Questions about the non-GM participants in roleplaying games and their behavior.
65
votes
9answers
2k views
How does a player correct a GM mistake without being a rules lawyer or pushover?
You are playing in a game. The GM says that you need to roll a given roll. The rules clearly state something different. I realize one solution is to go along to get along, then tell the GM after ...
36
votes
8answers
2k views
How do I deal with PCs who use kidnap and torture as an investigative technique?
I'm running a game in a modern setting with emphasis on the paranormal (Conspiracy X). The player characters are part of a secret government organization and are tasked with investigating & ...
33
votes
7answers
2k views
What do you do when a player intimidates your campaign boss to surrender?
So my players recently fought a big bad campaign boss. The (custom made) boss was a kind of solo beserker king, and the encounter difficulty was designed to be fairly moderate until the boss became ...
31
votes
4answers
344 views
What policies should be made at the start of a campaign, to define the desired game experience and avoid bad feelings later?
My group and I work on the assumption that a game system's default assumptions are its manifesto, and that by choosing a system we are choosing to let its assumptions stand except where we institute ...
30
votes
6answers
947 views
What To Do When You Just Seem To Not Belong With a Group?
I'm looking for some advice and input on a situation I've found myself in as a player. To give a little background, my gaming group (4 men, 2 women, between the ages of 25 and 32) is about to end a ...
28
votes
13answers
781 views
What kinds of rules promote good team cohesion?
It seems like a lot of roleplaying games have no problems with players playing antisocial characters who can't really be part of the team. I've been part of groups (in D&D) with both a noble ...
28
votes
9answers
1k views
Players playing multiple characters
I generally have a small group of people playing D&D at any one time.
However to get the party dynamics right, and to cover all useful / necessary skills we could often use more characters than ...
28
votes
4answers
285 views
How can the players reduce the workload of a game master?
As you know DMs do most of the job for the campaign (maps, plot, NPCs etc) and quite a bit of storytelling.
Players, on the other side, bring in their creativity and add extra spice to the game ...
27
votes
14answers
328 views
How do I retain momentum in an irregular game?
For years I have had a regular weekly evening group but as we've all aged, it has become more difficult to meet. I tend to get the same players but we do not play every week. Long gaps mean that it is ...
26
votes
13answers
1k views
How can I deal with players who are reluctant to spend resources?
There's a certain kind of people who like to hoard whatever limited resources they get "just in case"; they usually end up never using them, always waiting for bigger emergency. On the other hand, ...
26
votes
7answers
739 views
Fighting boredom in combat as a player
Sometimes (as a player) I get bored during combat. At times I feel like all my turns are the same (especially when playing lower level characters) and when that is combined with no combat progress ...
25
votes
9answers
2k views
1 GM and 1 Player games and game systems?
I'm eager to hear how other people handle this? I do quite a bit of GM-Less gaming in Mythic and some other fringe systems, but, sometimes it's just better to be playing 'other sides' even if you're ...
24
votes
14answers
628 views
Story Arc vs. Player Creativity
I want to put the players in a challenging spot by putting them in a no win situation and having them captured and stripped of their equipment (assuming they might get it back as they make their ...
24
votes
6answers
908 views
How to deal with overly cautious players?
Recent encounters with hard to hurt opponents have left the party pretty beat up. The player is now seemingly scared by similar encounters and prefers fleeing.
I'm GMing a solo game of Pathfinder for ...
23
votes
18answers
1k views
Overpowered PCs (Gabe's Dilemma)
Penny Arcade recently ran the following strip:
(Original strip here)
While the resolution of this thread hasn't yet been posted, I'm wondering what we think here. How do you game with PCs who are ...
23
votes
7answers
351 views
How do you get a new player engaged in an old campaign?
A group of three players had been going through my campaign for a year and a half, when a fourth player was added around level 15.
The new player entered in media res: there was a ton of back story, ...
23
votes
5answers
668 views
Problems with a party of only Spellcasters?
