DMing Problem - Don't Split the Group

[TheDrunkNinja]

I recently started DMing a campaign with my friends a month ago, and so far, we've had three sessions. Now, this is the first time I've had to DM again, but so far I've been able to pick it up rather quickly. Everything goes pretty smoothly as far as storywise considering the characters have been the driving force of the story. They've pretty much conducted everything they've been doing, so all I've really had to do was create the world and point them in the right direction so that they continue in the over-arching story.

Now, my problem is with a specific friend of mine. His character is incredibly hard to work with and keep in the group. He takes role playing extremely seriously, which I respect, but so far it's like he's been trying to test me or something. His character is the only one that isn't human in the group, and he's a huge racist. Now having his own agenda is all fine and dandy, but the problem is he always tries splitting the group by going off on his own and expecting me to keep going--DMing the regular group while DMing his own mini-campaign he keeps trying to force in. The reason for this is due to the fact that, while he's a huge racist, he's also very loyal to his people, and considers anything going on in the outside world not his problem. Any overarching threat I create in the story, he doesn't even consider traveling with the rest of the group, despite having the same goal in mind. He doesn't care about shared interests, he just wants to be on his own.

Worse yet, he hates when DMs use deus ex's to keep a story going. If I try using some earth shattering event which he can't roll against like a cave-in to keep the group together, he just bitches at me and calls it bullshit. And even if he accepts it, it's only a temporary solution. Once they get out of said cave, he'll just head out in the other direction without even saying a word.

I swear, I never thought it'd be this hard just to keep a single group together. I seriously need some help. Any suggestions. Are there any tricks or tips you guys can share with me? Has anyone else ever had this kind or problem?

tl;dr: Basically what I'm asking is how do you guys keep you're group together? What are ways to avert group-splitting?

 

[RollForInitiative]

Lose the player. No, seriously. Lone-wolf style players do nothing but drag the overall quality of a campaign down. I've played with them and I've DM'ed for them; my personal experience has been that they're just not worth having around. The game always improved significantly after they were removed.

 

[ajemas]

My advice is to just kick the guy out of the group. He is the only one causing the problem so he can go start his own campaign if he wants to. I have never seen anyone do that in my tabletop experience, so get rid of him and everything should be fine.

 

[Silver]

Don't force the character to stay with the group. Tell him plainly and clearly that the story is about this group of adventurers. If his character leaves, he's off camera and whatever he does won't be the focus of the story. Then focus on the core group and ignore him until he comes back, or make him create a new character, one that fits into the campaign, that focuses on a particular group of people.

 

[Silver]

Don't force the character to stay with the group. Tell him plainly and clearly that the story is about this group of adventurers. If his character leaves, he's off camera and whatever he does won't be the focus of the story. Then focus on the core group and ignore him until he comes back, or make him create a new character, one that fits into the campaign, that focuses on a particular group of people.

 

[ahappycamper]

Make it more realistic, a guy out on his own, won't survive, try to demonstrate this to him. Or just make his character meet impossible odds that he cannot conquer on his own, so if he keeps soloing everything he dies.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Lose the player. No, seriously. Lone-wolf style players do nothing but drag the overall quality of a campaign down. I've played with them and I've DM'ed for them; my personal experience has been that they're just not worth having around. The game always improved significantly after they were removed.

He's someone who's been in every campaign we've done since I first started D&D and a really good friend. Plus, I don't know what everyone else will think of me if I just say, "You're out. Go home." Another one of my friends he's known since kindergarten will probably not be too happy either.

 

[StBishop]

Lose the player. No, seriously. Lone-wolf style players do nothing but drag the overall quality of a campaign down. I've played with them and I've DM'ed for them; my personal experience has been that they're just not worth having around. The game always improved significantly after they were removed.

My advice is to just kick the guy out of the group. He is the only one causing the problem so he can go start his own campaign if he wants to. I have never seen anyone do that in my tabletop experience, so get rid of him and everything should be fine.

This. Ask others what they think and then if they agree that it's annoying, ask him to change, or tell him to go and DM his own campaign as he obviously doesn't want to play with others.

If they all don't care, then tell him that it bothers you, and that while others don't mind, ultimately it's your campaign and if he wants to fuck off and do his own thing that's fine but you won't be able to DM it for him.

Alternatively:

Make it more realistic, a guy out on his own, won't survive, try to demonstrate this to him. Or just make his character meet impossible odds that he cannot conquer on his own, so if he keeps soloing everything he dies.

Hmmm.

Lose the player. No, seriously. Lone-wolf style players do nothing but drag the overall quality of a campaign down. I've played with them and I've DM'ed for them; my personal experience has been that they're just not worth having around. The game always improved significantly after they were removed.

He's someone who's been in every campaign we've done since I first started D&D and a really good friend. Plus, I don't know what everyone else will think of me if I just say, "You're out. Go home." Another one of my friends he's known since kindergarten will probably not be too happy either.

If he's that good of a friend he should understand that it's making your life hard, and making the game less fun.

