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McFuzzle
2018-03-17, 08:53 AM
Content Warning: Sensitive material regarding a problematic player.

I've tried searching for other posts that may contain possible solutions, but was unable to find any, and decided to post my specific problem. I'm a fairly new DM, having played D&D as a player in 3e, but never DM'd prior. I recently started playing with some friends from work in 5e, none of which had ever played D&D before, so I volunteered to DM for everyone as we learn to play 5e together. But I've ran into several problems with my players (group of three players).

One player refuses to play as anything other than a Dryad, which from everywhere I've checked, isn't even a playable race. I've suggested playing Firbolg, Wood Elf, Earth Genasi, Forest Gnomes, and pretty much any other playable race that has bonuses or traits related to nature, as he wants to play a Druid. However, he continues to insist on playing a Dryad, and will not play unless he can. So we built a half baked player version for him, but it doesn't exactly work.

Another plays an Orc Barbarian, but insists on making literally every decision "rapey". I get that there's been hints and such about that being the source of Half Orcs in several editions and all, but it's really a problem. Every encounter, combat or social, he wants to make a roll to rape and/or threaten rape. I repeatedly tell him to stop, but he simply counters that he's "roleplaying" his character, and that raping is what Orcs do. Which if I felt that roleplaying were his actual intention, he would do more than simply try to rape everything. I feel like he simply wants to make the game crude and vulgar, rather than actually roleplay his character. He also refuses to play any other race or class, and refuses to stop demanding to "roll for rape". Which I then just simply ignore and make it a normal roll, much to his frustration, where he becomes angry and starts an argument about it. Frankly, he makes me want to not play D&D with him, and especially not as his DM.

The third actually gives very few problems, and simply goes with the flow of things, so not really an issue there.

I've tried finding others to play with, both by looking online for groups nearby, and asking other friends to play, but haven't found anyone else willing to join in, so I'm basically stuck with this group if I want to play. Anyone have any suggestions on how to handle it, or should I just give up playing D&D with them?

Koo Rehtorb
2018-03-17, 08:56 AM
Only you can decide what your tolerance limits are. From what you described I'd certainly eject from that group.

Pleh
2018-03-17, 09:07 AM
With dryad PCs, you're the DM. If you don't want to allow the exception, the player has no right in the rules to demand otherwise. If that means they don't want to play, then that's the way it is and the group probably wouldn't have fun anyway. If you think you can be happy making an exception, go for it. You can post the homebrew dryad race in the relevant forum and get help making it work.

As for the half orc, the player is way out of line. Most groups aren't comfortable with consensual sexual content in their RPGs with people across the table, much less the non-consensual variety. You are well within your rights to say, "this isn't happening, play a different character or I'm not running the game." You are under no compulsion to participate in narrative themes that make to you uncomfortable. The player has no right to demand compliance in that sort of game and should understand that groups that allow such content are the exception, not the standard.

Tiadoppler
2018-03-17, 09:37 AM
I'm basically stuck with this group if I want to play.

First, if the game you're playing isn't fun for you, it's better not to play. This is a game, even for the DM, and if you're not enjoying yourself playing with these people, you should walk.

Second, try play-by-post or another online format? Do you prefer to DM or play? Does your area have any public gaming groups or local gaming stores that might have new players, or a bulletin board (retro, I know) with in-person games listed?


Re: Dryad
Eh, call it a variant human with Skill:Nature, give them Druidcraft for free and be done with it? Sounds like a stubborn player, but not that disruptive.

Re: Orc
"You've been asked several times to stop making these jokes at my table. If you do so again, please don't bother coming to the next session." Only way to deal with that.

ExLibrisMortis
2018-03-17, 09:50 AM
D&D is not FATAL. The orc player can be kicked.

As for the dryad: They should be easy enough to accomodate with a little refluffing. Insisting on dryad is a bit impolite, but it's an easy enough request an sich.

LibraryOgre
2018-03-17, 09:51 AM
No gaming is better than bad gaming.

The Dryad player can be annoying, but is workable. Depending on the game you're playing, there might be rules to make a reasonable facsimile that can be called "Dryad" and still made to work. Some people have a type of character... a friend from college says he's run into someone we played with almost 20 years ago who keeps remaking the same character. Unless they start getting aggressively offensive with it (q.v. Rapey dude), then it's mostly harmless.

