grow the character. Missing your skill rolls? Let your character develop the neurosis, not you. Make the character question his abilities, maybe they feel the need to seek out a master or mentor. Is your character making all their skill rolls? Have the character develop a massive ego and become an arrogant ass. Let them deal with the inevitable failure that's bound to come. You're right, don't marry your identity to the character. Rather let the game shape and mold your character and let the character do the same for the story.
I've had problems with some players calling another player's character "usless" because they had bad luck with their rolls, it does tend to evolve into an issue like that when all you want to be is useful to the party. In that situation, it's not just that player, but also the others for drilling it into their head that their beloved character is "useless" which is not okay
Indeed. Honestly though as they said this is all solvable by talking, most of it can be addressed at session zero. In my experience though the players who tend to stand out the most are also players who aren't interested in participating in a session zero. Maybe because they don't know how and what they want to play? I think most groups that have been together a long time are very blessed and cursed at the same time, because they usually know what each other want out of a game, but sometimes when someone gets a new idea a lot of people won't be into it...
@@Micras08 Its strange the percentage of people at my table that have been against session zeros that end up being the one that has issues playing in the group.
28:22 I made a House Rule to make INT a better stat that lets the players do this in a structured way: 24. All According to My Plans! If your character has 20 or more INT, they get one Flashback per session of play. You can spend these Flashbacks to help resolve situations in your favor. This mechanic is meant to simulate extremely intelligent characters, with genius levels of forethought and planning. They may still be subject to one or more rolls for confirmation of success. For example, during a heist, the DM might say a guard walks in on you doing something suspicious... oh no! You use your Flashback, and explain that earlier you bribed this guard, and he's working in your favor. The DM may then roll to see if the guard is loyal or subversive (Your social skills VS his), or if someone saw you pay them off (Another guards Perception VS your Stealth or Slight of Hand).
Like the idea. Wouldn't require 20 INT for it. (Probably because 20 is actually the stat cap in vanilla 5E) But seems like a good way for characters to anticipate what would be literally impossible for the player to anticipate. Or when the player of a high INT character is blindsided by something that wouldn't have blindsided the character.
Also, you can be as rules lawyer as you want, but if we've talked about a house rule, or I'm very clearly trying to keep somebody from dying in a shitty way/having a bad time, please don't.
They come from families of "Bible " thumpers .. I am a " Rule Lawyer." and had to deal with religious nut jobs. I also had to deal with people turning their politics into a personal "in group" religion. In my early 20's before 3e came out, in the first game shop I went to that ran AD&D2e were Murder Hobos. White World "World of Darkness": Vampire were snoods. " With Friends like these, who needs enemies ?" The shop even ran " Player party VS Player party." Sometime it was cool, other times whole groups of people got Ban from the Shop.
@@janinecat1865 this right here - Sometimes the DM just decides to fudge certain outcomes for narrative / group dynamic reasons and this is where rules lawers clash the most with DMs. As a DM myself, I'm happy to be corrected when I'm wrong, but I sometimes change the rules for the sake of enhancing the fun. When a rules lawer calls me up on this it puts me in an awkward position. Do I admit to fudging results and influencing the random element of the game in order to enhance the player's experience, or do I let them get their way even though their only angle is that " adherence to the rules take precedence over the fun".
33 minutes in - where Jim admits where he missed what was happening in the moment, because it was easier to get through. That's why I keep watching. Moments of reality that are so true throughout every video. DM's have a LOT of pressure to be perfect in the moment, every moment of every game. Thanks, Jim.
In my first ever game, I was about 11. My cousin's thief killed my cleric in his sleep to claim a magic item I had found the first time our character camped together. Twenty-eight years later and that still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Oof! That's bad player mojo. My first time playing was in HS, and our DM was being so angry and rigid that the extra person who came along as our ride couldn't play because they couldn't guarantee that they'd be there every week. Made them sit out the whole 3 hours alone because the DM wouldn't be even a little flexible.
I'm haunted by the one time I was that guy. I got upset becuase I wanted to use find familiar to generate snake poison and I got called out on it. I still lowkey hate myself for that.
I like the idea of spending inspiration points if you use those or even make it an XP cost. Before or after every 2 or 3 sessions, I'll ask players to do a PC gear breakdown / spellbook check / encumbrance check - especially if they are in a town where they can refill missing supplies. If the PCs decide to go down into the dungeon, I'll ask about light, food, water, rope, ten-foot poles, hirelings, spell components, etc. Things that are reasonable that the players might forget about, but their characters would reasonably be assumed to remember.
There's this deep-rooted cultural expectation, in the hobby, that says if the DM has trouble with problem players (and vice versa), the answer is to find a way to punish them in-game. This is a flawed approach, because more often than not the issue has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with poor observance of the social contract, and just general anti-social behavior. If there's a problem at the table, get to the heart of the matter and just _talk to them_ like an adult. That said, I don't mean to imply in-game methods cannot be used to check player behavior. My motto is "Actions Have Consequences". If the players want to run their characters like murder hobos, let them. If they leave a trail of bodies, people tend to notice, and also tend to object. Once the players start dealing with law enforcement, bounty hunters, righteous hero types, and revenge-seeking folks (including victims themselves, through ghosts or revenants), they'll moderate their own behavior. If nothing else, it will force them to be less cavalier about the crimes they commit.
@@pvrhye if you want a serious campaign, try talking about it with the other players. People like having fun and being silly, so work with people for what makes everyone happy
@@benm5913 So I'm playing Hamlet and the other guy is Dumb & Dumber; it doesn't work. Games have a tone and all the players, including the GM have to agree that tone or the game fails to work for anyone.
@@davidmorgan6896 Comic relief is a thing. If you are the only serious player, then yes, there is a tonal problem. But, my position is that there is always room for one comic relief. Or comedy mixed amongst the angsty Macbeth players.
@@Krytern Now and again that might happen. But if a player gets something getting in the way all 2-3 sessions in a regularly sheuldet game are annoying at least. Understand me correctly sometimes that might be the case but a fair warning that that's the case to begin with shold be in order non the less.
I'll be honest, my biggest issue with powergamers is that they're also usually rules-lawyers when looking at other peoples characters or what the DM is doing while contradictory making up things like 'I can do this and this and this' and they get SO salty when you point out they can't and that it goes against the rules.
@Axel Drans not a power gamer I swear but eldritch blast is the best and most eldritch invocation are around it,but I get what your saying that guy oh do this or you suck and that's not ok
I've had to kick three players from my table for some of these reasons, but to be honest - it's only one reason: - Your fun as a player was perceived as "the only fun", and you were willing to step on everyone else to have it. If a person has decided that they refuse to cooperate with the table as a general rule, it's time for them to go.
My die-roll rules: • You must roll *in* the dice arena. • Someone else must agree with the result. If you draw-up too soon you fail the roll.* • If the dice lands cocked but _readable_ (if the walls were removed it would fall true) it stands. • If the dice lands _sloppy-cocked_ [yeah I know] (indeterminable) re-roll. Since "Rolling" is *the* core chanciness of the game, it was the one thing I drilled into my players as inviolable. * ... or counted as the minimum (e.g. on a damage roll)
I feel like that it's better to reroll all dice that are not lying 100% flat, it doesn't matter if readable or not. It eliminates borderline cases, which is where people argue the most.
Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you for the channel. I'm preparing to run my first game and Web DM has been an invaluable resource - keep up the outstanding work!
Fun vid, You guys left me hanging though. There was no mention of the "Bored player who's character (that isn't a cook or anything) poisons food at camp and offers it to the entire party, poison strong enough to kill on a failed save, but the DM doesn't even allow people a chance to notice it by smell or color, and this player isn't even a little contrite that he killed someone for literally no reason, and the rest of the party just splits the dead PCs equipment and leaves him at the campsite the next morning, nobody even gave a crap". Supposedly a neutral to good party, too. True (fictional) story, happened to me (and my character) in a game. And that character I had that died had some of the best rolled stats I'd ever randomly gotten.
My character used intimidation and persuasion to turn a thug back onto the right path. We had a whole plan of having him work at the temple so they would keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't going to fall back into bad habits. And then another character shot him in the head. My character was really mad.
Lol I can see it now. Player peeks over the screen. "Where are all the notes?" "Oh no my secret has been exposed!!" Edit: context: I don't have notes. I suppose that is a cardinal sin but I spend so much time prepping I can just remember SO MUCH. Any stats or things like that I dave to a spreadsheet. That's all that's there.
My first video from this channel and these fine gentlemen. You have a new subscriber. Always love to find other level headed, logical DMs discussing this type of thing.
8:30 - Depending on the in-game punishment this can also work *very* counter productive, because the problem-player will see the in-game punishment as the cost for being a jerk. So then it becomes: _"Well, I can behave like a jerk as long as I pay for it with [spell slot / disadvantage / -XP]."_ and it becomes an entitlement. This behaviour has been studied with parents picking up their children late from daycare. At one daycare the parents were fined for being late, at another they weren't. At the daycare where the parents were fined, the problem got *WORSE.* _"I can be late picking my child up, I'm paying for it aren't I?"_ On top of that, even after the experiment was over and there were no more fines, the situation at the daycare that used to fine never went back to the pre-experiment status quo.
I'd argue that this is an example of half steps. A penalty, if mild, isn't a deterrent. If the parent views the fine as a fee, then obviously it's not high enough. With regards to the game, the same principle applies. If the player continues with the behavior, you didn't make your point. I have had to deal with this, and made it really simple. When you disrupt the game, your character will die. You can then create a new character and introduce it at the beginning of the next session. Thus, being a dick leads directly to not playing. I know a lot of people are going to cry about this. But my table appreciates this, attendance stays high, and the previous problem player has learned to behave better- at my table. At other games, he behaves the same, which is proof that he's in control of his behavior.
