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Old 07-21-2018, 01:48 PM   #31
Railstar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

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Originally Posted by David L Pulver View Post
If it's a big problem as a player, I'd recommend suggesting to the GM that he or she modify encounters so that there are multiple simultaneous problems that need solving based on the size of the player group.
Along with that, when Player A starts to do some kind of action like that, make a habit of going around the table and ask Player B, C & D "What would you like to do?" before resolving Player A's actions could also help reinforce that the world isn't standing still while Player A hogs the glory.

Someone has to keep watch. If nobody does it, and something interrupts them, well, Perception checks become that much harder for the group...
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Old 07-21-2018, 04:28 PM   #32
Tom H.
 
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

I've had experiences with similar frustrations playing in a large D&D group a while back.

If you're interested, you can jump into this thread here to see some of my posts and the discussion from several months ago:
Re: [Spoilers] Experience running ISAR and some concerns

I've had a solution that's a bit of a spin on the "talking stick" that Bruno brought up.

Each player brings a single "character card" that they can throw down into the middle of the table to indicate that they need the floor to interrupt a narrative.

These can get queued up to indicate to the GM that a player has a pending issue or request that would allow the player to backtrack the narrative if somebody else hogged it and progressed too far.

This was born out of my experience that a dominant player could relocate a party with a compliant GM before others could get protests in. The card would be an indication that some player is not in agreement with the current, forced course of action.

This has even more power than the great suggestion that a GM return to giving players turns to act, because the player can initiate it.

Of course, in a dysfunctional situation any tool can be ignored and abused.

And truth be told, I haven't been really able to see how effective this technique is as I end up hoping to play more than I actually get to. And I don't experience large groups as much.

Has anyone else tried a mechanism similar to this player interrupt card?

Last edited by Tom H.; 07-21-2018 at 04:33 PM. Reason: Punctuation
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Old 07-23-2018, 05:47 AM   #33
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
Convince them that you're perfectly willing to kill the characters if they take excessive risks. Of course, at this stage, you might have to actually kill a character to do that. But it sounds as if they're putting themselves into lethal situations; just play them out straight, with no fudging dice rolls.

Of course, to be fair, you really should tell them that you're planning to boost lethality. Surprising them would be resented, I think.
Going a little back in the evolving thread:
Yes, the GM should not spring sudden surprises like about increased lethality of a campaign.
But actions should have consequences: I go by the tactics of" 1st time warn them off, 2nd time hurt them, 3rd time gloves come off".

In my Cliffhangers campaign we've not had any fatalities. Not since we rebooted when 4th ed came out. But we did fudge the rules for Roling to Die: You only roll I've you've taken 2xHP damage during the current session. We run long adventures where people take a lot of damage, and with rarely any time to heal during the adventure.
And if people permanently lose a crippled limb, we invent some crackpot solution with experimental doctors and a Disadvantage with niggling injuries or something. Poor dice rolls should by (by itself) force a treasured character into the grave, or early retirement. Disadvantages requiring risky behavior should create tension and manageable consequences for the characters rater than destroying them.
So yes, someone with Curious or Impulsiveness is sure to kick almost any hornet's nest presented. And characters often compete to be the one doing it.
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Old 07-23-2018, 10:55 AM   #34
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

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Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
I have not yet had to institute a kindergarten-style "talking stick" rule, but I've been tempted.[...]
Now I want there to exist an official "Talking Stick" from SJG based on some kind of munchkin theme. Perhaps the stick could be somewhat pointy with a tiny munchkin character on the bottom "holding" it. Maybe it doubles as a (mechanical?) pencil (two for one - talking AND writing stick!)
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Old 07-23-2018, 11:24 AM   #35
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

I don't think I've ever seen an overconfident/impulsive player jump in without thinking and get their ass handed to them. I want to see more of that.
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Old 07-23-2018, 12:01 PM   #36
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

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I don't think I've ever seen an overconfident/impulsive player jump in without thinking and get their ass handed to them. I want to see more of that.
Yes; you should be seeing more of that. As Ultraviolet said earlier, "actions should have consequences." The consequences don't need to be fatal, but they should matter to the players. Physical punishments short of death can be useful (crippling, dismemberment, incapacitation, etc.), but they're just the tip of the iceberg. The disadvantage system gives GMs an incredible array of options with systematic mechanical effects, physical and mental. And, if the players are at all invested in the world/story, there are infinite potential narrative consequences. That's usually where I focus my efforts as a GM. If the group doesn't bring their A-game, I don't hesitate to have the journey become more challenging, have the quest fail, have the innocents die, have the adversary win, etc.
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Old 07-23-2018, 12:17 PM   #37
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

I understand it's difficult for the GM. You don't want your players to die. Then their story is over. Now you have to worry about getting their new character involved in what is happening. You don't want them injured for the entire campaign and be incapable of doing what they need to do.

But if those things don't happen to them sometimes, they won't learn and they'll never be in those situations where they have a tough, risky decision to make (my favorite part of p&p games). They'll never be afraid to engage in combat because they know the GM won't allow such harm to come to them.

I still love the writing in the vampire book. It's talking about actually falling, but it could very well be talking about risks of injury or death:

"Occasionally, characters will fall, and the fear of that occurring is essential to maintaining suspense during the game. If the players are not afraid of their character's taking damage from a fall, they will take all sorts of out-of-character risks."

Last edited by Boge; 07-23-2018 at 12:23 PM.
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Old 07-23-2018, 01:29 PM   #38
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Default Re: How do you handle players glory hogging?

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I understand it's difficult for the GM. You don't want your players to die. Then their story is over. Now you have to worry about getting their new character involved in what is happening. You don't want them injured for the entire campaign and be incapable of doing what they need to do.
If the player dies, you don't need to worry about their creating a new character, I think. (I say this largely to tease you, but I think it does hint at one of the problems of many campaigns: players who identify excessively with their characters. Some of what you describe suggests that your GM's circle may suffer from that.)

My campaigns in San Diego had very few PC deaths; I think maybe four over a quarter century. But when my players sent their characters into danger, they were on the edge of their seats—because they knew that death wasn't impossible. And that was because if they got seriously injured, I would have them roll for survival; because I had rolls take place in the open and didn't fudge them; and because I was ready to have a character survive, but suffer permanent crippling or gain a psychological disadvantage. (I still remember trooper6, in my French swashbuckling campaign, exclaiming, "Bad Leg AND Addicted to laudanum? Sweet!"—and going on to roleplay how his fencer compensated for a bad leg.)

And what if this were a special forces campaign where crippling injury meant unfitness for duty? Well, then the player has to create a new character. Players who know that this is a prospect will play less recklessly and make an effort to keep their characters alive. It's kind of like the study, back in the 1970s, where they found that drivers who had seat belts drove just that much more recklessly, roughly compensating for the decreased risk of injury by exposing themselves to more potentially injurious situations. Or, if you create the right situation, the player will have their character go ahead and risk a terrible fate, because they care about something that much—and then the choice is dramatic in a way that's not possible if they know that they're the heroes and the heroes are sure to win.
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