If he wants he can keep doing so but really, if he's a mate, I'm sure he'll make a small sacrifice for you.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Lose the player. No, seriously. Lone-wolf style players do nothing but drag the overall quality of a campaign down. I've played with them and I've DM'ed for them; my personal experience has been that they're just not worth having around. The game always improved significantly after they were removed.

He's someone who's been in every campaign we've done since I first started D&D and a really good friend. Plus, I don't know what everyone else will think of me if I just say, "You're out. Go home." Another one of my friends he's known since kindergarten will probably not be too happy either.

Just talk with him like an adult, be straight. Explain to him, look, i'm trying really hard to accomidate you, but splitting the group is bad beans for the campaign - there is a plan and there is a plot and your making it difficult to explore those. It's not fun for everyone else if i'm focusing on you while your character is running off and leaving the group to do other things. Be sure to ask him what he thinks you could do, as a DM, to solve this - don't lay it all at his feet like an accusation, ask for solutions and thoughts. How can I make this campaign more fun for you so your character doesn't run off all the time?

 

[Simskiller]

Make his character get lost in the woods. Or get ambushed by dire wolves/bears/other/everything when he's alone. Make it so it would of been a fair fight if the rest of the group was there.

 

[sms_117b]

Kill off the racist non-human, basically, plan out a solo mission fo him, something about an ancient text, guarded by a lizard like creature, which so happens to be a Red Dragon or something, he'll be pissed and have to re-roll a character but keep doing it until he gets the hint.

 

[Altorin]

sounds like a problem player. Sadly it's not as simple as just "don't split up the group". Sometimes, groups get split. I play in a 6 player weekly game, and there are often times when we'll be in 3 "mini-groups", but the Storyteller is ok with it. It's just sort of how it goes. All the players sort of know whats going on and take the spotlight when they can - when there are that many players and only one storyteller. Our games are cinematic, and movies don't have all the characters always in the same place at the same time.

I think the problem isn't so much the splitting the group as what's causing it. Not Machinations of the story, but rather one character's own prejudices. Not all characters are good for player characters. They seem great on paper, but in action, things don't line up right. A character like that might be a great NPC, but make a horrible PC. I made a hacker character once for a modern nights RPG, but the concept I had for the character was basically a shut-in loser that never leaves his house and has a bunch of home alone style booby traps throughout it.

The storyteller rightly pointed out that I had made an NPC not a PC.

Maybe you can communicate that to your friend, maybe give him extra incentive to make a more copacetic character, such as additional experience points, a favorable magic item or just design the character with him. Most games start with a character making session, whether it's as a group or individually, and each character sort of has to get a pass by you.

You made the initial mistake by not seeing it as a destructive force. You have to be wary of any character that has anti-social tendencies, because if they're roleplayed well, they don't belong in a group at all.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Make it more realistic, a guy out on his own, won't survive, try to demonstrate this to him. Or just make his character meet impossible odds that he cannot conquer on his own, so if he keeps soloing everything he dies.

Like I said, he calls out deus ex stuff on all my other friend's campaigns. So far I've been avoiding it rather well with that knowledge, but if I just add something in wholesale to make his life harder, he'll get upset. Trust me, he's a really good friend of mine, but he's emotional like all hell when he thinks his characters are being messed with.

Plus, he's a really good player, and his character can probably overcome any non-deus ex threat I throw at him. I'm serious, he seriously made his character powerful and hes still in the early levels.

Scenario: If I throw a group of difficult monsters his way, he'll demand I have him roll perception before they arrive, which would technically be fair. He'd roll stealth and case the monsters. If he believes he can't take them, he'll just walk away since he has made stealth skills. If I don't let him do any of this, he'll just get pissed off.

 

[Altorin]

Make it more realistic, a guy out on his own, won't survive, try to demonstrate this to him. Or just make his character meet impossible odds that he cannot conquer on his own, so if he keeps soloing everything he dies.

Like I said, he calls out deus ex stuff on all my other friend's campaigns. So far I've been avoiding it rather well with that knowledge, but if I just add something in wholesale to make his life harder, he'll get upset. Trust me, he's a really good friend of mine, but he's emotional like all hell when he thinks his characters are being messed with.

Plus, he's a really good player, and his character can probably overcome any non-deus ex threat I throw at him. I'm serious, he seriously made his character powerful and hes still in the early levels.

Scenario: If I throw a group of difficult monsters his way, he'll demand I have him roll perception before they arrive, which would technically be fair. He'd roll stealth and case the monsters. If he believes he can't take them, he'll just walk away since he has made stealth skills. If I don't let him do any of this, he'll just get pissed off.

If he's really such a great player, he would see that RPGs are mostly a group effort, and maybe he would see that running two almost separate games just because his character's racist doesn't make any sense and is putting undue stress on you - the one who decided to sit down and host the game so that he could have fun.

 

[darkbshadow]

Let him know that if he is planning on solo adventuring that it will be very tough and his rate for survival is going to be very low. Never force your group to stay together, just give them reasons why they would want to adventure with one another. Also never force your group to make decisions that you want them to make it should always be their choice.

If he wants to leave the dungeon by himself don't block him from doing so just have traps or enemies put in the place just for him when he feels the need to leave.

