I'm at a loss for what to do about a problem player (comes with a story)

[LeoVarharris]

(just a quick note before you read, names have been altered because I don't feel like shaming my friends)

I've been the DM of my group of friends for almost 2 years now, been learning more and more efficient ways to terrorize my friends when they go out in the field, but I don't (usually) throw anything at them they cannot handle. My friends tend to use teamwork pretty effectively, and for the most part. They always find a way to overcome whatever challenges I set for them.
Then... There's one guy, lets call him bill.

He quickly goes off and does whatever he wants on his own, enough beatdowns from him doing obviously stupid things have (mostly) corrected this behavior. He is a really good guy, and we don't often have disagreements, even when we do, its just in good fun. I say this now because I want to impress to whomever it may concern that he is not a bad person, he is a pretty good friend. But, he has been playing with me for a year now and I am running out of ideas to stop him from doing downright insane things. Here was tonights game, it goes pretty damned well... Until the end, where he has ONE disagreement with another member of the party (henceforth referred to as Joel


So after recovering in town for a fortnight, the party equips themselves with newfound confidence, equipment (and levels :smalltongue:) our heroes set out to overcome a network of caves that serve as a staging ground for the orc raiders that had been plaguing this villa and keeping it under a pseudo-siege for the past month. This cave had actually beaten them and forced their withdrawal last time, but this time they vowed would be different. They would defeat the orcs and hopefully uncover the mystery of why the orcs had chosen this nowhere place to attack, and who the driving force behind them that had caused orcs, goblins, humans, and even (as they would later discover) Duergar of all things, to band together. The Journey to the network was a 2 day ride. 8 hours into the first day and our intrepid adventurers walk into a road that Joel, and the Ranger (henceforth, known as War) very quickly realized that they had trekked before to get to this place the first time. But that the placement of the trees and other Flora were... Off... they thought nothing of it (both of them failed their will saves to disbelieve) and wandered cautiously into the middle of the forestry, where they came under an attack by an unseen foe. it did not take Bill very long to deduce the source and break the illusion that had been placed upon the area (he had stated he was sleeping in the wagon during the trip, hence why he did not get a save sooner) By failing to heed their instincts and pay closer attention to how off the area felt to them, the party had blundered into am ambush. Cut off on all sides and outnumbered 3 to 1, they knew that the only way out was to fight. Things got off to a great start (for me, the DM :smallbiggrin:) when War got trapped in mud (courtesy of a soften earth and stone spell) on the first round, and an entangle after escaping that. Arrows flew at them from all directions and Bill, who was running a Catfolk Monk. Decided that the Druid doing all of this had to die NOW. So he started moving towards the tree the Druid had perched himself in but was cut off by an Orc, who stalled his attempts to get near the druid for several rounds (though he himself was felled in the end, a moment of silence for minion #423 :smallfrown: you made your saves well and held the line) while the Bard (henceforth, Matt) starts using inspire courage to help even the odds. While the Rogue (Ted) drew his bow and tried to deal with the volley of arrows that were continually raining down on the wagon. since War was currently stuck between an entangle and Minion #424 (things did not go so well for ol' 424) Joel summoned a war-dog to try and suppress the enemy clerics, but doing so cost him the ability to react to a fully armored Orc that leaped into the wagon next to him, and would spend the next few rounds getting his greatsword very well acquainted with Joels innards. Another random mook (Who failed so hard he doesn't deserve a number) tried to do the same thing to the rogue and bard's cart. But slipped when he hopped up and fell right back down (Natural 1, go figure :smallconfused:) a few rounds progress with the party getting a little bit more than they are giving, by this time Joel has jumped out of the cart to heal himself but Boss Mook didn't like that and took him down, while the cleric behind everyone combo'd create water with another soften earth and stone spell thrown by the enemy druid to get the wheels of the wagon and the cart stuck in an artificial bog. Minon #423 gets finally put down by Bill (Rest in peace, you nameless hero) so he charges up to the tree that the druid is in and begins climbing it to get to the druid and toss him out of it. he gets pounded to hell by neighboring archers before War finally deals with 424 and can finally draw his bow and deal with the archers. Allowing Ted to go and assist Joel. (as the failure that became numberless got taken down on round 2) Matt meanwhile has to shift his focus to the clerics because the wardog was destroyed in 1 spell by one of them (there were 2, but they were on opposite ends of the battlefield) So on round 6 bill finally reaches the cleric, but he only has 1 hit point left (courtesy of the legendary minion #423, I mean ok the archers hit him a few times but they didn't leave nearly the same impact) Bill grapples the druid, and in his own words "German Suplex him out of the tree, I don't care if I take damage from it" thanks to a very well succeeded jump/tumble check, actually lands with no damage taken and the druid reduced to a fine paste on the sod below. The fact that the druid was dead seemed to annoy Bill but I thought nothing of it at the time. At this point Matt manages to restore Joel to consciousness when a quick cleave with Boss Mook took him out of the fight too. Joel begins backing away from this hulking terror while Ted is dealing with the alive cleric (the other got taken out because he learned smacking a warhorse does NOT do anything good for you I still cant believe that horse crit twice in a row, Ted WAS gonna help Joel when the other cleric got in his way so it fell to Matt to play hero) So Joel ducks undereath the wagon to avoid the next swing of boss mooks terminal swings. and gets to the other side, with this guy in hot pursuit, when he reaches the other side of the cart however he actually misses Joel for once (rolled a 3) and on the next round Bill shows up and between them they deal with the full-plated uberknight while War and Ted polish off the last cleric, and finally the last archer when they remember he was there (only because he finally hit one of them and got a crit, where before he had been missing all fight, still more useful than numberless)
This... This is where I have no words
The Boss mook (of this particular ambush anywho) finally goes down after sucking 52 points of damage, and Bill suddenly yells out "HEAL HIM I WANT HIM TO BE MY SLAVE" now before we go into what happens next, this character had randomly been taking various goblins, orcs and WORGS prisoner this whole time, going so far as to have a 10'10 cage in the back of his cart for transporting them. He stated that he wanted to make them his followers and I thought it was an interesting way to go about things, I wanted to see how he planned on making them join with him, so I had let it slide up to this point. Back to the story:

