(TFT) I knew this guy 3

[davidgrouchy <davidgrouchy@yahoo.com>]

     I knew this fellow who had this thing he used to do to any Game Master he could talk into letting him play in their campaign. He would make a character normally enough.  He seemed very amicable and intelligent.  But then when the Game Master finally asked him what he did, or what he was going to do for an action, he always had the same answer. 
  ``I start digging. what do I find?'' 
       Immediately everyone knew that if they let him find gold, all of the players would start digging and the Game Master would have completely lost control of the adventure from the start.  So they would try to deflect his action.  How they did this was more telling about what kind of a Game Master he was than it served to dissuade the fellow from digging. 
       I saw Game Masters who would let the fellow find something, like a copper ring, thinking that it would satisfy him but he would say. 
  ``I dig faster. what do I find?!'' 
       I saw game masters who would honestly think and try to figure out what he could possibly uncover and say that the character found a broken bottle, or a bear tab, or some other type of useless garbage.  What was the fellows response? 
  ``I keep digging. what do I find?!'' 
       I sawGame Masters who would try to curb this behavior; with negative reinforcement.  ``Your fingers start bleeding as you rake the dirt and start uncovering rocks and gravel.''  He had an answer for that. 
  ``I keep digging. what do I find?'' 
       I saw game masters who wouldn't even try to curb this behavior, they just wanted it to stop.  ``You find... An umber hulk and it attacks you.''  Now this move did cause him to fight, and everyone else jumped in too.  But then, when it was over... 
  ``I keep digging. what do I find?'' 
       And then there were the rest of the game masters who dropped all pretenses of handling this fellow in the context of the game and tried to deal with him as a player.  ``Why are you doing this?''  ``Do you want to play or what?''  ``Nothing; O.K.  You're going to find nothing, so give it up.''  But unfortunately this response was exactly what  he was looking for, and he would get a big smile on his face and everyone would know that he got the best of the Game Master because the actions of his character had broken the continuity of the game. 
       Fortunately I had a chance to witness this behavior before I was inflicted with it.  I clarified exactly where he was digging, as though the location mattered.  He insisted he didn't care and that he was just digging.   I gave everyone else a turn.  I asked his action and then told him how deep he had dug.  I gave everyone else a turn and they sensed that they could still get an adventure out of me, so they struck off out of town.  I asked his action and then told him how deep he had dug.  I gave everyone else a turn and rolled for random encounters.  None.  I asked his action and then told him how deep he had dug.  Anyway, the reader should get the idea by now.  As hard as it is to do, one should not ignore or reward such behavior because such behavior could in fact, exist. 
      It is up to the Game Master to maintain the reality of their story by allowing such seemingly strange actions when they arise.  It means that the Game Master now has the rare opportunity to show exactly how fair and impartial they can be.  The only other time when a Game Master has a chance to be obviously fair and impartial is when two player characters try to kill each other and the Game Master lets them.  He checks their character sheets to make sure that the weapons they are using are actually written down, and they aren't trying to cheat. 
     Incidentally, did you know that it could be justifiably argued that behavior like this is what allows dungeons to exist in the first place? 
 Someone has to do all that digging. 
                          David Michael Grouchy II 
 		
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