When Your D&D group is a bunch of dipsh*ts!

[Chicago Ted]

From GM to DM (that's what the DND people call the Game Master right?), punish the destructive players. Whether it be by making it so they gain no experience for what they've done because of their behavior, kicking them out for a session or two, or refusing to run until they've calmed down, whatever it takes. You're the one with the authority and you're the one doing it for them.

No offence, but you sound like you're not taking a stance and letting them walk over you. Sometimes you have to get their attention and respect by not tending to them, but making them realize your power.

Now I realize I may sound a bit cruel and drunk on power right now, but the fact of the matter is that you've tried being nice to them, and it's not cutting it. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

You've offered them the carrot and they refused, now give them the stick.

Oh, and on a final note, make sure you give respect to them and the game as well. If the game is very lax in general and you're doing stupid stuff, you're just going to have a bunch of idiots dicking around. Not to say that isn't fun though, hell I've run some of the funniest games by just throwing the rules out and going for it, but if you want them to act serious, you have to make the environment serious.

 

[Chicago Ted]

*Snip*

I don't think he's having a problem with the game aspect of this but the player one. They seem to be acting quite disruptive and disrespectful, I don't think altering the game will help much in terms of changing their attitudes.

I did address the possibility of it in my post, but it's seeming far more likely that it's the players that are the problem here.

Also, at the OP, if one of them doesn't know how to play properly, it should be your job to teach them. Don't just leave them, assist them and explain to them anything they get wrong and ask if they understand everything alright. It should be your job to attend to that problem at least.

Edit: Missed the part about the power gamer, sorry. In terms of the power gamer, maybe try and make a smaller individual story for him to keep his interest. Throw in something on the side for him to focus on. Also try playing on some of his weaknesses. Don't go all out and make it so he feels you are targeting his character and making it so you're picking on him, but make it so he has a challenge once in a while or has to do something a bit out of his element.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Well i suggest you have the female player there as often as possible. Also there are places where people get together and play tabletop RPGs (comic shops etc.), maybe if you guys start going there they will act more mature and maybe you can meet new people and make some more friends.

Only problem with that is that the closest comic/game shop if a 20 minuit drive and the female's dad is really overprotective. Plus none of us can drive since we're only in middle school.

Bus or bike there then. Hell, try and steal a ride from your parents on weekends. There's always a way to get around, you just have to get up and do it.

 

[Chicago Ted]

Aren't ADD and ADHD the same thing?

No, I can't remember what they letters stand for, but ADHD is a more extreme form of ADD.

 

[nicholaxxx]

Interesting problem that your friends pose. It definitely sounds like Bark may have ADHD, I actually have ADD myself and I tend to stack things as well.
Your best bet would be to maybe talk to Bark and Flip outside of the game and outline the issues your having and see if you can work something out, if they are decent people and it seems like they are they should understand.

yeah, this would about do it.

welcome to the escapist, fodder.

 

[nicholaxxx]

Aren't ADD and ADHD the same thing?

No, I can't remember what they letters stand for, but ADHD is a more extreme form of ADD.

Attention Deficit Disorder

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

you're welcome.

 

[Darkfreak]

From GM to DM (that's what the DND people call the Game Master right?), punish the destructive players. Whether it be by making it so they gain no experience for what they've done because of their behavior, kicking them out for a session or two, or refusing to run until they've calmed down, whatever it takes. You're the one with the authority and you're the one doing it for them.

No offence, but you sound like you're not taking a stance and letting them walk over you. Sometimes you have to get their attention and respect by not tending to them, but making them realize your power.

Now I realize I may sound a bit cruel and drunk on power right now, but the fact of the matter is that you've tried being nice to them, and it's not cutting it. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

You've offered them the carrot and they refused, now give them the stick.

Oh, and on a final note, make sure you give respect to them and the game as well. If the game is very lax in general and you're doing stupid stuff, you're just going to have a bunch of idiots dicking around. Not to say that isn't fun though, hell I've run some of the funniest games by just throwing the rules out and going for it, but if you want them to act serious, you have to make the environment serious.

Alright I had mind as well say this now.
-kicking them out or punishing them won't help at all
It is a very sad reason why it won't but I had mind as well say it. There is anouther D&D group thats in our townish area and they are the worst of the worst. both of them are nothing but jackoffs and know nothing of self control. Thats why they're banned from our group. both Flip and Bark somtimes play with them and I'm afriad if I punish them to much or ban them for a few sessions that they wont come back.
This fear does have some support on it's side because it has happened before. So thats why I can't go to far.
I have punished Bark. he jumped on our patrons back and tried to "ride him like a pony" so I threw him off and knocked him unconscious which caused Flip to flip.
help...

