Rules Talk

Well, hello there, reader! Welcome to Rules Talk, the place where rules are talked about and interesting stories are told.

In this blog, Reverend Fox and others post about how rules can be interpreted, misinterpreted, bent, broken, subverted, and so on. It will get strange at times, but it's fun! All non-character names will be [REDACTED], initialed (X.), or nicknamed (Reverend Fox, Tard, and so on) to protect the privacy of the players, both current and past.

Enjoy!

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The Rules Talk Blog:

Problem Players 4: The Butthurt Avenger
Posted on: 16 Jun 2017 17:19 — By: ExistentialGrey89
Rating: 1 — Comments: 0

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Welcome to part four of my series on Problem Players and how to deal with them.

Bluntness warning!

Let me preface this by saying that none of this is personal toward anyone in particular. This is just based on information gathered during my career as a Dungeon Master.

There are a few primary types of problem players you will get. In no particular order, you have the following primary types:

• The Special Little Snowflake
• The Butthurt Avenger
• ► The Whinebag
• ► The Brick Wall
• The Overcompensator
• The Flake
• The Exit Finder
• The Overzealous A-hole
• The Power-hungry Douche
• The Hoarder
• The Collector
• The Silent Type
• ► The Videogame Character
• The "Everyone's an NPC!" Guy
• The "Wrong Rules, Asshole!" Guy

Each one of these, and possibly more, will get their own blog entries in no particular order, and now I will discuss…

The Butthurt Avenger!

Around where I live, a lot of people have kids of varying ages who, of course, play out in the street. It's not a busy neighborhood, so don't worry. Just the other day, I was out on my front porch, drafting out my post on The Whinebag when I noticed something interesting happening. The kids were playing American football in such a fashion as to where merely touching the person with the ball counts as a tackle. During their little game, one of the kids was running with the ball when another kid "tagged" the one running with the ball. The mere action of playing by the rules was enough to send the ball-carrier into a fit of rage so extreme that he demanded the other kid be removed from the game. At this point, the "leaders" of the kids took notice of the issue and explained that the other kid was not at fault due to playing by the rules — a concept that the ball carrier just couldn't accept and, thus, was removed from the game and told to go cool down at home. Everyone else resumed play for about fifteen minutes, after which, the Butthurt Avenger returned with his father who promptly chewed everyone's faces off for treating his boy "unfairly."

The above example is merely one of many that I have in regards to this player type because it is surprisingly common and can take many forms. Generally speaking, it doesn't go so far as to bring in reinforcements as noted above, but the line follows the same each and every time. "You hurt my character? I'm going to be personally angry at you for the rest of the session and be argumentative throughout the following days or let it fester into a long-standing emotional grudge against you!" Fucking let it go, asshole!

Anything can trigger this player type, but most commonly:

• PC/PC theft
  • In most cases, yeah, I will put my foot down to stop this. However, if there's a Rogue in the party, I let it slide because that's what Rogues do. If it's in excess, however, I will once again put my foot down.
• NPC/PC theft
  • Sometimes, the DM has to do what needs to be done.
• PC/PC accidental damage
  • Shit happens.
• NPC Ally/PC accidental damage
  • Again, shit happens.
• Unnoticed traps which seem obvious in hindsight
  • Maybe roll higher?
• Ambushes
  • Sometimes, the enemy is smart.
• Story motion
  • Yeah, I get this one a lot. It mainly comes in forms similar to, "We were about to go there and do the thing, but we had to stop some bandits along the road and were captured!"
  • The story moves without you. The world lives around you. Go play Skyrim if you don't like it. Kek.

Do keep in mind that this type of player is actually cancerous to a gaming group and can bring everything tumbling down if not properly handled. If the player becomes angry or shows passive aggressive behavior at every negativity, pull the player aside and non-aggressively explain that it's just a game with rules and that the DM is not picking on you! Everyone gets hit. Everyone even gets critted every now and again! Everyone has experienced all the same things that this player has felt, but The Butthurt Avenger is on the mindset of vengeance. They see red every time something happens and will go for metaphorical blood.

The following three paragraphs were written with explicit permission from Reverend Fox.

In last year's season of Runes, there was a specific situation what caused a 9mm handgun to literally fall out of the sky due to Wild Magic Effects. The players thought this was a joke at first, but it was real. One player wanted to take the weapon, mass-produce it, and sell it around Exil¹. This decision was reached with no consideration for the Runes campaign, the collective worldbuilding, or the well-being of the party. One evening, whilst tinkering with the weapon, this PC broke it and, when he couldn't put the thing back together, the player complained about it and insisted that he had the "necessary skill as a blacksmith" to reassemble this obviously complex mechanical device. It took a lot of time out of the session that day to explain that a blacksmith would, in the very best scenario, know simple machinery — like a leather-powered reciprocating hammer — and not something so complex which could only be assessed and understood by a Tinkerer. For weeks after, that player increased argumentation, to a point of absurdity at times, which caused even more disruption at the Table.

