Sometimes a GM Looks across and sees the enemy.  Players that seem to take joy in destroying the structure of the game…or maybe they just have another agenda as players.  They are not mind readers.  Sometimes Players just don’t know where the GM wants them to go.  Good GMs have no direction.  Just eventual destinations.  However a player reaches that is up to them.  Certain conflicts arise whenever the motivations of GM and Players collide.  Pride is deadly in a RPG.  Here is one weakness with the GM and a trait that must die if that GM is to grow in skill.  A GM must learn to swallow his/her pride.  The buck stops with the GM.
 Don’t move so fast players.  However, players are allowed a bit of give.  A player that refuses to stand down can suddenly snap and take out his frustration on a group—doing whatever is necessary to bring everyone else down.  Pride doesn’t always mean a conflict between who’s right and wrong, it’s between people you don’t know when to admit they have been beaten.  When PCs fight, sometimes it can be fun if both Players are not taking it too seriously.  However, if they both are refusing defeat, suddenly the stress level rises.  When players start to hold their own and the GM recognizes it being more than just a Character trait, its time to step in and stop it.  Find out who is the victor and award it.  The time has come to bruise some ego.  If the conflict is between the Player and GM, the GM should eat it and take the fall…unless of course, the GM feels the Player is trying to force the GM down.  In most Character groups without an authoritive structure, conflicts of pride don’t always happen because of the agendas of everyone is usually different so the PC concentrate on those rather than try to impose themselves on others.  However, the instances where characters fight it out can still occur.  If an authoritive structure exists (a leader or commander and a rank and file below), it can turn into a ticking time bomb.  One player who just doesn’t accept the authority stands up and soon a war breaks out.  If this is a character trait, and the GM did not wish this, than it is up to the GM to fix it by facing the rebellious player and setting him/her straight.  If it the rebellion was planned, the GM must keep track on how personal the commander is taking this rogue.

     This type of authoritive conflict arose in Ivan’s game with Derrick and myself as players.  At the very beginning, we were a squad of three soldiers, Derrick, myself, and a third NPC.  I was given command.  This level of authority did not settle with Derrick at all and right from the get go, he made it his mission from the start to buck authority, disobey orders, and pretty much do whatever he wanted.  I must admit taking this a little personally and also made it my mission to bring him down.  However, the GM had no problem with Derrick’s attitude and did very little to support my hurt pride.  This continued for many weeks until I simply had to give up.  No disciplinary action was ever taken to Derrick’s character for his action.  If we had simply been created equal, I might not have complained as much.

PLAYING FAVORITES

     One of the biggest problems with GM is when 90% of the all the cool items and good role-playing go to one or two members of a six-person party.  Sometimes this is so obvious, soon only those members are playing.  Sometimes it is subtler and the game usually requires weeks or months before this trait arises.  The fault of course, lies with the GM, who must, of course, be totally objective in every aspect…or at least try.  Players, on the other hand, are permitted to be subjective to an extent.  The extreme version of this is when the GM punishes one player and rewards another.  Playing favorites is reserved to amateur GMs only.  I have yet to see an experienced GM that exhibits this trait.  Sometimes this is not from friendship.  A Role Playing GM with favor Role Players and not slashers.  How do you resolve this conflict?  Unfortunately, it’s very hard to do that.  The Players feeling outcasted either should face the GM or just…quit.  GM, if seeing themselves playing one or several favorites in the group, should stop for a moment, and think if ways to make it up to the other players.  Something big, and do it a couple times to starve off suspicion.

     Playing favorites is commonplace in almost any game, especially ones with friends in the group.  I have been guilty of both doing it and I have been the victim of it more than once.  When I committed it, I realized the problem and tried to offset it.  With Joe the slasher in Pathfinder, I didn’t.  Joe was given the bottom end of the stick soon because of his problem with Pride.  I should have given him more chances but everyone wanted him gone. In those cases where I was the victim, I had to leave the group…in every scenario.
 

Marlee:  "I'm going out the way I came in…"  Berlin:  "What, blind, naked and covered in your own crap?"  Marlee:  "You know, you're really not helping."

