A Dungeon Master is desperate about the greed of their party in Dungeons & Dragons and is looking for tips on how to prevent their players from excessive looting. The community can understand the problem, but offers a solution that could be better for everyone involved.
What is the DM complaining about? The Dungeon Master Error_code_0731 reports on Reddit about a problem they cannot overcome alone without help. Their current group is very keen on taking every last bit of valuables out of a dungeon, even when they have already cleared it.
According to the DM, it even goes so far that they hire random NPCs to watch over the party’s horses while they collect wagonloads of loot to transport everything to the city and sell it there. Even various monsters that the DM throws at them in these cases to make looting a bit less attractive cannot deter their players.
No matter what the DM has tried so far, nothing helped: No monsters making looting difficult in the dungeon, no robberies on the waiting NPCs, no runaway horses. Not even poor loot in the form of rusty equipment or piddling copper pieces can stop the players from leaving a dungeon without a thorough collection, simply letting a dungeon be a dungeon.
“The group even went so far as to rent a stall at the market where they tried to sell their old, rusty loot,” reports the desperate DM, “They sold two old swords and had to give the rest as scrap metal to a blacksmith.”
Now the DM is asking for advice and is looking for an idea on how to curb the unproductive greed of their players without just saying “No” as a direct game-killer.
Here you can see the trailer for the current campaign of Critical Role:
Instead of ruining the fun, looting should be designed more creatively
What tips do players offer? The community has plenty of ideas on how to curb the joy of players’ greed without playing God and explicitly forbidding it. Under the Reddit post, there are many different opinions on what a suitable approach would be:
Dungeonsandderp suggests making merchants in the game much more selective before they agree to buy up all the junk. However, they could also use a time skip to skip the wasted time in the dungeon so that they can summarize what the party found in, for example, 6 hours of clearing time at the end.
These two suggestions are also appreciated by mitissix, who likes to work with hints about the elapsed time, which could lead to time-related consequences.
In addition to time as leverage, many players emphasize that the Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons is just another player who wants to have a good time and that the DM needs to communicate their needs and lack of enjoyment to them accordingly.
“Tell them that it slows down the game for you a lot and you would prefer if they could skip this part so you can get to the parts that you enjoy,” writes breadmeal, “You are also a player and your fun is important!”
However, breadmeal also has another idea that could help everyone involved.
What other approach could help the DM and their players? Instead of ruining the fun for his players, the DM could try something quite bold: simply participating.
If penalties and deterrents haven’t worked so far, that might not have been the right approach.
“Apparently your group likes to be greedy treasure hunters. How can you adapt your game to provide them (and yourself) with satisfying adventures where wealth is gathered?” explains the player, “What happens when they start to prioritize wealth over other matters? What enemies does that make them? What victories does it bring them?”
RedDemocracy also finds this approach great, as the DM can be creative with the greed of their players in this way, especially since they have previously tried it with a market stall. They could be involved in a theft at a flea market, selling their goods, while also finding a perpetrator and being creative themselves.
If a group or a player is unhappy with the direction the campaign is taking, certain elements can be adjusted before directly forbidding them. In this way, there is a chance that both parties, players and the DM, will have fun with the adventure.
Party poopers in Dungeons & Dragons are not popular players at the table, even though it is sometimes necessary to intervene, stop, or redirect. To avoid becoming a problematic player who makes the times worse for others at the table, this list here from MeinMMO summarizes which character archetypes have a high potential to ruin the fun: 5 types of characters you better not play in Dungeons & Dragons
