I'm a fairly new DM, been playing for years, but only DM'd a couple of games. Now my group of new players went completely against my advice and created characters way beyond the scope of their ability to play (Read: 2 mad people, druid and warlock , 2 pedophiles, barbarian and rouge, a sorcerer with a superiority complex, and a bard that play music from a magic rock, ie a smartphone, that he broke with a natural 1). And because they are trying to play these characters well, but want a fairly diverse campaign that offers chances to talk their way out of encounters etc., they end up killing everything. Neither them nor I are enjoying it, but no-one wants to remake or modify their characters.
So while I could just kill them off, I had a possibly terrible idea. They are about to arrive at a fairly large city, and I had the thought to make a beholder run mental hospital that they would be locked up in, and since they are level 3, it could be entertaining. Now, while this idea could be a good way to explain a change in character, it might be a bit much. Anyone have any thoughts on the Eye See You (sorry for the pun).
This sounds like a situation where a very important conversation that should always be had before the start of the campaign was not had - that discussion being the one where you and all the players get on the same page about what the campaign is going to be about, what sort of characters (that actually fit together and fit into the campaign) are going to be played, and what (if any) are themes/tropes/situations/behaviors that are not going to be a part of game-play.
So my advice is to have that conversation now, and making sure the players realize that their not wanting to remake or modify their characters that they are not enjoying the results of playing might continue to result in them not enjoying the campaign.
You can't force the players to change the way they play with anything in-character - but you can potentially get them to choose to change for the sake of their own enjoyment if you talk with them.
Neither them nor I are enjoying it, but no-one wants to remake or modify their characters.
I can certainly understand why you might not be enjoying the game, but I don't quite see the players' point of view here. If they wanted to make these "wild" characters, with the intention of playing them as so, then why aren't they enjoying the playing of them? It sounds like the game style is fitting what they wanted. It may be that your lack of enjoyment is actually inhibiting the style that they want to play leading to their lack of enjoyment.
Have the conversation Aaron suggests; maybe as a group you can all find ways of toning down the wilder aspects of the characters. But I think you should all be open to the possibility of starting over, depending on what comes up in the conversation.
Have to agree with the other's here: This group needed to have a Session Zero talk, and did not.
You've got aspects in your described campaign that are absolutely off the table in my game, because more than one Player indicted they're not comfortable playing with those concepts/themes - and I would be hesitant to include even if no one currently in the game objected, because it would greatly reduce the chance of being able to add any future players to the game.
You say that your players want to play their characters well ( good for them ), and went "wild" because they want a diverse campaign - you do not need chaos to ensure diversity.
What stands out for me is your phrase "Neither them nor I are enjoying it" - that's the killer right there.
You need to figure out what each Player finds fun - and what they find anti-fun - and then find those aspects which everyone has in common; that will dictate the boundaries of your campaign. Also, remember that the DM is also a player in this regard. You need to be having fun as well as the Players.
If you can find a way to channel the current chaos within those boundaries, then great! You've found your solution.
But if you can't ... it may be that this campaign needs to be put down; happens to us all at some point.
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I will run adventure in style of "legends of grimrock" computer game with a Lovecraft style nemezis.
What i will do: create encounter with over-powered gourds that characters will loose but still have some chance to kill few (play it hard, create smart police/guards)
Characters are put in the old, hunted dungeon. There is one escape from it. Go deep to the last floor and redim yourself.
You should put in this dungeon, crazy npc that almost lost their mind, maybe some cannibals monster/people tribes and some "mind eating" nemezis that will whisper to characters mind "come to me children".
Take your charakters in a drug lab and surely they will try something, because - hey, they are mad and want to have a good time. Little do they know... now the adventure is taking place in their dark and evil minds and they have to fight against their own dark fears and problems. You could simply use everything. You could let them try to solve a detective task to get to the point of the insanity of one of the characters... or simply let them roam the insane mind of themselves.
I did that once with a group in Call of Cthulhu - was great fun for all.
In my experience, whenever you have a situation where people are not enjoying the game, the solution should always start with talking it through as a group, outside of playing the game.
Start there - talk it through.
