I have just started DMing my first campaign, and by what I can tell my party is enjoying the game, but I have an issue with three of the players constantly breaking charecter.
We had out 5th session last night and it basically led to the game being cut short as they spend at lest an hour talking amongst theme selves not caring about the events happening in the game, i talked with them asking if it’s cause they didn’t want to play but that wasn’t true.
So I’m stuck to what to do as I’ve talked to them and tried using minion damaged as penalties, but nothing seems to work
Can you give more information? ie, what is happening during the game whilst these players are doing their own thing? is it happening during exposition, npc interactions, or also during encounters?
Also, have you directly asked for the reason why they are doing this?
Some people prefer to play the game that way - it's not my preferred style, but I know people who use a D&D game more as a social get together and the game is almost secondary. Yes, they enjoy the fact they are playing D&D, but they aren't as invested into it.
If your style of play and theirs don't match, you could maybe talk to them and ask them to try your way of playing for a session, to see if it's something they get on with, but if not you may find that you are looking for different players that prefer to play the same way you do.
I will second what Stormknight has said - this could simply be a difference in what is being sought after from the game-play experience, which means there isn't a "fix" because nothing is actually "broken", both a serious always-in-character and a laid-back side-conversation-heavy style of play (and nearly countless other styles as well) are perfectly valid ways to play the game; you just need the whole group to be on the same page as to which style the group will play with.
I would think of a way to maybe get your players to socialize in the game, if that makes sense. You could maybe to this with some downtime activities and have players do things together. In other words, create multiple adventures where the party has to split up, that way one group can be invested while the other group socializes (without disturbing the adventuring party of course). That would be how I would do it. As the DM, you would always be playing, while half the players are, and the other half socializes, since it seems like they want half and half, while you want 100, or maybe as close to 100 as possible.
My table consists of a fun bunch of random, and I get what you're saying about the table talk, my fiancee is the biggest one at the table to derail whatever is going on at any given moment. Thought that is not to say she's the "problem", two of my players have their cell phones out, one the entire session, and they're playing a game on their phone. One of my players is a smoker and will get up from the table at random intervals to grab a smoke. To top the whole mess off I also have a 9 and 10 year old who are both into D&D who will randomly decide they belong in the session and start chattering over what's going on.
My advice comes in two parts, part 1: Get over it. This sounds cruel but its not, this is meant as a way to get the emotional response out of the situation. Coming at this while upset will only exacerbate it and cause more problems. Give yourself time to relax, think about what you want from your group, think about what you're seeing at the table when things derail, or when they're not invested in the current moment. Look at all that information with a clear head.
Part 2: Talk it out and compromise. I had a strict rule at my table that there were NO electronic devices during the session, and then I pull out my laptop so I can play ambient music for the rest of the session...hypocrisy at it's finest. I would scold my players mid-game when they'd side track and derail the session with a music sing-a-long or story about *insert random topic*, thus I was also stopping the session in it tracks by breaking the immersion.
Talking to them out of the game they didn't realize they'd been causing me such a headache, and they did their best to follow the "house rules" as we moved forward. Then I noticed that it stifled creativity at my table. I let it slide, a little, the cell phone, the smoke, the tangents, I let it go. Until it becomes a problem, then I just sit there, quiet, and wait. Your players will notice that nothing is happening, they will notice you've gone silent and the story has stopped. This kind of approach, for me, has helped both my players and me realize where the balance is between entertaining themselves in "down time" and me entertaining them as DM. I also started getting the group together about 30 min before we would sit down to recap and start rolling dice, which seemed to take much of the table talk out of the game.
If the play styles simply will not mesh, you can't find a compromise, or whatever reason: There is nothing wrong with asking someone to leave or packing your books up to find a new group. This is a communal game where everyone is looking to have fun...if anyone (Even the GM) is not having fun it ceases to be a game.
I'm DMing a group with a couple people new to D & D. One is a teenager that's constantly on her phone. Usually on social media. Another is someone that constantly has his character do goofy things. The other players seem sufficiently motivated to playing the game.
The issue is keeping people invested. Knowing these people well enough certainly helps in flowing between engaging narrative and easy-to-follow combat at just the right times.
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I have just started DMing my first campaign, and by what I can tell my party is enjoying the game, but I have an issue with three of the players constantly breaking charecter.
