IC Tabletop Advice

[Jans]

I'm looking for a spot of help guys and gals. Gaming with my friends is like herding cats on the best of days and sometimes I can't think of a solution on my own.

As I'm a big fan of give and take, feel free to contribute your own IC problems so we can brainstorm solutions with you too!

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The story: Every other Thursday my gaming group plays Mage: The Awakening and for one, I'm not running it! Huzzah! Basic idea is that the bad guy mages are in control of the world government and we're on the run because we Awoke outside their control. Thankfully they're restricted to three dot magic, but they've got a metric fuckton of guys to do it with.

The problem: One of our players is a bit of an, uh, ADHD manchild. He's playing a professional boxer who's now on the run and currently restricted to the house we have warded because they just scry him and send agents out the moment he leaves it. (So far as we can tell there's a dedicated team scrying the whereabouts of the know members of our party every fifteen minutes or so.) Said character's player has repeatedly stated that he's bored IC and is just going to walk out into the street and do whatever he pleases. Its... in character enough, I suppose. So far other members of the party have been placating him with booze, porn, and drugs.

The player is a pretty good role-player and reasonable enough if he can mentally justify his character not being bored while he is. Hence the distractions. My issue is, if I want to really get the player into things AND placate him IC AND get him firmly on my side (as such), I think I need to come up with something else for him to do. Call it putting a high functioning athlete on bed rest for a month, its just not a good idea all around.

The question: How do you keep an extremely athletic person who's used to being rich and getting whatever he wants entertained while he's confined to a single house? (Hookers might work for a while but I want to keep him in fighting trim too.)

 

[Ampersandwich]

Said character's player has repeatedly stated that he's bored IC and is just going to walk out into the street and do whatever he pleases. Its... in character enough, I suppose. So far other members of the party have been placating him with booze, porn, and drugs. Its... in character enough, I suppose.

Click to shrink...

He probably shouldn't be making characters for which that's true.

(So far as we can tell there's a dedicated team scrying the whereabouts of the know members of our party every fifteen minutes or so.)

Click to shrink...

... also, the GM probably shouldn't be setting up situations like this. "Level-appropriate challenges" is a meaningful concept even in games without character levels. (Although if you can acquire a portable way to block their scrying...)

 

[tehelgee]

... also, the GM probably shouldn't be setting up situations like this. "Level-appropriate challenges" is a meaningful concept even in games without character levels. (Although if you can acquire a portable way to block their scrying...)

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I'll agree with this. The 'that guy' at the table isn't the boxer player, it's the GM.

 

[Ampersandwich]

I'll agree with this. The 'that guy' at the table isn't the boxer player, it's the GM.

Click to shrink...

That's a bit more than I'm willing to conclude. Just because the GM is a 'that guy' doesn't mean the boxer player isn't.

 

[Jans]

xP Wow. I didn't quite realize that particular problem would be apparent from the very first post. Yes, the other GM has a serious problem with encounter scaling. Leveled game or not. >_>

He probably shouldn't be making characters for which that's true.

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Yeah, but what can you do? Hence why I'm trying to work around his bullshit. *rolls his eyes* Kinda my job at the table whether I'm running or not.

 

[Princess Magnificent]

The solution is to use him as bait. Stake him out for the Technocracy, smear him with honey and wait for the vultures to descend.

I mean, shit, you're all magicians, right? So you should all know about misdirection. While they're looking at at the bait, they aren't looking at the knife.

 

[Psyckosama]

If the players are getting bored as shit with the foundation of your adventure... chances are it's the adventure, not the players.

A lot of the time players Role Play to get out of the common mold and experience worlds outside our own. Not to spend all day hiding in the house. We do enough of that already thanks... ;p

 

[Biigoh]

I would say... work with the player and work out a PLAN while the GM isn't present.

The enemy is scrying the boxer... use that fact. Set things up so that you get to kill some Technocracy tools, ie have him act as bait or misdirection while you guys set things up so he can run if necessary.