So Joel, having been under this terror's blade this whole fight looks him dead in the eye and says "to hell with you" and coup de grace's the Orc. Bills response was...
he snapped at the Player for disobeying him, went on a tirade for a minute or so, and then in game. Attacked and killed Joel in one attack (courtesy of boss mook putting Joel at 2 HP before he finally died) he did 14 points and dropped Joel to -12, in full view of the party. Who proceeded to (understandably) get pissed off and turned Bill into a cold-steel sandwich.
The player then goes on to talk about betrayal and how everyone should have had his back, and how everything he was doing were perfectly acceptable actions from a LAWFUL GOOD MONK using the defense "Slavery isn't illegal in this time, this is a matter of law not morals" and yelled at me because I had the audacity to force an alignment change because he attacked and killed a friend for refusing to save an enemy just so he could be Bill's slave.


this is not the first time that Bill has done bull**** like this, hell in a different campaign he got the party TPK'd at level 1 because he rushed headlong into danger without waiting for the party to make a plan because he was bored with how slowly things were progressing. It seems like every time something happens that doesn't go his way, he throws an obvious in game fit by doing something similar to what I have described above, although this is the first time he has ever outright killed another players character just because they didn't do as he specifically instructed. He threw a similar fit when war was voted party leader instead of him, but again he didn't outright kill another character over it. He beat them to hell and back before, but he was specifically doing nonlethal damage on the rare occasions where he did this at all, this time he specified that he was aiming to kill Joel.