Also if all your warnings and traps don't persuade him to stay with the group, play out his own mini campain and put him in situations where his death is almost certain to happen. With this though you don't want to make it so it's automatic death and no chance at all, let him always roll it out just to show him how futile it was to solo hunt. Never be afraid to kill off a character if they are playing stupid or just if it will enhance the story line.

 

[sniddy_v1legacy]

OK as much as I respect his determination to role play a character....

He's still actually being a dick....

Part of this is a social event, and to give you an example....my new character in an upcoming campaign was a push to justify why I'd have a deva, paragons of virtue etc etc running around with a group of mercenary sell swords.

So I fit my character to the GM, to the world, and to the group....and I have a workable character, he has his own agenda and to be fair will be an aloof, uncompromising SoaB - but I'll work with my GM not against him. My group won't know but I'll have lied to them from day 1

You need to sit this guy down and explain he is not a special little snowflake - be honest and admit his dedication to his character is commendable - but it's detracting from the group experience....

The GM is not the enemy, the GMs role is to facilitate the fun. If you're being hampered by spending too long on one character alone - that's not fun. With a little redirection this guy sounds like a fantastic person to play with....but I'm sorry unless the whole group is cool with this thing you may have to ask him to leave...

TBH our DM lets us split and group, and basically hands our arses back to us on a silver platter with some garnish....

You know the maxim DOn't.Split.The.Group.....our group does now

My advise for DM's - let um, then kick them, then let them reform lick their wounds and then eventually they'll learn...or die...or you have to fudge it to keep them alive - but then make it have consequences, the boss escaped with some phat loot/the MacGufffin as the 1st sub group spent too long trying to get past the guards and he got spooked, but we know where he's heading so - mini dungeon crawl if you want the loot/reward

AND ye-gods was I ninja-ed

...and it sounds like he's in charge, that's not fun either...ambush him, pit trap him, make his solo quest hell...take it to a dedicated D&D board with his sheet and get some help to break this guy if need be, there WILL be ways, lots of, and no ONE person has allt he angles covered - power players are generlaly not fun unless it's a group of power players and his skiils as a roleplayer say not a true munchkin

 

[Grospoliner]

Here's what you do. Slip in some treasure. Some magical items. Make sure that one of the items he picks up is actually cursed. So when he equips it he then must stay within a certain radius of another character item or his character will become paralyzed. Try to do this with a set of rings but only roll for this once both items are equipped. Try to work it in as part of the plot so that two of your players have to equip the items, like an entire set of rings to unlock a door. That will cure that shit right up.

 

[Slip05]

If your insistent on keeping him in your campaign, with that character, then add your own character to their group that is the same race as him and maybe has an important role to his people (I don't have any specifics but I'm sure you'll think of something) so that if he really takes role playing seriously his character will feel compelled to assist this new character, who will want to go with this group.

If you already have a character, well then, play two and do your best not to talk to yourself, cause that would be just plain crazy

Personally though, having him rejoin as a new character and tell him he just making it hard for you. Otherwise he can always come up with something new to make your life hard if that's what they really want to do

 

[alittlepepper]

Make it more realistic, a guy out on his own, won't survive, try to demonstrate this to him. Or just make his character meet impossible odds that he cannot conquer on his own, so if he keeps soloing everything he dies.

This is a poor way to manage the situation IMO, if only because it's often done poorly and hard to avoid being cast as this:

T-Rex On The Plains. A particularly irritating form of Railroading where the gamemaster uses huge, nasty monsters (or high-level adversaries) to scare players back onto the path. (So named for a peculiar incident in an AD&D game where the players went off task and took a shortcut through a field they had heard about. It was a featureless landscape, but a T-Rex appeared literally out of nowhere and chased the players back onto the main road. Needless to say, the game ended soon after.)

Basically, my advice is to let him. If he wants to go off on his own, let him. Tell him kindly however that since he refuses to game with the other players, he'll just have to wait his turn and do all of his stuff in private. After 2-3 gaming sessions of sitting around doing nothing, while you attend to the rest of the group while giving him occasionally a half hour or two to play his character while the other players hang out and rest up and chat, he'll come around.
Of course this assumes you have a fairly lighthearted group that's willing to just goof around while you're off doing something with him. In the issue of a big combat or something like that, just tell him "We'll have to get together sometime to do that, I'm not going to waste an hour and a half of the group's time for one fight. Needs of the many and all." Or something to that effect.

Some players are Divas and like to make themselves out to be DM Tests of Fire. It's easy enough to handle if you're okay putting the needs of the players above the needs of the one. And if he raises a stink about it, tell him exactly why you're doing it. You're getting together to game to run *one* campaign, not two. If he insists on going off alone, that's fine. But when the focus is on the group, he's just going to have to deal with not getting as much attention.

And don't be afraid to split the party within reason. The game I'm currently in has probably only been completely assembled a couple of months out of the 4 in-game years they've been traveling. More often than not we're paired off achieving multiple different goals at once. But we also understand that, well. We don't get to game all the time by doing that. It's okay, since we have a lot of fun just B/S'ing with one another until our turn comes back around. If your group is cool with that...hey. Go for it.