@@ChristnThms - So? What if I don't care about my character, then I just get to be a dick as long as I re-roll a new character afterwards. I just get to make Bob into Bob the Second, and the Bob the Third and that way I'm allowed to be a jerk at the table? Then what? You'll kick them from the table forever? When? After once, twice? Three strikes and you're out? So now you have a table where problem behaviour instantly kills your character, and doing it a few times bans you completely? You've already heard in the video, I assume you watched, that problem behaviour isn't always intentional, or intended as maliciously as it may seem. It may be behaviour that actually stems from an issue on the DM's end or another players. It may have been the lack of a session zero and setting wrong expectations. You don't solve any of that by killing PC's and or banning them from your table. Killing someone's PC after problem behaviour might actually *increase* resentment and negative feelings for the "problem player".
Well once it ceases to be the character misbehaving and it's instead the player... You penalize the player. If player treats punishments as prices to pay for what they want to do, you simply tell them that's not the case and if they are not going to correct their problem behavior, they have to be dealt with.
@@ChristnThms The problem with that in the daycare situation is that people may have a valid reason to be late, and certain people are going to be at a disadvantage due to their work situation (usually lower income or families facing financial stress). They had to take a half step to avoid utterly screwing the outliers through a necessary service. Kind of unrelated, just thought it was an important note to make that it isn't directly comparable to not being able to play. Though, it _can_ apply to this too, like another commenter mentioned. It's not always malicious.
@@thatboringone7851 even you admit that this is completely a straw man argument. But I'll field the ball because object examples are always relevant... Let's assume that everything you said is true. All of the hardships and such accepted, one person does not, ever, for any reason, have a right to simply pass their burden to another. So this, like everything else, circles back to each player (and the DM) simply treating the others with the same respect they ask. If your time is precious, and difficult to arrange, then you should have MORE respect for time. Not less. Calling to let others know that you're off schedule costs little, and goes a long way to maintaining good will among the players. Regardless of circumstance, the failure is almost always a person who thinks that they're so special that they can put burdens on others that they themselves refuse to bear. The quality of a person can largely be based on the inverse of that: that the individual judges his/her own actions and motivations more harshly and against a higher standard than others'.
I think the only real problem player I have had in a really long time was one who thought it was his job to tell other players what to do on their turns. Sure, they were probably the optimal choices, but it's not his character, not his turn, and not fun for anyone else but him.
I play with my nieces and nephews, some of them autistic, and one of them is that guy. He's also the rules lawyer. He's the "I'm gonna be involved in every interaction" spotlight kid as well. It's reeeeeeally difficult to deal with :/
That intro was great because I've seen two people try to fake natural 20s (only 2 because I'm new). The DM asked them to roll again, and they got ACTUAL natural 20s. It's like the universe saying "Listen, man, you don't have to fake this. I gotcha."
For the "peeking at your notes" thing the best way to do it would be to pretend you didn't notice, and start putting very bad situations in and making notes that, if peeked on, would lead them to said bad situation. Then when they fall into said situation you stare them right in the eyes with a neutral expression. I guess I'm an Oath of Vengeance DM.
How I handle equipment is what I call a 'luck check' (probably used for different things too, but that what it means at my table) so if a player doesn't have a common item on their sheet, but it would be at least somewhat reasonable to have it on them (like an artificer having nuts and bolts to make something) I let the player make a luck check on which I decide the DC on the fly (usually 14 for simple things, 16 for critical things and 18 or more if it's not quite likely but they can explain why they might have it in them. I give more leeway with this for newer characters and characters that just had some downtime.
Prefer to use Curses "you notice a critter staring at you as the eyes turn red and you feel dread inside of you" All your stats, saving throws, skillchecks, attacks are -1
@@mugendono23 well if they do once, now if they keep going its -1, -2 and if i want to be nasty, exhaustion that is only removed when the curse is removed
@Remy B i run a "Hero" campaign where all new characters get 2d6+6 drop the lowest on 7x, they already have the stats and a free feat, they don't need to fudge rolls.
really love the channel, it really comes across that you are seasoned roleplayers. almost all of these examples were relatable, some of which have happened and still happen to this day in the games ive played in, still play in or run.
I played an impatient barb who was very combat focused so he would move ahead unless someone said to stop and if there was too much back and forth he would eventually keep the story moving by just trying something (usually not the smartest thing).
Thank you. I love these guys for pointing out the rogues who yell at the party member who have a problem with stealing for not being a team player for constantly calling them out, but completely ignores the fact that they themselves are not being team players because they KNOW someone else has an issue with it, but they do it anyway. At least do it when the other person isn't around or something.
My new favorite web series. With this quarantine and my business travel being "0", i'm glad to have found you guys. If I'm ever Southbound 35 I'll scream "roll for damage" as I'm merging onto Mopac.
I've had issues with the person that always hides behind their character. They do and say things and claim it's their character. But it's the same in every game no matter the race, class, or even setting. They constantly go against the party and their wishes, not even playing an evil character. Just to get a rise and spite everyone.
There is a difference between doing what a character would do, and being an asshole. If the character does things that cause problems for the other players in the understanding that it may cause problems for other characters if they are also doing things that point cause problems exclusively for themselves, or to other people's benefit.
As someone who is both a powergamer and a serious roleplayer, I really appreciated this video. Most conversations on the topic feel hyper-negative, so it is nice to see a more neutral perspective. I like building and playing powerful characters. I also like playing deep and interesting characters. These two aspects of my personality are not at odds, and I do my best to make sure other players are also enjoying their time at the table. The knowledge and understanding of the rules I've gained through building characters is also something of a boon. I don't argue with the DM, or try to command other players, but the table knows it can rely on me if someone wants advice or the DM can't remember a rule. Heck, these days it's pretty common for other players to ask my input when building a character or writing a backstory.
@11:20. There are. The mechanics used for Intimidate, Bluff, sense motive, Diplomacy, Initiative, To Hit, Armor Class. The very same rules can be applied in those situations.
Love the high level sociology of these etiquette breakdowns. Much of what I enjoy abt D&D is the shared fiction that grows organically from players having fun in their PC's skin. Which is simple in theory, yet its factors are hard to nail down with all the different kinds of styles and personalities found at the table. This has been enlightening, thx
17:57 "My cat Monk isn't generally an asshole, but if you don't pet him enough he starts knocking stuff off." When I heard this I assumed, for just a second, that Pruitt plays a tabaxi monk. Now, I kinda want to play a tabaxi who passive aggressively knocks things off tables and shelves when he doesn't get what he wants.
Being able to freely leave the table is a big one we all get up and walk around mid game. I leave the table if my character isn't involved (helps prevent meta and encourage player to player RP)
The biggest issues I have had playing were due to imbalance of play experience. For example, I was a new player (first game, high school d&d club) and I really wanted it to work. My character was technically chaotic evil (tiefling warlock) but I was playing it a lot more neutral. The teacher in charge of the club was a player too and he had been playing for years and years. He basically used my inexperience to single out my character, trick my character, steal from my character, etc. I get that his gnome didn't have a good alignment either, and he was trying to play a selfish character. But the fact of the matter was, it wasn't the game to play that character in. I was a new player. The DM had never run a game before and had only ever played with family prior to this. It was Lost Mines of Phandelver, it wasn't the right context for that sort of thing. This is why on the campaign I'm about to DM (different people obviously and I've gotten a bit more experience since then) is going to have an extensive session 0 to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Well... There is a pretty interesting solution to the dice-cheating players? though it requires a bit of math... not too much though. Basically you take a deck of cards (the only inportant bit is that cards can be objectively split into 2 types. i.e. Red and Black if you use classic playing cards deck as described in the examples below.) At the start of the session the deck is shuffled and placed on the table with all cards facing down. When a player needs to roll a d20 after the roll is made and the die result is announced, but before any modifiers are applied, top card of the deck is revealed. If the card is Black - the roll result stays. If the card is Red - the result of the roll is reversed. In the case of d20 that means that actual result is 21 - initial roll result. With this rule anyone who attempts to cheat at rolling dies will effectively screw themselves over anytime they draw Red. So announcing your rolls higher than they actually are pecomes a bit pointless. At the same time it also helps the players with heavy case of "cursed dice" problem as occasianally their nat-1s will become nat-20s.
@Web DM Excellent video topic and insightful analysis. I think they are really pertinent and difficult issues to respond to as a DM if/when they arise and I definitely agree that most of the time there really isn't anything included in rules sets to instruct/recommend to a DM on how to successfully respond/mediate. Situations involving people offering unsolicited advice etc is something I have observed happening online a lot - where you have people in the twitch chat or the comments section of a UA-cam video saying something along the lines of "can you please move those troops to that border to town to protect it, its driving me crazy that you haven't taken care of that yet" or "I'm getting really frustrated that you won't cast X spell during battle, that's such a waste to have that ability and to keep forgetting to use it" or lastly " you know that's not how the game is *supposed to be played* right?" I'm a bit older than the average viewer, commenter etc and maybe that has something to do with it, but I can honestly say it completely takes me aback sometimes when a random observer throws out a comment like those mentioned where the commenter seems to feel that it is perfectly acceptable to order someone you don't know and have no relationship with to take some action because it happens to rub the commenter the wrong way. It is like a really bizarre dissolution of the normal boundaries involved in respectful interaction - as if you would walk up to someone at a gas pump at a gas station and tell them "can you please uncoil the hose a little bit to take the kink out of it? its just getting on my nerves watching you do this and so I had to say something." I realize that the nature of online communication inherently results in peoples' inhibitions being lowered considerably and therefore some people might express things or behaviors on here that they wouldn't think of doing "irl" but at the same time, some of these comments/demands are made with such straightforward informality that it really does make me wonder if these folks actually do behave in this manner when they are out and about, and if does it result from having developed feelings of entitlement or inexperience in communication that leads people to make these comments matter-of-factly, as if there is nothing out of the ordinary about them. I think you can probably chalk up a lot of these comments to having come from younger viewers who haven't yet had the chance to work out their concepts of interpersonal boundaries and what type of behavior is and isn't acceptable when you're not trying to be deliberately antagonistic toward someone. With that in mind, I do wonder if things like the commenting I mentioned do in fact occur in gaming groups as well? I haven't played in a while admittedly, and when I did it was always with a group of really good friends outside of gaming - which meant that we knew each other well enough to know for the most part what people's limits were and so on, and this likely prevented a lot of disruptive behaviors or situations from forming at all. But - I hear folks like you guys addressing the issue quite frequently, and that leads me to believe that it must be happening with some regularity or it wouldn't keep coming up. Again though, I commend you for tackling this one in a very mature, open minded and respectful manner.
