Need help with metagame situation

[halfdragon62]

Right, I'll cut straight into it.

I began running a homebrew horror campaign with my friends, having made what I thought had been reasonably thorough inquiries that this would be something that everyone would enjoy. One player (we will call them "One") became more obviously discontented as the game wore on as a result of miscommunication, and serious blunders on my part. Now, as a result of life's intervention, I couldn't manage running the game anymore, though thankfully another player (called "Two") opted to take the reigns, and I took a position as a player. The problem that has arisen is that One seems to be more discontented than ever, as One is now actively calling out holes in the setting, metagaming, and not really getting involved with the hooks that Two is setting up (eg. wanting to travel in the opposite direction, to a location that I hadn't put enough detail into, and literally saying "I bet you haven't written enough for this area. I want to go there"). Although it has not become a critical problem, I'm worried about how this will develop, as I feel somewhat responsible for One's discontent on account of some of my poor dming, and wondering what (if anything) I should do to amend the situation if things start to really get out of hand.

[bartman]

I like the direst approach. If you are good friends, then you can talk to him and he *shouldn't* get too offended if you speak your mind. I'm thinking something along the lines of "Dude, Stop being a ****, or if you think you can do such a better job, have at it."

[Savannah]

Is Two aware of the issues that are causing One's discontent? Have you talked to One about this? The first solution for problems like this is always to talk to the other players. I'd start by talking to One in a non-confrontational manner (and out of game time) to see if your guesses as to why s/he's upset are correct. Maybe One has some ideas of what needs to be done to fix the problem so that s/he can have fun again. One and Two really need to talk, however, as you're not the DM anymore and therefore can't control what's causing One's issues.

[halfdragon62]

Me and Two did discuss One's discontent amongst other campaign handling issues such as maps, cities, possible plots, etc. If anything, Two is more aware than I am about what is causing problems for One. One had confided to Two that they were not keen on a horror game (why One did not tell me this I'm unsure). More generally speaking, I was caught unawares in some circumstances by unexpected player actions and did not cater properly to One's character abilities and actions, and as such a lot of his actions went unrewarded, or he ended up essentially out of the game for long periods of time - In a pinch, he was lacking agency, I think. I don't know whether any of that sheds a lot of light on things or not, but thanks for the advice so far.

[myancey]

Tell "One" to stop being such an ***. Or tell him he needs to DM, and do the same to him--or take the high road and be better players than he is.

If a person in my group gives me that much crud, I would stop DMing for him until he gave it a try. It's not an easy job, but people who haven't DM'd don't always realize this.

Every DM makes blunders. It's morons like One that make DMs stop liking the job. And the people who do stick it out as DMs never get to play! Meh...

[Shadowknight12]

Kill the game. Dragging this on is not doing anyone any good.

When you've done this, you have two options:

1) Find someone to replace One and restart the game, either as a player or as a DM.

2) Start another game, one that you are all into.

Others will tell you to speak with the player and etc., so go do all that first. This is your backup plan.

[Savannah]

If One isn't willing to give Two a chance, One needs to quit the game for everyone's benefit (I'm assuming everyone else is having fun). It's clearly not fun for One and One's actions are making it not fun for everyone else. How to tell One this is tricky, however. Two would be the better person to do so than you, if Two feels the same way, as Two is the DM (and seems to have a bit of a better connection with One). Regardless of who's doing the talking, what I'd do is sit down with One outside of the game, outline what I see is the problem, and offer some solutions: 1) One could quit the game, no hard feelings, as it's clearly not his/her cup of tea. 2) One could give the game a chance and stop deliberately being a pain. 3) The DM could change some things to make it fun for One, as long as that doesn't sacrifice fun for anyone in the group. (Options 2 and 3 are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, work best together.) Then I'd ask One what they thought and if they had any suggestions for option 3, if they wanted to take that one.

Oh, one other thing, have you apologized to One about this? It might make him/her feel better about the game if you acknowledge that you weren't prepared for his/her character's abilities and you say you're sorry that you didn't do a good job handling it.