RE: Tabletop RPG Thread
03-27-2013, 04:22 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-27-2013, 04:26 AM by SeaWyrm.)
Depends on the problem.
My general advice:
1. Before play, use the Same Page Tool* to make sure everyone knows what kind of game you're playing. Also check out this series of articles for some context. This should help smooth over some spots of trouble from well-meaning players with conflicting ideas about what "good" roleplaying is. Or frustrated players who aren't getting the kind of roleplaying they wanted and are acting out because of it. Some people really are just dicks, but why would you even join a gaming group to just be a dick? So you should make sure everyone's on the Same Page first. Sometimes "problem players" are just there to play a different game from everyone else and don't realize it.
2. After that, all the usual stuff about dealing with people. Talk to them, tell them what the problem is, don't be a dick back to them or talk about them behind their back. Be clear about what they're doing that bothers you, and be nice. Don't do what Slorange said, I assume he's kidding.
3. If they really do just want to cause trouble, and you're convinced that you can't have fun playing your game with them at the table, you face the horrible and awkward situation of kicking them out of the group. If it's a friend and you really don't want to offend them, or there are other social reasons why you really just can't kick them out... then may the gods have mercy on your soul. (Maybe cancel the game and have poker night instead or something, if kicking them out isn't an option?) But I really have no good advice for this. Just sympathy.
I've never been the GM who had to kick someone out, but I've been there for the next best thing. It was this pretty horrible situation where we voted on whether to kick the guy out behind his back when he'd gone out for a walk. I really, really regret not abstaining. I didn't even know the guy outside of the game, he was THEIR friend and I had no right influencing the vote when the potential social fallout wasn't a concern of mine. But I voted against him, because he WAS pretty disruptive, and I don't know, it made sense at the time. *shame*
The worst part was, he implied that he'd heard everything we were saying about him through the open window. And, well, he did not seem happy. Not angry, just, y'know, sad. Really sad, and let down. Understandably so.
I hope nobody's friendship was scuttled over that one. It wasn't even all that great a game.
So, don't do what we did! It was cowardly. Confront them to their face, and talk things over, and if you have to evict them, do it politely, with no social deception. But I hope that goes without saying. Even if it didn't for us.
*The page says you can negotiate. I didn't when I last used this, I just picked the right answers for Apocalypse World beforehand (in most cases there really was only one right answer that that system demanded) and handed it out at character creation time. This seemed to work pretty well. I had one player who seemed on the fence about the system, until he read it. That seemed to be the end of his uncertainty, and he had a great time during character creation. So don't feel you HAVE to negotiate. But obviously, listen to the players if they don't like those answers and consider switching systems if the answers are non-negotiable.
Most important is to just make it clear to the players that it isn't a quiz for them to fill out personally, it's a description of play. The alternate options are there because some people might not even realize that there ARE alternate options, they might assume that choice b. is the right way to do things and that's the end of it. So you're telling them that no, choice b. is just one of several choices, and it's not the way this particular game is supposed to go. This particular game calls for choice a. instead.
My general advice:
1. Before play, use the Same Page Tool* to make sure everyone knows what kind of game you're playing. Also check out this series of articles for some context. This should help smooth over some spots of trouble from well-meaning players with conflicting ideas about what "good" roleplaying is. Or frustrated players who aren't getting the kind of roleplaying they wanted and are acting out because of it. Some people really are just dicks, but why would you even join a gaming group to just be a dick? So you should make sure everyone's on the Same Page first. Sometimes "problem players" are just there to play a different game from everyone else and don't realize it.
2. After that, all the usual stuff about dealing with people. Talk to them, tell them what the problem is, don't be a dick back to them or talk about them behind their back. Be clear about what they're doing that bothers you, and be nice. Don't do what Slorange said, I assume he's kidding.
3. If they really do just want to cause trouble, and you're convinced that you can't have fun playing your game with them at the table, you face the horrible and awkward situation of kicking them out of the group. If it's a friend and you really don't want to offend them, or there are other social reasons why you really just can't kick them out... then may the gods have mercy on your soul. (Maybe cancel the game and have poker night instead or something, if kicking them out isn't an option?) But I really have no good advice for this. Just sympathy.
I've never been the GM who had to kick someone out, but I've been there for the next best thing. It was this pretty horrible situation where we voted on whether to kick the guy out behind his back when he'd gone out for a walk. I really, really regret not abstaining. I didn't even know the guy outside of the game, he was THEIR friend and I had no right influencing the vote when the potential social fallout wasn't a concern of mine. But I voted against him, because he WAS pretty disruptive, and I don't know, it made sense at the time. *shame*
The worst part was, he implied that he'd heard everything we were saying about him through the open window. And, well, he did not seem happy. Not angry, just, y'know, sad. Really sad, and let down. Understandably so.
I hope nobody's friendship was scuttled over that one. It wasn't even all that great a game.
So, don't do what we did! It was cowardly. Confront them to their face, and talk things over, and if you have to evict them, do it politely, with no social deception. But I hope that goes without saying. Even if it didn't for us.
*The page says you can negotiate. I didn't when I last used this, I just picked the right answers for Apocalypse World beforehand (in most cases there really was only one right answer that that system demanded) and handed it out at character creation time. This seemed to work pretty well. I had one player who seemed on the fence about the system, until he read it. That seemed to be the end of his uncertainty, and he had a great time during character creation. So don't feel you HAVE to negotiate. But obviously, listen to the players if they don't like those answers and consider switching systems if the answers are non-negotiable.
Most important is to just make it clear to the players that it isn't a quiz for them to fill out personally, it's a description of play. The alternate options are there because some people might not even realize that there ARE alternate options, they might assume that choice b. is the right way to do things and that's the end of it. So you're telling them that no, choice b. is just one of several choices, and it's not the way this particular game is supposed to go. This particular game calls for choice a. instead.