It's good to hear you guys say "always split the party." Had a game break down a few years back because my character did that. I was playing him as a restless bard and... that party was like insistent on just goofing off in town. The DM was giving us hints that we should probably go investigate some rumors and some looming threats but nah, how about 8 sessions of goofing around town, breaking into random buildings and not doing anything but very tongue in cheek RP. We had one session where we went out and investigated a house full of bandits and that was the only combat in like two months of play. So anyways, I was like my character probably isn't down for this, I'll ramble on in the direction of the threats. Figured I'd meet back up with the party when they finally decided to move out. Anyway, that didn't work out because the DM, who was his first time DM, and this other "veteran DM" who was another player didn't like it. They gave me a loser character for the next sessions and then just downed me whenever combat started and the game was cancelled a few sessions later. I always felt like it was kinda my fault for leaving the group, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't now. Oh, and the veteran guy's character was like super OP homebrew and I was just like PHB bard. He was doing really crazy stuff at level 1, so he was kinda like the problem player in the intro but more in that he had convinced the DM to let him be Hawkeye where as the rest of us were just typical adventurers. I think there was just a bad dynamic between him and the rookie DM.
Thanks for being so fucking awesome... You guys really make such amazing content, lovely discussions and insight. Y’alls ideas have inspired me and taught me so much about Tabletops. Thanks for making free great content consistently.
I think it's a mix of "problem players" and people who won't acknowledge that there's no one 'correct' way of playing the game :) Take the people who ALWAYS see it as a bad thing when there's inter-party conflict - that's just absurd :P I would honestly much rather have almost any kind of "problem player" at my table than an inflexible one (although i also see them as problem players when they hide their inflexibility at least). It's almost impossible to find 4-5 people who are entirely on the same page about every detail of a game/campaign/session :)
"They're playing the character I don't like". If that comes from a GM or (worse) if the table has a small clique within its group, that character is fucked. My mum had a character that died from a black dragon's acid attack. The problem? There wwre about 8 players and she was the only target. If that kind of targeting happens and it kills your character, keep them and just use it with another group. Metagamey kills like that is just plain cheating.
Excellent video. Quick rules summary of my table. 1. The GM is always right, right now. I need to keep the game and night moving. We can discuss rules problems later. 2. A person plays their own PC, period. Don't second guess them, guilt them, force them to build or do what you would do. 3. Problem PC? Talk to them out of character. Talk and talk and talk. If you can't reach a fun middle ground... there's a group out there for them but not yours.
To solve the "absentee" problem in one game we narratively decided that the PC of the inconsistent attendee actually lived in another world with asynchronous time. When she slept in her "real" world she would dream, connect to an artifact the party carried, and manifest. Any session the player couldn't make it the artifact was intert.
Speaking of PvP games: My friends and I played Car Wars regularly back in high school. After a while it got to be a lot of work to design cars and the rules expansions made that even more time consuming. We eventually took inspiration from American Gladiators and made our weekly games into showdowns between celebrity combat teams. I built a 3D battle arena, gave my players 50 points to spend on each team member and a few thousand bucks to spend on gear. It was a lot of fun and gave a whole new perspective on the Car Wars universe.
I am currently playing with a group of seven at my local game shop. Our DM is fantastic and is handling our large group rather well. However, we have a player that displays about half of the Problem Player traits you both just described. I found this to be very helpful with how we might approach a resolution to the conflict the party experiences as a product of this players behavior. Thank you.
Heya! Long time fan here. While I rarely comment, I just wanted to say that the beginning part of this video made me feel so much better. Recently, I was in a gaming group that was from as part of my colleges local D&D club, and I was playing a Bard. Often, I, a very serious role-player and general fan of dark/gritty games, and several party members got into conflict. We clearly had different interests when playing the game. I would act out in game often, cause I didn't felt like I belonged or was useful (especially since we were playing through Hoard of the Dragon Queen). However, instead of trying to work things out, the group pretty much bullied me. Simply put, they made it feel as it I myself was the problem, and that I should play like them and ignore how I was feeling. They constantly went out of there way to undermined me. Moreover, even though I had changed so much of my play-style, it was never enough. I felt an obligation to the party, even though the party didn't do jack with me, and didn't take the game seriously at all. Even my s/o thought that it was ridiculous. Fortunately, I left that group. Literally, one of the players just got mad at me, saying I looked bored all the time and I should just leave. So I just did. I told the DM and they told everyone else. The thing is until recently, I blamed myself for what happened. I had the false belief that I should have been better. And while I still feel sad that I lost all those friends, I know that I have a better group now and that it wasn't 100% my fault. In the end, I feel like that is an important message. Not to shift blame, or verbal/physically punish the player, but to simply acknowledge the root causes of these behaviors, and to deal with them. And while I wasn't 100% innocent, nobody except the DM (bless her soul), talked to me about what was happening in the game without insulting me. I have gotten better as a player since then, but that is cause I wasn't cut down for trying to be myself. The moral of the story; Don't be a jerk.
30:30 Once, I had the boss have a pet fox, since one player had expressed that they really liked foxes. Once the players saw the fox, there was basically an agreement to not kill the hing, some fighting goes on, one player seems like they accidentally hit it with a thunder wave, it lived, so I thought whatever. At the end of the fight, the player just went “I kill the fox” and I’m like wtf, the rest of the party literally worked the entire fight to keep that thing alive, and you kill it. The problem is that he was the head dm essentially, so I couldn’t really say no.
Precived types of problem players: *Min-maxer *Power-gamer *Murder-hobo *Rules-lawer *Meta-gamer *Absentee-player *The person who takes too long in combat (steriotypicly the mage.) *The "it's what my character would do" excuse *The person who can't seperate themselves from their character *The distracter (i.e. cellphone use) *The greifer, (who interfears with other's goals, steals from the party, or starts unwanted pvp.)
I was once kicked from a group for getting in an argument with another player. My issue was that the other player made zero effort to limit friendly fire and my Paladin came close to death on multiple occasions more from her attacks than from the enemy. She also took over every roleplay situation and acted as the de facto leader of the group. I've often wondered if I was in the wrong somehow, if it was on the DM, or if I was right to be as annoyed as I was. In the end she was best friends with the DM and I wasn't, so that was it.
I just need to take a moment to express my appreciation for Jim's accusatory gesticulations at Pruitt in the intro. They seem to say, "No, YOU, sir, are the jive-ass turkey!"
Story-time of when a problem-behaviour clashes with a problem-dm. So I was accused of rules-lawyering when a dm had a heavily house-ruled campaign. Which isn't odd to me, I know that I have a bad habit regarding memorising rules and pointing out when they aren't followed. However I generally take comfort in knowing the basic ramifications of my character's actions and so I did my best to understand the rules of their game. So I read the houserule compendium before joining the campaign, asked frequent questions before making a character, after making a character, and before the first session. I get that players pestering the dm is annoying and that explaining rules over and over is frustrating, so I took notes of the dm's answers as to not have to repeat questions. During the first two sessions I tried not to interrupt the action or any ongoing scenes, but voiced confusion over inconsistent rulings and asked if we could adress that after the session. The dm seemed to get increasingly frustrated about me asking what rules we were playing by, pointing towards their houserule compendium, getting even more annoyed when I said I had checked it regarding every question I've had and that there are no mentions of 70% of the house rules they were using. Of which I had notes on several that didn't mesh with how we were playing either. Part of my grievances with the rulings during the game stemmed from what I perceived as favoritism towards one half of the party from the dm and I wanted to see if there was just something about her version of the game I didn't get. Why my actions would require two to four successive rolls to succeed when I was rolling well but only a single roll if I rolled poorly, getting no chance to try again or such, but other players would succeed on their first successful roll after two failed ones made in succession. That kind of stuff. After the third session I get asked in private if I had fun, I responded that I didn't really, that I am still not clear on the rules we're playing by, why some of the actions I take are just ignored, why the dm interrupts me after asking me what I do, and what it is I do that goes against the social contract so I can alter my behaviour. They then start berating me for ruining the fun for everyone, that I am arrogant, a horrible rules-lawyer and that they're doing their best to 'accomodate' me. So I apologise to the other players, saying that I am sorry for impacting their game negatively, that I have heard that I'm being a rules-lawyer as well as other things and ask them to tell me if they have any suggestions for what I can do better. After doing that the dm kicks me off the table. They says that I have hurt them, and that I need to apologise and take back what I have said or they won't speak to me again... It has soon been a year and I am still no clearer on their social contract, what they want me to be apologising for, and neither is the other player of her campaign that left after the dm kicked me.
@@lapaba1236 yeah, we were four players, two getting favorable treatment, then me and the player who left after I got kicked. He tried gleaning an answer diplomatically for a while but is still as clueless as I am to what the gm wanted and was more upset than I was from the beginning of it all.
Jim's spotlight supportive play reminds me of my typical large-party playstyle, especially for my 13th Age character. Celduin started out as a straight Fighter, but now he multi-classes as Commander and is able to assist characters in formal social settings as well as influence the flow of combat through buffs and interrupt actions.
We had two THOSE GUYS at our table. Last I heard they were playing on different tables now after our DM had a frank discussion about their disruptions and blatant disregard of social rules. The games I remember playing with them were memorable but not a good memory.
I had a player get ground for about a month, had his character work as a Sorceress' assistant, this also made him her apprentice in a way hence the exp gain while they were away
When I played in my friends campaign (which went on for 21 years!) I used to worry about taking away agency from other players in the group, so I would sit in the background as often as possible, but often times i would get a phone call from the dm the next day saying "mate I need you on point to get stuff done" it became a real issue down the line for us.