THAT ONE CHARACTER / PLAYER THAT DOESN’T BELONG

     What to do.  There is that on Slasher in the group that insists on pulling it when he should be withholding.  Fighters instead of thinkers that kill the witness instead of thinking of taking him alive.  That player, whose character is such a diametric opposite to the group’s motivations, becomes outcasted.  There are many reasons why one player/character falls out of favor from the rest.  This is not necessarily the player’s fault despite what others might think.  Whose fault is it then?  Believe it or not, 90% of the time, the fault lies with the GM.  Sorry to all those out there, but the buck will often always stop with the GM.  If no on knows who to blame, default falls to the Games Master.  If a GM can’t handle that pressure, then you can never be a really good GM.  How could an excluded Character or Player be the GM’s fault?  Well, if the problem is with the Character (and often if the group takes it personally, the player as well), then the GM is at fault for not recognizing these conflicting traits in the character in the first place.  The GM should see that a conflict will arise and deal with it before the character is introduced.  If the problem is the player, then it is everyone’s fault.  The first for the GM for not seeing this ahead of time, the other players for outcasting the player and not helping the person integrate better, and the outcasted player, for having the conflicting attitude in the first place

     However, the damage is done and now you either have to remove the player or find ways to the player or character to work.   If the character is at fault and the group know the Player is not to blame then the solution is simply:  Replace the character.  Work with the group to find a PC that works.  If the situation allows, perhaps (and I have tried this), allow the other “Characters” to interview this potential recruit to see if the profile is adequate.  The Player should accept that their character is not working.  Sometimes its not the group that decides but the PC that figured that a new character would work better.  The obvious option would involve killing off the other Character, but honestly, try to avoid that unless it works to benefit the story.  Simply have the PC move on other pastures.

     In situations where the Player remained but a character was replaced, I often tried to avoid killing off the character.  In Terminals, a game dealing with multiple realities, characters discovered soon that nothing was impossible.  As per the game’s coda, every PC was created separate with no one knowing any information from other Players.  The mecha in the game were also totally unique.  Charles created a very powerful and unique Esper PC with a mecha that amplified the power to amazing levels.  The design was simply—everything channeled through the esper lens in the mecha, so no visible weapons could be seen.  The PC was a female fighter pilot betrayed by her own kind.  Her psychic abilities stretched to every color in the spectrum.  However, for some reason, Charles began to believe that he was pressured by the other PCS to create the esper profile, being convinced it was unique and new. Charles started becoming disillusioned about the PC and requested a new character be introduced.  I created an adventure where the group fought against a telepathic and telekinetic monster on an abandoned military base on an alien planet that was frozen in time (kinda had to have been there…).  The fight came down between Charles’ PC and the demonic HR Giger inspired monstrosity.  The monster was killed at the expense of the PC’s life, taken in a brilliant explosion.  The next week, Charles introduced a “Platoon” inspired Ground-Pounder mech design that could easily hold his own with the rest of the group.  However, the PC was thin in my eyes.  The first one was more geared to good role-playing but this new one was a “Slasher” concept.  Soon, Charles began thinking he had made a mistake.  The last adventure with his Psycher (named “Crufix”) was exciting, and Charles began having regrets even before her death.  I even paused and gave Charles a chance to decide otherwise.  But in Terminals, nothing is too late.  A month later, the “Grunt” was killed in a blaze of glory and Crufix was-introduced from another reality.  No one ever really dies in Terminals.

     Now if the problem lies with the Player, it becomes a lot more uncomfortable.  This is also the hardest task for a GM and group to handle and more often than not, it is handled poorly.  Even the most experienced Group will often resort to an attitude usually reserved for Elementary school players.  The obvious route and taken more often that people would like to admit starts with either the GM or Players turning on the outcast IN the game.  Suddenly, the battles become fiercer or another PC decides to betray and turn on his comrade.  Soon the shunned PC finds his hit points low with little help from the group.  The PC is killed and the GM decides to not let the Player create a new character.  A good warning sign for the shunned player are rules or sudden changes of heart in the GM.  These don’t often happen in honest games and if they occur, get ready for a sudden shock.  The example would be the never used “Players get one chance rule” where the GM explains that if a PC is killed, the Player is not allowed to make another.  Make no mistake, this rule is a complete mistruth.  It is created by GMs to oust players they or the rest of the group are not happy with.  Trust me, if the Player was widely loved with a character they beloved, the group would be happy for the Player to join again.  This rule is only the most prominent examples.  There are others.  The most common simply comes from other Players turning and killing the outcast.  However, it falls to the GM in the end to tell the PC they are not welcome back.  This is a key strength in the GM at this point—BE HONEST.  Tell the PC the truth.  I know it’s a far out concept, but the outcast deserved it, no matter how bad they were.  Tell them that this was coming.  That’s why it’s somewhat common for the PC to be forced out first before telling the Player that this was the last session for them.  Telling them this is the last session before would result in a sudden disappearance of that Player.  They are not going to come if they are not liked.  Its best to tell them first and let the GM take control of that PC and remove them in a way that best suites the game.  Don’t let the outcast be attacked verbally and physically in the game and be abused in the open, the other Players taking out their stress on the exiled Player.  Tell the truth.  I don’t care how much you may hate the Player, be professional.  People will respect the GM if the GM treats others with respect.  There is no exception here.  Remove the Player and then deal with removing the character properly from the game.  Just don’t have the PC magically vanish into thin air unless the PC only attended a few sessions.  Work it somehow.  But do it well, don’t make it feel like you are picking on one PC.