Given a party of only spellcasters (and only unique classes, i.e. only one character can take any specific class), what are possible roadblocks or problems the group may run into? Should they be ...
22
votes
11answers
914 views
What to do when your character is just too good?
I'm playing in the Paizo Pathfinder Jade Regent adventure path and we're having a good time so far (campaign blog and session summaries). However, as my character has gone up in power I'm now ...
22
votes
5answers
614 views
GMing for [dis]abled players, specifically blind players?
What kind of measures should one take when running a game which includes a [dis]abled player (or players) such as a blind of deaf player? Are there any technologies or styles which are particularly ...
21
votes
14answers
818 views
How to deal effectively with a player unable to lose?
How do you effectively handle a player that overreacts to any loss of his character (level drain, death) ?
21
votes
6answers
403 views
How do you switch from parenting-mode to GM-mode?
Directly related to this question.
My players are my children. A GM has a different relationship with players than a parent does with children. A parent tries to encourage and nurture children; a ...
21
votes
5answers
404 views
Preventing character skill from impeding player enjoyment
Let's consider a player, whom we shall call Bob. Bob loves exciting gunfights and is a big John Woo fan. So he makes up "Shooty McShootenstein," who is a master with a gun. One thing that Bob is not ...
21
votes
6answers
667 views
What GM tasks can be delegated to players to speed up encounters?
My party's encounters (D&D4e - 13th level) take on average 3-4 hours. We chit chat a lot and are pretty easily distracted, and it's not a huge deal because we're all having fun. But lately we've ...
20
votes
10answers
403 views
What is the best way to do search, or spot test when players knowing the result of their roll will colour their perception of the result?
What is the best way to do search or spot tests when knowing the outcome of the roll will colour the players' perception of the result?
For example: a Paladin uses Sense Motive to detect lies from a ...
20
votes
5answers
624 views
As a GM, how do I keep Dungeons & Dragons more interesting for young players?
Currently, my group of players is my children, ages 7+ through 14+ (and several in between). They all are really excited about playing, but I am having great difficulty keeping them all interested ...
20
votes
4answers
360 views
How to become better at descriptions of what your character is doing?
A (very) common GM question is "What is your character doing?"
How do you, as a player, describe effectively what you character is doing?
What techniques do you use to evoke wonder and spark ...
19
votes
5answers
238 views
Dealing with leaving players
Somewhat similar to this, but this is a different case with different answers (Or so I hope).
I've been playing "the dark eye", my PnP of choice, for a few years now and have recently taken up GM'ing ...
18
votes
4answers
279 views
How to run an encounter where PCs have different observations of the same events?
Some of the discussion in this question got me to thinking about an encounter design that sounded fun but I couldn't figure out an elegant way to pull it off:
In some situation where one or more PCs ...
17
votes
11answers
732 views
Encouraging out-of-the-box thinking in combat encounters
I'm a GM currently running D&D 3.5.
I try to think of situations that present the players with a number of possible solutions.
The players, however, always resort to the same pattern of killing ...
17
votes
8answers
584 views
How can I motivate my fellow players?
Although I'm very much enjoying the one of the games I'm in, the other players seem to be flagging and losing interest. This is a bit disheartening as their lack of enthusiasm is bringing down the ...
17
votes
6answers
639 views
How can I screen new players to make sure they are a good fit for my game?
I'm looking to start a new Savage Worlds campaign and I need a full set of players for it. I've played in games before and ran a couple of one-shots, but I've never GMed a full campaign. There's ...
14
votes
9answers
439 views
What to do when you end up duplicating another players character?
Frequently I seem to roll up characters who are the spitting image of someone else's character. Most recently I rolled up a Utility Force Wizard for Star wars: Saga edition, which matched someone else ...
14
votes
10answers
694 views
How do you recruit brand new players?
I always ask players of computer and online games if they want to try out a tabletop games, and tend to get new groups together who are entirely composed of people who have not experienced ...
14
votes
3answers
235 views
How do you build rule mastery in your game?