See if they can articulate what it is that they're not enjoying?
What is it that they want instead?
Facilitate this discussion, but don't impose upon them.
Once you have the answer to these questions, then as a group, you can figure out what the solutions are.
It's ok. New DM's always have this problem. Everyone else has already said it. You need a Session 0 where the ground rules are laid out, and you need to hold firm to your standards so that everyone can be comfortable with the game. For instance, I never allow **** or pedophilia in my games. I don't care how "evil" that makes their character seem, I'm simply not comfortable with it and will not adjudicate for it. These are hard boundaries that cannot be crossed if the game is to continue.
It sounds like you set soft boundaries and did nothing to enforce them, and your players, also rookies took it upon themselves to build the most vile, awful horrible characters they could come up with: also a mistake when new.
My recommendation is that you not attempt to salvage the campaign. Not for the reasons I listed, but for the one you listed.
"Neither them nor I are enjoying it..."
That's a death knell for a campaign if ever I heard one. However, if you still insist on trying to salvage the campaign, then here are a few ways to play it:
Rehabilitation is a way to go. Talk to the group and make sure they are ok with this, and are willing to play along. Everyone has to get on board or it won't work. The asylum idea isn't bad. There are also some spells, or even divine mandates that can cause adventurers to go on quests of contrition, to earn back their souls. Bare in mind, ether way you do this, the campaign is about to be strictly mounted on the rails, and things can go sour on railroaded campaigns if players don't like the restrictions.
Having them captured and executed is a way to go. Now they're in hell, and have to fight their way out, or to the top of the food chain... whichever works for them. This will give them a nice horrifying extraplanar jaunt, and a chance to fight some monsters even more vile than they are. The world will seem larger to them, giving them freedom to play true to their characters' adventurous spirit, and they can evolve their characters' personalities and alignments more naturally.
Turning them into wanted criminals with deliciously high bounties is a way to go. Now a new set of adventurers of similar level and build get to hunt down the old crew. The players don't necessarily have to roll up new characters unless they want to. Just copy the sheets, change the name and alignment and set them off on a quest from the high ranking quest giver to track down and find these defilers. Maybe have a separate reward if they're brought back dead versus being brought back alive and let the players decide what they want to do with their old characters. This could become a cross-nation, cross-world, or even cross-planar journey through multiple landscapes and city scapes, that ultimately culminates is a brutal battle royale of titanic proportions. In a sense, the old characters become the new BBEGs.
I'm just spit balling here. But those are my first three ideas. No matter what you do though, the table should agree on the next course of action. What you have is a hot mess the whole group created, so the whole group needs to help clean it up.
You could send an armed force to capture and arrest them. Build a big case against them then have an individual or organization to offer them a way out for their "services". You can use them as a suicide squad for a bit or some sort of spy mission. This could get them to reevaluate their approach.
I'm a fairly new DM, been playing for years, but only DM'd a couple of games. Now my group of new players went completely against my advice and created characters way beyond the scope of their ability to play (Read: 2 mad people, druid and warlock , 2 pedophiles, barbarian and rouge, a sorcerer with a superiority complex, and a bard that play music from a magic rock, ie a smartphone, that he broke with a natural 1). And because they are trying to play these characters well, but want a fairly diverse campaign that offers chances to talk their way out of encounters etc., they end up killing everything. Neither them nor I are enjoying it, but no-one wants to remake or modify their characters.
So while I could just kill them off, I had a possibly terrible idea. They are about to arrive at a fairly large city, and I had the thought to make a beholder run mental hospital that they would be locked up in, and since they are level 3, it could be entertaining. Now, while this idea could be a good way to explain a change in character, it might be a bit much. Anyone have any thoughts on the Eye See You (sorry for the pun).
This sounds like a situation where a very important conversation that should always be had before the start of the campaign was not had - that discussion being the one where you and all the players get on the same page about what the campaign is going to be about, what sort of characters (that actually fit together and fit into the campaign) are going to be played, and what (if any) are themes/tropes/situations/behaviors that are not going to be a part of game-play.
So my advice is to have that conversation now, and making sure the players realize that their not wanting to remake or modify their characters that they are not enjoying the results of playing might continue to result in them not enjoying the campaign.