Rapey dude? Oh, hell no. He can play out his rape fantasies elsewhere.... the game table with other people not down for that is not the place. A less mature me would suggest putting in his exact counterpart, but more powerful than him (i.e. he will be subjected to that which he tried to inflict on everyone else), but I am far too mature for that, now.

braveheart
2018-03-17, 10:07 AM
Boot the orc, rape is not cool unless you have confirmed that everyone at the table is prepared to deal with it in a mature manner (he is not) and are comfortable with it. I've played a number of 2 PC campaigns that went fine, and if you played with just the dryad and the nobproblematic player you may start having fun again.

And once more for emphasis DON'T PLAY WITH THE RAPIST

Narmoth
2018-03-17, 10:09 AM
Two questions arise:
1. Why play a Dryad
2. Why does (presumably) your friend want to roleplay rape with you?

BWR
2018-03-17, 10:39 AM
I'm very much of the opinion that the game is the DM's baby, and the DM's word is final. Sure, players should be able to argue for or against certain things, but assuming everyone is adult about it, they should respect the DM's decision even if it is one they don't like.

It does not sound like you have adult players.

In the first case, if it is a difference between this player playing with you or not, you'll have to decide whether the player's presence is worth him making everything difficult by being an entitled brat. I might possibly be persuaded to allow it in one instance with a strict warning that any other characters will be from the list of acceptable races. Now if he insists on ignoring your wishes and warnings and you don't want to kick him, the easy and cruel solution to the problem is to allow him, then watch him be left behind because the dryad needs to stick near her tree. They must stay within 300 yards of their tree or sicken and die. Tough luck, he insisted on this. Now can he please choose a sensible race so you all can get on with the game?

In the second case, assuming you have made it unambiguously clear that this behavior is unacceptable and given an ultimatum (along the lines of "Dude, this is extremely distasteful and unacceptable behavior. No more or you're out of the game"), kick him. If people want to play out their rape fantasies, they can do it some place they don't annoy everyone else.

Corneel
2018-03-17, 10:49 AM
For the Dryad player, maybe something like the fey-touched or half-fey here (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a) could work out for him?
For the rapey player there is clearly no hope.

McFuzzle
2018-03-17, 11:06 AM
As I said, I tried suggesting other races for the Dryad player, but for some reason he is firmly against playing anything else. No idea why. When asked he simply says that that's what he wants to play.

The Orc player I think has seen too much, let's call it "adult japanese cartoons" and has that Orc theme stuck in his head. As he fully hates Orks from Warhammer, Elder Scrolls, etc. for not being "rapey".

Unfortunately, none of the players are willing to play if any of the others aren't present. The Dryad player finds the rapey stuff hilarious unfortunately. And the other player is...a little unintelligent, so frankly anything beyond basic addition is hard for him anyway, and he has absolutely no sense of roleplay or anything either. So he just kind of fills the role of dumb fighter, which is a perfect fit. But he also seems unbothered by the rapey stuff, or at least doesn't say anything about it.

The group as a whole also does absolutely nothing but combat stuff, completely ignoring plot, quests, etc. So I wonder why they even want to play D&D and not say, some tabletop war game.

From what I've gathered, seems likely I'll have to give up the hobby until I find better people to play with. But I appreciate all the input.

Khedrac
2018-03-17, 11:35 AM
Just as an aside possiblility - I cannot help wondering if they are deliberately trolling you. I.e. they decided in advance to be completely unreasonable and insist on playing things they know are unacceptable just to see how you react.

Aside from that I have no help to offer, but there is the faint hope that if you tell them all "no way on this planet" they might burst out laughing and then go on to play reasonable characters.

As for giving up the hobby, from all I have read finding decent online games can be hard, but if you find a good one you get good gaming out of it.

Pleh
2018-03-17, 12:09 PM
From what I've gathered, seems likely I'll have to give up the hobby until I find better people to play with. But I appreciate all the input.

Definitely not worth it. This is not the group for you. What they are trying to do is fine in a group that accepts the shticks, but it's not the game you want to play. Unless you want to lower your standards and run a slapstick comedy with really dark humor, you're not likely to enjoy it, and it's equally important you enjoy the game as them.

denthor
2018-03-17, 12:34 PM
I used to play with a guy who said "I rape the men and kill the women and children you have fun your way I will have fun mine."

