In-Character Argument

[Bartmanhomer]

Today I was playing Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 with my friends and I got into an argument with one of my friend during the game. The argument was that I nominated one player as leader and I nominated myself as second-in-command for the party. One player disagreed with the idea then the whole drama starts. To be honest it was actually kind of fun. It really livened things up the game. I know everybody has their in-character arguments and drama before. What do you think about it, is it fun or not?

[Grod_The_Giant]

As long as things stay in-character, and don't expand to fill the whole session with real arguments? Sure!

[Kelb_Panthera]

Grod nailed this one. It -can- be very enriching for telling a more nuanced and detailed story with the characters. It can also turn into a total chit-show for the group outside of the game. As long as you can stick to the former and avoid the latter it's great.

[ReaderAt2046]

As long as everyone's enjoying themselves, you're probably good.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

I once had a situation where half the party started roleplaying a LOT more evil than they had originally agreed to. The Warlock started robbing corpses, and the Wizard starting trying to reanimate those corpses. Which became problematic when they fought both the corpse's GHOST and each other for the loot. Trust me when I say it was a mess.

But instead of OOC party breakdown, they had an entirely In-Character debate on their party composition, goals, etc. For TWO HOURS. It was amazing, cathartic, and ultimately ended with a lot of solid roleplay, betrayals, curses, and some choice quotes we now occasionally throw around the table.

Wizard: "I'll kill you if you stand in my way again!"
Warlock: "I'd like to see you try!"
Sorcerer: "SHUT UP! I pay you! You're not fighting on company time!"
Fighter: "This armor's whispering to my soul guys...help..."

[JeenLeen]

I think it's good to pause the RP and, as an out-of-character statement, make sure everyone is cool and not getting angry in real life. As long as that's the case, it's awesome.

I had a debate in my latest game. My CG character thinks it's okay to kill evil prisoners, while the other CG thinks it's okay only if we haven't said we'd let them go if they tell us info. We compromised and said we'd keep our promises, except promises made while they are under Charm Person. But IC, it was a fun debate, and even if we hadn't reached an amiable compromise, I think we both enjoyed it OOC and had no real issue with each other.

Led to a funny talk later:
My guy: "Okay, I'll go talk to the noble working with the drow and blackmail him for info and gear."
His: "We shouldn't just blackmail him. We should kill him."
My guy: "YOU of all people say we should kill him? You let actual drow we captured go!"
His: "Yeah, but we never promised not to kill this guy."
My guy: "...you're right. Okay, I'll go blackmail him. After he pays up, we can kill him."

[Jay R]

In-character arguments are fun if people respect each other and are working together while disagreeing, and don't go on too long, but are really bad otherwise.

Just like out-of-character arguments.