     I have run the gauntlet in these scenarios.  I have been the outcast; I have been the king.  I have been the better, and I have been the worse.  This, above all conflicts I talk about, is the most common in gaming.  With Joe the Slasher being put in the brig by his own fellow PCs in Pathfinder to myself being kicked out of Doug’s game, I have seen it all.  With myself being kicked out, I still firmly believe today that the procedure used showcases the absolute worst possible route for kicking someone out.  The GM wound the tall tale about bylaws in the marines (we were part of a unit).  I have never been a marine, but simple and everyday common sense told me that this GM was changing codes for his own good, including (get this), me getting kicked out of the group for disrupting morale by “criticizing” other PCs (It was a PC trait, not mine).  However, another PC was given a slap on the arm even though he drew a firearm and fired it in the direction of another PC (mine).  Honestly, this is the Military, not grade school.  While researching Alien-FUZION, I got to talking to some real Marines from the US.  I told them the story in greater detail.  Both of them laughed their asses off and told me that real marines treat each way worse than my character did and the other PC that fired on me would be in jailed and placed before a court, no matter how good a shot he was.  Discipline is paramount.
     In Pathfinder, I will admit, letting the PCs let loose on Joe.  However, in the beginning, I was not fully aware how much the group disliked Joe.  I was willing to let him create a new PC.  However, if I knew how personally Joe would have taken the rejection, I would have talked to him personally.  The sessions were fun leading up to that fateful day, but even though the other Players don’t condemn me for letting him go (as they wanted him gone), I still feel guilty for the way it was handled in that last session and I should have apologized to Joe (If he reads this—and you know your real name—I’m sorry).
 

Rio:  "I must be totally wasted." Max:  "Why?"  Rio:  "I just tried to change the TV with my cell phone…"  Max:  "Yeah?"  Rio:  "The strange thing is I pulled the antennae…and tried it again."

THE INNER CIRCLE
(See Top Five Reasons)

     There is no real solution for one or several members that see a close-knit group of players getting all the action.  If this also involves the GM that is only a matter of time before the GM either realizes and does better, or the Player just leaves the game to the others whom are actually having fun.  The PC can attempt to talk to the GM, but it entirely depends on the attitude of the GM and if he acknowledges the fault.  If the circle doesn’t involve the GM, then the GM probably recognizes it offers balance to the group.

PLAYERS FIGHTING

     This can be fun if within character.  I have sat through many session where Characters fight and the PC love it all.  However, the GM must be aware of when it goes too far and Players take it personally (see above).  Characters often fight each other within the game.  When a new campaign starts, its almost common place.  It eventually calms down unless the game is about the PCs fighting each other.  I must admit never having tried a game where the PCs are constantly at each other’s throats.  I have to admit, I have been temped to create a game where another PC played the villain.  Interesting concept, eh?

     When all the PCs in Terminals squared off for the first time, they were all extremely hostile.  Wouldn’t you be, after witnessing your world destroyed?  It didn’t take long for these conflicting egos to lash out (actually it was only about 10 minutes).  Derrick’s egomaniac Kael’No (my personal favorite PC) strutted and was soon fired upon by Charles' esper mech.  Not thinking Charles was armed, Derrick attempted to intimidate.  One massive blast, and Derrick’s was thrown back a quarter mile.  Martin fired on Charles and damaged his mech, just getting through his Esper shield.  Derrick struck back but fired on Craig.  Craig fired back with a massive 20-kill mega beam, shattering Derrick’s spherical force shield.  This went on for about twenty minutes before they calmed down and started talking.
     However, Martin and Craig’s PC still engaged in a massive fistfight later.  Martin played a bully to perfection.  Being defeated, the PC sauntered and walked away to sulk.  When Kael’No tried to do that later with Crufix (the esper), one telekinetic burst and Kael’no attitude changed.  Great character development occurred later, the two became close friends…until Crufix’s untimely death however, which proved a great blow to Kael’No, an honor driven conqueror.

