My PJ Lifestyle piece on mopey players.

Found here. Short version: it assumes that you’ve tried the usual tricks when it comes to a mopey player.  Because you probably have, if you’re reading an article like that.

6 thoughts on “My PJ Lifestyle piece on mopey players.”

    1. Personal opinion?
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      Ask if she’d be happier not playing / spending some of game-time on hobbies that interest her.
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      It’s .. not unusual .. for spouses to change interests over time, and they won’t always overlap. Much *MUCH* healthier to have a conversation about it and .. come to an agreement .. than to have mopery turn into explosive resentment “I can’t believe I let you force me to play that stupid game for X [time-units]” ..
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      Mew
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      p.s. why yes, yes I have seen marriages and other relationships blow up over stuff like this.

  1. I hate players like that. They drive me nuts. (And vice versa.)
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    Just for the record, invoking the sadistic choice trope is not the best way to get them emotionally invested.

    1. Never sit across the table from me.
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      I am not mopey, but I am .. the quiet one. Until it’s time to be the *deadly* one.
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      Mew

      1. I don’t have any problem with quiet players. I’m frequently one, myself.
        I wouldn’t call anyone who is paying attention mopey.
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        I have problems with players who detract, rather than contribute, to the game.
        The ones who intentionally ignore all plot hooks, withhold information from other PCs because it would feed into their interests, refuse to make any decisions that might further a plot, don’t bother to learn the basic mechanics of the game, and who actively take attention away from the game (not brief asides like provoking a cascade of Monty Python quotes, but interrupting a high tension moment to show everyone an unrelated internet meme).

        1. I have to vehemently disagree with one of our host’s suggestions.
          If you have a player like I talked about above, do NOT let them GM. I tried that for the reasons outlined.
          He still didn’t bother to learn the mechanics. He did no prep. If it wasn’t covered in the module (because of course he ran a module) you couldn’t do it, and if it was, you’d have to wait for him to look up what happened. Any plot hooks we handed him that might justify our characters actually going through with the fiasco were forbidden or ignored. We were forced to do stupid things that we had no obligation or reason to do on a regular basis. The plot had more holes than Swiss cheese, and progressed so slowly that you could miss two game sessions and not need am update.
          He held that group hostage every other week for three years. (OK, most abandoned the game, but he never got the hint. And a couple of guys felt sorry for him.)

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