The behavior of this player was doubled down when, upon returning to their base of operations from the port town of Irkul, they'd discovered that part of their home had exploded. Tarl explained to the party that a group from the Serelian Guard² had attacked while they were away, and only the "freed" slaves and Tarl were there to defend. Well, Tarl had used an Anti-Magic Field to protect himself, but the Field came into contact with the 9mm handgun which caused a Magical Implosion³ which took the handgun, among other things, away from the world. Things spiraled downhill quickly after that due to the player actually becoming a Nitro Snowflake and saying that it's not fair to give a party something so awesome "with the intent of taking it away." Now, any DM worth their salt builds a living world in which things are constantly moving⁴. Well, the world caught up to that character in the form of an investigation into actions of that character coming to a resolution. The situation unfolded as it would even if the PCs were there when the Serelian Guard arrived on their doorstep.

Now, is this actually a case of "taking something awesome away from the party because that's what its purpose is anyway so why bother?" No, and don't ask such long questions. The item came from out of nowhere, something that is actually out of a DM's control, and was allowed to stay by the merciful adjudication of the DM. If he didn't want the item there to begin with, he would have adjudicated the fucking roll differently! The Wild Magic Effects table has ten-thousand unique results, FFS.

The behavioral patterns of The Butthurt Avenger are fairly obvious, but can easy be mistaken for other types of problem players. The primary difference is that The Butthurt Avenger might become cancerous. If their behavior gets to the point of being maliciously destructive, drop the Fuck-off Mallet, even if only for a few weeks, to allow a cooling down. If they come back and start it right back up again, you have a special case of Butthurt Avenger that I call, "The Grundle Grudge." Look for a blog post on that in the following weeks!

Thanks for reading! I do hope this series is informative and entertaining. I'll be taking a few days off from writing the blog so I can take care of other projects.

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Footnotes

1. See PP2: The Brick Wall and my Perceived Inconsequentiality Series for criticism regarding this behavior.

2. Again, see Perceived Inconsequentiality

3. A custom rule, sure, but one that many DMs use to varying degrees.

4. Again, this isn't fucking TES V: Skyrim.

Problem Players 3: The Videogame Character
Posted on: 14 Jun 2017 17:41 — By: ExistentialGrey89
Rating: 1 — Comments: 0

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Welcome to part three of my series on Problem Players and how to deal with them.

Bluntness warning!

Let me preface this by saying that none of this is personal toward anyone in particular. This is just based on information gathered during my career as a Dungeon Master.

There are a few primary types of problem players you will get. In no particular order, you have the following primary types:

• The Special Little Snowflake
• The Butthurt Avenger
• ► The Whinebag
• ► The Brick Wall
• The Overcompensator
• The Flake
• The Exit Finder
• The Overzealous A-hole
• The Power-hungry Douche
• The Hoarder
• The Collector
• The Silent Type
• The Videogame Character
• The "Everyone's an NPC!" Guy
• The "Wrong Rules, Asshole!" Guy

Each one of these, and possibly more, will get their own blog entries in no particular order, and now I will discuss…

The Videogame Character!

Quick definition: cRPG, to me, means RPGs played on either Console or Personal Computer.

Do you enjoy playing videogames? Do you wish you could play videogames while you're not playing videogames? Do you wish to make everything like a videogame? If you answered "yes" to at least two of these, then you're The Videogame Character player.

This type of player is most commonly found amongst newer players who aren't used to the idea of the true freedom that PnP RPGs bring to the table. Most newer players of this current era come from the worlds of The Elder Scrolls, World of Warcrap, Legend of Zelda, GTA¹, and so on. They're not familiar with complete character creation features, and I'm sorry, but there is no way in fuck that cRPGs will ever match the level of complexity and freedom that PnP RPGs have. Take The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for example:

You create your character, choose its race, sex, some physical attributes, generate its stats, choose and generate its class, and give it a name. Does it matter? Nope, because you're still seeing the same fucking cinematic you'll have to sit through each and every time you start a new game! Does your class mean shit? No, because we can't have such minor things like a character's chosen profession getting in the way of the totally awesome gameplay! Plus, as I mentioned in Part Two of my short series on Perceived Inconsequentiality, it further doesn't matter, because the game doesn't unfold in real-time. Paarthurnax isn't going to leave the mountain, and Alduin isn't going to attack Solitude². We wouldn't want the Player to feel like they're not making a difference in the world! The Player Character is the Dragonborn³, after all!

In D&D, however, every little thing matters! The "cinematics" aren't bound by a studio's time, budget constraints, and lack of creativity. The "cinematics" of a D&D game are bound solely by everyone's imagination!

