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So I'm playing a home brew scifi game where one of the players is playing a scientific character who collects a bunch of samples. That's all fine and good, but the problem is that he want really specific details. I don't want to just ignore him and the basic focus point of his character, but he keeps asking questions about the same thing for up to 20 minutes (literally). The other players are really annoyed by this, but since I told them the research provides bonuses to combat they seemed to at least be able to tolerate it. Is there a way I could make this either less annoying for them or at least move him along off the topic without making him feel unwanted?

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    \$\begingroup\$ What kind of specific details does the player want? Can you provide an example of his line of questioning? \$\endgroup\$ Oct 9, 2015 at 23:25

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To be clear, he's asking for details on these samples he's collecting? I would say if he's that interested in a detailed list, then have him make it up himself. You would have to approve, of course, but just say something like, "You collect a variety of samples to help with your research. Go ahead and make a list of samples that you think would be appropriate." It sounds like he would be the type of player that could really run with this creativity. Plus, it ties his character more closely to the narrative, and that's always a good thing.

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    \$\begingroup\$ This is a great suggestion in an official published game like D&D -- it's an even better suggestion in a completely homebrew game. No need to create work for yourself as the GM, especially when it's specific to someone's character. Allowing players to write content for their own characters almost always results in a better turnout. Vetting it is a good idea, but that takes far less time than drafting the whole thing yourself, especially when you don't have the same mindset as the player who originally wrote the character. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 9, 2015 at 18:00
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When my players ask me for details that I haven't predetermined, which happens constantly during every session, this gets handled a few different ways depending on how many details and how important they are.

If it's truly unimportant, and not too complicated

Q: "What are the stairs made of?"

In a place we'll probably never return to, that's just a passageway from A to B, the stairs are made of whatever bubbles to the top of my head. They're wood. Or something. Whatever, don't worry about it.

If it's unimportant and complicated

Q: "What's it say in the book on ancient dynasties of Faerun?"

This sounds like the case you're asking about.

If they're satisfied with a vague sentence, like "It tells the family history of several great dynasties all across the continent, including ones in the Neverwinter area", then fantastic. Move on.

If they're not, then either tell them it doesn't matter or to make it up themselves. If they go to the effort of making something up and giving it to you, then apparently they're interested, so you should probably figure out a way to make it matter in the future.

It could actually matter, but isn't complicated

Q: "What are the stairs made of?"

In a place where they're about to have a fight, this might matter. Maybe one of the party members shoots fire, and they can burn wood. Maybe somebody can phase through stone. Stop and think for a second, and come up with a good answer. It's worth the time. Don't take too long, though. If you haven't planned your campaign out way too far in advance, then you can probably just accommodate whatever you think of, even if you realize it was dumb in retrospect. If they burned the tower down, then they burned the tower down. Unexpected events are often more fun.

It could actually matter, and is rather complicated

Q: "What does the control panel look like?"

Oh... right... I should have probably figured out what the levers do on this thing...

This is the tough one. The goal here is to whittle down the question to the part that actually matters right now. Maybe deflect a little: "Are you planning on using the control panel right now?" "Uh, no, we should probably check around outside first." "Okay. It has levers on it. Next question."

Now that you've figured out the part that needs to be resolved right now, you have plenty of time to figure out the rest of it before it becomes relevant. If it's so complicated that you're worried about the time investment, then recruit the player that's interested in the knowledge. Either they'll help you produce something better than you could've come up with yourself, or they'll realize what kind of time investment is entailed in their question, and say never mind.

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    \$\begingroup\$ If you got a complicated thing that matters for the plot, a GM should have at least a mental picture of the appearance prepared so he isn't caught off guard. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nzall
    Oct 10, 2015 at 18:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ Nate: That would be the ideal. But that only helps with objects you expected to be relevant. What about objects that are actually just scenery but that the players nevertheless become absolutely convinced are plot relevant? Or even trickier: objects that you didn't expect to be plot relevant, but that the players realized would genuinely provide useful information. It's not practical to generate sufficient details on all of these given limited prep-time. While it's a good idea to prepare details on the most likely things of interest, you will need to improvise sometimes. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ray
    Oct 12, 2015 at 6:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ @NateKerkhofs This is true, assuming that the GM anticipated the party running into the thing. Things don't always go as planned. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Oct 15, 2015 at 0:30
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For my game, I had a rule called "Downtime actions". Basically anything that was heavily one-on-one or didn't affect immediate gameplay got lumped into that category.

