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Just Complainging About a Players in my Tabletop RPG
This is not really a question. I just want to have someone hear me bitch and talking to the people close to me could cause problems.
So I am GMing a tabletop RPG, and currently, I have one troublesome player, Lance. I have made the mistake of complaining about him to one or two of the other players. This is a bad thing to do because it makes the other players more aware of Lance's attitude and can turn the whole group against him. This is not what I want. I want everyone to have a good time, including Lance.
A little background info, we are playing Vampire the Requiem. I have made a few small chances to how exp is rewarded but other than that we are following the core rules. Before char creation I explained my changes and how the theme of the game would work. The players were not expected to all be in a group and where free to pursue whatever goals they wanted within Pittsburgh year 1902.
Why is Lance such a problem you ask? In short he is impatient. Due to the nature of the game I am dividing my attention between four players all of which are following their own goals. I have the players paths cross often so that there can be more player-players interaction. However there is bound to be some times where a given players is not in the scene with the others and they just have to wait their turn. That is when Lance starting signing and moaning.
Here is the part where I stating bitching. I was having an NPC talk to another players when I heard Lance say "longest... session... ever" that made my blood boil. I put so much fucking work into these NPC and this world. I have spent days crafting an in-depth world. I have interesting character with conflicting goals and build in opportunity for the players to get involved in the tense politics, if they so choose. I actively strive to give each player equal time. I make sure to be fair to everyone. None of my other players are unhappy and they understand that they cannot be in scene all the time. Lance has made other comments about his boredom and it makes me want to ring his neck. It is always this small passive aggressive bull shit. I feel like if you don't enjoy playing then don't fucking come. The group does not need him he does more harm than good. The main thing that gets to me is how disrespectful it is to me and the rest of the players. I did not pick the Vampire theme. The players wanted that. If it was solely up to me I would run Mage, but the players wanted vampire so here I am. I create a face book group keep everyone organized help make characters. All the other players understand that this is a team effort and that it is not all about them personally enjoyment. We are all in this together. Lance is over here interrupting other people's fun with his impatience. Sometimes you just have to wait your fucking turn.
I have dealt with disruptive players before the best solution I have found is to dedicate sometime to them early in each session, and make them happy asap. His character is a 100% social character. I gave him a long social scene right at the start of the last session and made sure he came out on top. That seemed to satisfy him for most of the game. However if I do that every game I will be giving him a lot more time and rewards relative to the other players so I have to be careful, It may just be a temporary fix. In one of the supplemental book it talks about a social combat system. I think this might make social stuff more engaging for him and the rest of the group. Maybe that system may be a long term fix I hope.
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When it comes to games like these, players like Lance will always be a problem and a test of the patience of a GM/MOD. I have had to deal with people like this many times on a game I used to Mod for (it was a mobile game though). I think you have actually gone out of your way and really tried to help him out but he seems like the kind of person who is only happy when he gets his way and is at the centre of attention and as you said yourself this is not something that is practical as it would be unfair on the other players.
Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and be the person in charge as opposed to trying to be everyone's friend and this means that you may have to tell him, "Tough luck, wait your turn like everyone else."
As you said yourself, if he has that much of a problem with it he doesn't have to play but then he keeps on playing anyway. As a Mod I had been in a alliance of lots of members but I did my job as a Mod regardless of this and warned/muted various players even in my own alliance because they violated the rules. They complained and such but I made it clear that although I am on their side and their team I am also a Mod and I have been entrusted with a job to do which I will do regardless. A large majority of the people understood this and never had a problem with it.
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