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View Full Version : How do you avoid spotlighting when the other characters are fools.



The Jack
2018-11-23, 07:16 PM
We're doing an outlaw game.
I'm playing a rational character who thinks things through and who tries hard to avoid the mistakes that'll get us hunted,killed,jailed, enslaved or poor.
The other two player characters are loose cannons that almost seem like they want to die. I feel like the straightman in a comedy routine, or a single mother. Some of the stuff they pull... I'd have a field day.
My character wouldn't abide their characters as they cause too many uneccessary problems, but as they're pcs i gotta roll with it.
they seem to be having fun, but I fear I need to step up too much. I'm the one shooting straight, but i cant help but think i'm the bad guy for trying to take control:
-I can only trust myself to be the party face for anything approaching important. The others are terrible diplomats and they will screw up.
-My plans are much better and the ones we've gone with.
My character is individually less powerful, but more useful and puts far more to the table in the form of minions.

I don't want the game to be Jack'n co, but i feel like it needs to be that way if i want to live.

How do you work with such a party? I've talked to the GM about making a more carefree replacement, but he's fine with what's current.

Erloas
2018-11-23, 07:31 PM
I think the primary question is: is it an actual problem?

One person making the plans or "being the face" is really only an issue if other players want to do that too but can't. If they're perfectly happy with you covering all the "trivial" things so they can just worry about shooting bad/good guys then that is ok.

It is often easier to just have one person making the final decisions rather than making all the choices done by committee. Just like the real life choice of "what do you want for dinner tonight?"


I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it seems like they're having an issue with it.

Grimmnist
2018-11-23, 07:42 PM
The obvious but sometimes difficult solution is to talk about this issue before next game. Don't focus on what they're doing "wrong" cause that conversation goes downhill quickly, instead I would recommend describing how your character has trouble fitting into the party. Quickly explain your character's personality which will give context for your objections (I wouldn't go into specific instances as that can quickly get heated). I might offer to change characters if the other two seem set on a sillier campaign and you are ok with a sillier one (don't offer to do it if that would ruin your experience). Finally I would recommend adding more table talk before making some in-game decisions, this might disrupt the flow of the game but you can phase it out as your characters start to have better rapport working together.

PS: if you have this discussion avoid using "I", "you", ect. instead use "my character", "your character" keeps things from getting personal.

PPS: Should go without saying, but respect when they are speaking as well. They may have a few areas in which they would like your character to improve.

Darth Ultron
2018-11-23, 08:05 PM
As with most things you can't overly change: you just have to live with it.

First off, you might really want to consider finding another game. If you stay in a game with other players that don't match your play style....well.....simply, it won't end good.

Now, if you stay, just live with it:

Ok, so the character has a bunch of troublesome companions. So, live with it. The character can stay back from the ''crazy ones" as much as possible. Your character does not have to wear a short that says "I'm with them" and a big arrow.

Your character has to take the burden of doing anything with the slightest bit of thought or intelligence. But there is no one else to do so.

It does not really matter if you are the greatest planner ever, you might want to more just ''go along" with their crazy plans.

If your character is already an Outlaw...well, you don't need to feel bad about being the bad guy....you already are the bad guy.

The Jack
2018-11-23, 08:53 PM
Ok, so the character has a bunch of troublesome companions. So, live with it. The character can stay back from the ''crazy ones" as much as possible. Your character does not have to wear a short that says "I'm with them" and a big arrow.

It does not really matter if you are the greatest planner ever, you might want to more just ''go along" with their crazy plans.

If your character is already an Outlaw...well, you don't need to feel bad about being the bad guy....you already are the bad guy.

We got the same ship.They always stand out. I wear a variety of outfits depending on if i want to be noticed or not, they go for flair.

