Planned obsolescence

To restate, no one was suggesting that ejecting a player should be your first option, and I'm also happy to hear that talking it out provided a better outcome. My main point was that sometimes people don't learn without consequences.

For my part, I'll acknowledge It's easy to suggest using a heavy handed approach when I don't know the details of a given situation, but then our experiences are also fundamentally different. You've been dreaming about playing for so many years, and have major limitations on play now that you're able to do it. On the other hand, I've been playing and DMing for years, and I'm not lacking for opportunities to engage with new players and form new groups. Accordingly, my patience with people who don't meet my expectations is much lower. In this case, my expectation amounts to the group having a good time, not one player having a good time at the expense of the group. I don't have to compromise on this if a player willfully refuses to change. Really, no one should, but sometimes you have to take what you can get, and I understand that.

Gladly, willful refusal wasn't the case with your guy, and I'm also proud to say I've never had to resort to kicking a player from the group, as open and honest discussion has successfully remedied every problem player I've had. But that doesn't mean I can't feel the assuring weight of the ban hammer on my hip when dealing with antagonistic personalities!

Correct, almarianknight, though I was relating my experience with home games.

Adventurer's League is a very different beast, and actually requires more heavy handedness than home games. As the public face of WotC D&D, an AL DM has an even greater onus to ensure fairness and enjoyment for everyone involved. Ejecting a player is purely at the discretion of the DM, and discussion about any issue is still the first step, but below is an excerpt from the AL Player's Guide about actionable offenses. I want to draw attention to certain parts, which I have bolded. I'll comment on these in greater detail later, but it's getting late and I've got school work to do!

Code of Conduct

D&D Adventurers League play is meant to be inclusive,

fun, and safe. All participants (players, Dungeon

Masters, and organizers) are expected to adhere to the

following code of conduct:

• Participants must not conduct themselves in a manner

that is disruptive (emphasis mine, see disruptive behavior below) to the enjoyment or safety of others

at the event.

• Participants noticing disruptive behavior should make

those responsible for the behavior aware of their

actions. If a participant feels uncomfortable bringing

it to the attention of the disruptive individual, the

participant should notify the organizer of the event

immediately.

• Participants who feel as though they are in an unsafe

environment should notify the organizer of the event

immediately.

• The Dungeon Master has the right to ask a disruptive

player to leave the table and speak with the organizer.

The organizer has the right to remove a disruptive or

threatening player or Dungeon Master from the play

area or premises.

• No tolerance is given for theft or aggressive behavior.

Theft and aggressive behavior are grounds for immediate

removal from the play area and the premises.


Examples of Violations

Organizers, DMs, and players alike should maintain an

awareness of possible violations to the code of conduct.

Disruptive Behavior

• Excessively vulgar or profane language

• Throwing or breaking objects in anger

• Leaving excessive trash in the play area

• Talking over other players excessively

• Demanding more attention from the DM

• Talking on a phone excessively at the table


Unsafe Behavior

• Using racial, gender, or cultural slurs against

another participant

• Taking inappropriate photos of other participants

• Harassing other participants

• Using social media to bully other participants


Aggressive Behavior

• Threatening to hit other participants

• Tearing up another player’s character sheet

• Pulling out another participant’s chair, causing the

player to fall

• Intentionally turning over a table


Theft

• Stealing books, miniatures, or other products

• Stealing another participant’s certificates

• Taking another participant’s dice without asking

permission

• Stealing organizer or DM materials, such as table

tents, maps, and adventure documents

One of those obvious secrets: open and honest discussion successfully remedies most interpersonal problems. Not all, for sure. But most.

I'm also realistic. I can expect a month or two of normal behavior out of my instigators, but they'll backslide. They are Instigator players in the game of life, and I wouldn't change that even if I could.

I don't keep the ban hammer. Never been much for the heavy, two-handed weapons. However, my guys know that if they push too hard, I'm not above a little metagaming of my own. I'm not afraid to stat out Darth Vader if I need to...

Well, last night's session went awesome! I've got that "good tired" feeling this morning I remember from the morning after a really great college party, lol. I'd like to thank everyone who responded with feedback here. Sometimes it really helps to talk through an issue, and these forums are great for that. So thanks for being awesome everyone!