So the question I have to any other DM's out there that can be of assistance is this, how can I fix this issue? I love the guy like a brother and he's one of my closest friends, I don't wanna kick him but I cannot seem to make him understand that he can't get everything he wants every single time, I want to stop these outbursts of his that derail the game and cause some irrevocably terrible thing to happen. As the DM I live to torment these guys. But I don't want to kill them most of the time, and when they do die it shouldn't be because a player throws a fit and slaughters another player, it should be because they did something supremely stupid when I throw them into an empty room, and they have the incredibly poor judgment to reach inside a bag with a sign on it saying "definitely not a bag of devouring"

Sorry for the long post. I thought that A) it would be a nice read for some, and B) I legitimately am out of ideas on what to do about Bill any help at all would be appreciated.

[Th3N3xtGuy]

Not a DM but you should explain to him that good people don't mercilessly back-stab(literally) friends when angry or enslave others haha. I'm curious though did you bring back Joe from the dead? What alignment is Bill now, chaotic evil? How is Bills character still alive?

[Extra Anchovies]

this is not the first time that Bill has done bull**** like this, hell in a different campaign he got the party TPK'd at level 1 because he rushed headlong into danger without waiting for the party to make a plan because he was bored with how slowly things were progressing. It seems like every time something happens that doesn't go his way, he throws an obvious in game fit by doing something similar to what I have described above, although this is the first time he has ever outright killed another players character just because they didn't do as he specifically instructed. He threw a similar fit when war was voted party leader instead of him, but again he didn't outright kill another character over it. He beat them to hell and back before, but he was specifically doing nonlethal damage on the rare occasions where he did this at all, this time he specified that he was aiming to kill Joel.

You're the DM. If he's causing problems for everyone and talking to him OOC about it doesn't work, stop inviting him to your games.

[goto124]

I see he's your closest friend. Why? How is his behavior outside the games?

It has to be handled more tactfully than just plain 'stop inviting him'.

[Pex]

Talk to Bill. Tell him the problem. Tell him he just happens to be in the wrong for this one instance. Just let it go. Reset. The incident never happened. No one died. No one attacked a party member. It was a lingering affect of the illusion that was cast in the area. Something warped the magic. It's in the caves. That's what the bad guys were after.

[heavyfuel]

I see he's your closest friend. Why? How is his behavior outside the games?

It has to be handled more tactfully than just plain 'stop inviting him'.

Unfortunately, sometimes not playing with someone is the best thing you can do. I had to recently kick-out a friend from my games, and the sessions became much more fun for all. One person has to be pretty self-righteous to think they're entitled to play at the expense of making the game miserable fr everyone else.

[YossarianLives]

Talking to him really is the good only option in this particular situation. Try to point out to him that his actions are making the game less fun for others. Maybe show him some examples of lawful good characters to prove to him that his actions were unjust?

If none of that works, I would cease my invitations to him.

[Drork]

Having seen similar behavior in other players in the past there is normally something behind such actions. If he is a close friend talk to him about his life. It could be he is suffering from depression or any number of mentally effecting issues. Having played with someone who kill themselves after their release of D&D went significantly poorly it is important to remember some of your good friends might not be 100% all the time. I also played with someone who seemed reasonable most of the time and would do snap crazy things to later find out after they had left the gaming group they required stabilizing medication. Not saying your Bill is one of these people but if he really is a good friend look out for him depression works its way into peoples lives and they dont notice it.

It is important to remind players when they are being unreasonable for their character I find often it is normally a lot better to give them a stop and check before they follow through with their snap comment about an attack. Another line of discussion is to flip the situation around and ask him how he would feel if his character had been killed for "saving" the prisoner.

That being said it could be he just wants to be the guy in charge. I would talk to the guy and discuss the issues of fun for everyone. Conflict with in a party is generally a bad thing, however if he wants to play a line with conflict in it perhaps talk to him about having the chance to do it with a cursed intelligent weapon or something. This means as a DM he is a little more controlled with his crazy antics also when the players start getting mad you can let them make skill checks to see why bill is acting so crazy.