We had out 5th session last night and it basically led to the game being cut short as they spend at lest an hour talking amongst theme selves not caring about the events happening in the game, i talked with them asking if it’s cause they didn’t want to play but that wasn’t true.
So I’m stuck to what to do as I’ve talked to them and tried using minion damaged as penalties, but nothing seems to work
Can you give more information? ie, what is happening during the game whilst these players are doing their own thing? is it happening during exposition, npc interactions, or also during encounters?
Also, have you directly asked for the reason why they are doing this?
Some people prefer to play the game that way - it's not my preferred style, but I know people who use a D&D game more as a social get together and the game is almost secondary. Yes, they enjoy the fact they are playing D&D, but they aren't as invested into it.
If your style of play and theirs don't match, you could maybe talk to them and ask them to try your way of playing for a session, to see if it's something they get on with, but if not you may find that you are looking for different players that prefer to play the same way you do.
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I will second what Stormknight has said - this could simply be a difference in what is being sought after from the game-play experience, which means there isn't a "fix" because nothing is actually "broken", both a serious always-in-character and a laid-back side-conversation-heavy style of play (and nearly countless other styles as well) are perfectly valid ways to play the game; you just need the whole group to be on the same page as to which style the group will play with.
There's a video by Matthew Colville who offers some really great advice on this.
(edit: if it helps, Matt talks about casual players around the 15:00 minute mark of the video, and I think that advice relates quite a lot here.)
I would think of a way to maybe get your players to socialize in the game, if that makes sense. You could maybe to this with some downtime activities and have players do things together. In other words, create multiple adventures where the party has to split up, that way one group can be invested while the other group socializes (without disturbing the adventuring party of course). That would be how I would do it. As the DM, you would always be playing, while half the players are, and the other half socializes, since it seems like they want half and half, while you want 100, or maybe as close to 100 as possible.
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My table consists of a fun bunch of random, and I get what you're saying about the table talk, my fiancee is the biggest one at the table to derail whatever is going on at any given moment. Thought that is not to say she's the "problem", two of my players have their cell phones out, one the entire session, and they're playing a game on their phone. One of my players is a smoker and will get up from the table at random intervals to grab a smoke. To top the whole mess off I also have a 9 and 10 year old who are both into D&D who will randomly decide they belong in the session and start chattering over what's going on.
My advice comes in two parts, part 1: Get over it. This sounds cruel but its not, this is meant as a way to get the emotional response out of the situation. Coming at this while upset will only exacerbate it and cause more problems. Give yourself time to relax, think about what you want from your group, think about what you're seeing at the table when things derail, or when they're not invested in the current moment. Look at all that information with a clear head.
Part 2: Talk it out and compromise. I had a strict rule at my table that there were NO electronic devices during the session, and then I pull out my laptop so I can play ambient music for the rest of the session...hypocrisy at it's finest. I would scold my players mid-game when they'd side track and derail the session with a music sing-a-long or story about *insert random topic*, thus I was also stopping the session in it tracks by breaking the immersion.
Talking to them out of the game they didn't realize they'd been causing me such a headache, and they did their best to follow the "house rules" as we moved forward. Then I noticed that it stifled creativity at my table. I let it slide, a little, the cell phone, the smoke, the tangents, I let it go. Until it becomes a problem, then I just sit there, quiet, and wait. Your players will notice that nothing is happening, they will notice you've gone silent and the story has stopped. This kind of approach, for me, has helped both my players and me realize where the balance is between entertaining themselves in "down time" and me entertaining them as DM. I also started getting the group together about 30 min before we would sit down to recap and start rolling dice, which seemed to take much of the table talk out of the game.
If the play styles simply will not mesh, you can't find a compromise, or whatever reason: There is nothing wrong with asking someone to leave or packing your books up to find a new group. This is a communal game where everyone is looking to have fun...if anyone (Even the GM) is not having fun it ceases to be a game.
I'm DMing a group with a couple people new to D & D. One is a teenager that's constantly on her phone. Usually on social media. Another is someone that constantly has his character do goofy things. The other players seem sufficiently motivated to playing the game.
The issue is keeping people invested. Knowing these people well enough certainly helps in flowing between engaging narrative and easy-to-follow combat at just the right times.