This talk of "problem players" reminded me of something I've been thinking about recently. I don't know how big of a thing this is, but I honestly think discussing character inspirations is something that everyone who talks RPGs in general needs to do. As far as I know, ideas for characters out of a vacuum, even when the person making the character is lazy, and characters have something that inspired. Maybe that Tabaxi Rogue at the table is modeled after the player's first cat; perhaps the Wizard really wanted to emulate enchantress from the fairy tale version of Rapunzel; maybe the Tiefling Bard has the personality of the player's ex, probably the Ranger is modeled on the player's grandfather that took them on several hunting trips as a young a child, maybe the Monk is based on the player's favorite Kung Fu film character, maybe the Barbarian just decided to recreate Conan from the book series, perhaps the Cleric is based on a priestess from the player's favorite fantasy novel, maybe the Fighter is based on a character from their favorite samurai film. Inspirations can come from a lot of places, and talking about them might help some players take the time to think about where the idea for their character came from and how to either lean into that more or decide they really need a different concept for their character. Character inspirations need a bit more focus than they are getting, they're almost never acknowledged to the point they should. But sometimes players want to try and cheat the system, and by that, I mean lack creativity or imagination, which is fine because they're coming to a game that encourages all that, but there is a fine line between a character being an inspiration and character being a homage, which are both great at the table, the trouble starts when someone crosses the hard line of copying a character almost word for word from an existing work or material and goes around saying that this is their character. It's fine when a character is kind of like Gandalf, it tells everyone at the table the is a genuine fan of Tolkien's work, but it's another case when someone is playing a character that is effectively Gandalf right down the spells they use their physical and mental aspects to the point the two are practically identical, that says someone decided to be more than lazy and thought they could get away with it. To be fair, maybe most of your table won't have a problem with a character or two basically being a few notes shy of a copyright issue, but when someone comes to every game with basically a well-known character in popular media and claims that is their new "original" character then you know you have a problem. It's a balancing act, one we probably do without thinking about most of the time, and probably only vaguely aware of it. So, how about we see a few discussions about it all later.
I don't know if I really agree with you here. Most of my PCs are characters from other franchises that I have tooled into working within whatever ttrpg system I'm playing. I find the mechanics portion of CC very stimulating as I try to pair features with my understanding of that fictional character. I tend to follow their personalities as well, capitulating how they would react to each encounter based on the history in other published work. This allows me to experience these characters in different settings and genres. I have only used an original character once in a campaign, and it turned out I really didn't like how it went. I write fiction as a hobby, and maybe that's why I had such a negative experience -- I would much rather just write my story with my OC in it rather than let its future be dictated by RNGzus and the multiple other players in the campaign. I have better control over a character I spend weeks (and for some, months) developing by just dropping them into a flash or short story, and have better resolution because of it.
my dm actually told me im one of the heavy Minmaxer + RP player he loves how i play im super crunchy with the things i do and most of the time im just one shot his monster yet he have no problem of me doing it because i put in alot of rp into the game. other might not play like i do on the table but its fun when everyone have their moment during the session
Thanks for watching!
SPELLBOOK: bit.ly/Spellbooks
Web DM Podcast: bit.ly/WebDMPodcast
I run a Midgard living campaign with 8 DM and 40 players. I'd absolutely love if you did a video on that setting
Its kinda stressing sometimes because i like lore and read so i know a lot of rules i am a clear lawyer in our group but i try not to step on anyone toes rather than gently remind how things actually is and give dm the room to make the deciding call. Adding to that i have bad sight and instead of putting my head on the table trying to get as close to the dice as possible i pick it up and see what it is. I never fudge it because thats the fun in it what happens happens and you never k ow what it is. Never the less everytime i pick the dice up i feel like criminal
i really like that in some of your videos you take a hot topic such as "problem players" and then start the video by saying "before we really get into this, we should really zoom out and look at this whole thing from another angle". you do it here by contending that these are problem BEHAVIORS more than problem players. another great example is your "making a pantheon" video, which you open by offering up alternatives to a full pantheon and the storytelling merits of religions. it shows that you guys don't just have a lot of first hand experience running the game, but also that you've immersed yourself in the online discussion and you want to encourage some alternative viewpoints and discussion.
it's not like its clickbait, either, because you do eventually discuss then title of the video. it's just prefaced with a refreshing new angle. great stuff.
A great angle, certainly. Which is sadly undermined by the title of the video - they didn't title it "Problem behaviours."
@@paulhumphries7246 Not really. The title presents the video via the terminology most are familiar with, and then contains an argument for challenging that terminology.
Me : "I hope they address the types of problems I have in my games"
*Jim picks up his dice and changes the number*
Me: Yep. Yep. This video is for me.
I got one guy I used to play with, he would roll his dice in the book and pick up his dice sometimes and other times leave the book open and yet succeeded on all rolls involving his char a but fail on those for others..
or another guy who would roll a 4 sider and point at the 20 that had a ...20 on it
I can help you with that. If you go to the dollar store they have these things called hammers. Buy the third broken finger they learn.
Jonathan: "Yeah, yeah, yeah"
I ask all my players to roll in a dice tray in the center of the table and if i dont see the role it doesn't count, seems to nip that in the bud. online i use rolz.org which is a free web browser roller that everyone can connect to and see the results.
One thing I miss about older versions of DnD, is that every character wasn't expected to be a combat god. In older editions, if a thief character was stealing from the party, the fighter would pick them up by their ankles and shake them until the item fell out. There was a bit of a power dynamic where thieves knew that they would lose out on some confrontations, so they moderated themselves to a degree.
@justBinia 2nd edition is amazing, right now I run a 2nd edition game with some minor 5e tweaks
& every class didn't get spells!
5e makes me so sad. I too prefer a 3.x based game with a lot of 1st and 2nd edition flavor.
Played 2E for over 30 years, DM’d a 3.5 campaign for 7 years. Now DM’ing 5E campaign… can say hands down that 5E is the smoothest edition and the one I’ve enjoyed the most. Thac0 is a pain in the arse, spellcasting speeds on initiative mods, weapon speeds if you use them etc etc… 3.5 cheese builds for metagamers are a nightmare…. I had to nerf tonnes of 3.5 rules and abilities. 5E isn’t perfect, especially if you run raw (which I’m currently experimenting with doing) but Rai and a few tweaks and it’s a spot on game to me.
You don't think rogues are weak in 5e? I'm not talking about a min/max situation. But...I haven't noticed Rogues being at all a powerhouse in 5e. They aren't even necessary anymore. You could literally go an entire campaign without a thief and that, to me, is kind of bizarre. An entire pillar of earlier editions--nuked.
The biggest problems with players I've had were...
Male Player, playing a female character, was claiming dibs on a Philter of Love because his character "has womanly urges" (that was probably the worst instance I had with that player, but it's probably emblematic of why I don't play with them anymore)
Another player was always wanting to make up new spells for their character (as a DM, I actually love cooperatively homebrewing spells with my caster players), but he'd always come up with the ideas mid session and want to hash out the details in full on the spot, even in the middle of combat when he definitely wouldn't get to cast it either way.
And this one player who would constantly tell me that something I was doing wasn't how Matthew Mercer does it.
Full disclosure, I don't actively keep up with Critical Role, but I do love the show when I do watch it, and I think Matthew Mercer is great, but don't compare your DM's to him, especially not out loud to their face whenever they do something you don't like.
@@krayos13 There's also the fact the entire table is actors. They may not act in front of a camera for a living, but everyone on CR knows how to do improv acting well. CR isn't just the way it is because of Matthew Mercer, it's because of everyone there.
If a player is complaining that the DM isn't Matt then the DM can complain about the player being different from Sam or Travis. Or, we could all play the way we want and not judge people.
@@onyxtay7246 my DM (1st time DM, and I'm a 1st time player) has mentioned Mercer and so have I - we both love the show - but when he mentioned something about "not being on the same level" it actually hit me that IDGAF. He's great in his own rite, he engages the party and facilitates our shenanigans.
You're so spot on with the player comparison too. If none of us can RP or even just play like Liam et al, why would we expect 50 different voices from our DM?
The dude stared into my eyes while RPing a Nothic, telepathically revealing that he knew my secrets, and I was fucking INVESTED.
Actually, I was fucking terrified, and I loved it!
His girlfriend was hilarious too saying "babe he's too high for that" (I was indeed high, but not too high I think)
I was like "nah fuck it this is GOLD, carry on you creepy fucker"
So much of the game is in the moment, and in the mind. Putting it down to some amazing voices and prep work from a bunch of guys who have been doing this for YEARS is lazy.
Also, don't expect Mercer if you're a fucking Murderhobo 😂
yes mercer syndrome is so ahhhhh frustrating
@@shanekayat3217
I sincerely hope to get a reaction like,
"Nah, this is gold, carry on you creepy fucker".
Gawd, I'd feel so proud.!!
Honest to God it's all the sex pests furries wanting to rp their weird sex crap every single game that pushed me away from DnD and the main reason I play CoC now, a game surprising clear of sex pests. Sometimes you get the one annoying player that really can't drop how racist HPL was but nowhere near as much freakshit as you pick up in DnD nowadays
Why not have an episode series where you guys just bring up some game stories from your personal experience. It's always cool hearing other DMs and Players war stories.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Uhm, YES!
Having my “problem players” play a one shot as a DM really helped.
In my expirience that was the best way to get players to understand the perspective of the DM. I was way more understanding about how my DM at the time handeled stuff after I tried my hand at it. And mostly those conflicts seem to be a matter of perspective.
Depending on the problem. Do not do this with the power player that has to be the most powerful character.
@@jakeand9020 Yeah. Murder hobo player: kills all the NPCs. Murder hobo DM: Kills all the PCs.
A lot of these issues like players fudging rolls, peeking at the DM notes etc usually boils down to two things.
1. They feel like they need to 'win' at the game. And this is likely because of my next point.
2. They are too attached to the narrative they told themselves about their character.
Example - player makes a rogue with expertise in sneak so be the ultimate stealth character. But he notices that he had been failing some of his rolls recently which causes him to start fudging rolls, asking for advantage for no reason, cheating in other ways. Him failing at stealth doesn't fit the narrative he wrote for himself so he tries to manipulate what he can to reinforce it. For some players, it's more important that the other players see them as the 'stealth guy' and will continue to do as a mentioned before.