Our droid was absent, but as I mentioned, we spoke.

My other Instigator started off a bit defensive. He's playing his character based off the punk kids he worked with in New Orleans; full of attitude and unsupported arrogance. I assured him that I was perfectly happy with how he is playing his character, I just wanted to make sure everyone kept all the mischief in character and avoided the metagaming that was going on in our previous session. I also made a point to talk about how I work hard to provide opportunities for each character to shine, and that I was unhappy with how some opportunities I provided were stepped all over in our last session. Made a point to mention that it wasn't just other players being messed with; it was also me, the GM. The subtext being: Do you really want to mess with the GM like that? We've been playing together long enough for them to know the wise answer.

This was well received by the table and we had our best EotE session yet! We've been running a slightly altered version of the starter adventure from the back of the core rulebook, but events went off the rails right at the end, and I was able to spin the story out into homebrew territory.

As far as I'm concerned, our campaign really begins next session.

In general, our sessions have been amazing! Some ironing out where the rules are concerned, but that's to be expected.

I've sat down with our droid player multiple times now. I came to the conclusion that the situation was almost a perfect storm of trouble. He know almost nothing about Star Wars (didn't understand when another player said he was a C-3PO type droid; yeah, that bad), he missed all of our background building session, and (possibly the biggest deal) he had no access to the rule books! For context: he was the first and only of my players to purchase his own PHB when we were running D&D. He likes to know the rules.

So, I loaned him my EotE book, and had a frank conversation with him regarding his character dying and rolling up a new one. He's down and already working on it.

Good thing too. He missed last session, and the pilot player he was messing with took the opportunity to blast the droid with the ships laser cannons. The over PCs don't know he did this (the players do though).



And don't worry, I checked carefully with the player in question to make sure he was ok with his character getting killed...'cause I had a feeling...

Something else I forgot to mention: I've banned the entire party from calling skill checks.

I had a player game me a couple sessions ago. He said he wanted to make a stealth check, and I didn't understand in the context of the story what he was trying to accomplish. We went back and forth, finally he made the check, succeeded, then proceeded to lay out all this stuff he wanted to happen as a result of his successes and advantages that had nothing to do with stealth at all!

I stopped play and called him out. Said he should have made a different check for what he wanted, he said, "Yeah, but my stealth is better."

Full stop on the session.

I went into a speech about how I, as the GM, am not their adversary. Told them that as players they have no adversary! Their characters have adversaries, and yes I control them, but I am not playing against them at all. At one point I said, "Stop trying to win the game. Because you will never win the game! I'm not trying to beat you, I am trying to create an interesting story. If the story is cool and engaging, we've all won!"

So, at the start of the next session, I banned the entire party from ever calling for skill checks. They have to tell me what they are doing or saying, and I will call for a check I think is right. They have room to argue with me (one player won an argument about a check with me during that session), but I make the initial call for a check.

Personally, I think it's okay for players to ask for skill checks. It's certainly not okay to demand them, or to roll without being prompted and expect to dictate the outcome by doing so.

For example, it might not occur to me that a character is trying to be persuasive during a dialog with an NPC. Perhaps the player just isn't a very good actor, even though his character has a rather high charisma. We could let the conversation play out and not invoke any rolls, and the player's inability to think on his feet and be charming may result in automatic failure... or he could say, "Hey, I'm trying to be persuasive here. Can I roll to guide him toward revealing the information?" I might inquire as to his talking points, but I'm okay with letting the dice settle the outcome.

The problem I have with players demanding skill checks and preemptive rolling is that dice rolling is meant to resolve uncertain outcomes, and players don't know if an action's resolution is even uncertain until the GM says so. I get the feeling these players think they are being game savvy by knowing the rules and saving the GM's time, but this is not always (or even often) the case.

In situations where success would be automatic and the player demands a check or preemptively rolls, I'll let a failed check turn an automatic success into a failure. In situations where failure would be automatic, I need to be honest with myself if I sufficiently telegraphed the impossibility of an action. If I did, I'm happy enough to turn even a natural 20 into an automatic failure. If I didn't, I'll probably allow him to take the action back. In any case, I'm going to give the player a reminder about the role of dice in RPGs after we resolve the action.