Questions tagged [problem-players]
For questions about participants in an RPG who, for whatever reason, contribute to the difficulty of running the game.
-1
votes
2answers
197 views
Dealing with an abusive player [on hold]
Continuing on my last question, which I will congratulate all the answers that I got, some of the answers were about that other player I mentioned.
He plays a Druid (lv.3), and he is in a party ...
3
votes
4answers
294 views
How can I get an uninterested group of players to listen to me, or focus on the game in general?
I am having some major trouble running a game of Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords.
As some people know this quite a hard campaign, and while it is the first one that I have ever really run, I am ...
7
votes
0answers
236 views
How to deal with a player that can give it but can't take it [closed]
So basically long story short we have an inter-party conflict where a guy has cut off a limb of another character and is meta gaming to kill two other players. Then, he got involved in the decision of ...
-8
votes
2answers
285 views
Need help dealing with a Chaotic Evil murder hobo fighter [closed]
Okay so the title kinda explains it but I'll give some backstory to this extremely edgy non-creative character.
So this character is a human who spent his younger life trapped in a shed by abusive ...
3
votes
3answers
278 views
RAW, can you use the Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master feats to make an improvised weapon attack with a longbow?
Occasionally when looking through posts I see people talk about taking Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master so that they can make an improvised weapon attack with a longbow at -10 to hit +20 damage. ...
5
votes
0answers
262 views
A player's character stole from another PC, leading to a conflict. As a DM, what can I do? [closed]
I am the DM for an online Evil campaign for D&D. The players just found the Book of Vile Darkness however one of my players decided to pickpocket the book from the player who had found it and had ...
7
votes
4answers
838 views
How do I encourage my players to … play? [closed]
I'm new to DMing. Of the many, many problems I anticipated I never expected to have players not do anything at all, and I'm not sure what to do with that.
Its a small group with only 3 players. We've ...
81
votes
18answers
14k views
How should a DM resolve a smooth-talking player with a weak Charisma score PC? [closed]
This is an old problem, but one I am curious to find an answer to.
One of our players is naturally a smooth talker, and his personality allows him to talk his way out of situations on the spot, and ...
9
votes
4answers
611 views
How to handle players who push fun aspects way too far?
I'm a DM running a Naheulbeuk campaign with coworkers on lunch time.
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk is a humorous french podcast adventure, which parodies RPG, fantasy pop culture and tabletop games.
...
57
votes
6answers
9k views
How can I tell if I am a problem player?
Suppose I suspect that I might be considered a "problem player" but I am not sure. I play using techniques, decisions, or moves that, while not blatantly inappropriate, are atypical or time-consuming, ...
3
votes
1answer
318 views
How do I deal with a PC who is playing like a child, and is constantly throwing the party into disarray? [duplicate]
In the group I'm in, there is a player who claims that their character is "off his rocker", and is purposely throwing every situation into mindless childish chaos (it's been going on for the past 3 ...
2
votes
0answers
53 views
How can I get a player to remember his character's bonuses? [duplicate]
In my Dungeons & Dragons group(s), we have a player who can never remember ability scores, spells, bonuses, etc. We currently have two groups, and he is in both. We enjoy playing with him, but it ...
0
votes
1answer
233 views
Issue with a uncooperative player [closed]
So we have a good campaign goin, second with this group though some of them joined mid-way through the last campaign. Though not entirely important to this question, it's a D&D 5e campaign.
That ...
62
votes
13answers
14k views
How can I impose consequences when PCs commit severe crimes?
For context, this is my first adventure as a DM. The PCs are level 2.
About 40 minutes into the first session, while investigating the rumours about a ghost ship, the group meets with Aleyd Burrows, ...
3
votes
3answers
601 views
How can I prevent one character from leaving the group to do his own thing?
I have recently made a rather epic story for my players to play though. (In the sense of a long overarching story). I have been running for a few sessions but a particular player is constantly trying ...
41
votes
6answers
6k views
How do I keep my players from focusing too deeply on unimportant details?
A little bit of backstory. Me and a few friends from my job decided to play D&D 5e while we're kinda stuck in one place and were quite bored. So we got everything we needed and they chose me to DM....
