So. I’m about to begin a campaign set in the classic Forgotten Realms and my players are making their characters. I have this ONE comedy loving Deadpool fanatic who is obsessed with memes. For his character, he wants to be a mountain dwarf BARD who plays a saxophone. To make things worse, he wants to be playing jazz/pop at all times in game, playing annoying music. I normally would praise such “creativity”, but he seems to have no intention of ever playing this character seriously. Much too light-hearted for the campaign I have in mind and I’m worried that his upbeat, jovial sax-montage will shatter the dramatic atmosphere.
To complicate things, this player is my younger brother. How do deal with this?
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Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
My first suggestion is always to have a conversation with the player. If you tell him that his character is great but doesn't fit the tone you're going for, I'm sure you can get some kind of compromise. Maybe he acts silly to cover up a dark past. The kind of people who laugh to keep from crying. If he wants to be a jokester, there's really no reason to not do that. But he needs to make sure his character has a line somewhere where he goes "Ok, this is not a time to be silly." Example: Walking around town, shopping with the party. By all means, work on how exactly to get the drum drop from "In the Air Tonight" to work on saxophone. Investigating a murder scene and the corpses aren't cold yet and the widow is crying in the corner? Maybe don't play Despacito. Or if he does, hell, punish him like you would expect a professional detective would punish some ******* that just starting playing a saxophone at your crime scene.
Also remind him it's a game you play with other people. There's nothing fun about being annoyed the whole time. The occasional "I play Call me Maybe" at the tavern for some money" is fine, to me. You obviously have your own limit of silly that's different. Even interrupting the big bad would be ok in my book. "Sorry, sorry, I know you're trying to kill us, but can you say that last bit again? I have a tune I'd like to play that I think will really drive the point home for you."
The whole point of D&D is to have fun with your friends and tell a good story. If you have a player you think will make fun more difficult for everyone, tell them and figure out how you can all still have fun. Also, never forget that it may be you. Maybe you want to have a dark and serious campaign, but how do the other players feel? Do they also want the serious campaign and your brother is the odd one out? Or do they want a silly campaign and you're the odd one out. If you have a setting and tone you're trying to get and no one else knows about it or even worse doesn't want to do that, then you're not communicating well enough. Hope this helped!
It will either go really, really good, or really, really bad. Since he's your brother, you're the one in the better position to know which way it's going to fall out than we are. I would highly recommend a conversation with him, though, away from the table, to establish your intentions, and for him to establish his. If he's only doing it to be funny, and intends to actually play the game, then there should be no problem. If he's got no intentions of playing along, and is just going to be a disruptive influence, well.... you have ways to punish your little brother.
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So. I’m about to begin a campaign set in the classic Forgotten Realms and my players are making their characters. I have this ONE comedy loving Deadpool fanatic who is obsessed with memes. For his character, he wants to be a mountain dwarf BARD who plays a saxophone. To make things worse, he wants to be playing jazz/pop at all times in game, playing annoying music. I normally would praise such “creativity”, but he seems to have no intention of ever playing this character seriously. Much too light-hearted for the campaign I have in mind and I’m worried that his upbeat, jovial sax-montage will shatter the dramatic atmosphere.
To complicate things, this player is my younger brother. How do deal with this?
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
My first suggestion is always to have a conversation with the player. If you tell him that his character is great but doesn't fit the tone you're going for, I'm sure you can get some kind of compromise. Maybe he acts silly to cover up a dark past. The kind of people who laugh to keep from crying. If he wants to be a jokester, there's really no reason to not do that. But he needs to make sure his character has a line somewhere where he goes "Ok, this is not a time to be silly." Example: Walking around town, shopping with the party. By all means, work on how exactly to get the drum drop from "In the Air Tonight" to work on saxophone. Investigating a murder scene and the corpses aren't cold yet and the widow is crying in the corner? Maybe don't play Despacito. Or if he does, hell, punish him like you would expect a professional detective would punish some ******* that just starting playing a saxophone at your crime scene.
Also remind him it's a game you play with other people. There's nothing fun about being annoyed the whole time. The occasional "I play Call me Maybe" at the tavern for some money" is fine, to me. You obviously have your own limit of silly that's different. Even interrupting the big bad would be ok in my book. "Sorry, sorry, I know you're trying to kill us, but can you say that last bit again? I have a tune I'd like to play that I think will really drive the point home for you."
The whole point of D&D is to have fun with your friends and tell a good story. If you have a player you think will make fun more difficult for everyone, tell them and figure out how you can all still have fun. Also, never forget that it may be you. Maybe you want to have a dark and serious campaign, but how do the other players feel? Do they also want the serious campaign and your brother is the odd one out? Or do they want a silly campaign and you're the odd one out. If you have a setting and tone you're trying to get and no one else knows about it or even worse doesn't want to do that, then you're not communicating well enough. Hope this helped!
It will either go really, really good, or really, really bad. Since he's your brother, you're the one in the better position to know which way it's going to fall out than we are. I would highly recommend a conversation with him, though, away from the table, to establish your intentions, and for him to establish his. If he's only doing it to be funny, and intends to actually play the game, then there should be no problem. If he's got no intentions of playing along, and is just going to be a disruptive influence, well.... you have ways to punish your little brother.