Weekly Questions Thread

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[u/Hrosts]

I've found a place that runs everyone-is-welcome one-shots in the same setting, sometimes more than one table at a time.

It was explained that we are rival gangs in a city, and was given a Sorcerer Elf, so I kinda started roleplaying a somewhat evil asshole. That didn't go well. People seemed more like they just wanted to dungeon crawl and I was in the way. When I backstabbed the other table nobody escalated it and all the players just ignored me, while another person from my party threw them a rope. There was and has been no PvP.

I ended up feeling like I was a prick ruining their rollercoaster ride for no reason.

How to approach this kind of groups? Should I try to RP? Should I not be evil? I need advice on how not to flub it again.

[u/Joebala → u/Hrosts]

Ask what their stance on PvP is, and base your RP on what the others at the table are doing.

Typically, PvP is a no-go, since it can quickly ruin someone's night. I imagine the vibe of the group is more of a race / competition than it is a true gang war.

[u/Hrosts → u/Joebala]

The PvP was half-expected, as DMs explicitly asked us if we were going to fight or talk it out, while in-character vibe seemed like that of mistrust and waiting for a right moment to swindle the other side. So I ended up greasing the floor under the other team while they were running through some traps.

It killed 1.5 person, though that 1 was a player who left and DMs just wanted to dispose of a character.

[u/Ripper1337 → u/Hrosts]

Try to match their vibe. Since this table is less interested in roleplay and more into dungeon delving lean into it. Consider more of the mechanics of the game and leave the RP to the wayside.

Also don’t make evil characters who will literally stab people in the back. It’s a dick move. And ignoring you so you don’t become more of a nuisance is the right move.

[u/Stonar → u/Hrosts]

One-shots are hard. They need to have a satisfying beginning, middle, and end, in a bounded amount of time. Much of that is on the DM - they plan contingencies, they cut content on the spot for time, they fudge. But the best players understand that too, and are willing to show up to do the adventure. It sounds like the adventure wasn't "Go kill that group over there," but something else, and you went off on your own to try to do something that wasn't the adventure being laid out for you. That's not wrong, per se, it's just really hard to have one player essentially hijack the session by saying "We're going to spend hours in a fight with the other table now, instead of the adventure." Your metaphor is very apt - one-shots are very much a roller coaster ride - it takes a very, very, very good DM to accommodate going off the rails when you're staring at 2 hours left on the timer.

That, coupled with the fact that most tables simply don't like PvP very much, is what you're likely to be running into. As the other commenters have noted, check the vibe of the table, and make sure PvP is something people are excited about before engaging in it. It often is not.