Players, don't marry the idea/narrative of your character. Let them grow, learn, and share the glory and misery of the dice rolls. It's part of the game.
I've had issues with looking at things I'm not supposed to look at when the DM doesn't hide it well because I'm ADHD and have to look at literally everything vaguely interesting. It's better if I just sit opposite the DM.
That's the only reason i like level one so they can grow slowly and change stuff
This sounds like a great opportunity to grow the character. Missing your skill rolls? Let your character develop the neurosis, not you. Make the character question his abilities, maybe they feel the need to seek out a master or mentor.
Is your character making all their skill rolls? Have the character develop a massive ego and become an arrogant ass. Let them deal with the inevitable failure that's bound to come.
You're right, don't marry your identity to the character. Rather let the game shape and mold your character and let the character do the same for the story.
Rogue is kinda eh in that regard, due to the whole, consistent roll thing, but bard wise or UA wise, totally.
I've had problems with some players calling another player's character "usless" because they had bad luck with their rolls, it does tend to evolve into an issue like that when all you want to be is useful to the party. In that situation, it's not just that player, but also the others for drilling it into their head that their beloved character is "useless" which is not okay
"Your not letting me play the game the way I wanna play it" quote from Web DM and my problem player lol
Indeed. Honestly though as they said this is all solvable by talking, most of it can be addressed at session zero. In my experience though the players who tend to stand out the most are also players who aren't interested in participating in a session zero. Maybe because they don't know how and what they want to play?
I think most groups that have been together a long time are very blessed and cursed at the same time, because they usually know what each other want out of a game, but sometimes when someone gets a new idea a lot of people won't be into it...
@@Micras08 Its strange the percentage of people at my table that have been against session zeros that end up being the one that has issues playing in the group.
28:22 I made a House Rule to make INT a better stat that lets the players do this in a structured way: 24. All According to My Plans! If your character has 20 or more INT, they get one Flashback per session of play. You can spend these Flashbacks to help resolve situations in your favor. This mechanic is meant to simulate extremely intelligent characters, with genius levels of forethought and planning. They may still be subject to one or more rolls for confirmation of success. For example, during a heist, the DM might say a guard walks in on you doing something suspicious... oh no! You use your Flashback, and explain that earlier you bribed this guard, and he's working in your favor. The DM may then roll to see if the guard is loyal or subversive (Your social skills VS his), or if someone saw you pay them off (Another guards Perception VS your Stealth or Slight of Hand).
I really like this, will adopt
Like the idea. Wouldn't require 20 INT for it. (Probably because 20 is actually the stat cap in vanilla 5E) But seems like a good way for characters to anticipate what would be literally impossible for the player to anticipate. Or when the player of a high INT character is blindsided by something that wouldn't have blindsided the character.
I'd make this a feat, in all honesty
This is a good idea. In Blades in The Dark, they have a similar flashback mechanic you may also wanna look into.
This is amazing and it would make sense that a character that is much smarter than the actual player would have thought of something like that
The only rules lawyer that sucks is the one that forgets to correct himself first.
And the one that doesn't actually know the rules but tries to be one and forces you to check the book every time even when you KNOW they're wrong
I died twice in the beginning of my RPG career because I rule lawyered my GM's sloppy attempts to keep me from dying ;w;
Also, you can be as rules lawyer as you want, but if we've talked about a house rule, or I'm very clearly trying to keep somebody from dying in a shitty way/having a bad time, please don't.
They come from families of "Bible " thumpers ..
I am a " Rule Lawyer." and had to deal with religious nut jobs.
I also had to deal with people turning their politics into a personal "in group"
religion.
In my early 20's before 3e came out, in the first game shop I went to that ran AD&D2e were Murder Hobos.
White World "World of Darkness": Vampire were snoods.
" With Friends like these, who needs enemies ?"
The shop even ran " Player party VS Player party."
Sometime it was cool, other times whole groups of people got Ban from the Shop.
@@janinecat1865 this right here - Sometimes the DM just decides to fudge certain outcomes for narrative / group dynamic reasons and this is where rules lawers clash the most with DMs. As a DM myself, I'm happy to be corrected when I'm wrong, but I sometimes change the rules for the sake of enhancing the fun. When a rules lawer calls me up on this it puts me in an awkward position. Do I admit to fudging results and influencing the random element of the game in order to enhance the player's experience, or do I let them get their way even though their only angle is that " adherence to the rules take precedence over the fun".
33 minutes in - where Jim admits where he missed what was happening in the moment, because it was easier to get through. That's why I keep watching. Moments of reality that are so true throughout every video. DM's have a LOT of pressure to be perfect in the moment, every moment of every game. Thanks, Jim.
In my first ever game, I was about 11. My cousin's thief killed my cleric in his sleep to claim a magic item I had found the first time our character camped together. Twenty-eight years later and that still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Yikes
Oof! That's bad player mojo. My first time playing was in HS, and our DM was being so angry and rigid that the extra person who came along as our ride couldn't play because they couldn't guarantee that they'd be there every week. Made them sit out the whole 3 hours alone because the DM wouldn't be even a little flexible.
@@haleyspence "if you don't let him play, we don't play today" DM isn't the boss.
Evil characters are okay; evil players are not. That was an evil player move.
Omg that into hurt to watch because I've both been and dealt with that person. Never again
I usually try to be consistent with rolls, but I definitely get way too into abusing the rules for my characters benefit.
I'm haunted by the one time I was that guy. I got upset becuase I wanted to use find familiar to generate snake poison and I got called out on it. I still lowkey hate myself for that.
We usually roll the dice on forgotten equipment.
“Did I remember to bring my grappling hook?”
15 or higher says I did.
Unmodified?
Thats a gr8 idea
Jess Horserage i personally would add wis
I like the idea of spending inspiration points if you use those or even make it an XP cost.
Before or after every 2 or 3 sessions, I'll ask players to do a PC gear breakdown / spellbook check / encumbrance check - especially if they are in a town where they can refill missing supplies.
If the PCs decide to go down into the dungeon, I'll ask about light, food, water, rope, ten-foot poles, hirelings, spell components, etc. Things that are reasonable that the players might forget about, but their characters would reasonably be assumed to remember.
We need more of sassy Jim.
Agreed, release the sass!
@@Comrade2261 Duly noted
You unleashed a monster.
Yes please lol
Sassy Jim is my favorite adult Halloween costume.
There's this deep-rooted cultural expectation, in the hobby, that says if the DM has trouble with problem players (and vice versa), the answer is to find a way to punish them in-game. This is a flawed approach, because more often than not the issue has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with poor observance of the social contract, and just general anti-social behavior. If there's a problem at the table, get to the heart of the matter and just _talk to them_ like an adult.
That said, I don't mean to imply in-game methods cannot be used to check player behavior. My motto is "Actions Have Consequences". If the players want to run their characters like murder hobos, let them. If they leave a trail of bodies, people tend to notice, and also tend to object. Once the players start dealing with law enforcement, bounty hunters, righteous hero types, and revenge-seeking folks (including victims themselves, through ghosts or revenants), they'll moderate their own behavior. If nothing else, it will force them to be less cavalier about the crimes they commit.
That intro, I felt that.
Dealing with someone like that
Literally the first game I dmed
"I got that dragon killing spell"
but why?
@@Xenibalt because
Dragonrend in D&D, I can dig that concept
Dragon gets a Saving throw VS Death Magic Fortitude save.
Zarozinia lmao
Jim's acting is really improving. Also, you guys are great, and I really appreciate you!
“Empathy, sympathy, engagement.” Great summary of how to address the majority of behavior issues during games.
Thanks for a great discussion!
One thing that drives me nuts is when I make a serious character and the next guy arrives with Farty McButtcrack.
Why does that bother you? You can be serious and he can be the comic relief. Neither of which is mutually exclusive.
@@benm5913 at that point all you can do is throw up the white flag and roll up something equally silly.
@@pvrhye if you want a serious campaign, try talking about it with the other players. People like having fun and being silly, so work with people for what makes everyone happy
@@benm5913 So I'm playing Hamlet and the other guy is Dumb & Dumber; it doesn't work. Games have a tone and all the players, including the GM have to agree that tone or the game fails to work for anyone.
@@davidmorgan6896 Comic relief is a thing. If you are the only serious player, then yes, there is a tonal problem. But, my position is that there is always room for one comic relief. Or comedy mixed amongst the angsty Macbeth players.
The one and only issue with the Absent player, I don't care, BUT LET THE DM KNOW.
Oh definitely. Having someone missing can effect the game, but it's nothing that can't be adapted to- if the DM KNOWS.
And the late ones who don't care.
@@realmofdoors9605 What if it is a last minute thing so the DM couldn't be told?
@@Krytern That's different. Unless it's happening frequently.
@@Krytern Now and again that might happen. But if a player gets something getting in the way all 2-3 sessions in a regularly sheuldet game are annoying at least.
Understand me correctly sometimes that might be the case but a fair warning that that's the case to begin with shold be in order non the less.
I'll be honest, my biggest issue with powergamers is that they're also usually rules-lawyers when looking at other peoples characters or what the DM is doing while contradictory making up things like 'I can do this and this and this' and they get SO salty when you point out they can't and that it goes against the rules.
@Axel Drans not a power gamer I swear but eldritch blast is the best and most eldritch invocation are around it,but I get what your saying that guy oh do this or you suck and that's not ok
I've had to kick three players from my table for some of these reasons, but to be honest - it's only one reason:
- Your fun as a player was perceived as "the only fun", and you were willing to step on everyone else to have it.
If a person has decided that they refuse to cooperate with the table as a general rule, it's time for them to go.
Jim's "Right, right" is the new "Uh-huh" from Pruitt.
My die-roll rules:
• You must roll *in* the dice arena.
• Someone else must agree with the result. If you draw-up too soon you fail the roll.*
• If the dice lands cocked but _readable_ (if the walls were removed it would fall true) it stands.
• If the dice lands _sloppy-cocked_ [yeah I know] (indeterminable) re-roll.