DM gave him a reputation one person would hide successfully get away and report to another village. After a while he was attacked on sight. Make his alignment Chaotic Evil. Give him the treatment of nobody with Good in the alignment will help him. If he is on fire good will farther on him to make the flames burn hotter.

Two buying magic items they must pay double the cost dealing with evil and all. Demons will show up and offer them thing disguised as humans or elves or anything else .

They are not really allowed in town. But there is an evil dude 15th level fighter named blackheart. That has a small fort. His word is law his 300 or so citizens with a bunch 400 or so outside the gate (they do not have the bribe money for the orc guards to get protection inside the walls. 25 gold entrance fee. Everything is available for sale or they will purchase what you have. Evil cleric two types. Break the law? Gates sealed you are hunted by squads of orcs and eventually blackhearts own teeam. Pay for slave rape victims no problem you bought them. The clerics may hire you to do it before human sacrifice.

They want evil go for it.

Personally have given a baby in game for free passage across goblin lands why paralyzed mother watched her baby be the football. Your players think evil is cool kick it down a couple of notches. Use pentagrams on the floors.

There is a reason people think this game is satanic your players are that reason. Normal people hear these types of thing when we speak and think we do it in real life. We speak in first person of the things our characters do.

Welcome to Dungeons & Dragons

Bastian Weaver
2018-03-17, 12:37 PM
Okay. The way I see it.
If a guy wants to play a Dryad, only a Dryad and nothing else - I think there's plenty homebrewed versions of races for player characters. Like this, for example. (http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Dryad_(3.5e_Race))
If a guy wants to play a rape-obscessed orc, and you can't just tell him to go away, maybe you could have a way to roleplay it in a way that suits everyone. Maybe you could have his character cursed - with some magical unremovable chastity belt or a curse of impotence, so that he can't possibly do it, and leave the character free to angst about how this curse is the worst thing ever. That gives him purpose - looking for a way to remove the curse - and you don't ever have to make a rape-roll.

bc56
2018-03-17, 12:39 PM
Kick orc, try to find something for dryad.

Kick orc hard too. If you baby a problem player, they'll fight back. You can't cut any slack.

tensai_oni
2018-03-17, 01:23 PM
Remember - it's up to the DM to make sure everyone at the table is having fun, and that "everyone" part includes the DM as well.

So if one of the players being rape-obsessed is something the rest of the table is okay with or finds hilarious, but you're bothered by it? Then that player has to cut it out. If they won't, it's time to kick them out. If it means the rest of the group follows? Then they must follow too.

And frankly that group sounds really emotionally immature and kinda annoying to deal with. Definitely a poor fit for OP. Like it was said in this thread already, no roleplaying is better than bad roleplaying. What you're having here definitely counts as bad roleplaying.

Look for a new group. If you can't find anyone local, then maybe online.

Pronounceable
2018-03-17, 03:24 PM
just give up playing D&D with them
No game >> bad game

Also get rid of that #2 for reals. That kid is the worst and has no value.

Honest Tiefling
2018-03-17, 03:30 PM
Normally, I'd say to discuss matters with the player. But that's super creepy, even if you aren't the gender he tends to target. Boot him. Tell him to play his character elsewhere. And discussing all other orcs for not falling into his hentai fantasies? KINDA WEIRD.

As for the dryad...I'd try to talk to the player. Newer players can get a little stubborn. Present to the player the issues, and try to work out a better race, or go with the idea that she got depowered because she had to find a way to be able to leave her tree, or because her tree got cut down.

You CAN play a game with 1 or 2 players, if you are careful with encounters. Check online, as others have said, or find a FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store). They often have recruitment or the like. Or heck, post on these forums if you live in a relatively large area.

AtticSpace
2018-03-17, 03:59 PM
For the dryad person try finding out exactly what the player wants mechanically from the character. I had someone in one of my groups who wanted to play a minotaur even after I said no monster races. I found out all he really wanted was a large strength bonus, a gore attack, and the asthetics of a bull -man. We took the stats of a full blooded orc and switched out light sensitivity with a 1d4+str natural attack and let him call it a medium - sized minotaur. Maybe some similar reskinning can work for you?

kyoryu
2018-03-17, 04:08 PM
http://i.imgur.com/EwiChyD.png

Anonymouswizard
2018-03-17, 08:17 PM
One player refuses to play as anything other than a Dryad, which from everywhere I've checked, isn't even a playable race. I've suggested playing Firbolg, Wood Elf, Earth Genasi, Forest Gnomes, and pretty much any other playable race that has bonuses or traits related to nature, as he wants to play a Druid. However, he continues to insist on playing a Dryad, and will not play unless he can. So we built a half baked player version for him, but it doesn't exactly work.