 

[AgentChunk]

Interesting that they behave better when a girl is around. I'd imagine they would behave worse to try to get her attention. Anyways there's always going to be idiots in a D&D group especially if your younger, and I'm assuming you are. Its just impossible to get that many teens together to play a table top game and expect everyone to act civil.

 

[DeleteThisPlease]

DM Rules activated:

"Rock Fall, Everyone Dies."

I mean really, I'm not sure what you should do there. Talk to your DM about it I suppose.

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

Actually AgentChunk I disagree, my group of table top friends (10 people), never go bat shit loopy when we do our game nights. But then again it could be because, each person contributed to our own table top game hence they think of it as their child :/

Anyways, like others have said offer an EXP or Stat boost from certain role playing but don't give it until the end.

 

[Chicago Ted]

From GM to DM (that's what the DND people call the Game Master right?), punish the destructive players. Whether it be by making it so they gain no experience for what they've done because of their behavior, kicking them out for a session or two, or refusing to run until they've calmed down, whatever it takes. You're the one with the authority and you're the one doing it for them.

No offence, but you sound like you're not taking a stance and letting them walk over you. Sometimes you have to get their attention and respect by not tending to them, but making them realize your power.

Now I realize I may sound a bit cruel and drunk on power right now, but the fact of the matter is that you've tried being nice to them, and it's not cutting it. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

You've offered them the carrot and they refused, now give them the stick.

Oh, and on a final note, make sure you give respect to them and the game as well. If the game is very lax in general and you're doing stupid stuff, you're just going to have a bunch of idiots dicking around. Not to say that isn't fun though, hell I've run some of the funniest games by just throwing the rules out and going for it, but if you want them to act serious, you have to make the environment serious.

Alright I had mind as well say this now.
-kicking them out or punishing them won't help at all
It is a very sad reason why it won't but I had mind as well say it. There is anouther D&D group thats in our townish area and they are the worst of the worst. both of them are nothing but jackoffs and know nothing of self control. Thats why they're banned from our group. both Flip and Bark somtimes play with them and I'm afriad if I punish them to much or ban them for a few sessions that they wont come back.
This fear does have some support on it's side because it has happened before. So thats why I can't go to far.
I have punished Bark. he jumped on our patrons back and tried to "ride him like a pony" so I threw him off and knocked him unconscious which caused Flip to flip.
help...

I don't think there's anything you can do then. Try punishing them in game like I said, because if you do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result, it's called insanity. Sometimes though you can't work or improve players. You have to accept them might not get any better. We've had people who've come to club who are just idiots and no matter what you do, they don't learn. There's nothing you can do to remedy it though.

Also, is that punishment against Bark in or out of character...

 

[Darkfreak]

DM Rules activated:

"Rock Fall, Everyone Dies."

I mean really, I'm not sure what you should do there. Talk to your DM about it I suppose.

I am the DM so i could do it but that would hurt the rest of the functioning group as well.

 

[Seejur]

From GM to DM (that's what the DND people call the Game Master right?), punish the destructive players. Whether it be by making it so they gain no experience for what they've done because of their behavior, kicking them out for a session or two, or refusing to run until they've calmed down, whatever it takes. You're the one with the authority and you're the one doing it for them.

No offence, but you sound like you're not taking a stance and letting them walk over you. Sometimes you have to get their attention and respect by not tending to them, but making them realize your power.

Now I realize I may sound a bit cruel and drunk on power right now, but the fact of the matter is that you've tried being nice to them, and it's not cutting it. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

You've offered them the carrot and they refused, now give them the stick.

Oh, and on a final note, make sure you give respect to them and the game as well. If the game is very lax in general and you're doing stupid stuff, you're just going to have a bunch of idiots dicking around. Not to say that isn't fun though, hell I've run some of the funniest games by just throwing the rules out and going for it, but if you want them to act serious, you have to make the environment serious.

Alright I had mind as well say this now.
-kicking them out or punishing them won't help at all
It is a very sad reason why it won't but I had mind as well say it. There is anouther D&D group thats in our townish area and they are the worst of the worst. both of them are nothing but jackoffs and know nothing of self control. Thats why they're banned from our group. both Flip and Bark somtimes play with them and I'm afriad if I punish them to much or ban them for a few sessions that they wont come back.
This fear does have some support on it's side because it has happened before. So thats why I can't go to far.
I have punished Bark. he jumped on our patrons back and tried to "ride him like a pony" so I threw him off and knocked him unconscious which caused Flip to flip.
help...