That rant aside, the Videogame Character player will focus more on stat building, EXP farming, achievement hunting, cool-shit collecting, perk gaining, and so on whilst simultaneously pushing against the notion that there is a coherent story trying to unfold in real-time. They expect:

• quests to stand and wait for them to go off into the woods and punch boars or whatever
• every quest to yield EXP or awesome weapons
• every quest to resolve cleanly with a tiny red ribbon across it
• every Player Character to be equal
• to know every stat for every monster
• to breeze through every battle
• all the perks
• all the feats
• to be the hero
• to not die

What they don't expect:

• that they will inevitably be mislead
• that sometimes they won't get a reward for a mission
• to have their asses handed to them on a silver platter
• that sometimes they aren't the hero
• that sometimes they fall for obvious traps
• permadeath

Don't get me wrong, reader! I'm not saying that this type of player has ill intent or malicious desires against the Party! Quite the opposite, in fact, because the Videogame Character player doesn't actually know any better! Read that again — This player doesn't know! So, to punish this player for not knowing is a bit harsh if it goes anywhere beyond the normal ass-whupping the Party gets on a regular basis. It can get bad if the player doesn't learn that there's a clear delineation between Videogames and PnP RPGs, though, because it can exacerbate the problem further than it needs to be and will frustrate the more experienced players.

There are a few things what can be done in helping the Videogame Character player:

1. Have a clear, frank discussion with that player about the differences between videogames and PnP RPGs such as the complete freedom aspect.
   • Tell them that they completely write the backstory for their character which helps to determine the future of the game!
   • Be excited about this, too. Don't half-ass it!
2. If this is a prospective player, have them sit in on a session to get an understanding of how this works.
3. Clearly state that information in certain reading materials will contain spoilers and, thus, will ruin their fun.
4. Also clearly state:
   • that every action has consequences
   • that death is permanent
   • that rewards are sparse but worth it
   • and other important things related to PnP RPGs
5. Run them through a brief test session to acclimate them to rolling dice

There's usually no reason to boot this player, and it should be fairly obvious to spot this sort of player.

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Footnotes

1. For which I feel strange about including, but, as much as I hate to admit it, GTA is technically an Action cRPG.

2. At least, in both cases, not until the player triggers those events.

3. Even though it explicitly states in the lore throughout the ENTIRE FUCKING SERIES that the Dragonborn cannot be born of a beast race!

Problem Players 2: The Brick Wall
Posted on: 13 Jun 2017 17:32 — By: ExistentialGrey89
Rating: 1 — Comments: 0

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Welcome to part two of my series on Problem Players and how to deal with them.

Bluntness warning!

Let me preface this by saying that none of this is personal toward anyone in particular. This is just based on information gathered during my career as a Dungeon Master.

There are a few primary types of problem players you will get. In no particular order, you have the following primary types:

• The Special Little Snowflake
• The Butthurt Avenger
• ► The Whinebag
• The Brick Wall
• The Overcompensator
• The Flake
• The Exit Finder
• The Overzealous A-hole
• The Power-hungry Douche
• The Hoarder
• The Collector
• The Silent Type
• The Videogame Character
• The "Everyone's an NPC!" Guy
• The "Wrong Rules, Asshole!" Guy

Each one of these, and possibly more, will get their own blog entries in no particular order, and now I will discuss…

The Brick Wall!

Everyone knows at least one person like this. This is the kind of person who, no matter what you tell them, how effective your advice, how clear your tone, and so on resists your every word as if you're speaking directly to a brick wall. Might as well be in some cases, right?

In the context of gaming, this type of player will do whatever they want, when they want it, and damn anyone who tries to tell them otherwise.

Got a door in your way and some time to deal with it silently? The Rogue wants to detect traps and try to pick its lock? Well, too fuckin' bad if The Brick Wall is in your party. They'll rush the door, whether your Rogue is out of the way or not, and crush their way in whilst causing as much noise as possible and, quite likely, alerting every single guard in a Waterdeep city block! Conversely, if the door needs to be broken down because you're being pursued by a pair of Umber Hulks, and the Rogue takes the mantle of The Brick Wall and holds up the party to pick a lock on a shitty wooden door, then you're going to have the same problem.

Need to be stealthy to get by this sleeping Ancient White Dragon? A Kobold is standing in the way, so your Ranger gets out in front and quietly draws her bow while taking a knee for steady aim. Here comes The Brick Wall! The Ranger gets knocked over, her bow clatters to the floor, and this asshole's yelling a battle cry while running toward this one single kobold! Yeah, after that, the Kobold's going to be the least of the party's woes. Ancient White Dragons usually equal TPK.

Did you let this character go off on his own, only to hear later that it resulted in the destruction of thousands of gold worth of property damage, smashed priceless artifacts, and stolen exhibit pieces? Conglaturation, guys, you're now stuck with the burden of travelling with a fugitive.

This player frustrates the party to no end because The Brick Wall thwarts every plan except for the one he/she wants. They will not budge despite every possible effort.

Well, here's how to budge The Brick Wall:

1. Let them get the party into a situation, and then slam that PC into a situation far worse via the use of a pit trap, teleportation trap, blink door, portal, etc. The party will not come to his or her aid.
   • They should quickly realize, "Well, I'm fucked! Maybe I should think ahead and listen to the others."
2. Penalize them for rushing forward by the use of magic traps, poison traps, mechanical traps, etc.
   • "Every time I don't listen, I get a Lightning Bolt up me arse…"
3. Have an NPC party be nearby with a similar character. Once the two parties cross paths, make a brutal example of The Brick NPC.
4. Create a spider dungeon wherein all the captives will bitch and complain about not having listened to the party.

