Advice on a player problem

[TerribleMedic]

Hello, I have been running a campaign for a group of friends for the past year or so now. This is the first time I have been a DM and for three out of my four players this is their first real experience with D&D and I have one player who is more experienced. The issue I am having is that one of my players keeps asking that the game be more like a dungeon from a Legend of Zelda game, so we tried that and it seemed pointless to me as they simply solved all the item related puzzles with spells. Now half of my group doesn't want to play with him again if we do another campaign just because of the way he plays. Any advice on how to handle this?

[andromax]

I would get with the player who is relating Zelda to d&d, one on one.. sort of have an open discussion about d&d. Tell him what it means to you, and how it is different from video games. Ask him what he wants out of his d&d experience.

See if you can get on the same page, and whether he wants to play D&D.

If he wants to play Zelda, fine, point him to a Wii. If he wants to play d&d with the rest of the group, even better. Tell the rest of the group you solved it and press forward. Deal with any more issues directly with the player, away from the others so that they don't feel like they're being ganged up on.


EDIT;
I should mention i'm completely unfamiliar with Zelda, and that if what he was trying to communicate to you originally is that "He wanted puzzles/cerebral type challenges" this can be a really fun addition to any campaign, even in combat encounters. I have used the DMs 'Book of Challenges" (it's more of a pamphlette) that I have on PDF, to incorporate that sort of thing. It can be fun. Plenty of stuff in there, and plenty of stuff you can create in general that won't be 'pointless' or 'beaten' with one spell.

[HC Rainbow]

I had a PC who joined in the middle of our D&D campaign who played too much WoW, every 10 minutes asked how to pull aggro and asked how to pop wings. Nearly threw the DMG at him.

Basically, You can always talk to the player one on one and tell him that D&D dungeons aren't supposed to be zelda dungeons, its a lot harder to make you visualize a puzzle than it is to put it on the screen.

If he REALLY needs a puzzle or two, throw in a couple riddles, throw in some campaigns where at the end they have to make a really hard choice as to who is the villian, and toy with their minds a bit. It'll be fun for you and for them.

If this continues to persist throw some dodongos and make him push a couple of blocks around, that'll get boring REALLY fast and he'll get tired of it.

[TerribleMedic]

Sorry too those who haven't played Zelda games before because my post must have been confusing. What he wants is that dungeons have in them a series of puzzles then a midboss that they defeat to win a magical item that they can use to solve puzzles in previous parts of the dungeon. Eventually it culminates in a boss fight where a mechanic from the magical item is some how incorporated in the fight. We tried it and it didn't work. Now he gets bored and he goes on his phone and he's never ready when his turn comes up in combat. I plan on talking to him about this 1v1, unfortunately knowing how stubborn he is he'll likely try to turn it against me. I don't want to bring up that the other players don't want to play with him anymore as we have all been friends since Elementary school and he would take it personally. I'll let him know that D&D isn't Zelda and that it's rude to waste my time and the other players' time with his antics. Thanks for the advice.

[Onerai]

I agree with the above posters in that you should probably have a word with said player one-on-one. The core thing he needs to understand is that in a video game there can always be "one and only one" arbitrary solution, but in D&D that isn't the case. Rogues can pick locks, rather than finding the keys. Wizards can teleport or fly past obstacles. Heck, barbarians can literally smash the walls down through brute force if magic fails.

If you still want to try making puzzle dungeons, this is entirely do-able, but needs to be approached from the point of view "why would the PCs need to solve this, rather than finding a way around it?" and "how can I make this involve all party members in a way that's fun?"

One of my favorite approaches is the extra-planar labyrinth. By having layers of a dungeon in different pocket planes, you allow the players to run around using dimension-door and passwall to solve each layer, but they eventually have to figure out how to use the artifacts that will lead them to the next one. The rogue can pick locks and disarm traps, the beatstick can take out the resident monsters, the cleric can patch people up and use turn/rebuke to control divine artifact components, and the wizard can try a new trick whenever you get stuck.

[HC Rainbow]

Sorry too those who haven't played Zelda games before because my post must have been confusing. What he wants is that dungeons have in them a series of puzzles then a midboss that they defeat to win a magical item that they can use to solve puzzles in previous parts of the dungeon. Eventually it culminates in a boss fight where a mechanic from the magical item is some how incorporated in the fight. We tried it and it didn't work. Now he gets bored and he goes on his phone and he's never ready when his turn comes up in combat. I plan on talking to him about this 1v1, unfortunately knowing how stubborn he is he'll likely try to turn it against me. I don't want to bring up that the other players don't want to play with him anymore as we have all been friends since Elementary school and he would take it personally. I'll let him know that D&D isn't Zelda and that it's rude to waste my time and the other players' time with his antics. Thanks for the advice.