I don't think there's anything you can do then. Try punishing them in game like I said, because if you do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result, it's called insanity. Sometimes though you can't work or improve players. You have to accept them might not get any better. We've had people who've come to club who are just idiots and no matter what you do, they don't learn. There's nothing you can do to remedy it though.

Also, is that punishment against Bark in or out of character...

It wouldn't work...
D&D is very different from videogames: it's hard to find people to join your group, it hard to organize a meeting since everyone has to be in the same place.
Punishing someone will only punish the group instead, since without that person there are not enough people to play. Moreover alienating that person, or worse his passion for the game, will end up in make him leaving->no enough player to continue->goodbye D&D game.
The only thing I can think of is still to get the chick in (or another one for that matter, just be sure she's pretty ^^), or get them more involved.
Be strong as DM, but remember that a cruel DM is not a good DM and it usually end up in destroying the game.
When I was DMing I had a similar experience with a player who hated me (for extra-D&D motivations), so that he was always trying to screw up my games or question my authority. The games were basically an endless review of the player handbook to see who was right.
My first approach was to punish him: Elves suddenly sucked in the world, I made some custom rules to penalize his archer, I killed his pet etc. etc., with the only result to make him more and more bitter.
After 2 years like that, I try to make him more involved in the story, add a beautiful elf female to save, make her fall in love with his char, and suddenly all the problem were solved ^^.
I can't guarantee you that this will work, but from my experience punishing a player never works...

 

[Seejur]

Actually AgentChunk I disagree, my group of table top friends (10 people), never go bat shit loopy when we do our game nights. But then again it could be because, each person contributed to our own table top game hence they think of it as their child :/

Anyways, like others have said offer an EXP or Stat boost from certain role playing but don't give it until the end.

you got 10 friends playing table game? I envy you soo much :_(
I am here in the Bay Area and it seems no one is playing, so that I have no group currently ((

 

[Chicago Ted]

Spoiler

From GM to DM (that's what the DND people call the Game Master right?), punish the destructive players. Whether it be by making it so they gain no experience for what they've done because of their behavior, kicking them out for a session or two, or refusing to run until they've calmed down, whatever it takes. You're the one with the authority and you're the one doing it for them.

No offence, but you sound like you're not taking a stance and letting them walk over you. Sometimes you have to get their attention and respect by not tending to them, but making them realize your power.

Now I realize I may sound a bit cruel and drunk on power right now, but the fact of the matter is that you've tried being nice to them, and it's not cutting it. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

You've offered them the carrot and they refused, now give them the stick.

Oh, and on a final note, make sure you give respect to them and the game as well. If the game is very lax in general and you're doing stupid stuff, you're just going to have a bunch of idiots dicking around. Not to say that isn't fun though, hell I've run some of the funniest games by just throwing the rules out and going for it, but if you want them to act serious, you have to make the environment serious.

Alright I had mind as well say this now.
-kicking them out or punishing them won't help at all
It is a very sad reason why it won't but I had mind as well say it. There is anouther D&D group thats in our townish area and they are the worst of the worst. both of them are nothing but jackoffs and know nothing of self control. Thats why they're banned from our group. both Flip and Bark somtimes play with them and I'm afriad if I punish them to much or ban them for a few sessions that they wont come back.
This fear does have some support on it's side because it has happened before. So thats why I can't go to far.
I have punished Bark. he jumped on our patrons back and tried to "ride him like a pony" so I threw him off and knocked him unconscious which caused Flip to flip.
help...

I don't think there's anything you can do then. Try punishing them in game like I said, because if you do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result, it's called insanity. Sometimes though you can't work or improve players. You have to accept them might not get any better. We've had people who've come to club who are just idiots and no matter what you do, they don't learn. There's nothing you can do to remedy it though.

Also, is that punishment against Bark in or out of character...

