Sooooo I played my first game of dnd in years this year and it finished up, so I did what every reasonable person would do and said let me DM the next one. Not only let me DM but im creating my own world and story.... yaay for over achieving. Anyway, big story lore wise everything looks and feels like its going to work really well and feedback from session 1 everyone wanted to keep going so thats a positive. The issue is one of the player' characters, kind of a primidone diva bard which was not the way i was told they were going to play them. So threw me for a loop first combat encounter they kept skipping their turn and RPing" im trying to finish my set here". Eventually starts combat once wave 2 hits, okay fine wasnt expecting that but fine.
Well fast forward the party group has been put in the dungeon for the night from a zealot priest trying to get the kings ear. Accusations are being made about them but the king is also hearing other reports they were instrumental in helping save the city the night before. King basically says "I can either make an example out of you because I need someone to blame for this (and two of the people from the party being from a region that is not friendly works will for this) or you work for me to get the information I need." So everyone in the party says yes except the bard who gets all snarky "im a love not a figher baby im not working for you" So i give a subtle warning king snaps his fingers guards come in closer halberds at the neck. Give them another warning, they get snarky back so I have a guard punch them in the gut they collapse halberd is finally at their neck. Player finally is like fine ill doo it.
Im really curious how would you handle if they had kept being all yeah im not helping you go #*#* yourself. In session 0 a big big point i mentioned was alliances in this world matter, and actions will have consequenes with different factions. We have one player, not this one ironically enough, that last game just picked a fight with everyone didnt care about repercussions. Warned him, he picks fights with the wrong people or scenario it is not a given im givng him a get of jail free card, and that sentiment was expressed to everyone.
My thought process is even from a story telling perspective you talk to a king like that you are dead, or at the least in a dungeon the rest of the game. Just curious how any of you that have DMd for a long time would handle that. I will say he already did message me after game and said sorry he took it a little to far so I may have made the point well enough.
This kind of thing calls for about of character conversation. Sounds like the player is already realizing their mistake and hopefully will head in the right direction. But you might urge them to remember that this is a group game. While they should play their character how they like, there’s kind of an understanding that there are limits, and they need to keep other people in mind. Like not joining a fight, for example, I’d ask them about that. Balancing combat can be tricky, and you need to know how many PCs are actually going to be participating. And the king business, sure they can get a bit snarky, but don’t take it to the place where they’re becoming the main character. They’re part of a team, they should act like it.
I know it’s suppose to be open world with open choices, but part of the responsibility as a player is to bite down on the adventure hook. You need to sit down with the player and explain what problems you are having with them. Another option might be to share a video of some group like the Dungeon Dudes explaining this.
I’ll echo the others that you need to have a chat with them out of game, probably in private. Whilst the selling point of D&D is often presented as “you can do anything” the truth is that players need to create characters that want to be part of the adventure otherwise what’s the point? Avoiding combat, not biting on an obvious plot hook, inevitably the dreaded “it’s what my character would do” is no good to anyone. Point out to them as well that as DM you’re putting in a lot more work than they are and it’s frankly insulting to you that they tried to disrupt it
It's not the job of the Dungeon Master to plead and beg, or bribe a player to have their character participate. It's the player's job to find reasons for why they would choose to adventure, and choose to adventure with this group. If they cannot do that, they either make a character who DOES have a reason, or they find a new game.
One way this could have worked is if the King just didn't take the bard's sass seriously. The rest of the party is in line it seems, so the bard starts talking back and the king just dismisses it: "I already have one court jester and I don't need another" kind of response.
If the bard keeps mouthing off, just have the king ignore them and, as if he was talking about a child to their parent, turn to the rest of the party and say "and if you want to keep your feet out of the flames, keep this one (motion to the bard) on their best behavior."
As the others have mentioned above, you shouldn't try to "deal with" this kind of thing in-game that will just lead to the other players resenting that one player for getting them punished. This is an out-of-game conversation. It is the job of the players to make characters who want to adventure, if a character doesn't want to adventure for whatever reason, they leave the party and that player has to make a new character. Having a character just refuse to participate is frustrating for everyone else involved and will ruin the narrative since not every quest is going to be a "do this or die" type situation.
