Questions tagged [problem-players]
For questions about participants in an RPG who, for whatever reason, contribute to the difficulty of running the game. (See also: the [problem-gm] tag.)
410
questions
21
votes
3answers
1k views
I think one of my players wants to leave the campaign
I am a relatively new DM. I am running my first campaign, which started about a year ago, with some close friends from college. We have all played D&D before, but this is the first time I’m ...
11
votes
2answers
570 views
How do I deal with a player that contributes nothing?
A few weeks ago, I began a new campaign with some newer players, and for the most part they have jumped right in. They may need some strategy work, but they do fine (partially due to me sending them ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
Are the Path of the Totem Warrior barbarian's physical totems considered magical items/accessories?
I've had my fair share of arguments while playing sessions with my friends about rules & limitations in game. One for certain that caught my eye is the physical Totem you acquire as a Path of the ...
39
votes
12answers
11k views
How to persuade players not to cheat?
I am DMing the Lost Mine of Phandelver Starter Set campaign for 5e with my two friends, and one of them is bringing his two friends. They use D&D Beyond, and their character sheets contain almost ...
14
votes
2answers
506 views
As a player, how can I deal with a fundamentally annoying teammate
I play in my school's D&D club and our first year was last year. During that first year, one of my fellow players rolled a sorcerer with high charisma (17) but low intelligence (8). He ...
36
votes
9answers
7k views
Can Alter Self be used to enter an enemy's body and destroy it from the inside?
I’m a new DM, so I’m using a starter pack with a storyline, although I have adapted it a fair amount. Earlier today one of my players decided that he can use Alter Self to create a tentacle which he ...
25
votes
8answers
8k views
How do I handle a paladin who falls, but wants to choose a different class instead of taking the Oathbreaker subclass?
tl;dr: How do I handle a fallen paladin?
I have a level 6 player who wanted to play a lawful good aasimar paladin (Oath of Devotion). There have been several events which I believe have led to their ...
29
votes
9answers
6k views
How to discourage mundane play?
I am freestyling a campaign w/out an °official° system, and I have run into a problem. With certain players, they refuse to play as adventurers, choosing instead to get a steady job, then saying ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views
How to handle a player wanting to use the (UA) Remote Access spell on an android player character?
This is in my sci-fi D&D 5e campaign. I have a warlock who's using a spell from the Modern Magic unearthed arcana called remote access. I also have another player who is playing a homebrew android ...
-7
votes
2answers
244 views
how to make my will save insanely high [closed]
In my game one of our teammates has the seduction skill and continually uses it to try to force my characters in relationships with his. Needless to say, I'm not happy about it.
Since the GM won't ...
45
votes
9answers
12k views
How to deal with a PC being played as homophobic?
I’m about to start a sci-fi campaign using Ultramodern5 (a modification of D&D 5e for non-fantasy settings). I’ve been working with players to help build their characters, and one player character ...
22
votes
3answers
4k views
How can I get a resolution to in and out-of-game actions that made me uncomfortable?
Two of our players' characters have had (since the beginning) a very 'pig-tail pulling' relationship from day one. One is a high lady, the other a rougher sea-man. Little fireballs aimed at armpits, ...
2
votes
0answers
216 views
Messing with cell phone during D&D sessions [closed]
There are lots of questions on this site about players using their phones (the phone being a symbol for not keeping their eyes on the game -- it could be a magazine, a tv, or the bird feeder at the ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
I have a player who yells
I run a campaign for a group of friends (ages 16-17) and we generally have fun, but there is one player I've been having trouble with.
They tend to get frustrated with the other players goofing off ...
35
votes
5answers
6k views
Is there any way to keep a player from killing an NPC?
I was running a one shot for friends and a player had gotten annoyed with an NPC that the other players really liked. This came to a head when after a combat encounter the Player decided to attack the ...
11
votes
5answers
503 views
How can I help my players to better immerse into my game world?
Obligatory: I am playing in a campaign I made myself using homebrewed rules based on a German pen-and-paper RPG called Das Schwarze Auge (DSA; The Dark Eye in English).
Introduction
I am a GM for a ...
10
votes
5answers
2k views
How to handle a player that cannot be convinced his actions are a problem for both GM and party
Background
You can skip to the end for a (very) short summary though...
