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.)
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How can I reengage in a session when I've disengaged because of ADD?
I'm in an online, voice-only Pathfinder 2e game. I'm having a lot of fun... But when the party gets in discussions about which from among a number of options to take (do we kill the bandit leader? ...
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What can I do about a fellow player who forgets his class features and metagames?
I need advice on how to handle the behavior of a fellow PC.
Situation
Our group formed about 4 Months ago, we are 4PCs + 1DM. We are playing D&D 5e Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Our DM ...
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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 can I deal with a bigot who's playing a murderhobo? [duplicate]
I'd like to half-vent, half-ask a question here.
I've been playing in a campaign at a local gaming cafe. Each mini-campaign is 5 weeks. This player in particular is rather new, which may explain some ...
25
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Player does crazy elaborate things, without the GM knowing where it will lead
Background Information:
System is CoC, the game is a multi year long campaign, set in the 1920s.
The Players character has a chemistry and firework background. The character has no strong weapon/...
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4
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How can I get my PCs to stop harassing this character from Dragon of Icespire Peak that isn't supposed to do anything no matter what they do?
We're playing the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure (from the Essentials Kit).
My PCs are trying to get Adabra Gwynn in the Umbrage Hill Quest to come to Phandalin with them, and they are very ...
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2
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Do people ever replay a scenario when it has been spoiled? [closed]
I have rarely played any kind of RPG but I read the posts here out of curiosity.
Background
A GM has spent weeks or months designing a game world. Well into the game a character invents a nuclear bomb ...
14
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5
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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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How to deal with an overpowered player whose level 1 stats are 18's and 19's, with a 25 in strength
I've recently started a new D&D 5e campaign that is mainly roleplaying focused. One of my players is playing a barbarian gnome, and rolled all of their stats... and got a 25 for strength (and 18's ...
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How do I convince my players the fight wasn't rigged?
I am a DM in a homebrew setting (and system) that I made. We recently started the first big quest and it kicked off with them fighting two enemies.
In the fight, they were going to lose, but through ...
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I have two players that enjoy each other's company to the point they're ignoring other players turns, ideas, and RP in general
Like the title says, two players engage in mostly quiet small talk amongst themselves. However, they miss what the other characters are saying, both to the DM and to each other, meaning either I or ...
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How to handle rolled stats when I think one player cheated on theirs?
My group uses 4d6 drop lowest for stat generation.
The other players feel that the rolled stats of one of the other players are 'too good' in comparison to their rolls and I'm not certain that they ...
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How to stop a player from looking up monster stat blocks in combat?
In my 5th edition Eberron campaign I have a player who is determined to metagame in combat which makes it really hard for the others to actually get much enjoyment. Recently the problem player gained ...
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26
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6
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Player wants to play their one favorite character and nothing else, but that character can't work in this setting
I'm a helper DM for a West Marches style of game, using a heavily homebrewed setting and mechanic set.
One of our prospective players has a character concept that simply cannot work with the setting ...
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4
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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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What are possible ways to deal with a truly problematic player? [closed]
I am compiling a guide of "typical practices" among rpg groups (you can see it as an extension of the Same Page Tool but that also extends to logistical aspects).
I figure it would be useful ...
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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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How can I help players who have trouble interjecting into conversations and roleplaying?
After recently starting a new campaign with a group of players that I've had for separate groups before, I noticed that one of the players often struggles with the ability to interject when they want ...
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One game's great GM is another game's problem player-- How to handle for a novice GM?
I am a player in a long-term Pathfinder campaign which I like very much. The players in that campaign are myself, my fiance, the GM's fiance, and the GM's co-worker. We're all in our twenties, and I ...
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I want the most fun for my players but they got angry second session because of combat. Any tips?
So I am a new to D&D but I have researched hours upon hours about it, to the point I know more than probably all my players. They are 7 for now (third level bard, forge cleric, ranger, arcane ...
9
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How do I deal with a with a PC who is a bully? [duplicate]
So I have been playing with this person in a campaign for almost two years at this point and I am beginning to see a pattern with how his characters interact with mine. Here are the points that I have ...
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11
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1
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Game was fun for a year but suddenly is not? [closed]
So this may be a long story but my group and I have been playing “The Curse of Strahd” for a little over a year. It has been a really amazing and wonderful time. Everyone got a long so well and the ...
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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 to help a player create a character with more long term motivations?
I am currently DMing a campaign for a player that I will call Will and 2 others. To start off, Will is not really a problem player despite this question being tagged as such. He is engaged in the game,...
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12
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2
answers
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What to do with a player that doesn't know what type of game he wants?
So, IMO a player of mine seems to have not-so-clear ideas about what he wants. We are playing Pathfinder 2e, and he doesn't like it. That's fair, everyone has their own preferences. But from what he ...