[Crake]

Having seen similar behavior in other players in the past there is normally something behind such actions. If he is a close friend talk to him about his life. It could be he is suffering from depression or any number of mentally effecting issues. Having played with someone who kill themselves after their release of D&D went significantly poorly it is important to remember some of your good friends might not be 100% all the time. I also played with someone who seemed reasonable most of the time and would do snap crazy things to later find out after they had left the gaming group they required stabilizing medication. Not saying your Bill is one of these people but if he really is a good friend look out for him depression works its way into peoples lives and they dont notice it.

It is important to remind players when they are being unreasonable for their character I find often it is normally a lot better to give them a stop and check before they follow through with their snap comment about an attack. Another line of discussion is to flip the situation around and ask him how he would feel if his character had been killed for "saving" the prisoner.

That being said it could be he just wants to be the guy in charge. I would talk to the guy and discuss the issues of fun for everyone. Conflict with in a party is generally a bad thing, however if he wants to play a line with conflict in it perhaps talk to him about having the chance to do it with a cursed intelligent weapon or something. This means as a DM he is a little more controlled with his crazy antics also when the players start getting mad you can let them make skill checks to see why bill is acting so crazy.

It sounds more like Bill just gets bored, or wants things done his way.

If that's the case, take him aside and tell him that he isn't the main character of the story, the group is. If he can't bring himself to work with the group, and is going to throw tantrums and do stupid things in character for out of character reasons (metagaming at it's worst) then you'll have to let him go. I know he's your good friend, but honestly, not everyone handles tabletop RPGs very well. Consider the enjoyment of everyone else around the table, consider if he actually really enjoys playing if he does things like that, and hey, even if you drop him, that doesn't mean you need to cut contact off with him completely.

[AberrationKing]

The best thing I can think of is to talk to Bill. One thing you must impress upon him is that he went too far. Try to get him in a good mood, and from there it comes down to your people skills. Remember, you don't have to kick him if he doesn't do it again. Make sure to point out that as a D.M., your responsibility is to the group. You can make any empty threats you want, if they are serious enough. If he can see how much you don't want to kick him, but that you will if necessary, he is much more likely to behave well in future. Also, keep it private. If he ever feels like you are chewing him out, you've lost him. I hope this helps, I know first hand how hard it can be, to have to kick a close friend.

[Hrugner]

We have a few "player hazards" in my group and if more than one is in a game the whole thing goes crazy. I'd say, that if it's one dude who happens to be a player hazard, plan around them. You know they'll be a chore, just give the party extra xp when they have to deal with his shenanigans since he is effectively increasing the encounter difficulty or being an encounter all to himself. Remind the rest of the party that they don't need to charge in after him with a "Bill charges in, the monsters don't seem to have noticed the rest of you yet", so he knows he's potentially on his own.

On the other hand, if he thinks killing his buddies over arguments is totally a lawful good action, maybe he belongs in a cage.

[Evolved Shrimp]

I think there are two separate, though related, issues here: What to do about the game and what to do about the player.

About the game: Does this behavior make the game significantly less enjoyable for other participants (including yourself)? If no, there is no problem. If yes, you probably should talk to Bill and see if he is willing and able to change his behavior. If he does change it sufficiently, fine. If not, you might want to stop inviting him. (Another option would be to give the character the consequences of his behavior with both barrels, but that is not very likely to help.)

About the player: You state that Bill is a good guy and is your friend IRL. (Now, “friend” is a very flexible term, but I assume that you mean “close personal friend”.) As friends, it is not our place to provide therapy for our friends, and it can be very destructive to try to do so. Nevertheless, it is commonly accepted that friends should tell each other when they [censored word, rhymes with duck – I can’t believe this] up and, if possible and reasonable, offer help to them to get out of the situation.

So, if you view this guy as your good friend, you may want to consider doing that. You could tell him what exactly his problematic behavior is and what negative consequences it has. This can be very difficult to do constructively, and I’m neither qualified to provide authoritative tips nor is this the place to provide them. Two very basic things, though: It is almost always better to avoid using judgmental terms (“bad”, “unreasonable”, …) and to phrase your statements as personal impressions (“I feel” “it seems to me”) rather than objective truths. Also, it will probably be easier if the entire discussion is framed as “how are we going to solve this issue together” or “I have this problem, can you help me” rather than “what will you do to change your behavior”.