• Obviously, if the above steps don't work, and the player continually ignores the party's plans and going on his or her own path, then, as before, walk the player outside and confront directly. If still no change, then boot the player because chances are good that the character wasn't all that great either and/or the player was just bringing the mood of the party down.

Once the kick happens, tell yourself and the other players DM Havok's holy mantra of…

And nothing of value was lost.

How to easily spot The Brick Wall!

• They create their character at the table without considering party balance, construction, cohesion, or concept.
• They will usually be consistent in asking if doing what they did gained them any EXP.
• They will very often whine about not being first in the initiative.
• They will often complain about there being a lack of action.
• They are a big fan of Leroy Jenkins.

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Problem Players 1: The Whinebag
Posted on: 12 Jun 2017 21:56 — By: ExistentialGrey89
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Welcome to part one of my series on Problem Players and how to deal with them.

Bluntness warning!

Let me preface this by saying that none of this is personal toward anyone in particular. This is just based on information gathered during my career as a Dungeon Master.

There are a few primary types of problem players you will get. In no particular order, you have the following primary types:

• The Special Little Snowflake
• The Butthurt Avenger
• The Whinebag
• The Brick Wall
• The Overcompensator
• The Flake
• The Exit Finder
• The Overzealous A-hole
• The Power-hungry Douche
• The Hoarder
• The Collector
• The Silent Type
• The Videogame Character
• The "Everyone's an NPC!" Guy
• The "Wrong Rules, Asshole!" Guy

Each one of these, and possibly more, will get their own blog entries in no particular order. But first, I will discuss…

The Whinebag!

This is, quite likely, the most common type of Problem Player. This is the kind of person who, most commonly, complains that the scenarios or the DM's Adjudicated Results are not fair. Other common complaints are:

• Why do I always get such shitty rolls?
• Why are you hitting me?
• Why am I always last in initiative?
• Why do I never get the good loot?
• Why do I keep getting attacked when I go off on my own?
• Why do I keep falling into traps?

What turns these questions into those of a Whinebag is the fact that they will refuse to accept the DM's explanation that everything has to be balanced. Everyone takes their fair share of hits. Everyone should get an equal split of the loot. Everyone can end up with a string of shit rolls. Don't blindly run ahead. Don't split the party. All of these things should be common goddamn sense, but there will always be one player who takes all of it a little too personally.

There are three key steps to success in dealing with these players.

1. Clear adjudication.
   • This is the easiest first step anyone can take. Make it absolutely clear whose rolls you're adjudicating, the results of the rolls, and, if necessary, the rules what lead to those results.
2. Open dialogue between players.
   • This is where the other players step in and discuss the fact that everyone is subjected to the same ruleset, the same statistics, the same everything. They will usually be quite firm in asserting that fairness is being exercised, and when it isn't, there's a clear reason for it that will be justified by the DM at some point.
3. Show this player what true unfairness is like.
   • This will create a clear and present example to that player. Whether you do this directly to that player or pick another player to make an example of (with their permission, of course), this step usually drives it home.

• If the above steps don't work, and the player keeps bringing the mood down by being whiny, then walk the player outside and confront directly. If still no change, then boot the player because chances are good that the character wasn't all that great either and/or the player was just bringing the mood of the party down.

Once the kick happens, tell yourself and the other players DM Havok's holy mantra of…

And nothing of value was lost.

How to easily spot The Whinebag!

• They ask the above questions out loud.
• They audibly huff or sigh whenever something goes even slightly wrong.
• They constantly ask "why."
• They refer to everything they don't agree with as "stupid."
• They don't actually take "no" for an answer.
• They don't want to realize that special items appear only to be taken away as part of a plot device, magical mishaps, or thieves.
• They don't want to realize that the world doesn't revolve around their every whim.
• They will argue with the DM when they feel slighted.
  • Worse is when they attempt to raise allies from their fellow players.

There's no shortage of Whinebags out there, and dealing with them is a bit of a pain in the ass, but with a little work, any DM worth their salt will be able to pound this nail into submission or realize when it's time to cut the dead weight free.

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Percieved Inconsequentiality (Bonus)
Posted on: 27 Dec 2016 23:34 — By: ExistentialGrey89
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Extreme Case Scenario

In some cases, Perceived Inconsequentiality can become an extremely dangerous thing for a group. If ever a player indicates that they're breaking Table Rules on purpose, consider them a threat to your group as this is an act of subtle aggression. If said player admits that they've been intentionally breaking rules (as sometimes happens when a player is caught and overreacts), then this player is, for all intents and purposes, committing an act of overt aggression against the DM, fellow players, and the game itself. If there is a secondary component in all of this, such as a website, game blog, YouTube Channel, or whatnot, then the player should be booted from the Table and banned from the extra-tabular projects as well due to the extremely high possibility that they could damage all of this.

