Questions tagged [group-dynamics]
For questions on game-participant dynamics including dealing with sensitive topics, managing group composition, and other table-level interactions. For questions dealing with the actual party of characters in the game, use the [party] tag.
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My own party belittles me as a player, should I leave? [closed]
I've been playing with a party in several other campaigns for about 18 months. We've gotten pretty deep into the story in each, but I've only started taking notes for the past 2 months. Now, when the ...
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How to involve a PC who just waits to be talked to?
Our group is running through a campaign setting where, among other things, Inquisitors are universally feared persecutors of magic users. (Shocking and original, I know.)
The GM's girlfriend has just ...
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How to deal with an enthusiastic new player who's interrupting others? aka, How to gently teach "improv etiquette"?
(Preamble: I recognize "just talk to her" is the default right answer for questions like this, but since the transgression is really small and the player is really new, I'm specifically ...
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How should I deal with a player who often asks the dice for advice and acts randomly?
Recently, my long-time friends and I started a new campaign. I'm one of the players. The player in question often suffers from My Guy Syndrome and their characters can usually be compared to a comic ...
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My group says my roleplaying style is incorrect. How do I roleplay correctly for them?
I'm currently playing in a 5th edition forgotten realms campaign and I keep getting comments on how I don't role-play correctly. My character is a tiefling rogue hellbent on becoming a god but I can't ...
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I want to nerf my character for roleplay purposes, but I fear I might have the "My Guy Syndrome"
I could use some assessment of my current situation. Do you think my current behaviour falls under the My Guy Syndrome and how do I best proceed in this situation?
I have a group of friends with whom ...
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Can (and should) I do anything as a player to make a slow and scattered game more fun?
I'm in a relatively new D&D campaign where the momentum and pace of the game has been lacking, for me personally. My guess is "talk to the DM/group about it" may be all I can do, but ...
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Are players supposed to interrupt each other if they want to do something?
Context:
Neither my group nor I have played Dungeon World before. We have a few years of experience with D&D 5e though. Therefore, we're used to rather clear rules regarding initiative and ...
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What should I do if a player never seems interested and always in a rush, always ruining the mood of the game? [duplicate]
I am currently in a campaign with 4 other party members, this is all of our first campaigns playing except for the DM who has done a few other campaigns, we are a happy go lucky just fun group since ...
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What are good ways to resolve intense intra-party conflict without PvP?
The Short Version:
An evil PC is killing town children during long rests. The town authorities have decided that they need him (and the rest of the group) to handle a big problem anyway. Several other ...
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How can I convince evil characters to save the world?
I made a homebrew campaign with some friends and gave them a more or less summary of what was to be expected of it. When they turned in their characters, all of them were either neutral or evil.
If ...
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How to prevent a player from abandoning one PC in favor of a different one
Here's some background to the situation, which I believe may relate to the problem. It should help some people answer the question.
I play a small game of DnD with some friends named Lorry, Kevin, and ...
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My sister wants to play every other week at our weekly table. How do I fix the issues that come with this?
My sister and I both play at the local game shop once a week. It costs five bucks for anyone to get in.
Recently, my sister has started attending a church program every Wednesday and wants to play D&...
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Being as careful as we ought to be takes too long and is boring, what can we do differently?
What can we either as players or as characters do to be more careful about investigation and reconnaissance without making things slow and boring?
As a party we tend to make poor tactical decisions. ...
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Did I overstep the players' agency by forcefully resolving conflict between one player and the rest of the group? [closed]
In my last game, conflict emerged between one of my players (let's call him Bob) and the rest of the team. Finally, I (as GM) stepped into it and forced the player to give up.
Backstory
A session ...
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Being ignored as a player in multiple campaigns
A couple of friends and I have been playing dnd 5e together for a couple of years. They both take turns dming and I'm a player in the games of both.
One of the DMs however always ignores me in ...
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How do I handle missing different players on each session? [closed]
I'm trying to get my group together, but not everyone can join on a given day. What should I do to best run the game?
Do I (as the DM) take over their character, throw in a temporary NPC, cancel the ...
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Player Conflict [closed]
I am new to D&D and still learning the game. My bf is the DM. I was playing with 2 other characters who are very experienced.
In general terms, I wanted to talk to a book that was scried, but this ...
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How can I, as a GM, make players with different playstyles be more moderate?
I'm a GM for this group of players playing Pathfinder 2e, and we're playing an adventure where they are supposed to be city guards. Now, one of the players is taking it to an extreme level of ...
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What to do as a DM if my players are in constant disagreement with each other?
I've facing an interesting issue as a DM and don't know what can I do from my position to solve the problem. My players always argue with each other and are always disappointed by the other side, up ...
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As a GM, how do I build a complete group of players that fit my style and preferences?
I've been GMing for some years now. During that time, I feel like I've developed somewhat of a style/preference with the kinds of games I like to run. While I feel my games can be enjoyed by a variety ...
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Broccoli games: or, how do you deal with unfun sessions before you get to have fun again?
This may be a silly question, but I'm still quite curious. How do deal with unfun game sessions that you feel are still kind of required?
The context of my question is, our group just had, effectively,...
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I've felt "attacked" OOC because of IC character events. Did I deserve it? [closed]
When I was in college I had my first chance to play some TRPG. I played half-a-dozen one shot there but then I dropped out and when I enrolled again I couldn't find another group. Now, years after ...
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When is it appropriate to contest a DM? [closed]
Ι am struggling to find helpful information about when it is appropriate for a player to challenge a DM's decision.
There was a recent question which triggered this "old chestnut" for me:
...
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How to keep people from talking over one another
It’s been getting to the point that I now have 8 players, happy and playing together.
