I am a new DM. I play with 7 players all of which have varying experience with D&D. One of the players feels that D&D is a game to win and his version of winning is finishing the campaign. This involves rushing the story along (or just saying "give me a condensed version of what the npc is telling us.") Constantly getting frustrated when an NPC is purposely deceiving them. He also tends to bring out of game frustrations into the game. After a certain point of rushing the campaign along we hit a point where I have not planned to be at for the week all while he is on his phone watching sports and telling me to hurry it up. (I spend a good 40 hours a week planning a whole session only for all my planned stuff to be rushed through within the first 3 hours and we play for 6.) I have already had to retcon a few deaths because of his complaining yet he is very willing to have a tpk as long as he dies last. He also loves rolling the dice in his dice box and bluffing the rolls I know this as he thinks he is sneaky but he is not.
TLDR: I have a problem player who breaks rules and rushes my campaign ahead and I don't know what to do.
Oh my. This sounds like a very difficult situation to be in, but I think you can solve it.
First, talk to him. Try not to sound angry or accusatory, but call him out on his behavior and ask him to stop. Remind him it's not a video game. Maybe, just maybe, he'll listen.
Next, don't let him push you around. Even if he claims he'll improve, chances are he won't turn it around right away or at all. So, as difficult as it is, stop rushing the game and retconning deaths in order to please him. Remember, other players are probably just as hurt by his behavior as you are, so try not to enable that.
Then talk to the other players. Let them know (assuming he hasn't shaped up) that you'll be kicking him from the group and why. If everyone is friends or there's another reason they might not agree, start with the player you're most convinced will support you and work from there, so you can drop the "I talked to Jack and Jill already and they agreed" line...peer pressure for a good cause.
Then kick him. Yes, even if he's your friend, it's okay to do this. If the guy's a real ass, he may hate you for it, but it's better to have no friend than a "friend" like that. And the other players will probably be grateful.
Thank you. Your help is greatly appreciated. I had already talked with everyone else and they brought in their side of it as well. A majority of the group is okay with kicking them the sad part is is that if we kick him his wife won't be able to play. (She is a great player) but thank you again. I might kick him if he doesn't shape up.
Sounds like you and he have different expectations of the game. I'd have a discussion with him about the type of game you'd like, and if he's not willing to play that type of game he needs to perhaps find a different group. Maybe he'd like to DM a game of his own that you can play in?
What type of game are you running? 40 hours of prep for a 6 hour session seems like a lot of content compared to my games, but I tend to just have a bunch of rough ideas and wing it at the table. So not a lot of exposition, I'm playing a game starring the players, not writing a book.
I run a standard homebrew 5e D&D game. The reason I have so much prep is because each session has a mini boss at the end of it. So I know this will sound a lot like avengers but I had the idea before I even knew about the infinity stones. The players are trying to collect 10 orbs of power. All of which are inherently evil and cause the players to lose their minds if they touch them (con DC of 20.) The issue is is they are held onto by the minions of the big bad who is trying to collect them to recreate the real they are on. So there is a lot of lore that I have to work up and have ready as well as I have a very chaotic evil pc who does what ever he wants so I have to kind of plan for the misadventures he has. I also tend to plan an excess of sidequests and dungeons the party can explore for better loot. That's why I take that much time to plan the session is I am constantly having to world build so that each new area the group visits is a cardboard cutout. I want him to be a dm as well and he is down with it and each time I say "hey I am not feeling up to dm next session could you dm?" He is fine with it. But then the day comes and he has nothing planned and bails on dming.
1. 40 hours a week is WAY too much. It's not a job, and it will burn you out of DnD, work, school, and relationships if you keep it up. 40 hours to setup a campaign world, couple of main plotlines and a general flow of events is fine. After that, you never need to prepare for more than eight encounters in any given session, and if you are putting in more than an hour per encounter you are overthinking it. Think of it this way, when the session begins, the party is in the middle of a grid, they cannot travel diagonally. So for them to get out of that square they have AT MOST 4 choices, the way they came (you already have this from the previous week), forward along your main plotline, off to one side to a current or pending side plot, or off to the other side for a one-shot side adventure chain. Both of the side tracks should have a path to get back to the main plot "forward square". The pre-planned/pending side plot will be longer and have the opportunity for some side one-shots off it, but guess what, those will be the same one-shot side adventure you already planned. The side adventure should be a simple 5 encounter plan with 7-8 "areas" in which the encounters can happen. Don't be afraid of empty rooms/areas.