For example, the players are flying around, they find a sweet new pieces of tech. The tech-guy wants to turn this item into a new weapon using Engineering and other such skills. I tell tech-guy "Yeah that can be your downtime action", and the players resume playing.

A summary of Downtime Actions in practice

  1. Anything that will take the characters many hours, or is one-on-one, happens during downtime actions.

  2. These actions happened from the characters during all those gaps in the story. ("It takes 400 minutes to cross this solar system at 0.1 c.")

  3. The player and I would meet before or after a session, or maybe even some time during the week, and RP the downtime action, doing all the rolls and doing techno-babble, etc.…

  4. If I didn't know something, then I could do some research with the player, involving them far more actively than if I did it all myself and returned with it.

By the very end, they would get one of three verdicts:

  • Success: The thing they wanted is possible and did happen.
  • Failure: The thing they wanted is not possible.
    • This could be affected by acquired more tech, more specimens, etc..
    • Usually though it was because they wanted something totally not-possible in that Universe (Infinite magic death ray)
  • Try Again Later:
    • They botched too many rolls, but didn't fail outright.
    • Taking too long in general (do this, and this, and this, and this...)
    • Missing pieces (You want a faster torpedoes, but don't have any faster engine types.)
      • This could lead for more cool things for the party to do, and was my favorite answer. (Yeah your death ray would work, but only if you had magic crystals... and those are over here. See you next week!)
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    \$\begingroup\$ Can you describe this rule? \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Oct 9, 2015 at 22:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ sounds like an AMAZING rule.... if I knew what it was. Does it mean "anything heavily one-on-one would be done during downtime between games or during downtime IN the game (before sleep, travelling, etc)"? \$\endgroup\$
    – Patrice
    Oct 9, 2015 at 22:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ I honestly didn't think this rule was something I made up. I tried to explain it; Let me know if I need to expand or clarify. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 9, 2015 at 23:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ +1, Sounds good. This will work super well for some campaigns, and not at all for others. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Oct 10, 2015 at 0:49
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Whenever a player wants detailed information on something that I haven't prepared and isn't directly relevant to the game at hand, I tell them that I'll have what they requested ready for next session. It does mean that they can't immediately use what they've collected, but if such a thing were possible anyway I'd have prepared it.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I sometimes do this, but if they want to immediately use what they've collected I'll fall back on letting them assume something reasonable. "How heavy is the brick?" "Hell, I don't know. Does it matter?" "Well I want to throw it." "Alright, how heavy should it be?" "Uh, 3 pounds." "Okay, great, it's three pounds." \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Oct 9, 2015 at 22:01
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    \$\begingroup\$ There's a difference between being expected to know how heavy a brick is and coming up with a complete database of the local flora and fauna totally off the cuff. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sandalfoot
    Oct 9, 2015 at 22:20
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I suppose the difference to explain here as a GM is how the player is acting this out. Which of the following sentences is closer to how he is asking?

  1. "What is this rock like? What's the composition?"
  2. "I am going to examine the rock, and try to figure out its composition."

Is the player aware of the time his character will be consuming in his research? Is he playing the role of the nerdy geologist? Perhaps he can be encouraged to see the questions he is asking you as his character's inner monologue, and assured that until he says otherwise, you will assume he is being conscientious about his job of collecting samples, and will inform him if anything interesting shows up, or if the terrain warrants taking a different sample.

GURPS actually provided a useful role playing tool for this, as a character who engaged in this sort of overly obsessive behaviour could by GM fiat get dinged with an Odious Personal Habit or Compulsive Behaviour, or less draconian as a Quirk ("Likes to collect samples")

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