Comments on: Nerd Watching: Ejecting Jerks

By: Mick Bradley

Mick Bradley — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:50:26 +0000

Hi,

The Canon Puncture Show has released our latest episode (#74) and one of our discussion topics was based on this blog post. Here’s a link to our episode post for those of you who are interested:

http://www.canonpuncture.com/2009/07/canon-puncture-74-jerks-at-the-table-and-their-looong-backstories/

By: DandDGuy

DandDGuy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:23:18 +0000

In my many years of Gaming I have encounter a few of these types “while DM’s hand slowly slips under table searching for the ejection button”. This type of person does not even belong at the gaming table. You really want to be nice to the person may be their a friend of yours or a member of someone else in the group. However, if their just being disruptive to the group too be disruptive they need to be asked to leave and never return until they can grow up. It may be a little harsh “In one of my groups we had a three strikes policy I you were disruptive to the group three times in consecutive weeks of gaming you were asked not to return.

Each situation is different and should be handled in a manner that is appropriate to the given situation. If a player was disruptive more than three times they were politely asked to leave and not return.

By: Harvester

Harvester — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:14:52 +0000

I find that 9/10 if a player is acting up in the game it is because of issues they are having outside the game – so take them to one side and ask them if there is something going on with them and then nicely point out that murdering barmaids or attacking heroes is not what this heroic adventure team game is all about. If they want adversarial combat – point them to games-workshop or something……

By: Katana Geldar

Katana Geldar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:34:59 +0000

One potential answer could be to use the player as a GMing tool. You can get them a villain (probably not THE villain) to get the PvP out of their system.

Or course, the player needs to be willing to have a lot of your input into their character creation and how the character is used. I actually found it a little relaxing to have a player be an NPC for a little while as all I had to do was call out initiative order.

By: CrazySlyHawk

CrazySlyHawk — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:05:43 +0000

I agree with Chrispysurfar – often the best thing to do is to get the offending PC in trouble! Two things may result from this: if the PC was deliberately sabotaging the game for his own fun and to the detriment of others, he will realise the DM is now against him and he will call the DM out on it. When he discovers the rest of the party feel the same way he will leave or amend himself, hopefully the latter.

Secondly, and ideally, he may actually care about the game and realise his character is in peril, prompting cooperation etc.

By: BookWyrm

BookWyrm — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:50:02 +0000

There was a player in my old D&D group whose PC and mine had conflicts in game. He decided that this conflict existed out of game, too. He couldn’t separate in-game role playing from out of game stuff. The final straw was when, at the end of our last campaign, the DM asked each player what their character was doing. Most of us were gathering spoils. This crud says, “I draw my bow and shoot at Shadow.” My character! He was trying to kill my character!! Without even issuing a challenge!!! Shadow survived the murder attempt, this dope got a lot of flack from the rest of the group, and shortly after was an ex-member of the group.

By: LordVreeg

LordVreeg — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:07:59 +0000

I find that with most groups and experienced GM’s, this rarely happens in the beginning. Most of us are far too careful and clear to let this kind of thing start in the beginning of a campaign. And this kind of thing is easy to nip in the bud.

The danger comes later. Sometimes subtly. A PC gets a grudge against another PC, and starts trying to act it out. And then the whole group can get dragged in. I’ve had a few times where the happiness and enjoyment of a large Long-time group (you know, the thing we all work really hard to get and keep) was threatened by a PC whose dificult behavior got worse and more insidious as time went on. This is what to watch for.

By: Chrispysurfer

Chrispysurfer — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:07:56 +0000

I think another good thing to try with a character who is causing problems for a group is have them arrested and jailed or suddenly hunted by a very powerful group of people who he pissed off. The only way for him to get out of this trouble is to work with the group and for them to want to saw him. This makes the characters are a plot hook for a group. You could throw in some humiliating things that the problem player may have to do to get put of it. I threw in a marriage to a awful half ork once, unless the group brought back the town hero they disgrace. The group let him have the wedding party dancing and all before they quested. It was much better after that.

By: Brisingry

Brisingry — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:22:50 +0000

A rogue multiclassed with a warrior would make a pretty decent swashbuckler…

By: The Chatty DM

The Chatty DM — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:03:01 +0000

Hey Nick, great post. I’m honored that my article inspired you enough to write on the subject yourself. I agree 100% that any shady intra-party shenanigans should be discussed before it is attempted so other players can express thier reservations and/or limits (ex: you don’t pickpocket us, ever).