2. The player is being outright rude. Ask him to leave the room if he wants to "watch sports" or anything else which is not conductive to the game.
3. Why did you allow a CE character? They want to go off alone and do stuff, fine, kill them off. Problem solved.
4. No retcon, have a new band of characters take up the flag, with warnings of failure from previous parties. Save scumming is bad enough in CPRG's really don't need that mindset to infect tabletop.
The CE charecter is the actual BBEG in my campaign. He plays a CE barbarian minatour (who is extremely dumb. 4 and 5 in intelligence and wisdom.) So him wondering off is him playing his charecter. And okay I didn't really know how long to plan so I just would plan a bunch and set it up so that I had fall back plans for weeks I wasnt able to plan for.
Thank you for the planning tips as well. That means a lot to me that you are willing to give me those pointers.
In addition to thinking about what happens at the start of the next session, I also brainstorm some situations while I have spare time and at most write a one sentence description of that situation. These are the encounters that I pull out of my hat when the characters go somewhere I didn't expect - I throw that at them and that generally buys me enough time that the session ends. Then for the next session I prep again for what happens when we start, and brainstorm some more ideas to have on hand. After a few sessions I have dozens of things I can use at a moments notice with only a little modification to fit the current situation.
If you want to be more prepared than that, you can also flesh out one of those ideas during your prep to something more substantial. Try to cover various situations - encounters on the road, on the streets of a town, in a tavern, etc. They don't have to be related to the campaign at all, and can even give your world a bit of life outside of the plot arc.
This person plays on their phone, cheats on the dice rolls, tells you, the DM to hurry up, and complains?
Kick him to the curb. In my opinion this person doesn't care about the game, the work you put in as a DM or the other players.
As DMs we have a lot invested in the game so that the players and ourselves, can enjoy our hard work. If someone can't appreciate that they don't deserve to be a part of it.
Plenty of people in the world that would love to be able to play but can't find a game.
The person you're speaking of would not get invited to any further sessions. I'd have a chat in private with the player before the session and see what happens. If any of it happens again after that the end of the session would be that person's last.
Just a simple thanks for trying out the campaign but i don't think this is the game for you. Wish ya well and have a good evening.
Really difficult to reconcile the fact that this guy apparently has a wife, when you're clearly describing a child.
It's clear that the game you're running and this player are simply incompatible. You should follow the above advice regarding politely not inviting him back. The game will be better for it, and you'll be a lot happier.
The CE charecter is the actual BBEG in my campaign. He plays a CE barbarian minatour (who is extremely dumb. 4 and 5 in intelligence and wisdom.) So him wondering off is him playing his charecter. And okay I didn't really know how long to plan so I just would plan a bunch and set it up so that I had fall back plans for weeks I wasnt able to plan for.
Thank you for the planning tips as well. That means a lot to me that you are willing to give me those pointers.