These sort of actions can be a result of spite or ignorance. Bring it up to them, remind them of the rules, tell them that their actions do have certain consequences, and observe their reaction. If the player calms down and can maturely discuss the situation, then there may be hope. However, be wary. This sort of player may be manipulative, and may successfully drag other players into this on his/her side.

There is a more extreme variant on this kind of Snowflake, the Nitro Snowflake, but not one outside the realm of real possibility. This is the "I know the limits, but I'm going to do what I can to push against the rules to see if I get in trouble" type of asshole. This is the type of person who, without mercy, throws others under the bus when confronted about rules breaks and throws out something like:

"I'm breaking the rules because I didn't get in trouble once even when others are getting punished for my actions, so I'm going to use this to undermine the DM when it's most dramatically appropriate!"

This kind of Snowflake is the proverbial wolf set to guard the sheep, as in this person is intensely destructive to the well-being of the group. If this were a cartoon, you would have Snidely Whiplash. If a movie, you'd have Roy Batty.

The Nitro Snowflake will sit on your group until the right provocation triggers the explosion which, if not managed immediately, will tear an entire group apart. It is always best to rid the group of this, and the best way to achieve this goal is to detect and nullify as early as possible.

How to detect the Nitro Snowflake:

• Gaming Group Considerations:
  • Has the player injected story elements during game which went against what the DM had already set up [see Part 1]?
  • Has the player whined about things not being fair or gone into silent mode when something happens to their character?
  • Does the player constantly treat the other PCs like NPCs?
  • Does the player constantly treat the other players like NPCs?
  • Has the player refused to follow instructions?
  • Has the player refused to correct things on his/her character sheet, inventory, spell sheet, notes, etc. but will readily criticize anyone else for an inconsistency?
  • Has the player refused to accept responsibility for his/her actions?
  • Has the player lied about anything related to the game?
• Project Group Considerations:
  • All of the above-mentioned.
  • Does the person refuse to participate?
  • Does the person constantly cause delays in processing?
  • Does the person want a leadership position but refuses to help other teams out?
  • Does the person actively attempt, as above, to undermine leadership through deception and manipulation?
  • Does the person make up consistent excuses as to why he or she is not working on the project?
  • Does the person readily throw others under the bus?
  • Does the person lie about doing certain tasks?
  • Does the person do the opposite of what is asked?

If the answer is "yes" to three or more of these questions, it is quite likely that you have a Nitro Snowflake which must be dealt with immediately. The more times the answer comes up "yes," the more dangerous this Snowflake is to your group.

IF the Nitro Snowflake, or any other example mentioned is a friend, then keeping this person in your gaming group or on your project will be detrimental to both your group/project and your friendship. Better to preserve your friendship by being a harsh leader than letting the issue fester and kill your friendship and put your game/project at risk.

Thanks for reading.

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Perceived Inconsequentiality (Part 3)
Posted on: 27 Dec 2016 19:15 — By: ExistentialGrey89
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This is part three on my brief series regarding Perceived Inconsequentiality.
Again, Bluntness Warning

Throughout my career as a DM and player, I've seen this as a pretty constant issue. Whether it be a player who starts bar fights for seemingly no reason or steals everything, Perceived Inconsequentiality is an issue of one of the highest orders. Some players effected by it can be helped, but it is a difficult thing to actually break. Most, sadly, can't really be saved. Thankfully for them, however, there is a little thing called Encounters.

Encounters is a play style commonly used in comic book shops and game shops around the world, and mainly consists of no-story combat encounters run out of special modules designed to increase very little story. The players all have specially approved Character Sheets that must be thoroughly checked, monitored, and moderated by officially vetted Encounters staff. With that, however, there is absolutely no dismissing the DM or Staff when they tell you to correct something. However, that's a topic for a different post.

The Encounters concept, however, can be looked at in regards to Perceived Inconsequentiality in that a player cannot expect to get away with illegal activities. If your character murders an innocent, every Encounters DM within your region is notified and instructed to have a ready encounter involving bringing your character to Justice.

If you interrupt the Encounters session by interjecting some bullshit story element into your character or the situation at hand, you are given a warning. There's more there, but I wouldn't want to get into it because, as much as I don't like the Encounters concept, I can see where it would be useful to help new players learn the skills and get it through their heads that they aren't gods.

Now, the key to breaking the god-mentality is to force the player out of their Snowflake mentality. I will cover Snowflakes in more detail in a later blog post, but here's the basic rundown of what a Snowflake is:

• The Snowflake must always feel special and unique
  • Often times, this player will steal elements of other players' stories, copy the laziest clichés he/she can think of, or hijack parts of the DM's storylines and backstories
  • This is done because the Snowflake is a lazy player who doesn't want to actually put forth the effort to make their story truly unique but still wants to feel like the Unique Little Snowflake that Mommy and Daddy Said They Were¹
  • The Snowflake will take every action against them as a personal attack and voice their bratty discontent about it

You can't reason with a Snowflake. The only way to get through to them is by being as blunt as possible. Much like when a dog misbehaves, you ignore it until the thing shits on the carpet, then you punish it. Realize, however, that like dogs, Snowflakes are a product of their environment. When being blunt, also be constructive. I call it Positive Assholishness, and it works in many other scenarios.

