Player VS Player Roleplaying

[MidgetMarine]

Hey, GitP forum browsers. During a rather productive session in my 3.5e dnd campaign, a while back, my group ventured deep into the tomb of my character (Dwarf fighter/deep sentinel)'s father. the group proceeded to clear the tomb of undead and various baddies. The quest ended with a nice final goodbye from my dwarf to his father, whose magically protected body lies in the final tomb (the enchantment in basically an unaging version of Ungent of timelessness) However, as we left the room, our group's halfling rogue swiped the helm of my dwarf's father off of his head. (it's worth a few hundred K) This incident was known to me but of course, not to my character. the halfling has been trying to pawn it off on the black market since. Last session, however, my dwarf unwittingly opened the secret compartment in the halfling's room. (no player knowledge, DM decision) and found his father's helm. This was followed by probably the best RPing my group has had. My dwarf struggling to get his hands on the halfling, held back only my the dwarven monk and his polar bear (long story). But long story short, my dwarf swore an oath to never again protect the halfling. So i was wondering two things: 1) how do you think i should follow up that oath? and 2) what sort of PvP roleplaying have you experienced and what do you think of the idea of PvP roleplaying?

-Midget

[INoKnowNames]

The first part sounds a bit... much for me to comment on, so I'll only really speak on the second question.

PVP Roleplaying / Fighting should be completely consential. When it comes about randomly, it should be ensured that there's absolutely no anamosity between the actual players, just the characters. If anything, such encounters are better off almost planned, in my opinion. Anything else is usually very bad for the game, and I personally don't condone it.

Granted, that doesn't seem to be the case in your situation, so hope you guys have fun with it. What's the allignment of the two in question, if you don't mind me asking? Not sure whether or not it would be in character to leave the halfling dead, or if he needed help to abandon him, or not.

[Grail]

Yeah, you should totally give him a dirt nap.

PvP can be great, it can also be divisive. Saying that, the player of the halfling must have known what the risks were.

I've played in plenty of games where there has been PvP. As a DM, I actively promote some kind of conflict between characters (it doesn't always have to be violent, lethal conflict), to the point that I will often give opposing goals to different characters.

If the players are mature enough to handle PvP, it can be amazing. If they're not, then just steal the helm back and give a warning that stealing from your family is the same as stealing from you, and that you will not condone it.

If the warning goes unheeded, then hire an NPC thief to steal everything of value from the PC and his relatives, and use it to buy back your fathers helm. (Granted, this is still PvP, but it's just sneaky, underhanded PvP).

[MidgetMarine]

Oh no, Grail, i think i might have misrepresented the situation. The helm is still there and has been returned to his tomb but the dwarf still takes this as an extreme offense. But yes, this was agreed upon, the DM warned him, that if he took the helm, i had open season.

[Grail]

@MidgetMarine, you may well have represented yourself clearly... I'm just elbows deep in non-standard laptop reimaging, and staff that don't listen to me and then get all freaked out when things aren't working properly for them.

Ok, if the Helm is back where it belongs I'd lay down the law to the Halfling that he has offended you and your ancestors. That from now on, you are allies in name only and that he will need to earn your respect again and thus atone for his crimes against your kin.

If he doesn't take that on board, you owe him nothing. Hell, until he does, you owe him nothing. Put the onus back on him to make amends.

Perfectly acceptable IMO, and should lead to some great RP'ing.

Best of luck.

[MidgetMarine]

i think i might do some cold shoulder behavior but only because the halfling (first timer) is a brilliant roleplayer for his experience.

[CheeseMerchant]

Hello,

Let me say that I find PvP RP to be one of the most rewarding things you can do within a RPG (regardless of system). That said, there are a couple of guidelines that will likely help you get the most from this experience.

1) Characters may conflict, players should not. In other words, keep the conflict in character.

2) Keep open communication. To use your Oath as an example, it might be beneficial to talk it over with the other player and work on a mutual agreement as to how that in character action will develop over the course of the story.

3) Mind the big picture. Discourage an environment where PvP is about "winning" and foster the idea that the players should be working together in order to create the greatest fun for the greatest number. Sometimes that means your character is going to suffer a setback, but that is just an excuse to rise above it. More importantly, don't let the PvP dominate the game unless each and every player is invested in it.

Hope that helps.

Thanks.

[Grail]

1) Characters may conflict, players should not. In other words, keep the conflict in character.


This x100000
I have known of players to get very upset if it all goes wrong.

[MidgetMarine]

Oh yes, i completely agree. the DM is quite enjoying this and actually is planning something around it. Not sure how that'll go. But me and the rogue have talked at it's all been worked out. But i'd still like to hear stories of other peoples' PvP RP

[Kol Korran]

well. i think character vs character conflict can be great if
1) the players are mature enough to separate them from themselves. (as had been mentioned)
2) understand that bad things might happen to their characters, even from the hands of others.
3) most importantly- they use this as ways of improving the game, it's fun and it's situations, like watching characters in a show.

if you come to think about it- most of the better TV shows have quite a bit of inter party conflict, but very few people actually die from it. start fights? maybe (depends on the genre of the show), but usually the conflict is resolved (or extended) through other sort of maneuvering.

in your case for example, your dwarf might try to kill the halfling, but that is kinda BORING. but, what if he might do something of this sort:
- make some scheme to shame the halfling to his clan/ guild/ family/ members?
- make him accused (and actively persecuted) for a crime he didn't commit (and that might even disgust the halfling, having it be tied to his name)
- going by your oath to not protect him, you might arrange a situation in which he needs your protection, but gets clobbered while you watch at the side, only to be rescued at the last moment (or after falling unconcious) reviving him, saying something like. "steal from me or my relatives again, i won't save your sorry little ass, got it?"

and so on...

as to my group? my current group and adventure is built around inter party conflict. quite hilarious, quite good actually. one party memeber is a sort of a Belkar character, another is a gnome hiding mage in a world were arcane magic users are persecuted, and i play an ex member of the main persecuting organization (also sort of a law authority).

we built our characters to clash, and clash they have. if you're interested, read my adventure log "it began with a crash" in my sig. it gives more vivid examples.