Help with a Problem (VtR, Dark Ages)

[Kesnit]

I just took over ST-ing my groups normal nWoD game. (Our normal ST, my fiancee, wanted to play.) I have run very few games, and never run WoD. But I've played in several WoD games, have my fiancee to help me, and our group are all friends.

Last night was our first actual game. (The first game was just character creation.) I admit, my first mistake was allowing the players to take any clan and covenant (except Carthians, which did not exist. Technically, the Ordo didn't either, but it's close enough to their creation that I allowed them.) In hindsight, I should have said everyone had to be Invictius.

The game started, I laid out the plot, and the players ran with it. Except they didn't run together. My fiancee, S, and one guy, J, are both playing Gangrel. They worked together fine. The problem is F's character.

F is a great guy, very funny, and really gets into character. Sadly, however, he tends to play joking, over-the-top characters. (In our last VtR game, set in Ancient Rome, he played a snooty noble. In our D&D game, he played a prissy caster.) In my game, he is playing a pushy "Church Lady (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Lady)" type. Since he is a member of the Lancea Santum, this is a perfectly valid concept. Sadly, though, rather than taking it seriously, his character is a joke. In-character, none of the others have any reason to want to work with him, and he came very close to a breach of the Masqurade last night. (The only reason he didn't was because I asked him if he REALLY wanted to use a power overly on a mortal.) S told F bluntly that if he followed through, her character would kill his because of the risk to all of them from the breach. (This being WoD, and given the justification, I would have let her. J's character probably would have helped.)

(We had 1 other player last night, B, who had never played WoD before. He struggled because his character didn't want to be with F's, but he couldn't transform into an animal like S and J.)

I know I need to talk to F to ask him to tone down his act. But I'm not sure how to do that without risking offending him. I also don't want him to change his character concept (sanctimonious Lance is fine); I just need him to take the character seriously.

[Nerd-o-rama]

My suggestion would be to tell the player that you don't want him to change his character concept; you just need him to take the character seriously.

[Reluctance]

Give him places where he can be over-the-top to get it out of his system. Some players just want to be silly and over the top. Toss F a scene every now and then where his antics can keep him firmly (yet safely) in the spotlight, so he's not tempted to commandeer other scenes.

After you've met him halfway, see what happens. If he doesn't step over other characters' spotlight time, everybody wins. (At least I hope so. If S and J try to keep the game their pet project, that's its own problem.) If F keeps spilling silliness everywhere, it's one of two things. Either he's an attention hog (sticky situation to deal with), or he's there's a tone mismatch amongst your players. Either bring things back to the drawing board and discuss things like mood and theme, or realize that there are player taste differences that will be difficult to bridge.

[The_Jackal]

Take him aside and ask him if he's here to play with the group or just grief you personally as the GM. Because it sounds like the latter is the case.

[Need_A_Life]

Have a talk with the player and explain that his current antics are ruining the mood, if you think it's gone on long enough. However...

He may just think that he's playing the odd man of the group, rather than the crazy guy who will be mercy-killed soon enough.

Also, breaking the Masquerade need not be out-of-character. I can think of plenty of characters I've played who've skirted the edge of that and even one who threatened to expose a vampire to a group of hunters (I was bluffing, but my point got through).

Everyone has a playstyle, whether we like to acknowledge it or not, and his seems to be a "better-than-thou" parody, which is very valid. If the player understands that people will not stand for his characters behaviour, but persists, then let his surroundings react like they would.

Maybe he's killed by the Invictus?
Maybe his home "accidentally" catches fire just after sun-up?
Maybe he's subjected to the Vinculum and some supernatural social mojo to keep him in line?
Maybe he's exiled from the city?
Maybe he's caught, not by vampires, but by a camera/eyewitness (depending on time period) and sparks a (new) Inquisition against the creatures of the dark?


Good gaming!

[battleburn]

Tell the players, and especially the problem player to read below article about making tough decisions from Rich on this site:
http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html

Basically all players must find a reason to work together. If they decide that they want to kill each other because that is part of their character, 9 out of 10 times this is avoidable. It is their task to find ways to cooperate. This is especially valid for a game like vampire where characters are individualists. It also helps if the plot forces them to work together of course. For the problem character this means also that she will have to adapt her situation in order to survive. Make the player understand that the character has to adapt her behaviour. How else will she survive with all the powerful vampires, the hunters and the angry human mob trying to wipe out your little cotery.

A player must not just think how would my character ideally react in this circumstance, but how would she really react given the whole situation with all its problems. Even if the player decides the character would behave badly at that moment, he should still think that in order for the game to progress and to be fun, he should make concessions.

- Battleburn