We are a group of good friends, we've all known each other for 7+ years, since high school, and have been playing DnD since ...
13
votes
3answers
2k views
How to deal with a player who makes bad characters and kills them?
This is kind of a two part question, firstly about the bad character thing and secondly wrangling table drama. For context, I am currently DMing D&D 5e Curse of Strahd, with 5 players. Some of you ...
2
votes
2answers
230 views
As a player I want to help a new GM with 1 or 2 problem players. Turn the negativity into something fun [closed]
I'm looking for "out of the box" solutions and "how to debate this" techniques for a very "group and players" specific issue
Looking for experience backed advices, ideally.
I did search for similar ...
7
votes
2answers
307 views
As the DM, how can I help a player stay focused on a story-focused game?
I'm DMing for a group, but one potential player has trouble focusing for too long. She really enjoys the game, but she can't focus on the game due to possible ADD (she hasn't been diagnosed, so we're ...
82
votes
5answers
10k views
How can I stop myself from micromanaging other PCs' actions?
I’ve been having a problem in D&D. I love the game, perhaps too much.
I keep finding myself trying to control the other players' characters (telling them what they should do, or where to go), and ...
23
votes
13answers
10k views
How can I deal with someone that wants to kill something that isn't supposed to be killed?
To clarify: By something that isn't supposed to be killed I mean things that are out of mortal's power range.
As far as I can tell this isn't a system specific problem. I experienced the same thing ...
16
votes
5answers
871 views
How to handle not being able to attend as often as I'd like
I've been playing with a group for about a year. I have no complaints about my group, I'm the problem. I'm the only one who has kids, and unfortunately for me my wife is not exactly supportive ...
4
votes
2answers
598 views
How to get a un-creative player to get more into role playing
About six months ago myself and 2 of my friends started showing an interest in D&D. We would see funny memes about the "Murder Hobos" and imagined the funny stuff we could do. I took to it very ...
3
votes
3answers
430 views
How do I handle a player who wants to burn everything down?
In my most recent adventure, the party was attacking a wooden goblin fort when the dragonborn PC had the bright idea to use his fiery breath to burn it down. I thought that it was a clever idea and ...
36
votes
8answers
7k views
How can I deal with a player trying to insert real-world mythology into my homebrew setting?
I have just started GMing a homebrew campaign with a group of relatively inexperienced players. I have only played with one of them before (I have GMed for him as well as been a fellow player with him)...
56
votes
12answers
13k views
As the Dungeon Master, how do I handle a player that insists on a specific class when I already know that choice will cause issues?
I agreed to DM the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure for a group of my friends. One of them wants to play a wizard. Based on past experience, I know that she will ignore the prepared spells and just ...
11
votes
1answer
555 views
How to handle a player who asks me never ending questions about roleplay things
Recently I started up a new game. I recruited players, got them to make characters, and was ready to have some fun with them.
One of the players keeps asking questions. They ask about every detail ...
77
votes
7answers
12k views
How can I get a player to accept that they should stop trying to pull stunts without thinking them through first?
How can I get a player to accept that they should stop trying to pull stunts without thinking them through first?
To explain the issue, one of the players in my game wants to assassinate a high-...
8
votes
2answers
844 views
As a Game Master, how should I handle a situation where a character can and does do everything?
I have made a number of characters that can do everything in a party across a wide variety of role-play systems, and seen several more as both a GM and as a player. I have also seen these characters ...
7
votes
2answers
495 views
How do I handle inappropriate behavior and interruptions in my campaign?
I am a fairly new Dungeon Master playing Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (D&D 5E). I play for 7 people currently (all friends). We have been running for around ten 2.5-hour sessions. For most of them, ...
39
votes
3answers
9k views
How to deal with a Murder Hobo Paladin?
Our party has a Lawful Neutral Oathbreaker Paladin that has been very much a murder hobo from the beginning. We have been able to keep him in check in most cases but in our recent session he went off ...
-2
votes
2answers
526 views
As GM, how do I deal with a player who makes a “do everything” build? [duplicate]
I have made a couple of builds that do everything, and seen several more as both a GM and as a player. These are builds that go beyond powerbuilding, and into the realm of taking over for the entire ...
6
votes
1answer
397 views
How do I deal with a player that doesn’t play, but says they want to? [closed]
Forewarnings, there are a lot of very long reasons behind answering the question, but in short, this is it:
In short, I want to kick this player, my other four players want him kicked, and the player ...
