How do I keep players from hamming it up?

[The Dread Pirate Robbins]

I ran a game last night and it went great, slow, but really fun none the less. It was my first time CKing and it ended up taking me a couple of hours to find a pace that worked. That being said, we had six players and each one had a cool backstory in mind for their character, and each player wanted to reveal his character to the group throughout the session. However, this caused the gameplay to slow down considerably and we it took the group five hours to get through four and a half days of, what should have been, meaningless wilderness travel. We didn't even get to the town we were supposed to get to to start the quest that they heard about at the very beginning of play!

My question is then this: How do I keep my players from fighting over the spotlight while still allowing for fun and interesting roleplay?

-Pirate Rob-

[sieg]

Hey DPR,

Have you gamed with this group before? If so, is this a recurring problem?

It might be that once they have the initial introductions out of the way things might go on more smoothly. In my experience, having PCs 'meet' and 'get to know each other' can take hours if you've got a lot of thespian types in the mix. But it usually tones down after the PCs get to know each other.

If it doesn't...start rolling random encounters while they're busy hamming up. That'll get them moving.
HTH,

Mike
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Always remember, as a first principle of all D&D: playing BtB is not now, never was and never will be old school.- Tim Kask, Dragonsfoot

[gideon_thorne]

The Dread Pirate Robbins wrote:
My question is then this: How do I keep my players from fighting over the spotlight while still allowing for fun and interesting roleplay?

-Pirate Rob-

Was everyone having fun? If so, why stop em?
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Fiffergrund]

Moving this to the General Forum. This will get more diversity of thought and allow for a dialogue.
My two cents:

To some degree, you want this sort of interaction. What you *don't* want is a situation where all of the players want your attention and they try to outdo each other to get it. Also just as bad are the "character actors" that decide they are doing to take up your time, and the group's time, to do absolutely inane things that have no point in the adventure.

I once ran a game for a player like this. It didn't matter which character he played, it was always the same. He would describe how he goes out into the town, city, or countryside, looking for something that would provide him some numerical advantage, or etching his blades, or getting new tattoos, or practicing martial arts at length, or getting drunk.

This kind of crap - and yes, it is crap - is toxic to a game.

If this is what is happening, take the offending person aside and explain that you understand the need to have a cool character that fits the vision, but that all of the "vision" stuff is taking away from the "adventure" stuff, which is the whole point of the game.
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Sir Fiffergrund, Lord Marshal of the Castle and Crusade Society.

He Who Hides Behind The Elephant's Back

[Frost]

I agree with sieg. Let things play out a bit. Since this was the first session, it seems kind of natural that each player would want to show off his PC a bit. I wouldn't be concerned unless it becomes a reoccurring problem.

And, yes, nothing focuses a group of players better than some combat. Kind of hard to babble on about your PC's background when he's dodging monster attacks.
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Lord Frost

Baron of the Pitt
Castles & Crusades Society
The Dungeoneering Dad

[Deogolf]

Kill them all! That will shut them up!!
Seriously, if they are having fun and it really isn't causing too much of a problem, let them enjoy it.

If they get out of hand, kill them all!!
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[CharlieRock]

Fact of Gaming Life: Players do not change their gaming style as much as GMs do. That said you can nudge them towards your style. Both sides should have fun.

If the players take up a lot of table time interacting, either with each other or with your NPCs and that is how they want to play if you change that they will not pley, i.e. you'll be looking for another group. This is only best if you have serious gaming differences then you should stop gaming together for the sake of friendship. But these are extreme cases.

Here is what I would do: Take out a lot of the "random encounters". You simply dont have time for that. Then take out some of the smaller encounters you were planning on using as "filler". You wont have time for these either. Now throw in a lethal puzzle or riddle encounter just to show them your still the boss. Then make your monster encounters you have left VERY challenging. Challenging enough that they NEED to work together to whup it or else. Basically, if you wanna hog the spotlight the consequences would be PC death during these encounters. Now you have a "fix" for this style: your adventures move at an equivalent rate with emphasis still on theatric stuff, you still fill your quota of HP Loss/PKs, and everybody knows that the whole party contributes when it comes down to it.

Dont forget to add in XP rewards for the trap rooms. Or the xp progression is going to slow down too much and the game gets dry.
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The Rock says ...

Know your roll!

[Relaxo]

TPK!!!!

Or accept that this is they're style.

If you're all having fun, no sweat.

if they all are and you're not, well, keep attacking them or distracting them from goofiness with THE STORY.

or maybe lighten up?