A common issue that causes Perceived Inconsequentiality is a misunderstanding of what it means to be a gamer, what it means to follow fucking rules, and to play well with others. If you punish them for something, tell them flat-out why even if it results in a metagaming situation.

If they refuse to change their behavior or, for whatever reason, can't change their behavior, then let them know they can join an Encounters game at their local game shop. Don't put up with their bullshit for too long, or they'll start to feel like they're not doing anything wrong. Often times, they will not acknowledge that they've broken rules or, in many cases, will overreact about being brought against the consequences of their actions. It is at this time that you will want to consider booting them, because this behavior is indicative of their inability to handle being mature enough to participate.

Again, more on Snowflakes in a later post, but that's about it.

To sum up:

• Be Blunt
• Be Constructive
• Do NOT sugarcoat anything
• Do NOT allow them to misunderstand or misinterpret what you are saying
• Always address the problem immediately and resolve it swiftly
• Always remind them that you are not picking on them
  • This last one is a necessity to avoid hurt feelings

Thank you for reading Part 3. Shortly following this post, I will start a bonus entry to the Perceived Inconsequentiality series. You won't want to miss this.

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Footnotes

1. Yes, I know that sounds assholish, but it's fucking true. This is the result of parents who were raised under an iron fist and so wanted to go easy on their children. The Participation Trophy Era has ruined many people.

Perceived Inconsequentiality (Part 2)
Posted on: 21 Dec 2016 18:17 — By: ExistentialGrey89
Rating: 1 — Comments: 1

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This is part two on my brief series regarding Perceived Inconsequentiality.
If you haven't read Part 1, please click here.

In the last part, I discussed a few examples of Perceived Inconsequentiality. Here, I will discuss what types of players are more at risk.

Bluntness warning!

Alternate title: "Listen up, Snowflake."

The types of people who come into tabletop gaming run the gamut from seasoned tabletop veterans like myself and Fox to inexperienced new players. Of course, new players are more at risk in the current era of falling into the trap of thinking, "I can do anything I want, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me!" This comes from an overexposure to video games. In a recent discussion I had with Fox, he expressed the following:

You know, I try my hardest to make the world as realistic as possible, right down to the point that the world is alive around the players. This doesn't just mean that certain NPCs follow scripted schedules to be at certain locations at certain times, but I mean really alive. Think of it this way, if Skyrim were a tabletop game, most players would still be fucking about in Whiterun and just running around doing fuck-all while Paarthurnax is like, "Well, I guess my Chosen One is a lazy fucker. Oh well! I guess I gotta fly my ass down from my holy fucking mountain and take care of shit myself, and if I see that little bastard, I'm gonna eat him. Alduin, here I come!"

It's unrealistic that fucking questlines wait for the players! Take GTA for example. You fail a mission, you get to restart the fucking mission! There's no punishment there! No penalty! If this were real life, I couldn't jump out of a plane at 41,000 feet without a parachute, make a decent crater, and be fucking fine after a day in the fucking hospital. Fuck that! Or take Skyrim again for example. These catastrophic battles just appear when its scripted to the player's actions, not the game's internal timeline.

There's one game that actually did it right. In the game Albion, if you waited too long, even by a margin of seven days in-game, the plot moves forward without you and makes the final predicaments much more developed and difficult. There is a point where it can become downright impossible!

In my games if someone commits a murder, there's a chance that the investigation will lead right to the party, but it would take time. That's the kind of realism I'm talking about.

The thing is that newcomers to tabletop gaming are usually quite heavily influenced by video gaming, and the mentality of that is quite hard to break. So, when something happens in a tabletop game that is realistic but wouldn't happen in a video game, these players will resort to the mentality of, "It's not fair!"

No, you're thinking unrealistically.

Video games tend to reinforce the Snowflake mentality. What I mean by that is making every player feel special by allowing them to make their characters into these god-like beings who become, essentially, unstoppable, rewarding the player's every action (Achievement Unlocked: You've watched the opening cinematic! Feel special now, because it's all downhill from here, you lazy bag of crap!), or doesn't actually punish the player for their negative actions (Achievement Unlocked: You've slaughtered an entire village, but we're going to give you a fucking cookie anyway!).