Honestly, playing a dryad is about as reasonable request as playing an elf, it's just not what's supported. Wanting to ban something because there's no (official) support is fine, although honestly working to improve the dryad race you are currently using as you play is also a great way to handle it.

FWIW the easiest way to model it would probably be elf, with a custom subrace. +1 Wis or +1 Cha (based on your preference), the ability to merge with a tree as an action, replace the Elven language with Sylvan, give proficiency in survival, and maybe a speed boost. Elves give a decent number of fey-esque traits on their own, survival proficiency models the fact that they tend to survive on their own in the wild, tree merging is their most well known ability, and the speed boost is because I'm unsure if this is underpowered.


Another plays an Orc Barbarian, but insists on making literally every decision "rapey". I get that there's been hints and such about that being the source of Half Orcs in several editions and all, but it's really a problem. Every encounter, combat or social, he wants to make a roll to rape and/or threaten rape. I repeatedly tell him to stop, but he simply counters that he's "roleplaying" his character, and that raping is what Orcs do. Which if I felt that roleplaying were his actual intention, he would do more than simply try to rape everything. I feel like he simply wants to make the game crude and vulgar, rather than actually roleplay his character. He also refuses to play any other race or class, and refuses to stop demanding to "roll for rape". Which I then just simply ignore and make it a normal roll, much to his frustration, where he becomes angry and starts an argument about it. Frankly, he makes me want to not play D&D with him, and especially not as his DM.

Wow, I think he's lucky nobody in his group is triggered by such actions (I play in a group that is/was into acknowledging when characters had sex, although no roleplaying it, and we stay well away from rape because one member is a 'survivor' and will likely be triggered). Honestly it sounds horrible, while I'll agree that in some settings orcs are very rapey, your standard fantasy orc is not. Even if we ignore the arguably more popular 'neutral orc' archetype, your standard D&D orc is brutal and savage, but actual rape is implied to be relatively rare.

Yes, previous editions (up to about 3.5) rather explicitly had most half-orcs being the product of rape, unless I'm mistaken 4e went out of it's way to supply alternate origns, whereas 5e implies that most half orcs are from consensual relationships between orcs and the humans living near them (I actually really want to play a feminine farmgirl at some point who was raised by her human father after her orc mother was killed in a raid). Weirdly in many 5e settings a half-orc may have a higher chance of being born in wedlock than a human, due to the implication that most are from arranged marriages and the fact that many settings have a more modern view of relationships.

Honestly, a culture as fixated on rape as his orcs would have probably died out compared to one more concerned with hoarding resources (a not uncommon orc trait, especially as it's an easy way to have them raiding villages). But I'm guessing all these attempts to unravel orc culture are useless, as your player only likes rapey orcs. Which is a shame, because I find orc cultures more interesting than the elven or dwarven ones normally expanded upon.

Now a game with immoral characters can be fun. I've never played in a party with a rapist (yet), but plenty of amoral characters a handful of bad days from becoming mass murderers. Baator, I've played characters who'd have sacrificed the adult population of London for knowledge. But everybody has to be on board with it, especially the GM. If everybody in the group is fine with it and wants it to continue but you don't then just tell the group that you're not having fun GMing the game and suggest they find somebody else to run it, and leave.

It is better to play no game at all than to play in a game you actively dislike. This player is making you dislike the game, feel free to leave.

Grek
2018-03-18, 04:25 AM
You should not play D&D with these people.

Metahuman1
2018-03-18, 04:51 AM
Sit the Orc Player down. Tell him, one on one, that you frankly no longer care if he is "Role Playing" or not. If he is, then the character is not suitable to the game you want to run. Sort of like how if you were running a goofy 4 colors comic book game with super weaving and boxing glove arrows, you would not allow a character who shows up with copious numbers of firearms that kill in realistic fashion and can't not curse all the time, for the same stated reason.

Then, tell that player that he has 3 options.

1: Reimagine the character. Give him some different traits, Role Play those.