16
votes
4answers
464 views
How to deal with players who take up most of the time by doing solo actions?
I am sure this has been asked already, as this is probably a very common problem, but I didn't find anything.
I am playing in a campaign I made myself using homebrewed rules based on a German pen-and-...
2
votes
1answer
193 views
How do you fix player in-fighting? [closed]
My players constantly get into arguments and verbal fights over trivial things such as how to get something or how to handle a situation and its hard to get them to just decide on something or to come ...
12
votes
4answers
649 views
How do I tell my S.O. that I am not enjoying playing with this group?
Recently, my group started a game of Starfinder that is run by my S.O. Part of the reason my S.O. wanted to run the game was so that I could have a chance to play as a player since I've been DMing ...
8
votes
4answers
687 views
Advice on TWO troublesome players and their characters
Background
Myself and a group of 4 friends have started playing Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Everyone is a first time player and the DM is a first time DM.
Both myself and the DM watch D&D ...
0
votes
1answer
370 views
When my players don't think at all, what should I do? [closed]
I have a very strange party of players. It's not their characters, but my friends themselves.
They seem to want the Hobbit but with no deaths, lots of XP at level 1, weak and slow zombies, and ...
22
votes
6answers
4k views
How can I help/encourage a wizard player with their bookkeeping?
One of my players is playing their first caster in 5e and chose a wizard.
Unbeknown to them, the wizard class comes with a fair amount of bookkeeping both in long rests and downtime with their spell ...
21
votes
10answers
3k views
What can I do to help the players remember the rules?
I have a group of players that I have been playing with for a while now. A couple of them have never played before so I understand that they will likely not remember a ton of the rules.
I've DMed for ...
46
votes
6answers
6k views
As a player, how do I deal with a spotlight hog?
I’m usually the GM but I’m not this time, and my usual methods of managing spotlight, and hogs thereof, aren’t available to me. I’m at a bit of a loss.
We have a player who is very enthusiastic and ...
98
votes
10answers
15k views
As a player with ADHD, how do I avoid disrupting the game?
I read a question by a DM wanting to know how to work with a player who cites ADHD as reason for disruptive behavior.
Almost all answers are of course things the DM could do. Now I am wondering, what ...
7
votes
1answer
235 views
I have a problem incorporating a player with ADHD [duplicate]
There's a kid in my High School D&D group with A.D.H.D and he has a lot of trouble sitting still and distracts the other players. He's having a lot of fun goofing off, and doesn't seem very ...
2
votes
3answers
341 views
Is it normal for my players to be this casual about the game? [closed]
I'm a new DM and I'm running a group of new players. We're a pretty casual group and they haven't bought books or dice, and aren't very invested in the game. Is that normal? How much should I ask of ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Should a player be allowed to keep a character they used for part of a campaign a year ago?
I have an interesting predicament. One player just entered my campaign after claiming that a year ago, he had leveled this character up to level 2. It's not that bad, but wait. He also claimed that he ...
45
votes
12answers
12k views
What to do about PC rerolling for great stats?
I have a player who in the span of 3 sessions has gone through 5 characters (& made even more, some of which I told them not to play because the stats were too high), because they want "great" ...
2
votes
4answers
683 views
Dealing with in-game love interests between PCs
So, following a previous question about dealing with love interests in a 1-on-1 game this has been brought into our current game.
It was one thing to have it in our one-on-one game, but now we have 2 ...
21
votes
6answers
5k views
What to do with a player I have issues with due to metagaming?
I want to start this by saying that I am very new to D&D as a whole. This is my first campaign and I am playing a Lizardfolk paladin (it works in this story); the problem player is playing a gnome ...
18
votes
3answers
7k views
What to do about a character being a thief in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
I am DMing the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure.
One of my characters is planning on having his ideal be "Stealing is ok if they have something you want", and he says his character will be "skilled ...
10
votes
4answers
503 views
How can I force good NPC reactions to a bad player with Good Stuff?
So, I'm running an Amber Diceless game. One of the characters took 21 points of Good Stuff at the beginning, because they want to save up to 25 to buy Advanced Pattern Imprint after the game starts. ...
48
votes
7answers
16k views
Player is obsessed with shaving my wookiee
We're playing the Star Wars RPG but this problem isn't system specific.