Gamers from the video gaming world will never fully get used to the fact that things actually happen. Realistic things happen. That golden dagger that you found lying at the bottom of a cave pond? Yeah, that was actually someone's bonded weapon and the pond was a material component to a warding ritual. Conglaturation, dickbag, you've just given a serial killer his dagger back. The following is an actual exchange between myself and one of my Monday Night D&D players:

Player: But you didn't tell us that it was for a bad guy!
DM: You wouldn't have known that.
Player: Well, if you didn't want us to have it, then why'd you give it to us in the first place?
DM: I didn't. It happened to be where you were because of its own circumstances, such as who it belonged to, what the owner did with it, how it was handled by whoever took it from the owner, and other circumstances that led the dagger from being in Kibarth to this specific cave six days north of Kibarth.
Player: Then why didn't you indicate to us that we weren't supposed to touch it?
DM: Because you wouldn't have known that.
Player: But that's not really fair! You presented it as a treasure of some sort! You even mentioned that it appears to be made of gold with a glistening diamond embedded in the center of the crossguard!
DM: Actually it is fair. By its description, you assumed that it was a treasure, magical item, or something of high value. I presented it as your character would have seen it. Golden dagger. Glistening diamond. Bottom of a pond in a dank cave.
Player: But that sounds like a treasure!

And so on…

That player was then convinced that it was an important quest item and halted everyone's story progression and forced them to search for the wielder of the golden dagger with the diamond in the crossguard. They went all the way back to Kibarth and searched every single person they could find. Didn't find it, though. The players got pissed off at him, he got pissed off at me, and I just wanted to move the story along.

The guards attacked his character for harassing an entire town about something so inane. This player was booted from the table after accusing me of being an unfair DM and continuing to argue about me giving him something and taking it away. We walked his character according to our established rule:

You quit the table or get booted for violating our rules, your character becomes possessed by Lithraz (Goddess of the Lost. Neutral Evil.), gains a little extra power, and fights the party.

The last thing he said to me on his way out was, "This is why I fucking play Skyrim! This sort of shit doesn't happen in Skyrim!" Then enjoy your stagnant story, Snowflake.

Thank you for reading Part 2. In the next part, I will discuss how to break away from the god-mentality and, thus, break the cycle of Perceived Inconsequentiality.

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Perceived Inconsequentiality (Part 1)
Posted on: 20 Dec 2016 00:25 — By: ExistentialGrey89
Rating: 1 — Comments: 1

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A bit of background. I DM three weekly games, two monthly games, and a yearly 24 hour game. In my Wednesday Night game about two months ago, which is an Evil-aligned campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, my players travelled to Baldur's Gate from their base of operations in Dragonspear Castle and proceeded to go on a murderous rampage. The plan was to frame Lord Dagalt Neverember of Neverwinter for this crime so they could overthrow him and take over Neverwinter for themselves. It was a rather successful evening, and there was lots of bloodshed and tears, but the players had forgotten two crucial pieces of the mission.

1. They forgot to hide their faces.
   • After the session, they tried to convince me that "it would be obvious they would wear their masks because they just would." Yeah, that sort of shit doesn't fly with me.
2. They forgot to plant important evidence.
   • This is something they completely forgot about. Oh well.

In total, they murdered between them about a hundred or so innocents, burned down almost all of the lower district, killed thirteen guards and a guard captain, and even killed the Duke's son! However, there were witnesses, there always are when parties do things like this.

Last week, however, they discovered that they obviously screwed something up. Lord Neverember was not implicated in the hiring of mercenaries to slaughter innocent civilians in Baldur's Gate. City officials from both towns and Waterdeep formed an ad-hoc security force and went on the hunt for the party. These poor bastards were caught with their figurative pants around their ankles. There were no arrests, only swift and brutal Justice brought down by a Paladin of Tyr, four other Paladins, seven Clerics, three Rangers, and about twenty or so 2^nd level Guards.

Two of my six players became immensely pissed off at me, saying that I laid an unfair encounter on the party and called me a cheater. I had to explain it as thoroughly as possible:

There are no actions which have no consequences. If you steal one copper coin from a beggar's purse, he will go hungry. If you take the life of an innocent, people will notice. If you commit an atrocity, people will start looking for vengeance.

You killed guards. You murdered the Duke's child. You pillaged and burned an entire sector of the city. Of course the fires of justice are going to rain down upon you.

These two players walked permanently from my table and are not welcome back because they couldn't handle the fact that their actions hold no inconsequentiality.

An example which has no resolution so far is from the Runes of Havok series.

Spoiler Alert:
Very Minor spoilers regarding the first half of Runes of Havok: Season 1.

During the first few episodes involving the character Kuznets, the character hulked out and demolished an entire exhibit and more of the museum in the city of Serel because there was a set of bones in a cage which he assumed were the remains of his father [the player's sudden idea, in fact, but more on that later]. It was a pretty damned awesome moment in the podcast, because Fox had taken time to create a special sound effect for the howl. The character also found out that there was another of his kind working in a tavern on the northern side of town. He goes there, and finds that she is the one he's betrothed to [again, player's sudden idea, but more on that later]. They travel north and bury his father's remains near a temple.

A few episodes later, when the character Sticks was arrested, Kuznets decided it would be a great idea to steal an item of great importance to Sticks… from Sticks! First of all, no. In my campaigns, even in the Evil-aligned one, PCs do not steal from other fucking PCs! It breaks trust, but not between characters. No, because the characters may not even notice. No, this kind of action breaks the trust of the players!