You might have bitten off too much with a PC being the BBEG. I've been in more than one group which that "mechanic" ended the group sessions. When the vast majority of the group thinks and plays as a "group game", that betrayal from within really takes a toll on the psyche of the group as a whole and that trust between players becomes almost impossible to rebuild after it has been violated to that extent. (Having a PC as a minor villain or obstacle is much more survivable to the group as a whole)
To flesh out planning a tad more, here is a sample of a campaign start:
0. Layout world concept, theme of setting, DM to Player expectations and vise versa, and character creation, making sure to tie the characters to the world and each other in some way. DM needs to go into this with some flex in overall plans. If DM was planning to do Epic Fantasy (LoTR) and the group really wants Sword and Sorcery (Conan or even The Hobbit) (or vice versa) there are going to need to be some adjustments. It is this session where the DM will get most of the medium term goals.- 1. McGuffin time. Something/Someone gets stolen/is missing and the party is needed to help... They adventure for adventures sake and end up at your starting base of operations location (might be where the whole thing started, might not) This is a classic short term goal. As is typical five encounter adventure. Risk/Reward can vary, but should be directly related. 2. From here, HOOKS should be utilized to "suggest" to the players what is where, and maybe even which way they "should" go. a) North is the main plotline and multiple HOOKS will lead that way. b) East will lead to a short side quest which will lead/intro to the alternate plot which will be a medium term plot used to intermingle with the main plot to make sure it doesn't get too stale or "railroaded" and also help with passage of time due to travel reasons. c) West will simply be an alternate path to the main plot line. (Or if ambitious a whole different plotline. Thus allowing two groups to operate out of the same base of operations and not interfere with one another, or for back to back campaigns with same group where they will know the initial area well, but get taken in a different direction) d) South will be another short term goal. Perhaps the town/fort/hamlet/guild needs help with a situation that way. 3. Let the party progress through that, try always having a short term offshoot branch regardless of which "direction" they go. Once the characters hit Heroic Tier, your West option can now become Medium Plot paths which will be based upon the Character's goals/desires/fulfilling motivations or solving a mystery of their past. This can continue through the rest of the tiers. Once the DM does one, most players will be GUSHING with ideas and hooks to give the DM to get their own "side quest story arc" 4) Rinse and repeat until your main plotline is resolved or TPK. Decide where to go from there might result in another session 0, or maybe the alternate plot still needs resolving.
Using published adventures as a guideline is not a bad idea for DM's who don't want to have to build everything out, something like Mines and/or Icepeak to start in an area, and then have PotA for one direction, ToA for another, CoS for alternate plotline, and have TotYP for some character side quest "vault".
I have just recently gotten to the point where the players are expecting another betrayal to happen from a PC as in our last campaign (I wasn't dm.) A player was bailing and not coming back so he turned on the party which made it seem like the dm planned it. I know I don't want to do that anymore I have learned my lesson. I have also been very scared to railroad my players as I know it's not fun for anyone.
Also I might need a little more help with a big part of the game. My players have come to expect little roleplay. (As problem player shuts it down and tries to "progress the story") once he is gone how would I incorporate it back into the game? It's sad in my eyes that we don't roleplay in a ttrpg.... we have played without him before and we have had major charecter development in one day sessions than he has the past 9 months we have been playing.
Sorry I don't mean to rant about him I just was trying to shed some light on a few issues I had seen and thought it would help in any way.
I am a new DM. I play with 7 players all of which have varying experience with D&D. One of the players feels that D&D is a game to win and his version of winning is finishing the campaign. This involves rushing the story along (or just saying "give me a condensed version of what the npc is telling us.") Constantly getting frustrated when an NPC is purposely deceiving them. He also tends to bring out of game frustrations into the game. After a certain point of rushing the campaign along we hit a point where I have not planned to be at for the week all while he is on his phone watching sports and telling me to hurry it up. (I spend a good 40 hours a week planning a whole session only for all my planned stuff to be rushed through within the first 3 hours and we play for 6.) I have already had to retcon a few deaths because of his complaining yet he is very willing to have a tpk as long as he dies last. He also loves rolling the dice in his dice box and bluffing the rolls I know this as he thinks he is sneaky but he is not.
TLDR: I have a problem player who breaks rules and rushes my campaign ahead and I don't know what to do.
I would have a strange urge to troll this player. By having some wild magic surges in the world create a “groundhogs day” effect. To where if my session gets sped up more so than I feel or want or am prepared for. All of a sudden. At a long rest. People find themselves in the spot they long-rested at before this. And the day repeats.
The easiest way to encourage some roleplay is to create a situation where it's rewarded.