Since "Rolling" is *the* core chanciness of the game, it was the one thing I drilled into my players as inviolable.
* ... or counted as the minimum (e.g. on a damage roll)
I really like these dice rules.
I like them too. The group I’m in use die rolling rules similar to these. We also use a dice rolling tray that all dice must be rolled in.
I insist that the purpose of a roll be announced before it's made
I feel like that it's better to reroll all dice that are not lying 100% flat, it doesn't matter if readable or not.
It eliminates borderline cases, which is where people argue the most.
@@Raven7744 We do DM is final decider... but that method is very reasonable though.
Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you for the channel. I'm preparing to run my first game and Web DM has been an invaluable resource - keep up the outstanding work!
Thank you Eric!
Pruitt's on the left side of the screen and I am not comfortable with that kind of change
I love how in-depth your discussions are! That said, could you include timestamps after recording?
That intro reminded me of my ex. Basically just picking the rules to suit him. Always needs to be him in the spotlight kinda guy lol
It always sucks being with that kind of guy, especially when he doesn't even play D&D
I'm assuming that's the reason he's an "ex"?
Problem players aka "that guy."
Fun vid, You guys left me hanging though.
There was no mention of the "Bored player who's character (that isn't a cook or anything) poisons food at camp and offers it to the entire party, poison strong enough to kill on a failed save, but the DM doesn't even allow people a chance to notice it by smell or color, and this player isn't even a little contrite that he killed someone for literally no reason, and the rest of the party just splits the dead PCs equipment and leaves him at the campsite the next morning, nobody even gave a crap". Supposedly a neutral to good party, too.
True (fictional) story, happened to me (and my character) in a game. And that character I had that died had some of the best rolled stats I'd ever randomly gotten.
That's a whole barrel of problem decisions and behaviors, geeze
My character used intimidation and persuasion to turn a thug back onto the right path. We had a whole plan of having him work at the temple so they would keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't going to fall back into bad habits. And then another character shot him in the head. My character was really mad.
Opening, too real... My heart, so heavy...
That intro made me SO MAD! Well done gentlemen.
I know right! Jim being on the other side of the table is just wrong.
The worst problem behavior?
"Forgetting" the snacks on your week.
Booooo
We always get pizza
Another problem player is the one that cant separate reality from the game and takes everything personal.
Sounds like you use the excuse " its what my character would do" to be a dick to other players. Stop being passive aggressive
Lol I can see it now. Player peeks over the screen. "Where are all the notes?" "Oh no my secret has been exposed!!"
Edit: context: I don't have notes. I suppose that is a cardinal sin but I spend so much time prepping I can just remember SO MUCH. Any stats or things like that I dave to a spreadsheet. That's all that's there.
My first video from this channel and these fine gentlemen.
You have a new subscriber. Always love to find other level headed, logical DMs discussing this type of thing.
Welcome Jon!
8:30 - Depending on the in-game punishment this can also work *very* counter productive, because the problem-player will see the in-game punishment as the cost for being a jerk. So then it becomes: _"Well, I can behave like a jerk as long as I pay for it with [spell slot / disadvantage / -XP]."_ and it becomes an entitlement.
This behaviour has been studied with parents picking up their children late from daycare. At one daycare the parents were fined for being late, at another they weren't.
At the daycare where the parents were fined, the problem got *WORSE.* _"I can be late picking my child up, I'm paying for it aren't I?"_
On top of that, even after the experiment was over and there were no more fines, the situation at the daycare that used to fine never went back to the pre-experiment status quo.
I'd argue that this is an example of half steps. A penalty, if mild, isn't a deterrent. If the parent views the fine as a fee, then obviously it's not high enough.
With regards to the game, the same principle applies. If the player continues with the behavior, you didn't make your point.
I have had to deal with this, and made it really simple. When you disrupt the game, your character will die. You can then create a new character and introduce it at the beginning of the next session. Thus, being a dick leads directly to not playing.
I know a lot of people are going to cry about this. But my table appreciates this, attendance stays high, and the previous problem player has learned to behave better- at my table. At other games, he behaves the same, which is proof that he's in control of his behavior.
@@ChristnThms - So? What if I don't care about my character, then I just get to be a dick as long as I re-roll a new character afterwards. I just get to make Bob into Bob the Second, and the Bob the Third and that way I'm allowed to be a jerk at the table?
Then what? You'll kick them from the table forever? When? After once, twice? Three strikes and you're out?
So now you have a table where problem behaviour instantly kills your character, and doing it a few times bans you completely?
You've already heard in the video, I assume you watched, that problem behaviour isn't always intentional, or intended as maliciously as it may seem. It may be behaviour that actually stems from an issue on the DM's end or another players. It may have been the lack of a session zero and setting wrong expectations.
You don't solve any of that by killing PC's and or banning them from your table. Killing someone's PC after problem behaviour might actually *increase* resentment and negative feelings for the "problem player".
Well once it ceases to be the character misbehaving and it's instead the player... You penalize the player. If player treats punishments as prices to pay for what they want to do, you simply tell them that's not the case and if they are not going to correct their problem behavior, they have to be dealt with.
@@ChristnThms
The problem with that in the daycare situation is that people may have a valid reason to be late, and certain people are going to be at a disadvantage due to their work situation (usually lower income or families facing financial stress). They had to take a half step to avoid utterly screwing the outliers through a necessary service. Kind of unrelated, just thought it was an important note to make that it isn't directly comparable to not being able to play.
Though, it _can_ apply to this too, like another commenter mentioned. It's not always malicious.
@@thatboringone7851 even you admit that this is completely a straw man argument. But I'll field the ball because object examples are always relevant...
Let's assume that everything you said is true. All of the hardships and such accepted, one person does not, ever, for any reason, have a right to simply pass their burden to another. So this, like everything else, circles back to each player (and the DM) simply treating the others with the same respect they ask. If your time is precious, and difficult to arrange, then you should have MORE respect for time. Not less. Calling to let others know that you're off schedule costs little, and goes a long way to maintaining good will among the players.
Regardless of circumstance, the failure is almost always a person who thinks that they're so special that they can put burdens on others that they themselves refuse to bear.
The quality of a person can largely be based on the inverse of that: that the individual judges his/her own actions and motivations more harshly and against a higher standard than others'.
Lol, I played D&D in prison. Problem players were eventually beat down for the price of a pack of smokes. 😁
I've heard of that in the Marine Corps when stuck on ship. No smokes just the beatdown. cheers
Well, I guess at least it was solved out of game.
This only feeds into the narrative that DND is for the social misfits of society.
I think the only real problem player I have had in a really long time was one who thought it was his job to tell other players what to do on their turns. Sure, they were probably the optimal choices, but it's not his character, not his turn, and not fun for anyone else but him.
I play with my nieces and nephews, some of them autistic, and one of them is that guy. He's also the rules lawyer. He's the "I'm gonna be involved in every interaction" spotlight kid as well.
It's reeeeeeally difficult to deal with :/
As a forever DM that intro struck MY SOUL! 🤯
I love the more empathetic and understanding approch as opposed to the general format of these videos just going over the gripes
That intro was great because I've seen two people try to fake natural 20s (only 2 because I'm new). The DM asked them to roll again, and they got ACTUAL natural 20s. It's like the universe saying "Listen, man, you don't have to fake this. I gotcha."
I love you guys, as a DM of 20+ years, I died laughing from some of your presentations on the examples lol. Keep up the good work
Those first 80 seconds had me on edge. Quality content.
The Netherlands were mentioned. I am very grateful ^^ aside from that: great video guys. Forwarded it to my own DM
For the "peeking at your notes" thing the best way to do it would be to pretend you didn't notice, and start putting very bad situations in and making notes that, if peeked on, would lead them to said bad situation. Then when they fall into said situation you stare them right in the eyes with a neutral expression.
I guess I'm an Oath of Vengeance DM.
How I handle equipment is what I call a 'luck check' (probably used for different things too, but that what it means at my table) so if a player doesn't have a common item on their sheet, but it would be at least somewhat reasonable to have it on them (like an artificer having nuts and bolts to make something) I let the player make a luck check on which I decide the DC on the fly (usually 14 for simple things, 16 for critical things and 18 or more if it's not quite likely but they can explain why they might have it in them. I give more leeway with this for newer characters and characters that just had some downtime.
I never would have thought to take spells out of a book, to put them on cards, to put back into a book. Very clever.
Gimme one player that fudges the dice that hard. Boom. Tarrasque in your house.
Prefer to use Curses "you notice a critter staring at you as the eyes turn red and you feel dread inside of you" All your stats, saving throws, skillchecks, attacks are -1
@@DesMilesSanctum -1 is lenient go with disadvantage on all rolls. lol
@@mugendono23 well if they do once, now if they keep going its -1, -2 and if i want to be nasty, exhaustion that is only removed when the curse is removed
@Remy B i run a "Hero" campaign where all new characters get 2d6+6 drop the lowest on 7x, they already have the stats and a free feat, they don't need to fudge rolls.
really love the channel, it really comes across that you are seasoned roleplayers. almost all of these examples were relatable, some of which have happened and still happen to this day in the games ive played in, still play in or run.
I played an impatient barb who was very combat focused so he would move ahead unless someone said to stop and if there was too much back and forth he would eventually keep the story moving by just trying something (usually not the smartest thing).
I love playing this character in short (
Thank you. I love these guys for pointing out the rogues who yell at the party member who have a problem with stealing for not being a team player for constantly calling them out, but completely ignores the fact that they themselves are not being team players because they KNOW someone else has an issue with it, but they do it anyway.
At least do it when the other person isn't around or something.
My new favorite web series. With this quarantine and my business travel being "0", i'm glad to have found you guys. If I'm ever Southbound 35 I'll scream "roll for damage" as I'm merging onto Mopac.
I've had issues with the person that always hides behind their character. They do and say things and claim it's their character. But it's the same in every game no matter the race, class, or even setting. They constantly go against the party and their wishes, not even playing an evil character. Just to get a rise and spite everyone.
Yeah, no. Habitual "It's what my character would do" smokescreening for being a jerk is toxic.