Their plans are less 'crazy' and more 'not a plan'

There was this dilema i was having. Our robotic PC was playing stupid-evil, the robot liked to kill people for stress relief, and it's design really stuck out as it was an oddball contraption. It would tell everyone Bout the joys of killing. I offered the robot a tune-up (to make it stand out less) and the character really would have liked to reprogram the machine. She said no, and as a player I went with that, even if It was a terrible character decision: at least the killings were quick and we weren't in place long enough for it to matter overmuch. Were it not a PC, I would've disabled that droid and had a day with it's coding, but It was, so I didnt. It was a dilemma for me, because I knew I should've fixed that droid.

A few games later, his character has nefariously reprogrammed one of my droids, causing my droid to hack into a space station and getting security to run rampant . That space station belonged to people we were hoping to ally ourselves with. The rogue security banged up our ship and our other player has been trying to ask these people, who we're now trying to apologize to, for compensation for the damages of our ship...

So i ended up reprogramming the robot PC. He was cool with it because he felt he deserved it, but should we have ever gotten there?

Mastikator
2018-11-24, 01:50 PM
Let them have their fun.
If you're an outlaw then your primary objective should be to worry about number one first. Make plans that you either don't suffer the consequences of their dumb actions or that you benefit from it. Tell your DM this is what you're doing, make sure you're having fun the way you like.

Pauly
2018-11-24, 06:12 PM
In this case I’d suggest just be the straight man. Be the Margaret Dumont to their Marx Brothers. Be the Jeeves to their Bertie Wooster.
Enjoy the fun because the other 2 players are going to have their fun. You can be selfish and manipulative, you can sit back, enjoy watching them screw up to come in and fix it for them.

In your head you’re playing a serious drama. In their heads they’re playing an action comedy.

For example when you reprogrammed the stupid evil PC you could have programmed it to be stupid polite or stupid charitable. Exchanging one fun but bad for your character flaw into a flaw that’s fun for you to watch the other olayer deal with, but is less problematic for your character.

John Campbell
2018-11-24, 10:24 PM
... "avoid"? I don't understand.

Half the fun of the game is the utterly foreseeable consequences of other players' ridiculous plans coming to pass. The other half is making fun of other players' ridiculous plans after the utterly foreseeable consequences come to pass.

(If you read Darths & Droids... one of the long-time members of my group is basically Jim.)

Florian
2018-11-25, 03:27 AM
@The Jack:

Do you know how that reads t me as an outsider?

Your two fellow players and the gm are playing on a level playing field and having fun. You're the one not getting the game and being a spoilsport, a little bit like Elmar Fudd.

Spore
2018-11-25, 03:44 AM
-My plans are much better and the ones we've gone with.


Are they though?


I feel like the straightman in a comedy routine, or a single mother.

Then you need to discuss what kind of tone and story you want out of the game. They sound like they want something light hearted.


My character wouldn't abide their characters as they cause too many uneccessary problems

Some stuff you should stomach because of team reasons. But is there any major reason this particular character would hang around the group any longer? Switching PCs is a good solution sometimes.

(I did the opposite with switching from a goofy and relaxed soldier to a brawling straightman. And while I love combat with him, everything else (80% of the game time) I don't like.)


-I can only trust myself to be the party face for anything approaching important. The others are terrible diplomats and they will screw up.

Yes but if there is no real reason to go efficient, why not do the fun variant? You've survived anything thus far.

In sum: Try to relax a bit, it is a game, not a 100% completion run of some video game or a contest of efficiency. Try another character, and discuss what kind of game you want.

The Jack
2018-11-25, 03:52 AM
@The Jack:

Do you know how that reads t me as an outsider?

Your two fellow players and the gm are playing on a level playing field and having fun. You're the one not getting the game and being a spoilsport, a little bit like Elmar Fudd.

We're all playing fine. Don't see why you gotta be like that;
I'm not being an ass at my table. This thread was born from the concern that i could become an ass at my table. I just find it stressful that I've made Scar and they've made the hyenas. I've offered to roll with it and make a hyena
The gm is happy with both kinds of play. He really liked a similar character i made for another game he ran, though the team was more adept. He can run things loose, but not as loose as the other players would need if they were without a sane one.

He plans to end the game in a few sessions, as we're at the limit of what you can do with the system we're using.