Like, maybe players are supposed to go to Dungeon X in a barrow. There's a nearby village, and villagers have plenty of tales about the dungeon. So maybe if they talk to the little boy they'll know that from his treehouse, he can see there's a cave-in on top of the barrow and that might maybe an easier way in than the front door. Maybe if they talk to the priest, they''ll learn that he occasionally sees skeletons around, and if the pcs promise to get rid of the source of the problem he gives you some holy water (and as DM sure to make somewhere in the dungeon have an encounter where a clever use of holy water actually helps a lot - by default it's actually kind of poor). Maybe if they talk to the thieves' guild, they learn that there's legends of some treasure (and these legends have some relevant hint about how to find the treasure in the dungeon - maybe there's gonna be some statue they need to know to break open, or a riddle). Maybe the thieves demand a price for the knowledge (but maybe they can be intimidated, or maybe the players can secretly turn the thieves in to the local guard and then offer them their freedom in exchange for the legends, etc etc etc.). Stuff like that. Make the NPCs have different needs - maybe the boy would just be willing to talk to anybody who asks him questions nicely and talks to him like an adult instead of talking down to him, but the thieves are slow to trust and the players probably have to prove they're not cops somehow, or impress them with a display of power, or whatever.
Or maybe the players will chat up some random guard #3 that you totally didn't expect them to talk to... ...which is when you should improvise what help that guard would be able to offer, if they get his help, and quickly make up a personality and what the guard would need from the PCs.
So in effect the session would be split in two parts - first they're wandering around the village interacting with people and preparing, then the second half they go use these bonuses to clear out the dungeon easier and with more reward. (And of course make the XP reward appropriately - don't ding them on XP if they use the RP to get around challenges rather than walking in and stabbing.) I think most players would pretty quickly catch on to the general conceit here - "interact with NPCs, get powerups" and would dive in.
Thank you so much. That is a major help. I knew I needed to reward the players but I did not know how or what kind of reward to give. In the past 2 of my pcs roleplayed and made an actual plan before just rushing into the fight. (No one even did that prior it was just run in get surrounded and almost die. Then problem player complained about how it wasn't easy for him) so I gave the two who roleplayed between their characters a plan to over come their disadvantage in numbers inspiration which everyone's heads shot up and they all started trying to roleplay except problem player.
Don't blame yourself, this player is breaking the social contract of the TTRPG and being way out of order in their conduct. It sounds like you are doing an amazing job and that you really care about providing your players with a memorable and enjoyable campaign.
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Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
No, no, and no. That player would be gone real quick. I would have a chat with him first. Make sure that he understands everyone is there to play D&D including yourself. He needs to understand that you are also a player even as a DM, just with more on your plate. You are not there for his entertainment. Everyone is there to be entertained. Both players and DM. Yeah, I would not put up with it at all. You also have 7 players. Thats a bit much for a first timer. Hell, most run smaller groups. 3-6 I would say. I prefer 4-5 myself. When you have 6 you start to feel it. 7 and it can really start to drag along.
I am a new DM. I play with 7 players all of which have varying experience with D&D. One of the players feels that D&D is a game to win and his version of winning is finishing the campaign. This involves rushing the story along (or just saying "give me a condensed version of what the npc is telling us.") Constantly getting frustrated when an NPC is purposely deceiving them. He also tends to bring out of game frustrations into the game. After a certain point of rushing the campaign along we hit a point where I have not planned to be at for the week all while he is on his phone watching sports and telling me to hurry it up. (I spend a good 40 hours a week planning a whole session only for all my planned stuff to be rushed through within the first 3 hours and we play for 6.) I have already had to retcon a few deaths because of his complaining yet he is very willing to have a tpk as long as he dies last. He also loves rolling the dice in his dice box and bluffing the rolls I know this as he thinks he is sneaky but he is not.
TLDR: I have a problem player who breaks rules and rushes my campaign ahead and I don't know what to do.
Oh my. This sounds like a very difficult situation to be in, but I think you can solve it.
First, talk to him. Try not to sound angry or accusatory, but call him out on his behavior and ask him to stop. Remind him it's not a video game. Maybe, just maybe, he'll listen.
Next, don't let him push you around. Even if he claims he'll improve, chances are he won't turn it around right away or at all. So, as difficult as it is, stop rushing the game and retconning deaths in order to please him. Remember, other players are probably just as hurt by his behavior as you are, so try not to enable that.
