Re: [DL] Reluctant Player Member

[Tifainé <pusifoot@pacbell.net>]

> I've been playing Deadlands for five weeks now, loving every Guts
> check  and Scrutinize roll along the way. Lsst night I ran into a problem
> that I haven't seen since my D&D days back in the '80's. (It's true, I'm
an
> 'older gamer'.)

Yay - I am not the only one!  (My parents played too... )

> We've got a reluctant player in our group. Each time adventure awaits, he
> doesn't want to go. "My character would have no reason to go," he quips.
<snip>
> We spent an hour, seriously, debating this. We eventually settled
> with me NOT being able to Persuade another player character with a die
> roll. I got my Fate Chip back. Then, after all that, he decides to come
> along anyway.

In our posse, anything that involves another posse member has to be
roleplayed, unless there is a story specific reason, i.e. an overawe test.
However, for a situation like this, the persuasion would have to be
roleplayed.

> How do other people handle this? How do other players handle this? What
can
> I, as a player, do to move things along. When this player stays behind he
> isn't content to just sit there; he has to take the Marshall's time doing
> things. So, the Marshall ends up running a split story, guiding 5 of us on
> one path and then guiding reluctant along the same path, behind us. It's
> frustrating.

If the character has no reason to go along, then the player needs to create
a new character that DOES have a reason to go adventuring.  Having to spend
3 hours trying to convince the character to go along, while it makes for
interesting role-playing, does squat for advancing the plot, and I am
willing to bet isn't the reason for you all being there.  It sounds to me
like an attention ploy on the part of the player - after all, if you all
have to spend time convincing him to come along, then his character is the
center of attention for that time.

Simple answer?  Don't feed it.  Leave him behind if he has no reason to go.
For us, that would mean being left out of a module, and a module is
generally anywhere between 4 and 12 game sessions.  We only game once a
week.  That is a LOT of time to miss game (and a lot of bounty lost!).

The other option is to have the person create a new character that DOES have
a reason to adventure with the group.

Either way, it is ultimately the Marshall's decision.  I would recommend
addressing your concerns with the Marshall, and advising the other players
(if they feel similarly) to do the same.  The Marshall then needs to decide
how to handle his recalcitrant player.

Tifainé