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How can a DM handle players coming up with PCs that they don't feel are a good fit for a world or campaign
My situation:
I've been worldbuilding for a while and more so since it looked likely I'd get to DM for the first time. I provided a pre-session zero PDF to my players, containing 6 truths as well as ...
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2
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What if one PC wants to do something without party?
As a player, how would you approach your DM about your character doing something out of session that neither the others players/party wouldn't witness.? (Example, asking to sneak away from the party) ...
user75679
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Am I using my high level spells wrong?
I have been playing D&D 5e for only five months. I play a 5th level wizard. My warlock party member constantly berates me for using spell slots in encounters and says I need to "understand ...
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Is it appropriate to address characters by their race in D&D?
Simply, calling an elf an elf or a dwarf a dwarf in a non-defamatory, non-insulting way: is it justified to call this out as racist language in a D&D game?
More specifically, we have a player, ...
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How does one play a Chaotic Evil character without disrupting the play group?
A follow-up question to How to deal with a PC trying to kill another?
As I understand the answer to that question, PCs killing one another is generally not the intended outcome of campaigns, and the ...
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How do I handle my possession mechanic fairly?
In my campaign, the goal is to find ten major god-level artifacts, each linked to a specific god in the setting. Each artifact has a part of the soul of the god it’s linked to, and that soul has the ...
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How to balance FATE when some players just can't fail?
I'm GMing a long-running game in FATE core, and I've been running into a bit of a balance problem. A couple of my players have gotten (what feels to me like) too powerful. They don't really seem to ...
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What should I do about another player who randomly starts PVP?
Characters (both players, both level 9):
Me: Life cleric and party healer/support
"Barb": Beast barbarian with split personalities (in character)
We have a player (let's say "Barb&...
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8
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1
answer
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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 do you do when one of your players is being difficult?
I am running a campaign and have been for about 5 months now. All of my players are pretty new to D&D. All except one. He is honestly my worst player despite all of his experience. He is ...
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Problematic player constantly looking to power play
I have a problematic player who is constantly looking to power play. The last campaign consisted of them asking for a large number of uncommon magic items. Thier argument was if they are uncommon , ...
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1
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Player misunderstood NPC, now misrepresenting quest goals to rest of party [closed]
Overview:
One of my players had a conversation with an NPC in a language no other character or player was in on, and now the player's misunderstanding of what was said is making a simple side quest ...
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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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How can I show a friend of mine that his behavior is about to make me quit playing?
I'm currently playing at a table using Discord with some online and IRL friends, once a week. All's good in the world, but recently, another friend asked me to join, and after checking with our GM, he'...
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How to approach your DM about an issue?
I'll preface this with a bit of detail about our game. It's all online (thanks, pandemic). We use Discord voice, D&D Beyond, and Roll20. It has been a nice distraction so far. This was my first ...
56
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answers
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Dealing with a Repeatedly Cheating Friend
I'm the GM of a long-running online Vampire: the Masquerade campaign. Three years ago, we had a new (and young) player who cheated on dice rolls. I kicked him out.
A while later, he messaged me to ...
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How can I deal with a 'soft' alpha gamer player?
Alpha gamer is a type of player in cooperative games, who effectively makes a decision for another player. In this question I am asking how to deal with a 'soft' version of this player archetype, who ...
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8
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How to stop myself from interrupting the session to correct the DM's mistakes?
I like to think that admitting my mistake is the first step to learning.
I learned the rules (features, traits, spells) fairly quickly and feel confident in my knowledge on how the rules as written ...
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A player loves the story and the combat but doesn't role-play
Together with my best friend Jon, I'm in a group of people who enjoy RPGs. I've been GMing for several years in this larger group. Other friends of that group also GM. I'm the most story-oriented GM, ...
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1
answer
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How do I deal with a fellow player who cheats, if the GM won't do anything about it? [closed]
I have played with this same group of friends for over 20 years. However due to COVID we have had to play virtually using Roll20.
This has had the surprising and revealing effect of letting us see ...
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2
votes
2
answers
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To what extent is the DM responsible for resolving interpersonal conflict? [closed]
Interpersonal conflict can arise between any people.
If a player has an issue with another player within a gaming group for a game that has a DM/GM/Keeper, what responsibility does a DM have to help ...
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How do I handle players that don't care for the rules I put in place as the DM and question everything I do?
I am DMing a game of dnd 5e or close to it. It's a homebrew campaign. We are mostly new to D&D with the exception of 2 players that play with other groups.
I have 2 players that seem to question ...
22
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5
answers
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How do I deal with this very annoying teammate who engages in player versus player combat?
I am playing with some friends over Discord, and one of them makes characters with a bit of a light temper. Not that bad, right?
Wrong. If you do something or say something he doesn't like, he makes ...
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5
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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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