Out of Encounter Movement?

In my 4e DnD game, the rogue pretty much warps his character to any chests or crates. Getting pretty sick of that because he is hogging all the loot. So, what do you guys suggest I do about movement out of encounters or this situation?

Tell the player to stop being a dick. Boot 'em from the game if he doesn't.

I would do one of 2 things: -Rig a magical trap in the area around the chest to go off when a warp occurs. -Talk to every other player in private and try to start a mutiny..

Robert R. said: I would do one of 2 things: -Rig a magical trap in the area around the chest to go off when a warp occurs. -Talk to every other player in private and try to start a mutiny.. Those are both bad ideas. The first is trying to punish a player with in-game consequences. If people don't like what he's doing, the only solution is to talk to him out of game. The second is even worse. Trying to get everyone in the party to gang up on one player? That's just horrible, especially for a game like 4e which isn't designed to handle PVP.

First, are you a player or the DM? How is he "hogging" all the loot? Don't the other PCs notice when the player opens up a chest full of loot?

Yeah you should talk to him about what he is doing if you are the DM. Also it should be noted that if he is moving to the chests and what not than the other players have the same amount of movement available to them and are just as able to move to the chest as well. The only time a player could warp is if the DM allows it. Even though the token might move quickly across the board does not mean that the character is able to do so, unless the character is Nightcrawler at which point they can just follow the sulfur smell left behind by each BAMF!

Just because some guy can move his token to a chest doesn't mean his character is the Flash, or that the GM is required to give him its contents, or that the rest of the party doesn't have time to intervene with a carefully-phrased and respectful axe to the thigh.

I don't get it. Why doesn't the party kick him out/take the loot by force ? If you don't want PvP at all in your game then you should simply make a note saying: "Not splitting loot/stealing from the party is considered PvP" and bam, problem solved, because... let's be honest, it kinda is PvP.

How long does it take to search for traps and pick the lock in 4e. I know in most old school games it takes 10 minutes or more to do a proper trap search and picking a lock takes 5+minutes. Doesn't the rest of the group have time to move over to him and deal with the thief? What is warp? What does it do? Is it a spell or power or ability? If so do anyone else have it? If you haven't trapped the chest maybe you want to look at the possibility of them being trapped by the monsters as they probably want to protect their treasure. Remember the chest doesn't need to be trapped but maybe the ground under it (think the original Indiana Jones with the idol trap). I used a variant of that trap once. The chest was carved out of the stone floor with the bottom the trigger. When it was disturbed the chest floor sunk and the ceiling of hallway leading into the room closed down to seal the room. The character had one chance to run for it and make it out without being crushed or being sealed in the room but they had to declare they were running then and there. Any hesitation and they would not make it. Usually any magic items in my games are being used by the monsters unless they are not intelligent enough to use superior equipment.

I would say have you tried talking to the player about his actions and your disapproval of them. That should be your first step. And if he doesn't get it when he tries opening chests take a moment and say "OK, we'll deal with that in just a moment, does anyone else care to do anything before we open this chest."

There really aren't any rules for movement outside of an encounter. All of the movement rules are in "encounter-space" - you can move six squares per turn, etc. But that's not your real problem, is it? Your problem is that you have someone hogging the treasure. Don't play around with traps in the hopes that it will change the player's behaviour. Trying to change a player's behaviour without actually talking about what behaviour you want to change is an exercise in futility at best, and frustration at worst. First, talk to your players. See if they mind that one player is "hogging" all the loot. Personally, as a player, I generally can't be bothered to track mundane pieces of loot like gold and jewelry because I find it boring. I'm happy with a useful magic item from time to time. And maybe they can sort things out like adults and get on the same page. I'm not sure how the rogue is managing to hog all the loot in plain sight of the rest of the players. What exactly happens when he opens the chest? Is he doing some sort of Thievery check to stuff all the good stuff in his pocket before the rest of the party can divvy it up? Or does he just say "I take it! Mine!" before anyone can make a claim on it? (If the rogue is saying "I'm stealing all the loot, it's what my character would do," then that's stupid. Have him read the "11 ways to be a better roleplayer" on lookrobot that's been linked to numerous times. The "I'm not a dick, my character is" excuse doesn't fly.) If he's doing a Thievery roll, 4e isn't really designed for PvP and I use a houserule that goes "if you want to roll something (an attack, a skill, etc) against another PC, put the dice away, the victim decides if you're successful or not." This way, it pre-emptively prevents PvP and griefing, and makes sure any serious in-character conflict is consensual and fun (ie: if the party thinks this guy stealing their loot is fun, they'll let him. If not, they won't). If it's the latter, you don't have to give him the treasure just because he opened the chest. Tell the whole party "Okay, in the chest is a +2 Axe of Head-chopping" and let them decide who gets it. If players can't agree on who gets loot within about 30 seconds, have them roll a straight up d20, no modifiers. Highest roll gets it. Done.