It's normal for this group to drop character, usually for jokes and chatter, so that isn't something that can be addressed.
...
26
votes
11answers
9k views
How can I convince a fellow player to stop playing super-powerful PCs?
One player in one of my groups always builds PCs that puts the rest of the party to shame. Even when the player tones down their PCs, their PCs are still considerably better than the rest of us. Their ...
0
votes
1answer
829 views
How could I have dealt with this player (I wasn't the DM) who intentionally made the party do stupid stuff? [closed]
It was a long session. We had an experienced DM, and a highly amateur party who just attacked everything on sight. But that was overshadowed by this one player that would intentionally do stupid stuff....
-1
votes
1answer
327 views
What do I do when one of my players argues with me (The DM) outside of the game? [closed]
So my players and I have a group chat where we can all talk. This past week one of the players has been non stop trying to make me mad in the chat involving D&D mechanics and stuff like that.
He ...
1
vote
0answers
184 views
How do I get my friends to get into character? [closed]
One of my friends is being really silly at the table. Although it gives us all a laugh, it really doesn't fit with his character or even the game I and my other buddies are trying to play. Does anyone ...
3
votes
4answers
2k views
How to deal with a player that ignores the DM [closed]
I am running a campaign during which all the gods left for various reasons. Because of this, I changed up the Paladin and Cleric classes, by providing an alternate source of power for paladins which ...
4
votes
4answers
648 views
Player being far too pushy, but I don't know how to respond [closed]
I’ve been preparing a campaign group for one of my friends who hasn't been able to get a solid group going.
However, one of the people I asked has been... incredibly pushy and forcing me to make ...
18
votes
2answers
3k views
A player is unhappy that people are playing the same class. Did I do something wrong?
How do I deal with people choosing the same class? Can people do it? I have one player who doesn’t think so and is really unhappy about it and is telling me I have to figure out why they should care ...
66
votes
9answers
12k views
How to deal with a player who refuses to learn the description of their spells and abilities?
I am currently running Lost Mines of Phandelver for a fluid group of about 10 people. We play once a week and on a given night 4-6 people will show up. We've been doing this for 4 months now. I have ...
23
votes
8answers
8k views
How do I deal with a loot hungry PC?
I am new to the DM role and I have come across a player that maybe some of you have experience with. His main drive is loot. So much so that he has started pick pocketing and searching enemies IN ...
4
votes
2answers
759 views
How do I DM for a player who gets angry when he doesn't get his way?
The PCs in my campaign are level 5. We are in a major town and a festival is happening.
I have a player whose character will spend 20-30 mins trying to convince random female NPCs to sleep with them, ...
53
votes
5answers
14k views
How can we kick our novice roleplayer out of the group for being a poor match, without alienating them from the hobby?
I have someone in my group who is completely new to the hobby. We are now 12 sessions in, and I will most likely need to remove them from the group: Our play styles don't match, and the rest of the ...
13
votes
1answer
964 views
Player already planning on holding the party hostage next campaign
Backstory
We had a new player join us mid campaign and he made an eccentric Dragonborn character. The character joined a group of a rather ignorant elf and human who were already at odds with each ...
93
votes
13answers
12k views
Dealing with (supposedly) in-character bullying
There is a member in our current gaming group that has been difficult to deal with and I would really appreciate some advice. For context: We are a group of four people, including the DM, and have ...
25
votes
7answers
7k views
Player getting frustrated because he's dropping to 0 HP frequently - what to do?
Kinda a parallel to this question.
Setup
My players' party has the following composition of level 2 characters: Ranger, Cleric, Paladin, Barbarian, Warlock and Druid. Not all of them are present ...
56
votes
8answers
15k views
Players get angry if anything negative happens to them
I'm having a tough time handling encounters with the players at my table.
Sometimes, if anything negative happens to them they get angry. For example:
During an encounter, a hostile NPC Cleric ...
22
votes
3answers
5k views
Party members are about to lunge at each others’ throats (IC and OOC)
I play a WFRP 2e campaign with 4 friends. One of the players is my girlfriend and I am just another player not the GM. Our group consists of 4 humans and 1 halfling. Let's call the halfling player '...