Then talk to the other players. Let them know (assuming he hasn't shaped up) that you'll be kicking him from the group and why. If everyone is friends or there's another reason they might not agree, start with the player you're most convinced will support you and work from there, so you can drop the "I talked to Jack and Jill already and they agreed" line...peer pressure for a good cause.
Then kick him. Yes, even if he's your friend, it's okay to do this. If the guy's a real ass, he may hate you for it, but it's better to have no friend than a "friend" like that. And the other players will probably be grateful.
Good luck!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Thank you. Your help is greatly appreciated. I had already talked with everyone else and they brought in their side of it as well. A majority of the group is okay with kicking them the sad part is is that if we kick him his wife won't be able to play. (She is a great player) but thank you again. I might kick him if he doesn't shape up.
Sounds like you and he have different expectations of the game. I'd have a discussion with him about the type of game you'd like, and if he's not willing to play that type of game he needs to perhaps find a different group. Maybe he'd like to DM a game of his own that you can play in?
What type of game are you running? 40 hours of prep for a 6 hour session seems like a lot of content compared to my games, but I tend to just have a bunch of rough ideas and wing it at the table. So not a lot of exposition, I'm playing a game starring the players, not writing a book.
I run a standard homebrew 5e D&D game. The reason I have so much prep is because each session has a mini boss at the end of it. So I know this will sound a lot like avengers but I had the idea before I even knew about the infinity stones. The players are trying to collect 10 orbs of power. All of which are inherently evil and cause the players to lose their minds if they touch them (con DC of 20.) The issue is is they are held onto by the minions of the big bad who is trying to collect them to recreate the real they are on. So there is a lot of lore that I have to work up and have ready as well as I have a very chaotic evil pc who does what ever he wants so I have to kind of plan for the misadventures he has. I also tend to plan an excess of sidequests and dungeons the party can explore for better loot. That's why I take that much time to plan the session is I am constantly having to world build so that each new area the group visits is a cardboard cutout. I want him to be a dm as well and he is down with it and each time I say "hey I am not feeling up to dm next session could you dm?" He is fine with it. But then the day comes and he has nothing planned and bails on dming.
1. 40 hours a week is WAY too much. It's not a job, and it will burn you out of DnD, work, school, and relationships if you keep it up. 40 hours to setup a campaign world, couple of main plotlines and a general flow of events is fine. After that, you never need to prepare for more than eight encounters in any given session, and if you are putting in more than an hour per encounter you are overthinking it. Think of it this way, when the session begins, the party is in the middle of a grid, they cannot travel diagonally. So for them to get out of that square they have AT MOST 4 choices, the way they came (you already have this from the previous week), forward along your main plotline, off to one side to a current or pending side plot, or off to the other side for a one-shot side adventure chain. Both of the side tracks should have a path to get back to the main plot "forward square". The pre-planned/pending side plot will be longer and have the opportunity for some side one-shots off it, but guess what, those will be the same one-shot side adventure you already planned. The side adventure should be a simple 5 encounter plan with 7-8 "areas" in which the encounters can happen. Don't be afraid of empty rooms/areas.
2. The player is being outright rude. Ask him to leave the room if he wants to "watch sports" or anything else which is not conductive to the game.
3. Why did you allow a CE character? They want to go off alone and do stuff, fine, kill them off. Problem solved.
4. No retcon, have a new band of characters take up the flag, with warnings of failure from previous parties. Save scumming is bad enough in CPRG's really don't need that mindset to infect tabletop.
The CE charecter is the actual BBEG in my campaign. He plays a CE barbarian minatour (who is extremely dumb. 4 and 5 in intelligence and wisdom.) So him wondering off is him playing his charecter. And okay I didn't really know how long to plan so I just would plan a bunch and set it up so that I had fall back plans for weeks I wasnt able to plan for.
Thank you for the planning tips as well. That means a lot to me that you are willing to give me those pointers.
In addition to thinking about what happens at the start of the next session, I also brainstorm some situations while I have spare time and at most write a one sentence description of that situation. These are the encounters that I pull out of my hat when the characters go somewhere I didn't expect - I throw that at them and that generally buys me enough time that the session ends. Then for the next session I prep again for what happens when we start, and brainstorm some more ideas to have on hand. After a few sessions I have dozens of things I can use at a moments notice with only a little modification to fit the current situation.