It wouldn't work...
D&D is very different from videogames: it's hard to find people to join your group, it hard to organize a meeting since everyone has to be in the same place.
Punishing someone will only punish the group instead, since without that person there are not enough people to play. Moreover alienating that person, or worse his passion for the game, will end up in make him leaving->no enough player to continue->goodbye D&D game.
The only thing I can think of is still to get the chick in (or another one for that matter, just be sure she's pretty ^^), or get them more involved.
Be strong as DM, but remember that a cruel DM is not a good DM and it usually end up in destroying the game.
When I was DMing I had a similar experience with a player who hated me (for extra-D&D motivations), so that he was always trying to screw up my games or question my authority. The games were basically an endless review of the player handbook to see who was right.
My first approach was to punish him: Elves suddenly sucked in the world, I made some custom rules to penalize his archer, I killed his pet etc. etc., with the only result to make him more and more bitter.
After 2 years like that, I try to make him more involved in the story, add a beautiful elf female to save, make her fall in love with his char, and suddenly all the problem were solved ^^.
I can't guarantee you that this will work, but from my experience punishing a player never works...

I am not only a video game player. I am one of the GM's at my school's RP club and will be in charge next year, and I am currently running a forum RP here. The thing is, they are showing next to no respect to him if they're acting like this. Like I said in another post, try to get him more involved on a personal level with his character, but if a player is going to show you no authority, the only thing you can really do is to either remove them or get them to conform or else they'll ruin the experience for the rest of the group. At my club last year the GM was a little too lax for my taste on one guy. At one point though he shouted out 'Niggers!' right before the game and the GM cracked the whip by saying that if he acts like this he won't be allowed back to next weeks game. He quickly fell into line.

Like I said, sometimes you can't improve people, they simply don't have it in them to RP or don't want to. In that case you're not going to have much or any improvement.

The problem is though, you have to make your athority clear to some people. Otherwise they won't respect you. The current GM running at club can be rather cut throat at times and it works. If people are getting rowdy, or someone's interupting them, he'll get people back in line. He's a bit harsh in my mind to some people, and sometimes should word himself a bit better on this, but I respect that he's taking control of the game.

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

I had a group like that, except it was all of them that where the pain in the asses. (all 7 of them)
-One of them was stupid as fuck and made the oddest most absurd requests (eg. he wanted to build a theme park out of boats, he'd even attempted to work out the cost of such an activity)
-The two girls where ALWAYS gay elf male pirates with names from one peice. (they were the best behaved)
-There was one guy who thoiught he knew everything because his brother used to play it alot more than everyone i knew. But he knew fuck all and kept saying "well acctually the rules go like this" Andi would either say "no the go like this, heres the book, look it up" or "I know, but I am DM so shut the fuck up"
-There was one guy who just could not be arsed doing anything, he even decided to do his homework a few times whilst we were playing.
-There was another two like yours who just set each other off all the time and wouldn't shut up whilst I was doing important stuff like narrating or describing something.

There are a number of things you can do, some of which are acctually in the dm's guide.

1) try make them sit with as many other players inbetween the as possible.
2) try talking to them individualy outside of the group, if there are more people around them they'll act more arrogant and are likely to be pricks. But 1 to 1 they are more likely to listen.
3) if all the dice are yours, then try pretending to be obbsesed with your dice and insist that they all go back into the box when they are not needed (because they'll get lost/dirty/broken etc,)
4) look in the dm's guide for some other tips because I've forgotten all mine now.
5) Bring a gun to D&D nights.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Create a situation where they must roleplay or die.

They either comply or become dead. I'm sure most will comply.

Also tell them if they keep touching your dice, take them back when they're not needed.

 

[SimuLord]

the female's dad is really overprotective

Just tell him you play D&D. He'll never worry about his daughter with you again.

Unless he's read the Chick tract, in which case teen pregnancy is probably the best-case scenario in his mind.

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

Actually AgentChunk I disagree, my group of table top friends (10 people), never go bat shit loopy when we do our game nights. But then again it could be because, each person contributed to our own table top game hence they think of it as their child :/

Anyways, like others have said offer an EXP or Stat boost from certain role playing but don't give it until the end.

you got 10 friends playing table game? I envy you soo much :_(
I am here in the Bay Area and it seems no one is playing, so that I have no group currently ((

Ya, they're all good chums and we do it as a side hobby because if you saw them you'd swear they wouldn't touch a Table top game but you'd be wrong.
That sucks, I find it helps to offer side perks like we'll table top for a few hours then hit a movie..But I only do that when only 4 of the 10 can actually go that night and the rest can't be arsed because they're felling lazy.

Anyways, sorry to say but your kind of stuck with Bark and Flip why not seperate them I.E. two people in between them, and in Flip's case try to bargain like Roleplaying for a bit followed by 3 intense monster encounters, worked the first time I showed my friends Table Top games (They eventually learned to love the Role playing).