Gaming - what should A do?

[lexin]

Anyone help, please?

As many of you know, I play RPGs, mostly D&D and Call of Cthulhu. I'm a GM for both.

I have never previously encountered someone who is actively cheating. But I believe one of my D&D players has read the scenario I'm running in advance and is taking advantage of that knowledge.

I have no idea what to do, other than to boot him out.

Comments

[anotherslashfan]

I'd definitely ask him outright if he is familiar with the scenario, affording him at least some chance to save face and maybe come forward with a version of the truth that makes continuing together feasible.
If he says yes, ask him about his motivation for playing this scenario. I'd make my decision depending on his reactions.
I've definitely gamed with players who did know a scenario beforehand, but they always let the GM know and also handled it in a sensitive way.

[lexin]

When we started the scenarios I did ask the whole group if they were familiar with these and they all said they weren't - including him. But since then, his behaviour has shown that he has read it - he's avoiding anything too hard, for example.

[anotherslashfan]

If being direct is OK for you, I'd still say: confront him about his motives.

Otherwise, maybe he's done it before? Do you have any way of finding out and talking to others how they dealt with him, specifically?

I still find his behaviour mindboggling, why the hell would he do that to himself, doesn't it ruin all the fun? In any case, your fun and the fun of the other players is top priority, so you could at least come to him with a statement along the lines of 'I've noticed that you avoided very specific things and I think that this requires detailed knowledge of the scenario - can you tell me what's going on? I don't think I want to continue GM-ing for you otherwise.'

[lexin]

Not only has he done it before, he's done it to me before.

In the first set of games I ran for this group, he admitted he was reading ahead and criticised me for not giving out all the information available. I was grumpy about it and I think he's paying me back for that.

[anotherslashfan]

What! In that case I certainly wouldn't want to game with him again. I see that many suggested changing key details and I'd also considered that, but I seriously don't see why he should be the reason you put in extra work when he's the one sabotaging you.

[shezan]

Kick him out.

[lexin]

I've made some changes to the scenarios, and we'll see what happens on Sunday. If it becomes obvious he's been reading the scenario, I will boot him.

[lyorn]

Asking outright is the most grown-up thing to do.

If he says "yes" (or maybe "yes, I actually GM'd that three gaming groups ago") you can ask him how he plans to go on with that. Maybe he'd prefer to excuse himself from this scenario, or he can just stop using info the character does not have.

If he says "no", you can say, "good" and tweak the scenario big time. See how he reacts. If he *then* starts to argue that you are playing it wrong: That's the time to kick him out.

In my first decades of gaming I would have pretended not to have noticed and tweaked the scenario very maliciously, but I've grown to old for this crap. It's meta, it should be handled as meta.

I have actually gamed a scenario I had GMd two years earlier, because I was in a new town and desperate to meet gamers. But I could pull it off.

[lexin]

I did ask everyone before starting this group of scenarios if anyone had played them before or read them, and everyone said they hadn't.

[grimmhill]

From network.
Depending on the scenario, if there is a critical clue or decision point which can be reversed (i.e. chose the left switch reversed to chose the right switch) try that to let him know his knowledge is outdated. Just remember to modify your notes/copy.

[lexin]

I'll look into this, thank you.

[clothsprogs]

I don't GM and haven't encountered the situation but I'd say that asking outright is about all you can do, and base your decision o nthe response and whther you believe it or not.

Although, changing a part of it and seeing how they react might glean a better idea of whether they have actually read it or not.

Teddy

[lexin]

Thanks, I'll do this.

[clothsprogs]

I mentioned it to a gamer friend, and they said, "Throw something at him that has a high chance of killing off his character, see how the dice roll, and don't mention your suspicions. If he survives, wait a while, rinse and repeat."

This does, of course, assume that your suspicions are correct.

Teddy

[clothsprogs]

My own DM says says he'd reread the scenario carefully and then change it in a couple of ways, "...so that his knowledge counts against him..."

Teddy

[lexin]

Do thank your DM for the advice - I will do that.