Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Shaun Sides <arch@****.ABTS.NET>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 08:23:39 -0500
Date: 22 Apr 97 Time: 20:12
Subject: Why can't we all just get along? (W

TO: Steven A. Tinner

> One guy, who shall remain Dave, seems to relish his PC's
> individuality SO much that he can not work in a team in ANY game.
> SR, AD&D ... even a hand of MTG seems to bring out the divisive
> nature in him.
>
> It's not AFAIK a personal problem with anyone in the group, 'cause I
> asked him about that. It's not that he's a munchkin either, he does
> roleplay fairly well.
>
> For whatever reasons he simply ... for lack of a better word ...
> enjoys causing friction.
>
> Any advice for how to handle him?

Have gamed with folks like this, but never was able to resolve that
attitude. :(

a chaoidh teabadaich,

Shaun Sides
arch@****.net
http://www.abts.net/~arch

Never go in against a Sicilian, when DEATH is on the line!
Ha ha ha haha ha. Ha ha ha haha. Ha ha ha <thump>
-- Fezinni, from The Princess Bride
Message no. 2
From: Gossamer <jrsnyder@********.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 07:53:39 -0500
>> For whatever reasons he simply ... for lack of a better word ...
>> enjoys causing friction.
>>
>> Any advice for how to handle him?
>
>Have gamed with folks like this, but never was able to resolve that
>attitude. :(

I have, but you won't like my solution... Ok, it was AD.. and what
I ended up doing was making up a character that was a lawful evil
warrior who was with the party because of strength in numbers.
Well, the guy started causing strife, and I told him flat out
that if he tried to split up the group, I'd kill him. Then I
went on to a lengthy diatribe about the importance of team
spirit and strength in numbers (you get the picture). He didn't
get it after 2 warnings, so I killed him. He made up another
character, same basic type (chaotic/individual/nonteam-player).
Killed him too. Killed his third one as well. So the player
comes up to me and asks me why I've designed a character like
that, and I told him that I enjoy the game much better when
we function as a group and with the character I had I could
enforce that philosophy. I asked him if maybe he could think
of a character that could fit in, and he tried... and succeeded!
He ended up making a very supportive cleric-type guy and had a
lot of fun being the 'Oh, don't hurt yourselves' type. After
playing out at the extremes, he finally ended up with characters
that were middle-of-the-road. It only took us 3 years of regular
play to get him to be normal. I think he had some seriously
repressed creativity that his mom never let him show and trained
him not to in RL(tm). So he felt this need to 'be his own guy'
in gaming.

So, it took a lot of time and energy investment on our part,
but he came around.

Good luck,

Gossamer
Message no. 3
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 07:43:40 -0600
Gossamer wrote:
|
| >> For whatever reasons he simply ... for lack of a better word ...
| >> enjoys causing friction.
| >>
| >> Any advice for how to handle him?
|
| I have, but you won't like my solution... Ok, it was AD.. and what
| I ended up doing was making up a character that was a lawful evil
| warrior who was with the party because of strength in numbers.
| Well, the guy started causing strife, and I told him flat out
| that if he tried to split up the group, I'd kill him. Then I
| went on to a lengthy diatribe about the importance of team
| spirit and strength in numbers (you get the picture). He didn't
| get it after 2 warnings, so I killed him. He made up another
| character, same basic type (chaotic/individual/nonteam-player).
| Killed him too. Killed his third one as well. So the player
| comes up to me and asks me why I've designed a character like
| that, and I told him that I enjoy the game much better when
| we function as a group and with the character I had I could
| enforce that philosophy. I asked him if maybe he could think
| of a character that could fit in, and he tried... and succeeded!

You're right, I don't like your solution :) First, if I was roleplaying a
LE Warrior in the same situation, my character would react the same way.
But, if the other player asked my why, I would explain why the *character*
acted the way he did. If asked why I made a character like that, I would
probably reply that it's just what came to mind at the time. I would not
tell the player that he had to make a character that could survive my
character. Everyone that I play with is free to make whatever kind of
character they want. True, I would prefer that everyone's character be
group motivated in some way, but I feel that that is something for the GM
to enforce and decide if he feels its necessary.

I'll also admit that this one depends on the players involved, and
their gaming philosophy :)

-David
--
/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking
alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free."
~~~http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm~~~~
Message no. 4
From: Brett Borger <SwiftOne@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 00:14:01 GMT
>> For whatever reasons he simply ... for lack of a better word ...
>> enjoys causing friction.
>>
>> Any advice for how to handle him?

Had a guy like this, and let the other players take care of him. At one
point he and another runner got into a firefight. It finally ended when
annoying guy fired a minigrenade that had a huge scatter roll.....back
towards him.

NEW CLONE!

(Favorite GM saying of Paranoia)

-=SwiftOne=-
Message no. 5
From: "MARTIN E. GOTTHARD" <s457033@*******.GU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 00:16:12 +1000
> >Have gamed with folks like this, but never was able to resolve that
> >attitude. :(
>
> I have, but you won't like my solution... Ok, it was AD.. and what

[snip the guts]

> that were middle-of-the-road. It only took us 3 years of regular
> play to get him to be normal. I think he had some seriously
> repressed creativity that his mom never let him show and trained
> him not to in RL(tm). So he felt this need to 'be his own guy'
> in gaming.
>
Hmmm, Lady J; Perhaps we ought to try this with Steve

(We have a player that's a bit like that; He's got the attention span
of a newt, and perpetually wants to kill things in cool ways.)

I've aslo played with a guy like the one mentioned above; He eventually
got un-invited from every gaming group that I know of. He had a
taste for Dragonlance Kender.... the most annoying PC race ever known to
man. Unfortunately his character was so min-max that the rest of the
team couldn't kill him, and he was far to big and scary a player to do
that in RL.

Bleach
Message no. 6
From: "MARTIN E. GOTTHARD" <s457033@*******.GU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 00:18:22 +1000
> Had a guy like this, and let the other players take care of him. At one
> point he and another runner got into a firefight. It finally ended when
> annoying guy fired a minigrenade that had a huge scatter roll.....back
> towards him.
>
Those rules suck; I've seen people hit things behind them using those
rules.... Or shoot themselves in the head.

We use some half-arsed house rule of our own, instead (ie the GM of the
moment decides)


> NEW CLONE!
>
Yes friend Computer!

Bleach
Message no. 7
From: Paolo Marcucci <paolo@*********.IT>
Subject: Re: Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 16:41:03 +0200
At 00:16 25/04/97 +1000, you wrote:
>Hmmm, Lady J; Perhaps we ought to try this with Steve
>
>(We have a player that's a bit like that; He's got the attention span
>of a newt, and perpetually wants to kill things in cool ways.)

Hey, that's not true. I've never played with you! :)
____________________________________________________________
Paolo Marcucci paolo@*********.it
InterWare Service Provider Trieste, Italy
http://www.interware.it/ Tel. +39-40-411400

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Why can't we all just get along? (Was - Re: [OT] Tinner's Fo, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!