Sooooo I played my first game of dnd in years this year and it finished up, so I did what every reasonable person would do and said let me DM the next one. Not only let me DM but im creating my own world and story.... yaay for over achieving. Anyway, big story lore wise everything looks and feels like its going to work really well and feedback from session 1 everyone wanted to keep going so thats a positive. The issue is one of the player' characters, kind of a primidone diva bard which was not the way i was told they were going to play them. So threw me for a loop first combat encounter they kept skipping their turn and RPing" im trying to finish my set here". Eventually starts combat once wave 2 hits, okay fine wasnt expecting that but fine.
Well fast forward the party group has been put in the dungeon for the night from a zealot priest trying to get the kings ear. Accusations are being made about them but the king is also hearing other reports they were instrumental in helping save the city the night before. King basically says "I can either make an example out of you because I need someone to blame for this (and two of the people from the party being from a region that is not friendly works will for this) or you work for me to get the information I need." So everyone in the party says yes except the bard who gets all snarky "im a love not a figher baby im not working for you" So i give a subtle warning king snaps his fingers guards come in closer halberds at the neck. Give them another warning, they get snarky back so I have a guard punch them in the gut they collapse halberd is finally at their neck. Player finally is like fine ill doo it.
Im really curious how would you handle if they had kept being all yeah im not helping you go #*#* yourself. In session 0 a big big point i mentioned was alliances in this world matter, and actions will have consequenes with different factions. We have one player, not this one ironically enough, that last game just picked a fight with everyone didnt care about repercussions. Warned him, he picks fights with the wrong people or scenario it is not a given im givng him a get of jail free card, and that sentiment was expressed to everyone.
My thought process is even from a story telling perspective you talk to a king like that you are dead, or at the least in a dungeon the rest of the game. Just curious how any of you that have DMd for a long time would handle that. I will say he already did message me after game and said sorry he took it a little to far so I may have made the point well enough.
This kind of thing calls for about of character conversation. Sounds like the player is already realizing their mistake and hopefully will head in the right direction.
But you might urge them to remember that this is a group game. While they should play their character how they like, there’s kind of an understanding that there are limits, and they need to keep other people in mind.
Like not joining a fight, for example, I’d ask them about that. Balancing combat can be tricky, and you need to know how many PCs are actually going to be participating.
And the king business, sure they can get a bit snarky, but don’t take it to the place where they’re becoming the main character. They’re part of a team, they should act like it.
I know it’s suppose to be open world with open choices, but part of the responsibility as a player is to bite down on the adventure hook. You need to sit down with the player and explain what problems you are having with them. Another option might be to share a video of some group like the Dungeon Dudes explaining this.
I’ll echo the others that you need to have a chat with them out of game, probably in private. Whilst the selling point of D&D is often presented as “you can do anything” the truth is that players need to create characters that want to be part of the adventure otherwise what’s the point? Avoiding combat, not biting on an obvious plot hook, inevitably the dreaded “it’s what my character would do” is no good to anyone. Point out to them as well that as DM you’re putting in a lot more work than they are and it’s frankly insulting to you that they tried to disrupt it
It's not the job of the Dungeon Master to plead and beg, or bribe a player to have their character participate. It's the player's job to find reasons for why they would choose to adventure, and choose to adventure with this group. If they cannot do that, they either make a character who DOES have a reason, or they find a new game.
One way this could have worked is if the King just didn't take the bard's sass seriously. The rest of the party is in line it seems, so the bard starts talking back and the king just dismisses it: "I already have one court jester and I don't need another" kind of response.
If the bard keeps mouthing off, just have the king ignore them and, as if he was talking about a child to their parent, turn to the rest of the party and say "and if you want to keep your feet out of the flames, keep this one (motion to the bard) on their best behavior."
As the others have mentioned above, you shouldn't try to "deal with" this kind of thing in-game that will just lead to the other players resenting that one player for getting them punished. This is an out-of-game conversation. It is the job of the players to make characters who want to adventure, if a character doesn't want to adventure for whatever reason, they leave the party and that player has to make a new character. Having a character just refuse to participate is frustrating for everyone else involved and will ruin the narrative since not every quest is going to be a "do this or die" type situation.