If you want to be more prepared than that, you can also flesh out one of those ideas during your prep to something more substantial. Try to cover various situations - encounters on the road, on the streets of a town, in a tavern, etc. They don't have to be related to the campaign at all, and can even give your world a bit of life outside of the plot arc.
This person plays on their phone, cheats on the dice rolls, tells you, the DM to hurry up, and complains?
Kick him to the curb. In my opinion this person doesn't care about the game, the work you put in as a DM or the other players.
As DMs we have a lot invested in the game so that the players and ourselves, can enjoy our hard work. If someone can't appreciate that they don't deserve to be a part of it.
Plenty of people in the world that would love to be able to play but can't find a game.
The person you're speaking of would not get invited to any further sessions. I'd have a chat in private with the player before the session and see what happens. If any of it happens again after that the end of the session would be that person's last.
Just a simple thanks for trying out the campaign but i don't think this is the game for you. Wish ya well and have a good evening.
Really difficult to reconcile the fact that this guy apparently has a wife, when you're clearly describing a child.
It's clear that the game you're running and this player are simply incompatible. You should follow the above advice regarding politely not inviting him back. The game will be better for it, and you'll be a lot happier.
You might have bitten off too much with a PC being the BBEG. I've been in more than one group which that "mechanic" ended the group sessions. When the vast majority of the group thinks and plays as a "group game", that betrayal from within really takes a toll on the psyche of the group as a whole and that trust between players becomes almost impossible to rebuild after it has been violated to that extent. (Having a PC as a minor villain or obstacle is much more survivable to the group as a whole)
To flesh out planning a tad more, here is a sample of a campaign start:
0. Layout world concept, theme of setting, DM to Player expectations and vise versa, and character creation, making sure to tie the characters to the world and each other in some way. DM needs to go into this with some flex in overall plans. If DM was planning to do Epic Fantasy (LoTR) and the group really wants Sword and Sorcery (Conan or even The Hobbit) (or vice versa) there are going to need to be some adjustments. It is this session where the DM will get most of the medium term goals.-
1. McGuffin time. Something/Someone gets stolen/is missing and the party is needed to help... They adventure for adventures sake and end up at your starting base of operations location (might be where the whole thing started, might not) This is a classic short term goal. As is typical five encounter adventure. Risk/Reward can vary, but should be directly related.
2. From here, HOOKS should be utilized to "suggest" to the players what is where, and maybe even which way they "should" go.
a) North is the main plotline and multiple HOOKS will lead that way.
b) East will lead to a short side quest which will lead/intro to the alternate plot which will be a medium term plot used to intermingle with the main plot to make sure it doesn't get too stale or "railroaded" and also help with passage of time due to travel reasons.
c) West will simply be an alternate path to the main plot line. (Or if ambitious a whole different plotline. Thus allowing two groups to operate out of the same base of operations and not interfere with one another, or for back to back campaigns with same group where they will know the initial area well, but get taken in a different direction)
d) South will be another short term goal. Perhaps the town/fort/hamlet/guild needs help with a situation that way.
3. Let the party progress through that, try always having a short term offshoot branch regardless of which "direction" they go. Once the characters hit Heroic Tier, your West option can now become Medium Plot paths which will be based upon the Character's goals/desires/fulfilling motivations or solving a mystery of their past. This can continue through the rest of the tiers. Once the DM does one, most players will be GUSHING with ideas and hooks to give the DM to get their own "side quest story arc"
4) Rinse and repeat until your main plotline is resolved or TPK. Decide where to go from there might result in another session 0, or maybe the alternate plot still needs resolving.
Using published adventures as a guideline is not a bad idea for DM's who don't want to have to build everything out, something like Mines and/or Icepeak to start in an area, and then have PotA for one direction, ToA for another, CoS for alternate plotline, and have TotYP for some character side quest "vault".
I have just recently gotten to the point where the players are expecting another betrayal to happen from a PC as in our last campaign (I wasn't dm.) A player was bailing and not coming back so he turned on the party which made it seem like the dm planned it. I know I don't want to do that anymore I have learned my lesson. I have also been very scared to railroad my players as I know it's not fun for anyone.