You can't force the players to change the way they play with anything in-character - but you can potentially get them to choose to change for the sake of their own enjoyment if you talk with them.
Have to agree with the other's here: This group needed to have a Session Zero talk, and did not.
You've got aspects in your described campaign that are absolutely off the table in my game, because more than one Player indicted they're not comfortable playing with those concepts/themes - and I would be hesitant to include even if no one currently in the game objected, because it would greatly reduce the chance of being able to add any future players to the game.
You say that your players want to play their characters well ( good for them ), and went "wild" because they want a diverse campaign - you do not need chaos to ensure diversity.
What stands out for me is your phrase "Neither them nor I are enjoying it" - that's the killer right there.
You need to figure out what each Player finds fun - and what they find anti-fun - and then find those aspects which everyone has in common; that will dictate the boundaries of your campaign. Also, remember that the DM is also a player in this regard. You need to be having fun as well as the Players.
If you can find a way to channel the current chaos within those boundaries, then great! You've found your solution.
But if you can't ... it may be that this campaign needs to be put down; happens to us all at some point.
Best of luck!
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.
I will run adventure in style of "legends of grimrock" computer game with a Lovecraft style nemezis.
What i will do: create encounter with over-powered gourds that characters will loose but still have some chance to kill few (play it hard, create smart police/guards)
Characters are put in the old, hunted dungeon. There is one escape from it. Go deep to the last floor and redim yourself.
You should put in this dungeon, crazy npc that almost lost their mind, maybe some cannibals monster/people tribes and some "mind eating" nemezis that will whisper to characters mind "come to me children".
Why not play the Alice in Wonderland card?
Take your charakters in a drug lab and surely they will try something, because - hey, they are mad and want to have a good time. Little do they know... now the adventure is taking place in their dark and evil minds and they have to fight against their own dark fears and problems. You could simply use everything. You could let them try to solve a detective task to get to the point of the insanity of one of the characters... or simply let them roam the insane mind of themselves.
I did that once with a group in Call of Cthulhu - was great fun for all.
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D&D Beyond FoundersIn my experience, whenever you have a situation where people are not enjoying the game, the solution should always start with talking it through as a group, outside of playing the game.
Start there - talk it through.
See if they can articulate what it is that they're not enjoying?
What is it that they want instead?
Facilitate this discussion, but don't impose upon them.
Once you have the answer to these questions, then as a group, you can figure out what the solutions are.
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It's ok. New DM's always have this problem. Everyone else has already said it. You need a Session 0 where the ground rules are laid out, and you need to hold firm to your standards so that everyone can be comfortable with the game. For instance, I never allow **** or pedophilia in my games. I don't care how "evil" that makes their character seem, I'm simply not comfortable with it and will not adjudicate for it. These are hard boundaries that cannot be crossed if the game is to continue.
It sounds like you set soft boundaries and did nothing to enforce them, and your players, also rookies took it upon themselves to build the most vile, awful horrible characters they could come up with: also a mistake when new.
My recommendation is that you not attempt to salvage the campaign. Not for the reasons I listed, but for the one you listed.
"Neither them nor I are enjoying it..."
That's a death knell for a campaign if ever I heard one. However, if you still insist on trying to salvage the campaign, then here are a few ways to play it:
I'm just spit balling here. But those are my first three ideas. No matter what you do though, the table should agree on the next course of action. What you have is a hot mess the whole group created, so the whole group needs to help clean it up.
My DM Registry
My Campaigns:
Ibahalii Vriwhulth, the Reaper of Glory v2: IC Thread (PbP); Secrets of the Island (On Discord); Lost Mine of Phendelver (tabletop)
My Characters:
Krik-tul, Thri-kreen monk; Mme Cragmaw, Goblin Artificer; River Kuthraeann, Wood Elf Paladin
You could send an armed force to capture and arrest them. Build a big case against them then have an individual or organization to offer them a way out for their "services". You can use them as a suicide squad for a bit or some sort of spy mission. This could get them to reevaluate their approach.
In my group we rotate DM duties. So we have a periodic reset button.