     Sometimes the fight is not routed in the character.  Sometimes a good Player just gets into a bad mood and takes it on the group.  This might be a phase or someone taking out the stress of work on the game session.  A good group—a close-knit group—might recognize this and understand.  To prevent problems in the future, the game should halt…temporarily, and the conflict sorted out.  Of course, this is great in theory.  First of all, this fight should not INVOLVE the GM.  The GM should check his rage at the door.  If a player is doing something that aggravates the GM to no end (like any of these other conflicts listed here), then action must be taken.  If this involves removing the PC from the group then unfortunately so be it, but make sure it is the intelligent thing to do.  If it a result of rage, then the other players may believe it could happen again…and to them.  The GM should NEVER be in a raised voice argument.  Remain calm at all times, even though the PC may scream back.  A disagreement over rules, conflicts with other PCs—anything can set off a Player, the GM must deal with it like a Court Judge--The good ones never start screaming back.  They may enforce their decisions with a raised voice but never reduce to a shower room mentality.  Also easier said than done.  This all sounds good on paper but in the moment, a GM or even players may understandably snap and just kick someone out.  Here is the possible alternative.  If the group begins to grow agitated or one player that usually performs well starts to become aggressive, perhaps that session should end early.  Just end it and resume another day.  Perhaps take an hour break and let everything cool.  If the session becomes a role-playing write-off, the GM may always just do that, just write it out.  Just explain to the players that the last session did not exist and they are going to move on.  Remember GMs can be aggressive and create a fight as well, especially when it comes to how the Players are responding to his/her actions.  Sometimes the GM looses all sense or professionalism and goes on a rampage in the game.  Best to settle the nerves and take breather.  Just don’t play for a bit.  Getting together for six hours or gaming doesn’t mean you need to squeeze in six hours of gaming.  There are breaks and time outs and off topics.  Don’t dispel or prohibit these.  They are natural and help the mood of the session, especially if nerves are frayed.

     I wrote off one session once.  Charles was simply in a bad mood.  He arrived totally frayed from a really really bad day at work.  We could tell he was on edge.  He later proved that when his character gambled all his money away in the casino then proceeded to light the gas tank of his bike and drive it into the same building.  His character was arrested and put in jail before I decided enough was enough and ended the session.  Charles later apologized and we accepted.  I told everyone that the last session never occurred and we all moved on and no one mentioned that again.
 

GM:  “Grab the binder, will you?”       <There is one binder on the shelf...a yellow one>  Max:  “The yellow one?”  GM:  “No…the other one…”

DEALING WITH CHEATERS OR JERKS

     Above the printed word, there are rules to gaming—codes of conduct that must be followed.  It is okay to be upset with someone who thinks these rules do not apply to them.  This falls to the group and not the characters, which are freer to do what they want.  However, the Players and GM have more strict regulations.
 Cheaters – Now I am referring to the Players since the GM is provisionally allowed to cheat now and again…but I do mean provisionally.  If the GM is caught trying to cheat in order to kill a character, all hell will break loose.  Now, I have noticed fewer players fib rolls than many might think.  True Role Players seldom cheat.  Inexperience players and Slashers often do (they have to be the best).  A group of Slashers will often let each cheat while often Role Players frown upon it.  The larger the group, the greater the chance there will be a cheater, but as the group gets larger, the fewer cheaters versus non-cheaters, and the pressure to play it straight increases.
     Is a GM fibbing rolls?  Well, does he have a screen up?  How big?  Just one fold…or does He has the entire front half of the table corded off?  That last one…good chance he/she glosses over rules more.  Open GMs have little to hide except the odd map or to.  It is a common myth that Players can read typed text upside-down and from four feet away.  A GM with no screen is obviously very open and not worried what the dice say.  GMs may argue the screen give vital info.  I tell you now, that’s wrong.  One fold--two little 8”x11”s--give out plenty…you don’t need six.  I have never needed six.  I only used two pairs of two-fold screens to cover my game and my dice rolls.
     On one game, I sat on another table and used one screen to cover pictures I was going to reveal…in the end.  In the beginning, I had the frickin’ Berlin wall separating us.  GM cheating to keep a player alive is more tolerated as long as it is unbiased.  A GM trying to keep his group alive more than just one player is more accepted…but the players may still object.  Check that, they will object.  The reason why I said its kinda okay for the GM to cheat is routed in the same acceptance in people who copy software—You’re not supposed to do it, but we all know your do it…just don’t tell anyone.  A GM caught fibbing rolls will loose stature in the group.  A Player is given a bit more leeway.  If it refers to rules, then the GM is doing it almost always out of spite, to get the Players in some way.  Getting caught is drastic and much easier to do.  Experienced Role Players relish in nailing a GM on a rule violation.  As we know, the GM is responsible to know all the rules so above all; he/she is NOT allowed the cheat on this subject.  The only exception is if the GM announces it before he does it if it benefits the better of the game.
 Players are allowed a bit give as I said before.  This applies to game rules as well.  They are not expected to know all the rules so if something happens, they can simply say they were not aware of the rules.  As for dice fibs, the common sign of cheaters are not ones that cover their dice rolls since that is all to obvious to the experienced player.  More often, look for players that continually roll their dice during a time when die rolls are necessary.  They pick up the dice and roll.  If the result is good, they keep it and say they rolled already.  If not the result is not good, they pick up the dice quickly and start rolling over and over and over again, like its just a odious habit’ and they won’t “really” roll until called upon and the real roll happens.  Despite rumors, loaded dice are rare.  Players do not need screens and the GM is open and free to ask for their removal.