Or,


2: Retire the character, he goes off on his own because he got a message or something. And then they meet another character in the same town and that new character joins the party. It can even be a different Orc Barbarian, or a Barbarian of a different race, say, a Firbolg for example, but it can't have the same personality traits to Role Play. Especially the one that's proving to be the problem.


Or,


3: He can choose to find other games and other dungeon masters and other groups to run in as a replacement from your group.



If he tries to take a 4th option, by pretending to do 1 or 2 and then trying to just go back to his same deal, have him very shortly there after get into a fight. Have it turn out that his intended victim is a stupidly high level Monk or Wizard or Druid or something of the sort who is thoroughly capable of crushing his character like an ant under foot, and have that said intended victim warn him, and if he ignores it, have that intended victim do precisely that. I recommend something that can pass as just a standard example of whatever race if you looked at it at a glance, and thus, he's likely to try to call the bluff, which is likely to be his end. Make sure you've stated them out well in advance and optimized them to specifically destroy his character in a one on one situation.


Then tell him there was an agreement, he broke it, get the hell away form your table and do not come back. Point blank tell him we had an out of character conversation about this, you said you were going to stop doing A and do B instead, and you go here and started doing A again immediately. You lied to me. I am not going to play with you anymore. Leave.

Whatever it takes to steel yourself for this one, do it. Because you HAVE to stick to your guns on it at all costs, or it's never going to stop.





Now, as for the Dryad, I'm not super familiar with 5E myself, so, I'm sure one of the other people here can help you with fixing that. It's actually more a mechanical problem than the other guy form the sound of it though. I see a couple of offers to adjust the Dryad mechanics, so, go that direction if that's the only issue with that player is a fixation on Dryads. Some people just really, REALLY like a certain idea. I am actually frequently very fond of playing characters whom are fairly extreme in there physical size, either being really little or really big depending on my mood. Once in awhile I don't do it when I feel it risks being too disruptive, buuuuuuut, on the flip side, that's also the benefit of years and years of experience, I am decent at feeling out when it would be disruptive, and when it would fit in nicely.

This strikes me as a similar kind of thing.

Jay R
2018-03-18, 12:49 PM
1. Polite and understanding, but firm. "Design a character by the rules. There are lots of available options, but I'm not an experienced enough DM to invent rules at this stage. Maybe in a later game, when I have some experience, but right now, you need to play by the rules."

2. Civil but adamant. "No. I will not run a game about a rapist. Not now, not ever."

And make certain that the difference between the two attitudes is very clear.

ImNotTrevor
2018-03-18, 01:47 PM
Based on OP's followup post...

Your best option is to ditch this group.
If you are interested in playing online and ok with playing not-D&D, my group will be ending a campaign in early April and will be open to new players.

Feel free to PM me if that seems ok. We're very chill and haven't raped anyone. :D

Lorsa
2018-03-19, 03:29 AM
I think you should dump the first two players and then play a solo campaign with the third.

If that's not possible, dump them all and spend your time looking for another group or introduce other friends to the hobby.

Solaris
2018-03-19, 10:11 AM
Ordinarily, I'd say that you should just stop reacting to the rape jokes, because when a troll fails to get a rise they stop trolling. Unfortunately, the other player is going along with it, thinks it's funny, and the third is a space-filler.

Have you considered finding another group? Although this forum is big on PbP, I don't really recommend it because of how much of a crapshoot it can be. You can also find online gaming groups that use things like Skype to play.

Max_Killjoy
2018-03-19, 10:20 AM
Content Warning: Sensitive material regarding a problematic player.

I've tried searching for other posts that may contain possible solutions, but was unable to find any, and decided to post my specific problem. I'm a fairly new DM, having played D&D as a player in 3e, but never DM'd prior. I recently started playing with some friends from work in 5e, none of which had ever played D&D before, so I volunteered to DM for everyone as we learn to play 5e together. But I've ran into several problems with my players (group of three players).

One player refuses to play as anything other than a Dryad, which from everywhere I've checked, isn't even a playable race. I've suggested playing Firbolg, Wood Elf, Earth Genasi, Forest Gnomes, and pretty much any other playable race that has bonuses or traits related to nature, as he wants to play a Druid. However, he continues to insist on playing a Dryad, and will not play unless he can. So we built a half baked player version for him, but it doesn't exactly work.