I dunno. I don't mean to attack you, i want to be clear.

part of it is a learning curve, maybe you're just not used to they way they play. there's no right or wrong way (as long as the dice stay of of everyone's orifices)

[finarvyn]

What I find in general is that every campaign I run turns out to be a blend of my concept and their interpretation.

When I tried a Sorcerer RPG game, they didn't "get it" and it turned into slapstick humor instead of dark angst. I found that it was better to go with the flow rather than try to impose my will on the group.

They had a blast.
It just wasn't quite the game I had imagined.
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Finarvyn

Lord Marshall, Earl of Stone Creek, C&C Society

C&C Playtester in 2003
OD&D player since 1975

[The Dread Pirate Robbins]

finarvyn wrote:
What I find in general is that every campaign I run turns out to be a blend of my concept and their interpretation.

When I tried a Sorcerer RPG game, they didn't "get it" and it turned into slapstick humor instead of dark angst. I found that it was better to go with the flow rather than try to impose my will on the group.

They had a blast.
It just wasn't quite the game I had imagined.

Well I'm getting lots of that "concept vs interpretation" thing. I'll talk with my group about it, maybe they can tell me what they're looking for in a game. I don't want to ruin their fun and I don't mind taking it slow so long as I'm sure that's what they want. To be honest no one in my group is very experienced at roleplaying, so this could just be a simple matter of a lack of comunication between us. I hope it is, I really like the mission and I wanted the players to see how fun and vast their first adventure really is. What do you guys think?

[gideon_thorne]

The Dread Pirate Robbins wrote:
What do you guys think?

Well, if you're all new at this, then everyone has something to learn.

But that was always half the fun to my mind.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Jonathan of White Haven]

The Dread Pirate Robbins wrote:
Well I'm getting lots of that "concept vs interpretation" thing. I'll talk with my group about it, maybe they can tell me what they're looking for in a game. I don't want to ruin their fun and I don't mind taking it slow so long as I'm sure that's what they want. To be honest no one in my group is very experienced at roleplaying, so this could just be a simple matter of a lack of comunication between us. I hope it is, I really like the mission and I wanted the players to see how fun and vast their first adventure really is. What do you guys think?

Well, I'm considerably behindhand in reading up on the forums here. Lots of stupid things going on in RL, and not enough C&C. I hope to change all of that that Real Soon Now.

Anyway, your first session sounds very much like the one I had. (Was it really more than a year ago? How time flies...)

In my case, I *suggested* that my players work up some sort of backstories for their newly-minted PCs, and I even consulted with them somewhat as they were doing so. This was a week or two prior to actually getting the PCs introduced to each other, and was intended to fast-track the PCs personalities somewhat.

It worked, and yes, the first session "dragged" a bit because of the interplay between the PCs tended to take up time that could have been "better spent" adventuring. But the adventuring eventually happened, they had a fun time figuring out a relatively simple puzzle, got a reward and some XP for it, then moved along into the *real* adventuring with the next session.

As for the players "hamming it up", I award extra XP for getting off good lines, making me laugh, and even (though it hasn't happened yet), causing refreshment to spray out of my mouth or nose (big XP bonus for that.)

Sometimes the acting (and acting up) can spiral out of control. Sometimes, it can kill a campaign. But don't be too harsh--your players are getting used to the game, your gaming style, and most importantly, they're developing *their* own gaming style. You'll need to learn to roll with it somewhat, and adjust yourself a bit. If you don't, Bad Things can happen. For example:

Quite a number of years back, our Usual Group Of Idiots got together to play the ST: TNG game. The GM prided himself on being a storyteller. His problem was that he was so locked into the storyline that *he* wanted to present, that he not only left no room for story development from us, but also was unable to wing things enough when the players did something absolutely unexpected. (I have no doubt that he had everything blocked out, minus the PCs dialogue, as if it were a movie shooting script.) In short, we ganked a major portion of his plot line (as well as gelding the planned interference of one of his shipboard NPCs) and he was unable to recover from it. The campaign died an excruciating (but very short) death immediately afterwards.

Leran to roll with the vagaries of your players, and everyone will be happy with the result.
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"You don't understand, Beaufingle", said Lungwort cryptically. "You ARE dinner." -- M.M. Moamrath

[AslanC]

My players ham it up all the time, but when it goes to far I have to reign them back in.

One trick is to establish a rules that says "Unless you say out of character, everything you say is said by your PC".

Players tend to shrug that one off until their off-colour remarks land them in hot water.

In the end roleplaying is meant to be fun. So if they are having fun, let them and try to join in. That said if you aren't having fun, it's time to reconsider how and why you run games. In my not-so-humble opion anywas
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[Lord Dynel]

Pretty much what the others have said. My players can sometimes veer off course, attention-wise, but at least yours seem to be still focused on game things rather than real life buffoonery. It's not as bad as I'm making it sound, but I have a few players like to talk about this movie or that thing they did last weekend, occasionally at the most inopportune time. It can be a little distracting to the game sometimes.