And he continues to commit these actions that should have dire consequences which haven't shown yet, and those elements [important elements, nonetheless] have been forgotten by the player. I'm just waiting for city officials of Serel to send a kill-squad out after Kuznets, or for Sticks to break out of his monastery and forcefully steal his master's trinket back.

Speaking of Perceived Inconsequentiality, I said I would get to the player's "sudden ideas." This isn't against any player, specifically, but as a general criticism¹.

I've run story-driven campaigns throughout my career, and have, in at least every campaign, had one player try to interject with some kind of weird story element that was pulled so quickly out of his or her ass that it still had corn attached to it. It's one thing to establish early on that you have a secret you're hiding from the other players. For example:

Alex had a secret mission for her Paladin that involved finding and executing a certain necromancer in the name of vengeance. She approved this through me in the pre-planning phase of her character, didn't reveal any information to the other players, and played it out properly. She would often ask of people, "Excuse me, do you know of any wizards around here who are practicing the dark arts?"

This type of hold-out is fine, because it's pre-established with DM [me], didn't interrupt the story that I had written out for the campaign, gave me something to write in as a side quest, and gave the other players something to wonder about. What's not fine is when a character flat-out hijacks a part of the DM's story. Pardon the slight repeat of information, but I want to keep it relevant.

Kuznets walks into a museum that just so happens to have an exhibit on the enslavement of Shanm't. He sees a set of what appears to be bones in a cage. He then announces that they're the remains of his father, without asking. Those remains may very well have been a plaster replica, as it is somewhat difficult to discern between the two without medical training. It also seemed as if Fox had a different direction the situation was supposed to go.

Same with the Viktorya thing. She seemed to be established as a two-dimensional NPC who serves a function and is never considered to be vital to the story. Having known Fox for as long as I have, I can tell when he's throwing in a non-essential, but it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to conclude as such.

Games are meant to have fun with. However, that means every person involved should be having fun including the DM, GM, or whatever. If the DM spends as much time as Fox does writing a campaign session, somewhere around 25+ hours a week, and someone takes a part of his story away from him, that's going to stress your DM out immensely! Not only has he written something that usually involves everyone, but is balanced in the story because that's what a DM does. Now he has to counteract these interjections with things that balance the story back out, thus making it less fun/more work for the DM and takes away from the other PCs.

In short, don't hijack the story. It's kind of a dick thing to do. Always think about the consequences before you act. Not doing so and believing that you're immune to consequences will cause entertaining things to happen, like getting arrested or killed for fucking up a city. Having revealed to you that your betrothed is the servant of an evil deity. And so on.

In the next part, I will discuss what type of player is at a higher risk of Perceived Inconsequentiality, and how to stop thinking you're a god.

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Footnotes

1. -salute- General eat me, professor Criticism.

Overpowered Characters
Posted on: 04 Oct 2016 17:40 — By: Reverend Fox
Rating: 0 — Comments: 0

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Is it important to take all the skills?

Think about this question for a moment, and then consider real life. Do you, yourself, possess a "high score" in all the skills? Of course not. Most people are highly skilled in one or two things while possessing a basic knowledge or skill level in most everything else and being completely unskilled in some other things. This creates a necessity for teamwork and collaboration, am I right?

Think, now, about Superman. The classic Superman had absolutely no flaws. Of course, he had the weakness to Kryptonite, but what did that offer? Nothing. It was so rare that very few could actually stop him from turning into an evil asshole if he really wanted to. Why would he turn evil? Boredom.

Boredom is the result of having a high score in all attributes and skills. To put it another way, playing a "super" character becomes un-fun very quickly because of the following reasons:

• No chance of failure.
• No weaknesses.
• Invincibility.
• No challenge!

This also makes a game un-fun for your fellow players. Here's why. Any DM worth a damn will know that the challenge rating of a particular module, campaign, encounter, or whatever has to match the party's overall challenge rating. So, taking it from the Monstrous Manual, the CR of any adventuring party is equivalent to the average "level" of the party members. This CR is then adjusted up or down depending on the attributes and skills of the party members as a whole. A standard 6th level party will have a CR of 6, give or take .5 to adjust for skills.

Making a severely OP character can also make your DM hate you because now he/she has to adjust the entire game to match the revised CR, which he/she knows will kill the rest of the PCs and take all the fun out of creating balanced encounters.

Having a member of the party who has 18s in all base characteristics (STR, DEX, INT, etc.) with nearly maxed-out skills will do a funny thing to the party's CR. Taking a 6th level party into consideration, a DM will know that any matched-CR encounter he/she draws up will be decimated by the super character. However, if the super character fails the initiative roll, and the enemies go first, then the rest of the party is going to get completely wiped!

The way to prevent this is to balance everything. In our Point-Buy based gaming society, people are more tempted to max out what they can. Simple way around this: DON'T DO IT!

Balance of the characters' skills will balance the fun/challenge scale for the game. Your fellow players will appreciate it, and your DM will be relieved!
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