22
votes
6answers
1k views
How do I, as a player, encourage my fellow players to role play?
I am a player in a group of 5 +1 dm. Three of them are wonderful, as well as the DM. They role play, provide commentary, and are great sports when it comes to the game.
The last two are a bit more ...
4
votes
3answers
499 views
As a DM, how do you control a dysfunctional group wanting different things out of a game?
I recently saw a video talking about different kinds of players in DnD and I always understood that people play the game for different reasons. I myself am a roleplayer and enjoy the conversations and ...
42
votes
7answers
6k views
A player is constantly pestering me about rules, what do I do as a DM?
Okay I admit I'm new to D&D. I've been playing for 2 years now and only been playing 5e. I don't learn by reading the entire manual in one sitting, I have learnt everything from actually playing ...
69
votes
14answers
7k views
What should I do about a religious player who refuses to accept the existence of multiple gods in D&D? [closed]
I am working on a campaign which I am going to run for a group of friends, all of whom are new to D&D.
I was discussing available classes with one of the players, more specifically classes with ...
2
votes
2answers
234 views
Players make a single plan with no backup plan, then complain about DM unfairness when their plan fails [closed]
I have been running a campaign that recently has had two very roleplay/exploration heavy arcs (really 1 arc, and the consequences of that arc). The arc in question was a heist, where the players were ...
41
votes
14answers
11k views
My players want to grind XP but we're using milestone advancement
I've been running a D&D 5e campaign where the levelling up has been done at certain landmark points or milestones. Regardless of your opinion on that specific system, it's reached a point where ...
19
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I politely tell my players to shut up about their backstory? [closed]
Disclaimer: I know backstories are good and necessary but here's the issue -
Two players have a joint backstory, and one of them is REALLY into it, and it's starting to disrupt game time because he ...
20
votes
3answers
2k views
The other players in my D&D party keep ignoring me. How can I get the other players and DM to consider my input equally?
I wanna preface this whole thing by saying that some of my party get along well and interact with the story - not to mention that outside of the campaign, I get along great with the other players. ...
-1
votes
2answers
413 views
A player in my game is using homebrew to powergame; how can I stop this? [closed]
A friend of mine is in a game I'm DMing. I've allowed homebrew, so now he's using complicated and weird classes to get an edge.
How can I solve this without killing and or banning his character and ...
1
vote
3answers
611 views
Too much drama not enough D&D! Canceling the game [closed]
This is going to be a long one to explain and it's more about the players than the game but any input would be appreciated.
I am the newest player in my D&D group. I came into a group of great ...
1
vote
0answers
306 views
How do I deal with a problem player overstepping their boundaries in a 1-on-1 campaign? [closed]
I’m GMing a 1-on-1 campaign (it’s all homebrew, by the way). My player likes to weigh in on what’s happening, and sometimes oversteps her boundary into GMing territory. I let it slide a lot, since it ...
14
votes
4answers
1k views
How can I convey to my group that they have to discipline their murderhobo?
Introduction
I guess most GMs have had a group of murderhobos in their sessions before and there are quite a few nice answers dealing with how to react to them, these threads have nice answers, but I ...
26
votes
3answers
3k views
I'm having difficulty getting my players to do stuff in a sandbox campaign
I've been a GM for about three years now. I've been GMing for this group for almost two years next month. I have an issue with motivating my players to take action.
It's a sandbox campaign and they'...
2
votes
1answer
530 views
My thieves party constantly steal from each other, but when I do they attack me and berate me. (long post) [closed]
Yesterday something happened during a D&D 5e session that created a between me, a player, and the three other players. I'd like to have your perspective on the matter, and a way forward, because ...
9
votes
2answers
3k views
Players Circumventing the limitations of Wish [closed]
So I know that Wish is meant to be a really powerful spell, but some of my players from my group (I am the DM) seem to have spent some time into getting around the limitations of Wish. Now, I know ...
8
votes
1answer
327 views
How to leave a campaign you've been playing for a long time? [duplicate]
I've been playing a campaign for a while, a year or so (I know this isn't 'long' in terms of some campaigns but it's too long to just drop and say 'it's not my kinda playing style'). It's an online ...