Had one such player who hid behind his characters to bully people. He would do his outmost to see player suffer.
There is a difference between doing what a character would do, and being an asshole. If the character does things that cause problems for the other players in the understanding that it may cause problems for other characters if they are also doing things that point cause problems exclusively for themselves, or to other people's benefit.
As someone who is both a powergamer and a serious roleplayer, I really appreciated this video.
Most conversations on the topic feel hyper-negative, so it is nice to see a more neutral perspective.
I like building and playing powerful characters. I also like playing deep and interesting characters. These two aspects of my personality are not at odds, and I do my best to make sure other players are also enjoying their time at the table.
The knowledge and understanding of the rules I've gained through building characters is also something of a boon. I don't argue with the DM, or try to command other players, but the table knows it can rely on me if someone wants advice or the DM can't remember a rule.
Heck, these days it's pretty common for other players to ask my input when building a character or writing a backstory.
Sounds like you're a model player!
@11:20. There are. The mechanics used for Intimidate, Bluff, sense motive, Diplomacy, Initiative, To Hit, Armor Class. The very same rules can be applied in those situations.
Love the high level sociology of these etiquette breakdowns. Much of what I enjoy abt D&D is the shared fiction that grows organically from players having fun in their PC's skin. Which is simple in theory, yet its factors are hard to nail down with all the different kinds of styles and personalities found at the table. This has been enlightening, thx
I run a Midgard living campaign with 8 DM and 40 players. I'd absolutely love if you did a video on that setting
17:57 "My cat Monk isn't generally an asshole, but if you don't pet him enough he starts knocking stuff off." When I heard this I assumed, for just a second, that Pruitt plays a tabaxi monk. Now, I kinda want to play a tabaxi who passive aggressively knocks things off tables and shelves when he doesn't get what he wants.
Do it. And know you're modeling it on a very real and still very lovable kitty
Being able to freely leave the table is a big one we all get up and walk around mid game. I leave the table if my character isn't involved (helps prevent meta and encourage player to player RP)
Another hour long one damn, we lucky.
that last part of the intro hit a little close to home
The idea of an etiquette handbook is really interesting and could help keep some people in check. Here’s to smooth sailing campaigns!
The biggest issues I have had playing were due to imbalance of play experience. For example, I was a new player (first game, high school d&d club) and I really wanted it to work. My character was technically chaotic evil (tiefling warlock) but I was playing it a lot more neutral. The teacher in charge of the club was a player too and he had been playing for years and years. He basically used my inexperience to single out my character, trick my character, steal from my character, etc. I get that his gnome didn't have a good alignment either, and he was trying to play a selfish character. But the fact of the matter was, it wasn't the game to play that character in. I was a new player. The DM had never run a game before and had only ever played with family prior to this. It was Lost Mines of Phandelver, it wasn't the right context for that sort of thing.
This is why on the campaign I'm about to DM (different people obviously and I've gotten a bit more experience since then) is going to have an extensive session 0 to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
the intro makes me think of that one guy who will arbitraryily use rolls that fell on the floor
Well... There is a pretty interesting solution to the dice-cheating players? though it requires a bit of math... not too much though.
Basically you take a deck of cards (the only inportant bit is that cards can be objectively split into 2 types. i.e. Red and Black if you use classic playing cards deck as described in the examples below.) At the start of the session the deck is shuffled and placed on the table with all cards facing down.
When a player needs to roll a d20 after the roll is made and the die result is announced, but before any modifiers are applied, top card of the deck is revealed. If the card is Black - the roll result stays. If the card is Red - the result of the roll is reversed. In the case of d20 that means that actual result is 21 - initial roll result.
With this rule anyone who attempts to cheat at rolling dies will effectively screw themselves over anytime they draw Red. So announcing your rolls higher than they actually are pecomes a bit pointless.
At the same time it also helps the players with heavy case of "cursed dice" problem as occasianally their nat-1s will become nat-20s.
You guys should write a book on DM/Player etiquette, social contracts, etc
I watched this whole video. It was really fun and i like being able to feel like I'm almost sitting with you guys for your discussions.
I can’t imagine Jim being the problem player. Pruitt, on the other hand...yeah I can totally see that. 🤣
@Web DM Excellent video topic and insightful analysis.
I think they are really pertinent and difficult issues to respond to as a DM if/when they arise and I definitely agree that most of the time there really isn't anything included in rules sets to instruct/recommend to a DM on how to successfully respond/mediate. Situations involving people offering unsolicited advice etc is something I have observed happening online a lot - where you have people in the twitch chat or the comments section of a UA-cam video saying something along the lines of "can you please move those troops to that border to town to protect it, its driving me crazy that you haven't taken care of that yet" or "I'm getting really frustrated that you won't cast X spell during battle, that's such a waste to have that ability and to keep forgetting to use it" or lastly " you know that's not how the game is *supposed to be played* right?" I'm a bit older than the average viewer, commenter etc and maybe that has something to do with it, but I can honestly say it completely takes me aback sometimes when a random observer throws out a comment like those mentioned where the commenter seems to feel that it is perfectly acceptable to order someone you don't know and have no relationship with to take some action because it happens to rub the commenter the wrong way. It is like a really bizarre dissolution of the normal boundaries involved in respectful interaction - as if you would walk up to someone at a gas pump at a gas station and tell them "can you please uncoil the hose a little bit to take the kink out of it? its just getting on my nerves watching you do this and so I had to say something." I realize that the nature of online communication inherently results in peoples' inhibitions being lowered considerably and therefore some people might express things or behaviors on here that they wouldn't think of doing "irl" but at the same time, some of these comments/demands are made with such straightforward informality that it really does make me wonder if these folks actually do behave in this manner when they are out and about, and if does it result from having developed feelings of entitlement or inexperience in communication that leads people to make these comments matter-of-factly, as if there is nothing out of the ordinary about them. I think you can probably chalk up a lot of these comments to having come from younger viewers who haven't yet had the chance to work out their concepts of interpersonal boundaries and what type of behavior is and isn't acceptable when you're not trying to be deliberately antagonistic toward someone. With that in mind, I do wonder if things like the commenting I mentioned do in fact occur in gaming groups as well? I haven't played in a while admittedly, and when I did it was always with a group of really good friends outside of gaming - which meant that we knew each other well enough to know for the most part what people's limits were and so on, and this likely prevented a lot of disruptive behaviors or situations from forming at all. But - I hear folks like you guys addressing the issue quite frequently, and that leads me to believe that it must be happening with some regularity or it wouldn't keep coming up. Again though, I commend you for tackling this one in a very mature, open minded and respectful manner.
It's good to hear you guys say "always split the party." Had a game break down a few years back because my character did that. I was playing him as a restless bard and... that party was like insistent on just goofing off in town. The DM was giving us hints that we should probably go investigate some rumors and some looming threats but nah, how about 8 sessions of goofing around town, breaking into random buildings and not doing anything but very tongue in cheek RP. We had one session where we went out and investigated a house full of bandits and that was the only combat in like two months of play.
So anyways, I was like my character probably isn't down for this, I'll ramble on in the direction of the threats. Figured I'd meet back up with the party when they finally decided to move out. Anyway, that didn't work out because the DM, who was his first time DM, and this other "veteran DM" who was another player didn't like it. They gave me a loser character for the next sessions and then just downed me whenever combat started and the game was cancelled a few sessions later.
I always felt like it was kinda my fault for leaving the group, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't now. Oh, and the veteran guy's character was like super OP homebrew and I was just like PHB bard. He was doing really crazy stuff at level 1, so he was kinda like the problem player in the intro but more in that he had convinced the DM to let him be Hawkeye where as the rest of us were just typical adventurers. I think there was just a bad dynamic between him and the rookie DM.
Thanks for being so fucking awesome...
You guys really make such amazing content, lovely discussions and insight.
Y’alls ideas have inspired me and taught me so much about Tabletops.
Thanks for making free great content consistently.
Thanks so much for saying so!
All the downvotes on this video are probably the problem players, lol. Always love the intros!
I think it's a mix of "problem players" and people who won't acknowledge that there's no one 'correct' way of playing the game :) Take the people who ALWAYS see it as a bad thing when there's inter-party conflict - that's just absurd :P
I would honestly much rather have almost any kind of "problem player" at my table than an inflexible one (although i also see them as problem players when they hide their inflexibility at least). It's almost impossible to find 4-5 people who are entirely on the same page about every detail of a game/campaign/session :)
"They're playing the character I don't like". If that comes from a GM or (worse) if the table has a small clique within its group, that character is fucked. My mum had a character that died from a black dragon's acid attack. The problem? There wwre about 8 players and she was the only target.
If that kind of targeting happens and it kills your character, keep them and just use it with another group. Metagamey kills like that is just plain cheating.
Excellent video. Quick rules summary of my table. 1. The GM is always right, right now. I need to keep the game and night moving. We can discuss rules problems later. 2. A person plays their own PC, period. Don't second guess them, guilt them, force them to build or do what you would do. 3. Problem PC? Talk to them out of character. Talk and talk and talk. If you can't reach a fun middle ground... there's a group out there for them but not yours.
To solve the "absentee" problem in one game we narratively decided that the PC of the inconsistent attendee actually lived in another world with asynchronous time. When she slept in her "real" world she would dream, connect to an artifact the party carried, and manifest. Any session the player couldn't make it the artifact was intert.
Speaking of PvP games:
My friends and I played Car Wars regularly back in high school. After a while it got to be a lot of work to design cars and the rules expansions made that even more time consuming. We eventually took inspiration from American Gladiators and made our weekly games into showdowns between celebrity combat teams. I built a 3D battle arena, gave my players 50 points to spend on each team member and a few thousand bucks to spend on gear.
It was a lot of fun and gave a whole new perspective on the Car Wars universe.
THAT INTRO. I feel like every multi-people RPG player knows this player >.
I am currently playing with a group of seven at my local game shop. Our DM is fantastic and is handling our large group rather well. However, we have a player that displays about half of the Problem Player traits you both just described. I found this to be very helpful with how we might approach a resolution to the conflict the party experiences as a product of this players behavior. Thank you.