One word of warning: Behavior such as you describe may be rooted in places where it is unpleasant to go – either a personality disorder or trouble in the family. To clarify, I’m not saying that either of these is the case with Bill, just that it could be and that you should be aware of the risk that you might bite off more than you want to chew if you try to help him as a person.

[Geddy2112]

Everything seemed fine up and until the moment he killed another player over a disagreement. As a DM, I generally like to interject enough when rash players do rash things-not stopping them, but say "It looks like Joel is going to coup the orc boss" and "Bill is about to attack Joel, roll initiative". This lets the entire party have a say before somebody starts a chain of events that leads to everybody dead because 1-2 people start acting crazy.

That aside, I can understand having a disagreement about taking somebody prisoner vs killing them. Slavery is a bit murkier, but I could see how LG society could have slavery or at least indentured servitude. Alignment aside, I can see plenty of arguments of not taking prisoners, particularly prisoners who have showed no other course of action than to murder the party in cold blood. This should have been a great RP opportunity for the entire party, but instead Bill thinks he can just say "take them prisoner" and the entire party suddenly agrees. Joel's actions were also extreme, believing himself judge jury and executioner(but I can see his motivations in and out of character). Attacking a player over this is incredbily out of line and unneeded. He killed him, and then wonders why he got killed?

TTRPG's are a group game where the party plays together to do something. Like a group of friends or coworkers, there will be times you disagree, don't like each other, things wont be easy etc, however you are a team at the end of the day and working together to cooperatively tell a story. Talk to Bill about being a friend In game, and about making a team oriented character(any alignment and class can be team oriented). Explain that the in game is just like being friends; I'm sure you and Bill don't agree on everything, but you manage to solve your problems without killing each other.

[atemu1234]

Not a DM but you should explain to him that good people don't mercilessly back-stab(literally) friends when angry or enslave others haha. I'm curious though did you bring back Joe from the dead? What alignment is Bill now, chaotic evil? How is Bills character still alive?

Be careful! You may remove the underpinning of all good society in D&D! Because what is good but blindly murdering the evil in a xenophobic, racist crusade?

[Telonius]

Possible diplomatic solution: "You didn't lose a slave, you gained a zombie."

Possible alternate solution: "When you do resurrect him, he will OWE you."

[Keltest]

Ok, firstly some advice. As the DM, you are perfectly within your rights to flat out veto any deliberate PVP actions. Make it clear that it wont be allowed within your games, from this point forth if it isn't already so. Obviously this doesn't apply if you do want to allow it, but then you really don't get to complain when it happens.

Anyway, as others have mentioned, talking to the problem player out of game is the best option. Make it clear to him that his behavior in this instance was out of line, and would he please not do it again? There are plenty of ways he can have fun in the game that don't involve annoying everyone else, and D&D is, at the end of the day, supposed to be fun for everyone. If necessary, offer to use your magic DM powers to contrive a way for everyone involved to get their characters back.

Theres nothing wrong with doing silly things, and sometimes they even work. Just make sure that the intended goal is not detrimental to the rest of the party.

[LeoVarharris]

Well the first problem I had in the aftermath was Bill steadfastly refusing to allow me to do the whole "never happened" thing, which made me suspect the guy was getting bored with the character, though he claims otherwise. The next session ended up being the breaking point though. After Bill and Joel made new characters, they ended up rolling up different characters, and roleplaying them as close(ish) friends so a problem like this wouldn't occur again.
In theory anyways
Bill rolled up a female Warmage (member of a high ranking Noble stock, but like the seventh in line and female, so no chance of inheriting) Where as Joel Rolled a two-weapon Fighter (Monkey grip, Oversized two weapon, because twin Bastard Swords) to be Bill's personal bodyguard, but with an agenda of his own to root out corruption in Bills house, and uncertain as to whether or not Bill herself was involved or not. (banking on not, because of how unimportant she seemed to the house, given the line of inheritance) Well this seemed fine to me, but as I said earlier this was the breaking point.