I think in your case, DPR, that they'll get this out of their system. Give them a few sessions to do so. You did say they were new to roleplaying, correct? Maybe they're just getting theur "sea legs" in a RPG sense and once they do, they'll be good to go. Just try to gently guide them that direction, rather than put the screws to them and "make them behave."
I'm sure, in time, they'll come around.

Oh, and welcome to the Crusade!
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[dutch206]

My suggestion: Plan the adventure so that each character has a moment to shine. I also like the "attack them until they shut up" idea. Every so often, just make dice rolls and and frown. Players are paranoid by nature when it comes to GM's.
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[cleaverthepit]

random encounters
i would check with the players, if they had fun, let em play that way. the CKs job is primarily to facilitate fun so....

If the party,or ajority wants more action, then you will have to propel the party foward forcibly like,

"Its four days later and you stand in front of the xxxx..."

[jreyst]

gideon_thorne wrote:
Was everyone having fun? If so, why stop em?

Precisely my thoughts. If they were having fun, why in the world do you want to change it? Too often I am deeply enjoying roleplaying with another player (or multiple players) only to have the DM rudely remind us we weren't getting anything done and that we need to get back on task. I was thinking, "I AM ON TASK THIS IS WHAT I'M HERE FOR".

[anglefish]

The Dread Pirate Robbins wrote:
I hope it is, I really like the mission and I wanted the players to see how fun and vast their first adventure really is. What do you guys think?

Take a deep breath and relax. Unless your game has some sort of deadline, like everyone is leaving for summer break in the next two months. It doesn't hurt to let the players take their time -- as long as they are having fun.

The adventure will still unfurl and they will get to the exciting climax all in due time. If anything, this gives you more time to plan the next adventure after that. Or to add in more details and NPCs in the current adventure, some of which will be more relevant to the PC since everyone now knows their back story.

[Joe]

The first game will always be like this.

I run a 6 player game and have ran more and I just think 6 starts to get too much. Players start talking over one another, talking over the CK and generally vying for the CK's attention.

My idea of a perfect intimate game is 4-5.

That being said, on the first couple games let them get settled.

Then the next time you play, tell them your intention of reducing some of the table chatter and ask them to consiously try to focus on the game.

Another thing might be to focus a game session or two on individual characters. One week the monk has the limelight, the next week it's the fighters chance to shine etc.

Another thing I suggest is start rolling dice. If the players just stand around talking then drive the action for them. Give them a dangerous distraction. If you have excessive chatting that causes them to NOT be ready when it is their turn then skip them for that round. Players missing their turn one round just might pay attention the next round.

The fun factor is important but they are there to game. I know I have fun sitting as a player and shooting the bull with everyone...but I also have MORE fun when immersed in an active and action packed game. I may sit there and laugh and have fun because I don't want to be "That guy."

So I am sure if the games turn into too much nonsense that there will be players not having fun and thus leaving the group but they will be too nice to say they left because everyone just wants to chat instead of roleplay. They will state how their schedule is just too much, or the job, or whatever.
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'Nosce te Ipsum' -Delphic Maxim

'Follow your bliss.' -Joseph Campbell

[The Dread Pirate Robbins]

Thanks for the help, I know I haven't posted anything in a while but that's only because things have been going really well. And you were right Dynel, they just needed a session or two to get the hang of it (so did I).

-Pirate Rob-

[PeelSeel2]

First gaming session will be like that. You can also add a '...you kick down the door and their are 5 skeletons" moment. I.E. Start the gaming session off with a combat, or during the middle of banter say something like this:

"You are setting up camp for the night, everybody make a CL 2 wisdom check and tell me if you make it...If you didn't, you are surprised, if you did, you are not and can act this round. While traveling a scout for a Goblin raiding party spotted you. Now the raiders have shown up....." draw the situation out and leave it at that.
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[Maliki]

Frost wrote:
I agree with sieg. Let things play out a bit. Since this was the first session, it seems kind of natural that each player would want to show off his PC a bit. I wouldn't be concerned unless it becomes a reoccurring problem.

And, yes, nothing focuses a group of players better than some combat. Kind of hard to babble on about your PC's background when he's dodging monster attacks.

+1

Sometimes I wish my players would ham it up a bit.
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[Tadhg]

Haming it up/role playing at the beginning of a game or in a safe place +++

Doing that in the dungeon at a crossroad . . the dice rolls ~ and monsters are a comin'

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