players who cheat, how do you deal with them?

[Running Wolf]

On another forum someone said they have a player who will pick up a die and look at it. The player does have bad eye sight.

It got us into a discussion about how to handle such situations. The hard part of it is that usually a gaming group is also group of friends. Calling a friend a cheater can cause some bad blood.

I wondering how the hive mind here handles such situations.

Granted there are many variable situations.

[cybermancer2k1]

i had a player who cheated once. He'd quietly roll the dice while I was busy with the other players and finally stop when he got the roll he wanted. When his turn came around, he'd pretend he'd just rolled the dice. Of course, he never failed, fumbled, or missed.

The other players ratted him out. He never returned to my game, or my house. Ever.

[Running Wolf]

The peer pressure thing can actually work for most people. Cheating screws it up for the other folks at the table as well.

And most GMs are cool enough so that a series of bad dice rolls that kill a character will not ruin a night (a decent GM will try to prevent that... unless it was a matter of the player being stupid and not just lousy dice throws).

[FireTigeris]

Depending on the game-

I stop playing with that person, or make it impossible to cheat-

Long time ago I had Precentiles (a set of two D10s with 00, 10, 20 on one... and a D10 with 00, 01, 02,... on the other) and a 2 D6 that were 2 inches across each... Each die was a different high contrast color (yellow and black, black and yellow, orange and black, black and orange) - susspected cheaters were asked to use the 'big dice' as the GM (Either Karl, Corry or myself) was having trouble seeing their dice form the head of the table.

Funny- after having to use those dice for one session nobody tried it again, (and Sometimes (EX> forgotten glasses) Corry used those dice anyway because he's 1/3 blind when he's not GM)

http://www.miniongames.com/store/gia...-foam-d10.html

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by FireTigeris

Long time ago I had Precentiles (a set of two D10s with 00, 10, 20 on one... and a D10 with 00, 01, 02,... on the other) and a 2 D6 that were 2 inches across each.

<snip>

http://www.miniongames.com/store/gia...-foam-d10.html

Those giant foam dice look really cool.

[Anthony]

One rule I've seen used is 'roll the dice where everyone can see'. If that's not good enough, you have to decide whether confronting the player is worth it.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Anthony

One rule I've seen used is 'roll the dice where everyone can see'. If that's not good enough, you have to decide whether confronting the player is worth it.

This is the rule I'd use for everyone but the GM, who is still allowed to roll secret dice and can not 'cheat' in the normal sense of the word. The example of the player who rolled multiple times while the GM was busy elsewhere and stopped when he got the result he wanted - that would never happen in my play group, because if I as the GM don't see the dice roll then that roll doesn't count for gameplay purposes.

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Langy

This is the rule I'd use for everyone but the GM, who is still allowed to roll secret dice and can not 'cheat' in the normal sense of the word. The example of the player who rolled multiple times while the GM was busy elsewhere and stopped when he got the result he wanted - that would never happen in my play group, because if I as the GM don't see the dice roll then that roll doesn't count for gameplay purposes.

Yup. Someone tried that with me once and I simply said--you can't roll in advance.

The GM "no" does a lot here.

You want to use OOC knowledge? I just say no.
You want to do weirdness with die rolls? I just say no.

And if you keep doing it? It depends on the effect of the cheating.
If the cheating is just dishonorable and disrespectful to me but the other players are not having their experience ruined, then I'll disinvite you from the next campaign and not let you make a replacement character if your character dies. I'll let you finish out the campaign, but you're never getting invited back to my table.

If your cheating is bothering other players? You are disinvited from that game and you are also never coming back to my table.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Langy

This is the rule I'd use for everyone but the GM, who is still allowed to roll secret dice and can not 'cheat' in the normal sense of the word. The example of the player who rolled multiple times while the GM was busy elsewhere and stopped when he got the result he wanted - that would never happen in my play group, because if I as the GM don't see the dice roll then that roll doesn't count for gameplay purposes.

Yep. Rolls made before I say "make a <skill> roll" (whatever skill it might be) don't do anything.

[Flyndaran]

Kick out liars.
But I had a friend that upfront told me she simply cannot resist looking at others' cards if we weren't nearby. She isn't malicious. She just has zero self control in that regard.
So I think cheating's a sliding scale of severity and danger to friendship.