Im starting a new game in a couple of weeks where my the PC's are the Innfellows. Ive got these really retro gamebooks (dragons of despair being the first) that is the adventure basically. And ive got the new dl campaign settin and the new war of the lance book. One of my players has a tendancy to wander off the path and go crazy (one of his plans was building a dragonranch) how can i deter this player from going through with these crazy schemes as they will basically shatter the delicate dragonlance storyline.
Punish him- if he loses a character or two before he wises up it will be good for him. I let my players do what ever they want- but if they do something stupid they know they will pay for it. I was gaming one time with a group (as a player) and one of the players just up and out of the blue says "I'm gunna steal a horse!" Well the DM let him do it- but when the law caught up to him this character was hung as a horse-thief and the rest of the party- being mostly Neutral and Lawful just watched with the rest of the crowd.
It is not about being mean or unjust- actions cause reactions and to suspent the the realistic parts (ie you do something wrong or against the law) and you will have to pay the piper. The characters can have fun doing whacky things and stuff, but when their activities conflict with the story line or over-all gaming enjoyment of the rest of the group then they should be taught a lession.
Personally, I'd also suggest letting them do what they want. While certain actions may have certain consequences, don't feel the need to punish everything they do. That's just petty.
Are you running this for the players, or are you running it because you want a specific outcome?
the thing is with this player when he comes up with a plan he has a way of bullying all the other players into going along with it (including taking away some of their money to pay for his strongholds and such) , even though the other players just want a nice simple adventure and to play the dragonlance game as it goes, ive prepared several encounters in different towns and such. What kind of punishment would you fix for a player who just wants to dominate the entire world rather than save it? (and this guy is playing tanis and sturm!)
I see, so it's a problem with a specific player. He sounds quite offensive. Now I totally see why you'd want to punish him.
The usual advice is to try to talk to him. Let him know what he does is upsetting everyone else's enjoyment of the game. If he's the bully you describe, he may very well brush this off. Either be persistent until he changes his ways, or don't play with him.
Or, give him major experience penalties for bad roleplaying. Tanis and Sturm trying to dominate the entire world? I highly doubt it. And never forget, there's always someone more powerful than you are... a high level NPC can always be used to humble arrogant PCs. If the PC is behaving bad enough, high level NPCs might have no qualms about killing them. You may not want to kill Tanis and Sturm, but if neither of them are playing out their role in the story that everyone else wants to play, then it probably won't matter.
Just read the modules you have. They are classic examples of railroading PCs to do something specific.
Personally, I'd also suggest letting them do what they want. While certain actions may have certain consequences, don't feel the need to punish everything they do. That's just petty.
Are you running this for the players, or are you running it because you want a specific outcome?
I think that you took what I said initially out of context- and I am anything but petty. I play and DM to have fun and I want my players to have fun too- The way this stiuation sounded was one player just doing anything they wanted whenever- which is against the point of playing a game with others.
Punishing players is well wihin the perview of the DM- a Dm can give rewards for great role-playing and ideas, and they can also punish those who do dumb things- a good DM does both.
Burrfoot- I would suggest one of two things
1) Talk with him about how is antics are disrupting the overall enjoyment of the game for yourself and others. or
2) Kill of his character and do not allow him to "photocopy" that character- this means he can make another character but not of the same race, classes, alignment, ect- break him out of the comfort zone his is in.
In the game I am currently running- I made all of the PC's totally randomly class, race, ability score distribution. And I made the playes roll to see what character they would play. I did this because I have some power gamers in my group and I wanted them to play something that they have never played before- one of the biggest power gamers I have always plays a hulking fighter type who wades into combat- he now playes a halfling ranger with the archery combat focus.
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Nuitari stats
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Juergen2005, this sort of thing is not only off-topic, it's not even particularly helpful.
Cheers,
Cam
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Really dude- spamming the board and someones post like this is just plain rude- if you want to start a thread where people can talk about the dark god of magic then do so- this thread was made to help out someone with other issues at this time.
Burrfoot- I really do not know what to tell you except what I already have. The question is how close do you really want to stick to the War of the Lance and Chronicles book path- If you wanted to play it cookie-cutter style then I would suggest you find another player if he does not want to follow the story line. Other then that it may be cool to see if the players can kinda shape the adventure along a different route but still arrive at the same conclusion- or do you want to make your DL world different- like Strum not dying and maybe it is Tanis who joins the Dragon Army instead of Raistlin- though in the end Tanis realizes that Kit is only using him and he bands together again with his old companions.
It is your world and you can do anything you want too- the 'rule' books are really only suggestions to help form the basic roleplaying experience- it is you and your players that will flesh out your particular world.
Glad to help Burrfoot- I do what I can with what I got!I think that you took what I said initially out of context- and I am anything but petty.
I'm sorry, I did not mean to imply that at all. Rereading my post, I see how it may have sounded that way, following your post as it did. I was directing that at the OP's first post, which sounded to me like he just wanted his players to follow a specific path. As I said above, I now realize there's something else going on with a disruptive player, after the OP clarified this point. But I agree with the points you were making.
I'm sorry, I did not mean to imply that at all. Rereading my post, I see how it may have sounded that way, following your post as it did. I was directing that at the OP's first post, which sounded to me like he just wanted his players to follow a specific path. As I said above, I now realize there's something else going on with a disruptive player, after the OP clarified this point. But I agree with the points you were making.
O- s'all good man. Communication and understanding the intent of communication is much harder on these boards due to the method of communication- so it is all cool
!