It began with the supply train they were escorting getting ambushed by a group of Orcs just up the road from where the party was (a few hours had passed since that debacle but thanks to the druid they fought getting their wagon stuck in an artificial bog that then hardened back to regular dirt because soften earth and stone right under wagon's front wheels is a great tool for keeping the party in one place in a pinch so they were still digging the wagon out) So War makes the listen check to hear the sounds of battle and informs the others, they continue digging and send him to scout out the situation (it takes roughly 4 rounds of him going triple speed to get to the fight) Meanwhile Bill gets out of his carriage and starts fighting a few of the Orcs on one side, while Joel starts on the other flank, taking hits but pretty much one-hitting everything in his path (well 3 shotting technically given the dual-blades but whatever, he's getting a kill a round) Then I make one call that I am unsure of whether or not was bad, but it was the match that got thrown on a powder keg that has been brewing for a while now. Bill got hit really bad (minion Powerderkeg got a damn near maxed out crit with a battle axe) so he tried to fall back to where Joel was for some protection. The way he moved his miniature was... Strange, because he had a way to get out without taking an attack of opportunity but that isn't the path he took, I asked him twice if he was sure that was the way he was going. Confused he said "Yeah, why?" So I rolled the mooks Op and sure enough, it connected. It became clear as soon as I told him what happened that he hadn't even thought about the possibility of Ops, he saw the pathway he SHOULD have taken and tried to rectify it, but I did not allow it. Which made him flip out on me but I'll spare you the details, so the question there is: Was it a bad call to not let him change his pathing? Note he has been gaming for almost 4 years, he made a rookie mistake and I punished it, I only ask the question because the night spiraled out of control from there. So after dusting off a large number of the Orcs War shows up to help them polish them off. Bill goes back into the carriage and waits for Joel to do the meet and greet because snooty nobility who thinks they are better than everyone (no really that was in his character background, not just because he was mad so I figured "hey that makes sense") Well War starts collecting the bodies because there is a bounty on Orc heads in the area, and since Bill was focused on completing his mission to deliver food supplies to the Villa Joel and Bill left with the caravan after short introductions (which was fine because as it happened the Party was going back that way to resupply since they were down a horse and their wheels were screwed up anyways) But now we get to the Crux of the issue.

Back up the road where Mat and Ted were still digging out the wagon and had made some good progress, ted notices an Orc hiding in the Treeline watching them, unfortunately the Orc also saw Ted see him and bolted, a scout. Not wishing to allow the enemy to know that their ambush had done its Job and left the party exposed, Mat and Ted charge after him and his two friends before they can get away. I had done this to get them involved in some combat so they wouldn't fall behind EXP-wise and have something to do while everything else was going on.
In hindsight, this was a mistake because now the Wagon with all of their spare gear in it is now unguarded with a spiteful Bill about to come upon it.
You can probably guess where this is going.

Long story short, Bill loots the Wagon of his former characters things and some other valuables (including a +1 suit of full plate that was on the Orc he wanted to enslave before) before torching the Wagon itself and stealing the party's surviving horse. Joel unable to do anything because from a character perspective all he saw was an unoccupied wagon and his superior taking what looked to the world to be abandoned gear. While everyone else is unable to do anything because they aren't there, and I didn't even think about it. Ending the night with a terrible taste left in everyone's mouth. (A couple of people had to work early that day)

So I have since stepped down as DM of my group for a time and Ceded the Position to Joel, who has a little bit of experience as a DM. I believed this to be the best move, because it will give everyone some time to calm down, it will give Bill a break from what he believes to be my "Opressive Dm'ing" I found out that he felt singled out for a while now because I don't seem to let him get away with all that much unpunished, even if that were true (which it isn't) considering what he has been doing with freedom the past month, ehhhhhhhh. Plus I can't help but feel like a bit of a failure at present so, this post only had the one direct question in it. But it's purpose was to give a bit of closure to the people who gave advice which I will take whenever I start DMing again, and to let them know how the campaign played out. So to whomever it may concern, thanks for reading and the advice. I think I may start keeping a log on this site on how adventures are going for whatever I end up running in Joels Campaign, just for those who like reading though I wouldn't know where to put it. Because I swear guys when Venom isn't fueling someone (It hasn't always been Bill this was just his worst case) like these past few games the group can pull off all manner of crazy $h*t in the name of good fun. I think some other posters may simply be correct in the assertion that something is going on in Bills life that he isn't telling any of us.

