So i've started this campaign with a few friends and one of them is playing a character that is kind of annoying. His character is kleptomanic and in the first combat the group had, he just went after the equipment the other players lost (Thrown dagger, arrows, a sword that got dropped after a nat 1). We knew he had to skip the next session, so as a punishment i had him locked up by the guards for the theft. Since then our second session passed with any problem, i was able to make the rest of the players work together and successfully do there quest. Now the next session the player in jail is coming back and i'm kind of stuck on how i can get him to join the rest of the gang. They dislike him (in-game) because he just tried to steal there stuff and not really help in combat. Now i need to find a way to get him into the group in a somewhat believable way. Can you guys give a new DM some ideas of what i can do? How can i motivate them to work together?
It might be worth establishing if the other players want this character around or not. Unless there was some sort of believable and strong character connection, I’m not sure a typical character I’m playing would want someone like that hanging around. It’s not worth forcing them together just because that’s the shape of the table. Let them have this discussion out and in character. If they want this klepto in, they can make them effort to have the thief released. Otherwise, the table has spoken, and ask the player to have a new character ready.
Noone wants to hang around with some stranger who steals your stuff.. I think the kleptomaniac character is a bit to extreme and makes it a bit to hard to work as a group and should turn it down a notch or two. All players really have a responsibility to help by making their character work in a group.
The Nott Character in critical role is also stealing stuff but not all the time and everything.
I believe this is not a problem for the DM to sort out. We already have so much to worry about. The DM's job is not to tell the players what the characters are going to do.
Unless the goal of your game is to tell the players a story that they are sometimes allowed to participate in, then their decisions should be the driving force of the campaign. And if they have a weak link in the party and suffer a TPK because of it, it will make them better players. Conflict resolution is a major part of the game/experience (and stories/books/films/video games....)
The DM is there to provide problems not solutions.
Now if I was a player at your table, I would be interested in seeing how this character dealt with discovering his set of thieves tools had gone missing at a crucial moment....
Character on Character conflicts are not the DM's job to sort out - unless and until they become player-on-player conflicts.
I would - however - keep an eye on your table to make sure that it doesn't start slipping into a player conflict.
If you had a totally sarcastic, adversarial, mistrusting, backstabbing party - and all the players ( including you! ) are having fun and no one is unhappy or taking it personally - then you still have a functional game.
Maybe not to my tastes, but still a functional game ;)
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Well, I'm hoping that the incarceration of the character will keep his kleptomacy in check. i'll talk to the player as well so he knows that stealing stuff all the time will just keep him in jail and as a loner. Nobody in the group really seemed to enjoy his stealing habit, so i hope the group will give him another chance. I just hope the player takes it and learns from his behaviour. I don't like meddling with the decisions the players take, but i do hope he realises he needs the group to achieve anything.
Your next session should require stealing stuff. Hence the party will think of "hiring" him for his services. Once they've worked together and bonded a bit, the group and the klepto can work on his itchy fingers.
Hi,
So i've started this campaign with a few friends and one of them is playing a character that is kind of annoying.
His character is kleptomanic and in the first combat the group had, he just went after the equipment the other players lost (Thrown dagger, arrows, a sword that got dropped after a nat 1). We knew he had to skip the next session, so as a punishment i had him locked up by the guards for the theft. Since then our second session passed with any problem, i was able to make the rest of the players work together and successfully do there quest. Now the next session the player in jail is coming back and i'm kind of stuck on how i can get him to join the rest of the gang. They dislike him (in-game) because he just tried to steal there stuff and not really help in combat. Now i need to find a way to get him into the group in a somewhat believable way. Can you guys give a new DM some ideas of what i can do? How can i motivate them to work together?
It might be worth establishing if the other players want this character around or not. Unless there was some sort of believable and strong character connection, I’m not sure a typical character I’m playing would want someone like that hanging around. It’s not worth forcing them together just because that’s the shape of the table. Let them have this discussion out and in character. If they want this klepto in, they can make them effort to have the thief released. Otherwise, the table has spoken, and ask the player to have a new character ready.
Noone wants to hang around with some stranger who steals your stuff.. I think the kleptomaniac character is a bit to extreme and makes it a bit to hard to work as a group and should turn it down a notch or two. All players really have a responsibility to help by making their character work in a group.
The Nott Character in critical role is also stealing stuff but not all the time and everything.
I believe this is not a problem for the DM to sort out.
We already have so much to worry about. The DM's job is not to tell the players what the characters are going to do.
Unless the goal of your game is to tell the players a story that they are sometimes allowed to participate in, then their decisions should be the driving force of the campaign. And if they have a weak link in the party and suffer a TPK because of it, it will make them better players.
Conflict resolution is a major part of the game/experience (and stories/books/films/video games....)
The DM is there to provide problems not solutions.
Now if I was a player at your table, I would be interested in seeing how this character dealt with discovering his set of thieves tools had gone missing at a crucial moment....
Roleplaying since Runequest.
The_Plundered_Tombs has it right.
Character on Character conflicts are not the DM's job to sort out - unless and until they become player-on-player conflicts.
I would - however - keep an eye on your table to make sure that it doesn't start slipping into a player conflict.
If you had a totally sarcastic, adversarial, mistrusting, backstabbing party - and all the players ( including you! ) are having fun and no one is unhappy or taking it personally - then you still have a functional game.
Maybe not to my tastes, but still a functional game ;)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Well, I'm hoping that the incarceration of the character will keep his kleptomacy in check. i'll talk to the player as well so he knows that stealing stuff all the time will just keep him in jail and as a loner. Nobody in the group really seemed to enjoy his stealing habit, so i hope the group will give him another chance. I just hope the player takes it and learns from his behaviour. I don't like meddling with the decisions the players take, but i do hope he realises he needs the group to achieve anything.
It probably shouldn't. If it does, he wasn't a kleptomaniac in the first place, just a jerk. (The Character, not the player!)
"Have you tried not being a mutant?" - X-Men [something]
Roleplaying since Runequest.
Your next session should require stealing stuff. Hence the party will think of "hiring" him for his services. Once they've worked together and bonded a bit, the group and the klepto can work on his itchy fingers.