Also I might need a little more help with a big part of the game. My players have come to expect little roleplay. (As problem player shuts it down and tries to "progress the story") once he is gone how would I incorporate it back into the game? It's sad in my eyes that we don't roleplay in a ttrpg.... we have played without him before and we have had major charecter development in one day sessions than he has the past 9 months we have been playing.
Sorry I don't mean to rant about him I just was trying to shed some light on a few issues I had seen and thought it would help in any way.
I would have a strange urge to troll this player. By having some wild magic surges in the world create a “groundhogs day” effect. To where if my session gets sped up more so than I feel or want or am prepared for. All of a sudden. At a long rest. People find themselves in the spot they long-rested at before this. And the day repeats.
Blank
The easiest way to encourage some roleplay is to create a situation where it's rewarded.
Like, maybe players are supposed to go to Dungeon X in a barrow. There's a nearby village, and villagers have plenty of tales about the dungeon. So maybe if they talk to the little boy they'll know that from his treehouse, he can see there's a cave-in on top of the barrow and that might maybe an easier way in than the front door. Maybe if they talk to the priest, they''ll learn that he occasionally sees skeletons around, and if the pcs promise to get rid of the source of the problem he gives you some holy water (and as DM sure to make somewhere in the dungeon have an encounter where a clever use of holy water actually helps a lot - by default it's actually kind of poor). Maybe if they talk to the thieves' guild, they learn that there's legends of some treasure (and these legends have some relevant hint about how to find the treasure in the dungeon - maybe there's gonna be some statue they need to know to break open, or a riddle). Maybe the thieves demand a price for the knowledge (but maybe they can be intimidated, or maybe the players can secretly turn the thieves in to the local guard and then offer them their freedom in exchange for the legends, etc etc etc.). Stuff like that. Make the NPCs have different needs - maybe the boy would just be willing to talk to anybody who asks him questions nicely and talks to him like an adult instead of talking down to him, but the thieves are slow to trust and the players probably have to prove they're not cops somehow, or impress them with a display of power, or whatever.
Or maybe the players will chat up some random guard #3 that you totally didn't expect them to talk to... ...which is when you should improvise what help that guard would be able to offer, if they get his help, and quickly make up a personality and what the guard would need from the PCs.
So in effect the session would be split in two parts - first they're wandering around the village interacting with people and preparing, then the second half they go use these bonuses to clear out the dungeon easier and with more reward. (And of course make the XP reward appropriately - don't ding them on XP if they use the RP to get around challenges rather than walking in and stabbing.) I think most players would pretty quickly catch on to the general conceit here - "interact with NPCs, get powerups" and would dive in.
Thank you so much. That is a major help. I knew I needed to reward the players but I did not know how or what kind of reward to give. In the past 2 of my pcs roleplayed and made an actual plan before just rushing into the fight. (No one even did that prior it was just run in get surrounded and almost die. Then problem player complained about how it wasn't easy for him) so I gave the two who roleplayed between their characters a plan to over come their disadvantage in numbers inspiration which everyone's heads shot up and they all started trying to roleplay except problem player.
Don't blame yourself, this player is breaking the social contract of the TTRPG and being way out of order in their conduct. It sounds like you are doing an amazing job and that you really care about providing your players with a memorable and enjoyable campaign.
Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
Never tell me the DC.
I do my best for them. And hope they enjoy it. Thank you for the encouragement.
No, no, and no. That player would be gone real quick. I would have a chat with him first. Make sure that he understands everyone is there to play D&D including yourself. He needs to understand that you are also a player even as a DM, just with more on your plate. You are not there for his entertainment. Everyone is there to be entertained. Both players and DM. Yeah, I would not put up with it at all. You also have 7 players. Thats a bit much for a first timer. Hell, most run smaller groups. 3-6 I would say. I prefer 4-5 myself. When you have 6 you start to feel it. 7 and it can really start to drag along.
It's amazing what finding a cursed item can do ;-)
https://www.masterthedungeon.com/dnd-5e-cursed-items/
playing since 1986