The problem is, due to lots of talking and yelling between players out of character we get approximately 1/4 of ...
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Can I keep playing a character who annoys other PCs?
Context
This question is about an online community campaign. We are around 20 players who play in a persistent universe where anyone can run a game as a GM. The system is Pathfinder 2e and players can ...
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How do I deal with my group having issues with my character?
I am fairly newish to D&D. Our group plays every week and I have been a GM before. My character is fairly chill, chaotic neutral and will often get distracted for a few moments looking at ...
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On Role-playing True-to-Canon Elves Despite Fellow Players Promoting Orcs [closed]
While I have read all the 3.5 sourcebooks -- and had some practically memorised, I haven't played that many campaigns. One of the few that I did, I went with a Lawful Neutral Grey Elf Wizard, and as ...
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How to deal with player who won't roleplay, insists character-friction is bad, and doesn't take the game seriously?
I've browsed most of problem-players and still felt we needed more info, or more allegorical advice from experienced gamers but am now seeing stuff in gm-techniques I had missed that is somewhat ...
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I am a new player in a group. Another player's character has spent their childhood in a brothel and it is bothering me. What can I do?
I am a new player in a group. Another player's character supposedly spent their childhood in a brothel before being sold to pirates; they served on the ship's crew before eventually deciding to retire ...
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What do I do about a prescriptive GM/player who argues that gender and sexuality aren’t personality traits? [closed]
I play RPGs (usually D&D but other stuff too) every week with a group of friends who I’ve known since middle school (~4 years of knowing each other and ~3.9 years of playing RPGs together). The ...
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How to prevent players from sabotaging themselves by engaging in long arguments about what to do next?
I feel like my players often self sabotage. Often we'll experience moments where the session will come to a complete pause as the player characters argue over what to do. At this point I've started to ...
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What do I do if my group isn't gelling?
It's my first time playing D&D with a bunch of other first-timers (using the starter kit). One of the players is steamrolling over other players and his character is insufferable. What do I do if ...
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Roleplay pacing in non-combat situations
I am running the Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus module and my players are taking very long to approach certain situations. To set an example: There is a gate with two guards who are checking ...
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My gaming group can't agree on play-by-post or scheduled games
I'm currently helping out as one of the DMs of a larger gaming group that will periodically see two or three players plus a DM go on a mission, usually handled in play-by-post format.
Right now, I ...
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Should I prohibit a player from having a character goal that makes me uncomfortable?
A few friends and I (as game master) are gearing up to start a Fate game set in a society inspired by ancient Greece, with a direct democratic political system.
One of my players wants to play a ...
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How to deal with a schism in the party, relating to criminal activity?
Myself and 5 friends (one of whom is DM) are playing Warhammer. Increasingly, 3 members want to engage in criminal activities like burglary and robbery, while myself and another party member are ...
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How to manage players who stay in the gamemaster mindset when they are players, not GMs?
The situation takes place in an online Pathfinder 2 community. Here everybody has PCs and can play on any session with a level that more or less matches the level of one of his PCs. A handful of those ...
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Hosting a game, who has final say? [closed]
I am currently hosting a group for Dungeons and Dragons. The DM is pushing new players into my home without asking. He claims he has this right because he is the DM. No one else wants to host. What ...
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How do I handle kids' conflicting goals?
I'm playing Amazing Tales with my two daughters (an even simpler version, actually-- we don't really make characters with specific skills, I just let them be whoever and we make up a story while ...
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How do I DM for this group when we can't handle a large group properly, but also can't count on any smaller group all attending?
I just concluded an online game with my players. (We played 5E, but I want to move to Dungeon World.) I started with four players, and that has since grown to around ten people wanting to play, which ...
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How do you determine what action belongs to who in a modernist GM-based game? [closed]
Lets say we have a game. The group playing the game accepts the following modernist1 conventions:
GMs control the in-game world, except the PCs. They have final say over what happens (and has ...
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Group with split likes in D&D game: role playing and combat
I'm running a game for 4 people, 1 of which has played D&D before. I have only ran a first session. This session lasted for about 5 or 6 hours, and it seems that it was a lot of fun for them. I ...
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Should I continue to play with a frustrating DM?
[Sorry if this is really long]
I don't usually do this but I'm having a hard time with my current D&D group and I'm not really having fun anymore because of it. I think our DM is having us play a ...
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I unknowingly guessed what will happen next in the module and it's angering the DM
I'm playing D&D with a group of friends. Since some of us are new we picked a module that would be easy play. This is a module that I have never played before.
While playing through the module, my ...
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I don't like a fellow player, what should I do?
We're playing online.
I don't like the player, not the PC, the PC themselves is fine, which kinda makes this worse, if it was the PC, I could chalk it up to good RP.
This player also isn't unlikable/...
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How do I get a new player to stop rewriting my game to match his favorite fiction?
I have a D&D 5e game that I've been running for a year that is on pause because some players don't want to play online or go outside (stupid plague ruining my tabletop). So I offered my son and ...
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My group is too big for my game, how to manage this situation?
So I may have a happy problem. I just finished a game with a group of five players, all of them enjoyed it and we've been talking about the next game we would start. None of them are problem players, ...
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Ideal group size for a murder/horror mystery [closed]
I am writing a short murder/horror mystery adventure. System will be D&D 5e, and players will be level 2 (I plan to give them the 3rd level during the adventure). There will be some strong DM ...
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How to manage a party that runs better in smaller groups?
I've been running a pathfinder campaign for close to 4 years now. In my mind it has been quite successful and my players are generally active and engaged in the story. However, over the course of the ...
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