I throw Midbosses in a lot of my campaigns and through that usually give them advice or knowledge on the BBEG at the end. Puzzles are just really hard to put into a D&D game with my experience seeing as they always end up as redundant or impossible.

I've had the same problems recently with PCs being on their phones, texting, not paying attention, spending WAY too long trying to pick a spell to cast, etc. What I've been doing is if they take too long I tell them to make a reflex save and make up a "took too long" trap. Its actually kinda funny.

If you really wanted to you could throw in some resistance items at the mid boss such as fire resistant cloaks if theyre BBEG is a fire demon or something of the sort. To be honest, you shouldnt have to acquire the hookshot just so that one player can have it and make the final boss actually fight-able.

All in all I know how you feel about having a PC that may take it personal if you call him out on it or kick him out, one of my PC's is JUST like that, however I keep him in check by throwing in things he likes and hates. Just see what he has to say about it and if he really cant handle the fact that D&D is not Zelda, than he may as well either suck it up, try to build a Link character, or stop playing.

[Shining Wrath]

Tell him D&D is like an interactive online game, not a console game. And that the style has to be different because there's different people with different skills and goals.

Tell him he's playing Final Fantasy :smallsmile:

[Deophaun]

The phone/laptop/tablet issue is really easy to fix. All you need is a big box. Everyone throws their digital devices into the box at the start of the game, and they get their devices back only when they leave. Solved.

[TerribleMedic]

The other PCs agreed with me that while the Zelda theme dungeons would be cool at lower levels at higher levels spellcasters have access to so many options it would make the item irrelevant. They also tell me that they enjoy the puzzles I normally put in which tend to be open ended that way everyone can bring up their own idea on how to solve it. Having everyone involved isn't an issue. Pretty much everyone is rolling dice for damage when we get into combat. A couple of the guys can be fairly creative in combat as well. Even if it isn't something specifically covered in the rules if they are trying to be creative I like to reward them for it.

[Story]

Unless you need to look up information on your laptop. It's often too much work to print everything out.

[Mongrel]

It sounds to me like you have a problem player. The red flag was when he said "make your game the way I want it to be, Mr. DM, or I'm out." It's important to understand what your players want, but that's just it: players. Plural.

Personally, I'd throw a few puzzles in the game for Zelda man, but other than that I wouldn't change much. If he's always on the phone then use that opportunity to engage the other players. Check their backstories, bring back a character they've mentioned and make a quest, even a minor one, based on that. Maybe that will show your problem player that he isn't the center of the DnD game.

[HC Rainbow]

Just try not to single out the player and dont make him feel like he's becoming a problem. One angry PC can spoil a campaign for most of the other PC's if hes determined.

[Edenbeast]

I like puzzle games, but not every dungeon is build like a puzzle. And some bosses trow axes at you instead of riddles. When you talk to the player, explain to him that D&D is a social game, and is meant to entertain everyone at the table. There's interaction between players and with NPC's, there may be fighting involved, and sometimes a puzzle, but the important thing is that everyone is enjoying the game. Make it clear that you as GM have certains ideas on how you want to run the game, and that each player has his or her own expectations of the game. It needs to be a one size fits all, not some leather tights that suits only one player.

For the laptop/celphone problem, just make a clear rule: no devices, with the exeption of important phonecalls.

[RFLS]

One of my favorite approaches is the extra-planar labyrinth. By having layers of a dungeon in different pocket planes, you allow the players to run around using dimension-door and passwall to solve each layer, but they eventually have to figure out how to use the artifacts that will lead them to the next one. The rogue can pick locks and disarm traps, the beatstick can take out the resident monsters, the cleric can patch people up and use turn/rebuke to control divine artifact components, and the wizard can try a new trick whenever you get stuck.

My players won't thank you for this... =D


The phone/laptop/tablet issue is really easy to fix. All you need is a big box. Everyone throws their digital devices into the box at the start of the game, and they get their devices back only when they leave. Solved.


Unless you need to look up information on your laptop. It's often too much work to print everything out.

I actually tried Deaphaun's solution for a bit, but it just doesn't work too well if half your players are using their computers for character sheets or rules.