I have a player on my group, he knows more about 40k fluff than anybody else I know but knows absolutely nothing about RPing and so whenever we RP he messes around a lot and distracts the other players and slows down the whole RP.

Recently we had a mission that I was using as a filler mission while I was writing a new mission up and due to him distracting the others, it took us 3 sessions and even then I had to cut out a lot of what I had written for the filler because it was taking so **** long.

How would you guys deal with a player like this?

Summary execution.

Or tell him he's being a big distraction and to play with the group or leave.

My solution is kamikaze servo-skull, outta freaking no where.

I tried killing his character and he just sulked for a week then came back the next week and started messing around with a new character so the only thing I can think of is to pull him aside and tell him how it is. I like the guy and he RPs well but the rest of the time it starts off with a little joke and before we know it we've lost 35 minutes RPing time out of a very limited three hours a week and al the fast campaigns I write are taking months instead of weeks. I'll have words. Thanks for the advice

If you only have three hours for a session there is no time for BS. It's good to have few laughs but you gotta make the best of the short time you have. 3 hours isn't much time for RPing. Get the guy in check or get him out. Otherwise your game will die.

What does he do exactly or close to it that distracts from the game with his more knowledgeable understanding about the 40k universe besides telling jokes and such?

@Phi6891: if I make a revelation, like they succeed in convincing a NPC into revealing new leads in thier investigations, he goes off on a tale to all the others about something similar that he knows about in the 40k universe and starts making suggestions of things that would be funny and starts getting the whole group involved in a shouting match where everyone is trying together thier joke heard. More than once I'v just packed up my GMGear and gone and watched tv because I just cba with trying to sort them out. We used to RP on Thursday and Friday nights but I started working more so had to cut out Fridays nd shorten our Thursday session because I start very early on Friday mornings. I'm going to confront him and say that he needs to learn to play along with the group rather than distracting them from RPing.

in order to deal with this problem, i would pull the player aside, then tell him that although you apreciate his knowledge there just isn't enough time for the group to be detracted, also feel free to say that during one of these shouting sessinos, really all you should have to do is put it into perspective about the timing issues, there shouldn't be a problem with one or two short comments, but if it takes out almost 1/6 of your gaming time, it just isn't worth it.

For some reason a lot of the bigger fans of 40k that I've played with tend to be sources of insufferable pedantry which always derail the story.

Nothing's worse than a player interrupting your game with a smarmy verbal annotation regarding some bit of lore that has absolutely nothing to do with the drama of the story.

To the OP: as others have suggested, I would recommend open serious dialogue with the individual. If this still persists in game (which often happens, I empathize) then begin a countdown of sorts. If the players still don't stop, then have a nasty random encounter.

Depending on the context, I mean:

- if they're in the middle of a prolonged skill test, have them fail ("a guard sees you!" or "your research turns out to be fruitless").

- if they're just wandering around a volatile area, have the floor cave in or they get ambushed

Mean, but hey. The setting is grim and dark, right?

I would probably try to give some hints to the player and if that don't work talk with that person. If talking don't work and its obvious that the player is not having some kind of problem in the game, I would perhaps ask that the player might find another group in which he would fit better. I would advice it as a last resort, but frankly all people don't work together and so perhaps it would be best to split paths. But if the problems can be adressed in some other way, go for that before kicking anyone.

Arkio_Gannys said:

I would advise avoiding setting out to assasinate his character for out of character reasons, more than anything it will create a us versus them attitude possibly not just with him but the other players which is just going to create more problems. I'll be honest if the GM just went off an killed my character for what would seem to be unknown reasons I'd sulk too! If he's anyway attached to his character their death to teach a lesson which he isn't aware of wont help... it just means he's less likely to get engrossed in the game and more likely to have fun with the other players who is getting on with than the game.

Your players seem to be getting along which is good but between games meet up with him and really talk it over. If he persist after gentle reminding during a game (one or two slip ups are to be expected but if you see no chance) then inform him at the end of the session he gets less xp than everyone else because he was unfortunately disrupting the game too much but hopefully this will be one off.

I have to agree with Gaius here.

Employ a "Commissars and Cookies" strategy!

Obnoxious, disruptive and otherwise detrimental activity over and above the reasonable norm can and should have some negative repurcussions. Not in-game penalties like gunning for their character, but rather in the game flow and mechanics. Player just won't stop telling jokes after several requests? -20 to his next Awareness test because his character was distracted due to joking with Corporal Jones while on guard. Recounting a hysterical tale of the funniest thing he ever saw at Walmart as you repeatedly try to describe clues found by the team? Refuse to repeat yourself after the third reading and continue on with the story. The team obviously missed a potentially useful clue and will have to work hard to develop another break in their case...

As for the cookies? When I calculate XP for the group I have gotten in the habit of determining a "baseline" XP award for the session or mission and then handing out bonuses on a player-by-player basis. Players can then nominate other players for bonus awards and must state why they feel the nominated player/character deserves it, and if the majority of the group agrees then I assign bonus points to that player. I also reward clever reasoning and good roleplaying with adjusted difficulty levels for skill tests (or grant fiat auto-success in some cases.) " I say something to motivate the troops. Rolling my Command skill ." will earn the player a dice roll. Actually delivering an impromptu speech or inspiring rallying cry "in character" will earn the player a much easier dice roll.

This makes positive and negative peer-pressure within the group a tool in your GM's kit. It should be noted that Inquisitors tend to have a low tolerance for failure...