Hope it works out!
Heya! Long time fan here. While I rarely comment, I just wanted to say that the beginning part of this video made me feel so much better. Recently, I was in a gaming group that was from as part of my colleges local D&D club, and I was playing a Bard. Often, I, a very serious role-player and general fan of dark/gritty games, and several party members got into conflict. We clearly had different interests when playing the game. I would act out in game often, cause I didn't felt like I belonged or was useful (especially since we were playing through Hoard of the Dragon Queen). However, instead of trying to work things out, the group pretty much bullied me. Simply put, they made it feel as it I myself was the problem, and that I should play like them and ignore how I was feeling. They constantly went out of there way to undermined me. Moreover, even though I had changed so much of my play-style, it was never enough. I felt an obligation to the party, even though the party didn't do jack with me, and didn't take the game seriously at all. Even my s/o thought that it was ridiculous.
Fortunately, I left that group. Literally, one of the players just got mad at me, saying I looked bored all the time and I should just leave. So I just did. I told the DM and they told everyone else. The thing is until recently, I blamed myself for what happened. I had the false belief that I should have been better. And while I still feel sad that I lost all those friends, I know that I have a better group now and that it wasn't 100% my fault.
In the end, I feel like that is an important message. Not to shift blame, or verbal/physically punish the player, but to simply acknowledge the root causes of these behaviors, and to deal with them. And while I wasn't 100% innocent, nobody except the DM (bless her soul), talked to me about what was happening in the game without insulting me. I have gotten better as a player since then, but that is cause I wasn't cut down for trying to be myself.
The moral of the story; Don't be a jerk.
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you've found a better group!
30:30
Once, I had the boss have a pet fox, since one player had expressed that they really liked foxes. Once the players saw the fox, there was basically an agreement to not kill the hing, some fighting goes on, one player seems like they accidentally hit it with a thunder wave, it lived, so I thought whatever. At the end of the fight, the player just went “I kill the fox” and I’m like wtf, the rest of the party literally worked the entire fight to keep that thing alive, and you kill it. The problem is that he was the head dm essentially, so I couldn’t really say no.
The head dm? So was he the player or the dm?
Precived types of problem players:
*Min-maxer
*Power-gamer
*Murder-hobo
*Rules-lawer
*Meta-gamer
*Absentee-player
*The person who takes too long in combat (steriotypicly the mage.)
*The "it's what my character would do" excuse
*The person who can't seperate themselves from their character
*The distracter (i.e. cellphone use)
*The greifer, (who interfears with other's goals, steals from the party, or starts unwanted pvp.)
Stacking dice is the best part of D&D
I was once kicked from a group for getting in an argument with another player. My issue was that the other player made zero effort to limit friendly fire and my Paladin came close to death on multiple occasions more from her attacks than from the enemy. She also took over every roleplay situation and acted as the de facto leader of the group. I've often wondered if I was in the wrong somehow, if it was on the DM, or if I was right to be as annoyed as I was. In the end she was best friends with the DM and I wasn't, so that was it.
I think your Dm was just a massive simp and wanted to get into her pants.
That's rough, buddy.
I just need to take a moment to express my appreciation for Jim's accusatory gesticulations at Pruitt in the intro. They seem to say, "No, YOU, sir, are the jive-ass turkey!"
Story-time of when a problem-behaviour clashes with a problem-dm.
So I was accused of rules-lawyering when a dm had a heavily house-ruled campaign. Which isn't odd to me, I know that I have a bad habit regarding memorising rules and pointing out when they aren't followed. However I generally take comfort in knowing the basic ramifications of my character's actions and so I did my best to understand the rules of their game. So I read the houserule compendium before joining the campaign, asked frequent questions before making a character, after making a character, and before the first session.
I get that players pestering the dm is annoying and that explaining rules over and over is frustrating, so I took notes of the dm's answers as to not have to repeat questions.
During the first two sessions I tried not to interrupt the action or any ongoing scenes, but voiced confusion over inconsistent rulings and asked if we could adress that after the session. The dm seemed to get increasingly frustrated about me asking what rules we were playing by, pointing towards their houserule compendium, getting even more annoyed when I said I had checked it regarding every question I've had and that there are no mentions of 70% of the house rules they were using. Of which I had notes on several that didn't mesh with how we were playing either.
Part of my grievances with the rulings during the game stemmed from what I perceived as favoritism towards one half of the party from the dm and I wanted to see if there was just something about her version of the game I didn't get. Why my actions would require two to four successive rolls to succeed when I was rolling well but only a single roll if I rolled poorly, getting no chance to try again or such, but other players would succeed on their first successful roll after two failed ones made in succession. That kind of stuff.
After the third session I get asked in private if I had fun, I responded that I didn't really, that I am still not clear on the rules we're playing by, why some of the actions I take are just ignored, why the dm interrupts me after asking me what I do, and what it is I do that goes against the social contract so I can alter my behaviour.
They then start berating me for ruining the fun for everyone, that I am arrogant, a horrible rules-lawyer and that they're doing their best to 'accomodate' me.
So I apologise to the other players, saying that I am sorry for impacting their game negatively, that I have heard that I'm being a rules-lawyer as well as other things and ask them to tell me if they have any suggestions for what I can do better. After doing that the dm kicks me off the table.
They says that I have hurt them, and that I need to apologise and take back what I have said or they won't speak to me again...
It has soon been a year and I am still no clearer on their social contract, what they want me to be apologising for, and neither is the other player of her campaign that left after the dm kicked me.
Sorry to hear that man. Were the people who were not being favorited also upset, or just you?
@@lapaba1236 yeah, we were four players, two getting favorable treatment, then me and the player who left after I got kicked. He tried gleaning an answer diplomatically for a while but is still as clueless as I am to what the gm wanted and was more upset than I was from the beginning of it all.
Been in a situation like that, just find another group. If the DM is playing favorites, you're not gonna change their mind.
Jim's spotlight supportive play reminds me of my typical large-party playstyle, especially for my 13th Age character. Celduin started out as a straight Fighter, but now he multi-classes as Commander and is able to assist characters in formal social settings as well as influence the flow of combat through buffs and interrupt actions.
Nice shout out to Stockton & Malone. Gotta have someone write the letter for the mailman to deliver.
As a first timer watching on this. This is a good guide to remind ourselves.
We had two THOSE GUYS at our table. Last I heard they were playing on different tables now after our DM had a frank discussion about their disruptions and blatant disregard of social rules. The games I remember playing with them were memorable but not a good memory.
I had a player get ground for about a month, had his character work as a Sorceress' assistant, this also made him her apprentice in a way hence the exp gain while they were away
When I played in my friends campaign (which went on for 21 years!) I used to worry about taking away agency from other players in the group, so I would sit in the background as often as possible, but often times i would get a phone call from the dm the next day saying "mate I need you on point to get stuff done" it became a real issue down the line for us.
This talk of "problem players" reminded me of something I've been thinking about recently.
I don't know how big of a thing this is, but I honestly think discussing character inspirations is something that everyone who talks RPGs in general needs to do. As far as I know, ideas for characters out of a vacuum, even when the person making the character is lazy, and characters have something that inspired. Maybe that Tabaxi Rogue at the table is modeled after the player's first cat; perhaps the Wizard really wanted to emulate enchantress from the fairy tale version of Rapunzel; maybe the Tiefling Bard has the personality of the player's ex, probably the Ranger is modeled on the player's grandfather that took them on several hunting trips as a young a child, maybe the Monk is based on the player's favorite Kung Fu film character, maybe the Barbarian just decided to recreate Conan from the book series, perhaps the Cleric is based on a priestess from the player's favorite fantasy novel, maybe the Fighter is based on a character from their favorite samurai film.
Inspirations can come from a lot of places, and talking about them might help some players take the time to think about where the idea for their character came from and how to either lean into that more or decide they really need a different concept for their character. Character inspirations need a bit more focus than they are getting, they're almost never acknowledged to the point they should. But sometimes players want to try and cheat the system, and by that, I mean lack creativity or imagination, which is fine because they're coming to a game that encourages all that, but there is a fine line between a character being an inspiration and character being a homage, which are both great at the table, the trouble starts when someone crosses the hard line of copying a character almost word for word from an existing work or material and goes around saying that this is their character. It's fine when a character is kind of like Gandalf, it tells everyone at the table the is a genuine fan of Tolkien's work, but it's another case when someone is playing a character that is effectively Gandalf right down the spells they use their physical and mental aspects to the point the two are practically identical, that says someone decided to be more than lazy and thought they could get away with it.
To be fair, maybe most of your table won't have a problem with a character or two basically being a few notes shy of a copyright issue, but when someone comes to every game with basically a well-known character in popular media and claims that is their new "original" character then you know you have a problem. It's a balancing act, one we probably do without thinking about most of the time, and probably only vaguely aware of it. So, how about we see a few discussions about it all later.
I don't know if I really agree with you here. Most of my PCs are characters from other franchises that I have tooled into working within whatever ttrpg system I'm playing. I find the mechanics portion of CC very stimulating as I try to pair features with my understanding of that fictional character. I tend to follow their personalities as well, capitulating how they would react to each encounter based on the history in other published work. This allows me to experience these characters in different settings and genres.
I have only used an original character once in a campaign, and it turned out I really didn't like how it went. I write fiction as a hobby, and maybe that's why I had such a negative experience -- I would much rather just write my story with my OC in it rather than let its future be dictated by RNGzus and the multiple other players in the campaign. I have better control over a character I spend weeks (and for some, months) developing by just dropping them into a flash or short story, and have better resolution because of it.
@@erogames3883 That's perfectly understandable
my dm actually told me im one of the heavy Minmaxer + RP player he loves how i play im super crunchy with the things i do and most of the time im just one shot his monster yet he have no problem of me doing it because i put in alot of rp into the game. other might not play like i do on the table but its fun when everyone have their moment during the session
that ad leading out with a cat was perfect, it immediately made me focus 😂
Almost every session at least 1 player is killed by another player. We just get to make new characters all the time and we love it.