So the party in my Steampunk game has done a number of public acts of heroism. The game is E6 and the party is 4th level, putting them at the top of their game.

In the last session, world renown mercenaries kidnapped a girl. The party damaged their airship, survived taking fire from it, and got the girl back. To those below, it looked like the mercenaries simply turned and fired on the PC's ship. Things are looking up.

But the party hasn't made any money and they have some 20 guys on that ship. Worse, those guys knew about the mercenary company and a few admitted to being fans of them. After risking their lives for a girl like that, I'm planning on having their crew quit.

This is going to PISS OFF the ship's captain, a notoriously angry fellow in real life who often threatens to quit my game over things like this.

Later in the game, I plan on having them meet a band of 1st-2nd level swordsmen and paladins that have come to London to meet the pcs do to their heroic behavior. These guys may want to sign on. They are a lot better than the NPC class mooks they had working there.

Anyway, I could see one of my players getting worked up about this, it just kills the fun for me to show my GMing hand before the game. There is no fun in it.

I'm not really asking for advice, I'm just sharing.

Quote from: Cranewings;471448This is going to PISS OFF the ship's captain, a notoriously angry fellow in real life who often threatens to quit my game over things like this.

I get more whiny players who threaten to quit than angry players who threaten to quit myself.  And I don't even screw with them first.

My latest burden - the player who is upset that the other female player has more XP than her because the other player never dies, never misses a session, and never changes characters on a whim like the whiny player does.

I generally try to avoid upsetting the players by messing them over directly.  Instead, I do a Saw-style setup where I set up a situation and anticipate they will react a certain way then punish them when they do (but if they don't, then something else will happen - I'm not railroading, just anticipating).  Luckily for me, they are pretty predictable most of the time.

In your example, I would be cautious about having the crew quit unless you at least hinted it was a possibility before they took the mission to fight the mercenaries (assuming they had the option not to do so, of course).

Quote from: jgants;471461I get more whiny players who threaten to quit than angry players who threaten to quit myself.  And I don't even screw with them first.

My latest burden - the player who is upset that the other female player has more XP than her because the other player never dies, never misses a session, and never changes characters on a whim like the whiny player does.

I generally try to avoid upsetting the players by messing them over directly.  Instead, I do a Saw-style setup where I set up a situation and anticipate they will react a certain way then punish them when they do (but if they don't, then something else will happen - I'm not railroading, just anticipating).  Luckily for me, they are pretty predictable most of the time.

In your example, I would be cautious about having the crew quit unless you at least hinted it was a possibility before they took the mission to fight the mercenaries (assuming they had the option not to do so, of course).

Two of the crewmen argued with the captain about it, basically begging him not force them. After that conversation, I had him roll a Diplomacy check to see if he convinced them to go. He succeeded on the check, so I drove it home that they didn't want to do it. He basically told them that they wouldn't get close enough to get fired on. When the PC's flying wizard came out with the hostage and a heavy dose of encumbrance, they sailed in to get her and ended up taking a few shots. His men really weren't anything special.

I actually got rid of individual experience over one or two people whining about other people getting more, and one guy always having more than he is suppose to. As far as the SAW style thing goes, I used to do that more, and I still like too, but I try to do it the other way more now, where the party can stumble into winning rather than losing. It's just more fun for them.

Quote from: Cranewings;471464Two of the crewmen argued with the captain about it, basically begging him not force them. After that conversation, I had him roll a Diplomacy check to see if he convinced them to go. He succeeded on the check, so I drove it home that they didn't want to do it. He basically told them that they wouldn't get close enough to get fired on. When the PC's flying wizard came out with the hostage and a heavy dose of encumbrance, they sailed in to get her and ended up taking a few shots. His men really weren't anything special.

That sounds like a fair enough setup to me.