Another plays an Orc Barbarian, but insists on making literally every decision "rapey". I get that there's been hints and such about that being the source of Half Orcs in several editions and all, but it's really a problem. Every encounter, combat or social, he wants to make a roll to rape and/or threaten rape. I repeatedly tell him to stop, but he simply counters that he's "roleplaying" his character, and that raping is what Orcs do. Which if I felt that roleplaying were his actual intention, he would do more than simply try to rape everything. I feel like he simply wants to make the game crude and vulgar, rather than actually roleplay his character. He also refuses to play any other race or class, and refuses to stop demanding to "roll for rape". Which I then just simply ignore and make it a normal roll, much to his frustration, where he becomes angry and starts an argument about it. Frankly, he makes me want to not play D&D with him, and especially not as his DM.

The third actually gives very few problems, and simply goes with the flow of things, so not really an issue there.

I've tried finding others to play with, both by looking online for groups nearby, and asking other friends to play, but haven't found anyone else willing to join in, so I'm basically stuck with this group if I want to play. Anyone have any suggestions on how to handle it, or should I just give up playing D&D with them?

Honestly, the Dryad player bothers me less. It's a bit inconvenient and a touch odd, but if you're using a setting with Dryads and can agree with the player on what sort of bonuses etc they get, it's workable. It becomes a much bigger issue if you play in a setting with no Dryads.

The orc... I'd tell him that he either needs to adjust his approach to the orc, or that he can retire the character and play something else, or he can leave the table. The RPG table is not the place for sickos to express their kinks, and it's not the place for people who get their fun out of making other people unhappy.

GungHo
2018-03-19, 11:05 AM
Yeah. dryad dude is weird, but Orc Therapist needs to be told no, and if he's not getting it, he needs to be told to go. I don't understand people who are told "dude, this is really making me uncomfortable" who not only persist, but consider it a new challenge to keep pushing the envelope. I don't know if he's young or grown, but if young he needs to be told that's not going to work in life, not personally, not professionally. If he's grown, then I don't know what to say except I feel bad for the other people experiencing him.

Keltest
2018-03-19, 11:18 AM
For the dryad player, ask them what it is about the Dryad is fun for them. Its more work, and its kind of obnoxious, but its not inherently game ending to work with this person as long as it doesn't escalate into them demanding other special favors from the DM, or trying to use their dryad race to get away with stuff you don't want to allow them to do.

For the rape roleplayer, they get one warning. That is not acceptable behavior, no tolerance. If he needs to do it to have fun, he has to find his fun elsewhere. That is the sort of behavior that can legitimately offend or hurt the real players at the table, and if even one person* is not OK with it, it needs to stop. No amount of fun is worth any real world harm done to a group of friends. Don't allow any room for ambiguity here, he needs to know this problem is entirely on him.

*assuming this is a person you want to game with. If its a random person who asked to join the group and not somebody you actually invited, then they should probably try to game elsewhere.

Lord_Drayakir
2018-03-19, 05:11 PM
Players are a dime a dozen, whereas DMs are hard to find. Boot the "speshul snowflake" Dryad player unless he accepts that "no, you can't play a dryad." And then tell the rapist that he's out.

Jay R
2018-03-19, 09:02 PM
For the rape roleplayer, they get one warning. That is not acceptable behavior, no tolerance. If he needs to do it to have fun, he has to find his fun elsewhere. That is the sort of behavior that can legitimately offend or hurt the real players at the table, and if even one person* is not OK with it, it needs to stop.

Yup. Specifically, I won't role-play a rape victim as DM. No. Just no.

Metahuman1
2018-03-20, 03:16 AM
Yup. Specifically, I won't role-play a rape victim as DM. No. Just no.

That may be an incredibly useful thing to say to him actually. "Ok, you are insisting on roleplaying the aggressor. Whom do you think then has to play the victim? Yeah, me. Do you think I want to play the victim? Rhetorical question, I don't. I absolutely do not. And I will not. Now, you have your 3 options to pursue, pick one."

Mordaedil
2018-03-20, 04:55 AM
The half-orc rapist sounds like a player I wouldn't want to play with, even if he picked up the slack. It just comes across as really creepy.

The dryad thing can be resolved like the other players have suggested, but I can suggest that you can tell him about the problems with dryads, as they are bound to their trees and meadows, so it's difficult for dryads to leave their homes and go adventuring. If he doesn't provide a backstory to accomodate her loss of home, let her know she has to play something she can actually roleplay.