Handle things in Simultaneous Frames, with varying time depending on what they're doing. For "zoomed-in" exploration (such as a dungeon, camp, etc), I handle things in 1 to 5 minutes frames usually. I'm still polishing the mechanics but overall, here is the idea: Pop up the turn tracker and have each PC roll initiative. This is the initiative will be used should combat occur at any point during the exploration. Put an "Events" token at initiative 0, that'll mark the end of the turn. Each PCs in turn move up to 2x their movement and declare any action, such as "check this area for traps" or "check this chest and loot it", "study the arcane glyphs", etc. When you reach the "Events" turn, resolve everything simultaneously, describe what happens, handle dice rolls, hand out what is found, etc. Keep going through the turns. PCs can agree to get out of the frames or change the time frames if they want to rest, study something for a long period of time, etc. Likewise, if the PCs are simply "advancing" through a dungeon, I only handle frames mainly for the Leader (the one in front), while the others can basically move and do whatever as long as they remain behind the point man, within reason. It can get a bit overwhelming to handle. If so, simply resolve actions briefly as the PCs declare, then sum things up, with the appropriate consequences, during the Events turn. That said, if a player's being an ass, he's being as ass...

I use a system I call "Pseudo Initiative", which I will let players know is in effect or not. It's basically exactly what it sounds like. When I want my players to constrain their movements such that they don't just warp across a room and skip over traps and stuff, or other things that require precise actions, I inform players that they are on the clock. Which means that, just like in an Initiative order, every player can take a Move action and a Standard action. The difference is that because it's not combat, every player knows that what they're doing is happening simultaneously. So if one player wants to walk cautiously down a hallway, I will have him plot out his movement up to his max distance for one round, and if he wants to take an action like searching for traps or opening a door or something else, he can. Then I ask what the rest of the group is doing at the same time. Meaning if they want to stay back and wait for him, they can, but if they want to be assumed to be keeping pace with him or doing their own searches, they get a chance to do so. This keeps things neat, so when a player moves I know WHERE they walked, meaning if they trigger a trap or miss a clue in the process, I know about it. No instant-teleporting anywhere. I don't see why it needs to be more complicated than that.

I would just kick him out, because he is a greedy little prick that throws a hissyfit whenever I try to confront him, but he is my step-brother and lives with me. Also, he is the only person who will play with me except my 9 year old brother (bleh) and he claims that it is "his" game, even though the only thing he owns is the Starter Set and we dont really need that anymore since I bought the Monster Vault and tiles and printed my own character sheets. So I can either put up with him or not play at all except on the rare occasion that I have access to a computer.

Just take a breather then from gaming and study the system while building a few scenarios. This will do multiple things; This will allow you to cool off if you are upset or distress with his actions. If he gets upset about you not running a game then you can point out that due to his actions you decided not to for a while. This will allow you to build various maps and other material for more sessions. This will allow you to see how the mechanics of the system will work if you are not totally familiar with them. If you are then it just gives you time to make more material for additional sessions. If he gets mad about you not running a game then tell him that he should run a few to give you a break. The reason I'm mentioning this to you as it seems you are in a bind. You are gaming with 2 family members which one is apparently making you not enjoy the hobby. Taking a breather from the hobby will make it so you don't stop completely and give up in disgust. Don't give up on the 9yr old brother. He is at the age where his imagination could take off in many directions. If 4e is to complex for the youngest one then think about getting a free retroclone like Basic Fantasy RPG . There are other retroclones that are free but BFRPG is my preferred one.

No, not going to give up on the hobby. Just wish I could get some more people or different people in the group. That's the big reason why I am using this site for the forums, in the hope that I'll be able to actually play on here someday soonish. Gah, I need a computer. Thanks for the help so far Metroknight and everyone else.

Are you still in school? Do you have a job? You can order a dyi desktop computer for under 300 through tigerdirect. Not the top of the line but not the bottom of the line either.You sometimes can get a cheap one at a flea market or yard sale also. Wish I could help ya.

Have you considered trying to recruit some other people to play? You might be surprised how many people either play RPGs or would be willing to try them. I only started online playing to see what other people were doing in the hobby (and trying out PbP because my schedule is becoming too hectic for having a planned weekly game).

I kinda live 30 minutes out of town (bluh) and don't have too many friends, nerdy or otherwise, so that makes things difficult. My girlfriend was interested in D&D for a while, but she never actually played and lost interest right when I started playing. So yeah.... And because of my age, I can't very well go out looking for people to play with IRL

Cole L. said: And because of my age, I can't very well go out looking for people to play with IRL Why not? Many brick & mortar game shops will be running weekly sessions of D&D Encounters, which is pretty darn easy to get in on. You'll even make some friends if you're not careful! =P

I'm 14 and don't have a ride anyways is why not