[ksbsnowowl]

In the name of all that is holy, please start breaking up your thoughts into smaller paragraphs!
It was an interesting read, but would have been much more enjoyable with some paragraph separation...

Honestly, the first question that came to my mind when reading this was... how old is everyone?
Bill's antics remind me of a teenager.

I don't think it was wrong to fulfill the AoO and refuse to alter it. You already asked him if he really wanted to do that; anything that results from him not changing his action at that point, is wholly on him.

Granted, you are no longer the DM, but for future reference, here's what I would have done:

First, outside the game, mention Bill's antics to the other players (one by one, not in a group). Get their feelings on the matter. Maybe Bill's antics are only bothering you (not likely, but possible).

As Bill's antics escalated (so, preferably prior to killing Joel), I would have spoken to him outside the game. Make it plainly clear that his antics are killing the fun for yourself (and the other players, if applicable). If that conversation didn't have the desired result, I would have had a second conversation, reiterating what was discussed in the first conversation, and at this point presenting a soft ultimatum; You want Bill to continue playing with the group, but if the antics don't stop, you'll have to ask that he stop coming.

That will usually get the player to wake up to the seriousness of the issue, and recognize that you aren't kidding. But you have to be ready to follow through on it. If after another session or three Bill hasn't calmed down... follow through, and tell him you are sorry, but he is no longer welcome, because he is being too destructive to the group game.

[LeoVarharris]

Well to answer your first question, we are all between the ages of 19-22. Also I apologize for the long paragraphs, not much else to say really the first couple of posts were as long-winded as they were because I had a lot to say about his sudden change in behavior. the past month

Although I've been giving him a lot of flak neither one of us are truly innocent with our handling of the situation

[Segev]

1) Talk to him and explain the problem. Put it to him thusly: If another player (choose one in particular to use as an example to Bill, e.g. War) were to have his character order Bill to kill his pet goblins and worgs because he doesn't want to deal with the stench or trying to lug the cart around, and said other PC killed Bill's PC for disobeying, would Bill feel that he had been betrayed, or that the other player's character was totally justified?

Essentially, he got mad because the party attacked his character after he killed another character for not acquiescing to his demands. Why is it wrong for them to kill him but not for him to kill the other PC?

2) You're the DM. If you feel his actions are constantly disruptive, tell him so. Give the other players veto power over this potential decision, but don't be afraid to put your foot down and say, "No, your action turned what was an enjoyable session into a terrible one, and ruined everybody else's fun. It didn't happen." This is heavy-handed, but the game is a shared imaginary experience. Unlike real life, where if Bill had physically attacked Joel and killed the real person, you all have the power to say, "Nope, our imaginary story does not include the sequence of events that makes it less fun for everybody involved."

3) If Bill is really as good a friend as you say, but he's not enjoying the game, give him a chance to change up his character to enjoy himself more...but don't be afraid to boot him. "Bill, you're just not interested in the kind of game we want to play," is not an unfair observation. Hang out with him in other activities, sure, but don't let him wreck the fun of everybody else with his boredom and bad behavior. You wouldn't keep inviting him to "board game night" if he flipped the game board every time somebody made a move he didn't like, would you? Same concept applies here.

[Shining Wrath]

First - in game consequences seem to have had an impact on Bill. His character died, and he was upset by that.

Secondly, does the party normally kill fallen foes? That makes a difference in understanding Bill's reaction.

As others have said, talk to Bill. Explain that your table doesn't do PvP regardless of alignment issues.