Lord Torath
2018-03-20, 11:22 AM
"Hey, guys? I'm REALLY not having a fun time with all the rape jokes and juvenile bathroom humor. I would rather play MONOPOLY than run another session for you like the last one. So we've got two options here: stop the rape jokes - right now - or end the campaign right now and play <insert favorite board game here>, which I just happen to have brought with me today. What's it to be?"

Leave option three - pack my stuff up, and go see a movie without you three lugs - unsaid, but keep it in the back of your mind.

As a group, we forumites tend to be incredibly arrogant, and always assume our solutions will work (just like Dr. McKay). But we can never really tell unless you come back and let us know how things worked out for you. So (channeling Iago from Aladin here), how'd it go? Jaffar: I think she took it... rather well!

kyoryu
2018-03-20, 11:33 AM
As a group, we forumites tend to be incredibly arrogant, and always assume our solutions will work (just like Dr. McKay). But we can never really tell unless you come back and let us know how things worked out for you. So (channeling Iago from Aladin here), how'd it go? Jaffar: I think she took it... rather well!

That solution will work, for some value of "working".

In any situation like this, you can ask the person to stop doing what's bugging you. They either will or they won't. If they won't, you can decide whether it's worth continuing to game with them. Which it either is or it isn't.

It's pretty much that simple.

What doesn't work is "how can I get this person to change?". You can't. You can ask them to modify their behavior, and you can decide whether it's so intolerable you can't deal with it. That's the choice you get.

McFuzzle
2018-03-20, 12:26 PM
Thanks for all the helpful advice folks. The Dryad player actually decided that playing a Dryad was annoying, so dropped it completely in favor of a planetouched (undecided which kind) Warlock. Totally out of left field and brought it up himself.

The Orc listened and switched to a human Paladin, who now gives out pamphlets to everyone he meets in an effort to get them to worship his chosen god. Eccentric, but I guess all is well?

Appreciate all the help everyone. Can close out this thread.

Metahuman1
2018-03-20, 11:25 PM
Former Dryad Player: That should work as long as the type of Planetouched you pick is something there are Player Character Race stats for.




Former Orc:That, went FAR better than I imagined it would. Yeah, a religious character handing out pamphlets Jehovah's Witness style is quirky but harmless in and of itself in my estimation. Certainly much more so than what he was doing before.




Well done, I'd call this one more or less solved! =)

Mordaedil
2018-03-21, 02:23 AM
That's an all round happy end if I ever saw one. Amazing.

Cluedrew
2018-03-21, 08:31 AM
Wow. Player 1 may have just latched onto a different idea to obsess about, but I think player 2 may have actually had a moment of meaningful self-reflection there. That was unexpected but... that is a pretty good sign.

Jay R
2018-03-21, 04:31 PM
I want to believe that the backstory of the human paladin is that he's a reformed and polymorphed half-orc.

Metahuman1
2018-03-24, 10:40 PM
Wow. Player 1 may have just latched onto a different idea to obsess about, but I think player 2 may have actually had a moment of meaningful self-reflection there. That was unexpected but... that is a pretty good sign.

Does it matter though? Player 1 is now obsessing about something that's effectively harmless to the game. So he gives people a bit of paper at every opportunity and makes a small sermon to try and get them on board with his temple. Big deal. He's a character who get's divine ability's.

Anonymouswizard
2018-03-25, 07:52 AM
Does it matter though? Player 1 is now obsessing about something that's effectively harmless to the game. So he gives people a bit of paper at every opportunity and makes a small sermon to try and get them on board with his temple. Big deal. He's a character who get's divine ability's.

That's Player 2 (Orc McOhnoputthatinnocentpersondownthisinstandyousicko ), not Player 1 (Dryady treedude).

The problem with Player 1 wasn't that his obsession was harmful, just hard to implement in a satisfying way (you know, as borked as it was Level Adjustment did at least try to make such characters viable). Although apart from misinterpreting which player is which you're spot on.

There is the problem of Player 1 going to a specialist snowflake character, but that's not certain yet, Player 2 is just being stereotypical, which in a tabletop game is completely fine as long as the group is in on it (I mean, in my current group I'm making fun of my RL religion if I get the chance, but not those of other members).