No one likes the "rules lawyer." However, most GMs like players to know the rules. There is nothing more frustrating to have a player, or players, come to a table to play a game--that they are excited ...
13
votes
8answers
580 views
How valid is lying to players about the rolls they are making in The Dresden Files?
In last weeks Dresden Files game, the players followed the bad guy using a tracking spell, and found him in the projects at an apartment that they knew little about. Seeing his car, they decided to ...
13
votes
4answers
220 views
How can I encourage a style of play where enhancing others' fun is the most important goal?
Let's assume that we can break play styles into two categories: "selfish play," where you want to have fun, and "less-selfish play," where you want to have fun but you want everyone else at the table ...
13
votes
7answers
450 views
Do any resources exist which cover player governance of a population
I have some players who would be interested in managing their own city. Is there any literature out there which covers the ins and outs of PCs governing a populace?
Some example scenarios:
The PCs ...
12
votes
8answers
345 views
Dealing with a changing set of players in a continuous campaign
I have a group of players who have all been integrated into the game. However we all live in different counties and at any one time only a subset of the players can play at any one time.
I try to ...
12
votes
7answers
374 views
Role-playing within role-playing
Suppose that the PCs are actors that have to play roles in film, television, theatre. Or that they are some sort of spirits that process other people and make them do their bidding without letting ...
12
votes
2answers
705 views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing a player to play a large creature?
We're playing 4e Thunderspire Labyrinth and we've decided to let the tank play a large (2x2) Minotaur.
He has all of the stats from the Minotaur player character in the Players Handbook 3, but he's a ...
11
votes
8answers
2k views
What is the best way to play D&D via long distance?
I have a few friends in my party that will be heading out once summer break is over for them. One lives in Tucson and the other lives far enough away that he may not want to make the trek to my house ...
11
votes
3answers
621 views
How can you balance a system without making it bland?
In one of my long-term PvP LARP games, we've done a lot of work trying to balance the system we're using, either by banning certain "classes" or "powers" or by altering their specs slightly to make ...
10
votes
6answers
371 views
What can I do to improve as a player for Burning Wheel
For games of Burning Wheel, what do you consider to make a good roleplayer, as a GM? What are some things to avoid? Socially, what type of player makes it enjoyable to GM a game?
I'm mostly focused ...
10
votes
2answers
294 views
How can I rescue the game when the player characters refuse to work together?
I am a Game Master, and the characters in my group have started to regularly split up. The group's mage has always been a summoner and recently started summoning smaller demons. The fighter's player ...
9
votes
7answers
295 views
What monsters can be interesting as PCs?
I believe that the premise of the player as the monster of the game quite compelling. Vampire: The Masquerade is obviously the pioneer in this genre, and other creatures such as werewolves, ghosts and ...
9
votes
5answers
301 views
How can I encourage my group to seek success, rather than entertaining failure?
Our weekly group has a tendency toward playing into escalating spirals of self destruction, regardless of the system or genre. Players will look for opportunities to fail, or to set up other player's ...
8
votes
5answers
437 views
What is this player planning?
I'm running a Pathfinder game for a few friends (using core + UM + UC + APG). Last session the party thief said that he was planning on buying a called anchoring adamantium axe. What I want to know is ...
8
votes
2answers
193 views
What essentials do I need on the site of my LARP?
I am planning on holding a 20-50 person LARP. I would like to know other than notifying the Emergency services (police/ambulance) that I'm holding the event and where it is, what facilities should I ...
8
votes
2answers
351 views
How to manage character arguments / conflict?
I'm a new DM and have just started a 4e game as Play by Post.
The game has started with one character (Bob) recruiting in a pub and the first response was from another character (Al) wanting to ...
7
votes
2answers
146 views
Good storylines to accompany adding another player to the game?
I just ran my first two sessions as GM and we are probably going to be adding a 4th player to the group soon (making 5 of us total). I'm trying to thing of a good premise for the party to meet the new ...
