How do you deal with Power Munchkins?

[dmart11]

A really nasty flu outbreak...

impervious to desease,magical illness amulet, PE 17....yeah, got it covered lol

[lather]

A really nasty flu outbreak...

impervious to desease,magical illness amulet, PE 17....yeah, got it covered lol

Can they resurrect the entire town that knew the answer to the question?

[dmart11]

Or will they give said amulet to their dying mother?

both questions would depend on the alignments.

[lather]

Mine depends on the question more than alignment. Unless they have a death wish.

[lather]

Meanie.

[SkyeFyre]

My favorite toys for munchkins are Mechanoids (Then again I love using Mechanoids for everything) but yeah, particularly wasps. There are insane numbers of them, +7 auto-dodge, they do like 2D4x10MDC with their particle beams and hit often enough. If they get smart enough to use impervious to energy against them, the wasps have a nasty ramming attack.

[DocS]

I defend munchkins. There is nothing wrong with folks who want an epic campaign of epic power. Similarly, there is nothing wrong with folks who want a low-key campaign of low-power.

The only problem is trying to force one style on a group of players who clearly want the other.

[SkyeFyre]

I defend munchkins. There is nothing wrong with folks who want an epic campaign of epic power. Similarly, there is nothing wrong with folks who want a low-key campaign of low-power.

The only problem is trying to force one style on a group of players who clearly want the other.

There's a difference. A Munchkin is in the mindset. There's a difference between a high power player and a player who needs to be invincible and will whine if he even takes 6MDC when he has 500+ and regenerates 1D4x10 per minute.

[asajosh]

I defend munchkins.

Empathize with'em do ya?

There is nothing wrong with folks who want an epic campaign of epic power. Similarly, there is nothing wrong with folks who want a low-key campaign of low-power.

There is a difference from being a munchkin and playing a high power campaign. If you expect to keep up with the rest of us you must pay attention.

The only problem is trying to force one style on a group of players who clearly want the other.

Don't imagine that's much of an issue in your solo campaigns.

[Jason Richards]

Skimmed other responses, by my .02:

As others have mentioned, you can butt heads and outdo them, but that can lead to escalation.

What I would suggest is make sure you make sure that between killfest combats and god-like beatdowns, make sure you make them go through everything else. In fact, I'm going to suggest an exercise.

Pick a neighborhood in your hometown... something downtown with a grocery store, drug store, retail, apartments, houses, whatever. Do a little hand sketch of how it's all laid out. It doesn't have to be perfect, just a map of a relatable place. This is going to be the little town that your characters are going to come across on their next mission or adventure or whatever.

When they come into this town, be sure to consider the reactions of the people. How would the people in your hometown react if somebody came into downtown in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, carrying grenades and a sub-machinegun, then went into the local bar for a drink? In Rifts they might not call the cops (because on the frontier, what are you going to do?) but they would be intimidated, scared, and might even cower. Their drinks would probably be free ("Just drink it and go, okay?") and mothers would hide their children behind them and avoid eye contact as they walked by.

How can they function in this town? Do they have the skills to tell whether or not somebody is scamming them on the price of E-Clips? Can they count? Do they have weapons/money concealed somewhere or are they all out in the open waiting to be lifted by a pickpocket? Do they know the trade value of weapons or gold or gems? Do they know anything about the type of mage that runs the hotel? Do they know what race he is or what that means about his disposition? Etc.

I suspect your characters would try to take advantage and love the "respect" they got in this backwoods place. No arms merchants. Some MDC stuff here and there to help fight off monsters and the occasional bandit, but nothing like what they have. Try to emphasize the human side of this place.

So if they push everybody around and are taking free drinks and having their way with the women and doing the things that these types of gamers seem to do, without fear of consequences, how do they react when the local Cyber-Knight or Justice Ranger comes through on his monthly visit? In this situation, aren't your characters the bad guys? If he tries to send them on their way, or disarm them while in town, or make them pay for damage they've caused, what will they do? Fight back? And if they've committed crimes (theft, assault, etc.), this authority will attempt to seek justice. Will they allow themselves to be arrested and stand trial?

Your characters could take on the CK or JR, no doubt. Do they kill him? Kill a Cyber-Knight? Won't that cause a reaction? Praise from thugs and villains that hated the guy? Animosity from the town? A mark on the characters' heads?

The people that might now come after your characters... they're not going to confront them head on, are they? They're too strong. They'll set ambushes, traps, and catch them off guard. They'll be smart.

Anyway, you probably get the point. What I'm saying is react to your characters. They already have the characters, and you've allowed it, so it's too late now to make them get rid of them or to kill them off, I think. So, gradually change the way that YOU play. I think if you do this, either 1) they'll get in over their heads and end up toast, or 2) they'll realize their characters aren't adequate and either roll up new ones or change their style of play.

[asajosh]

LOL, that's how I GM!
First, I always get a copy of my player's characters prior to play for approval.
A second step is to ALWAYS make them play some non-combat hang around town time. I use a spreadsheet to track their ammo expendeture during combat and if they forget to re-supply... better know how to throw rocks really well!
If the munchkin in question has a lot of strange alien equipment and likes to flash it around, the CS and other parties will begin to take notice, etc. I think that's why a couple of my players got into trouble the first time I GMed for them. They are not used to the level of realism I try to bring and didn't know what to do when their sillieness got them into trouble.
PLAYER: Ok Im gonna hop on my motorcycle and gun it at top speed away from the bar.
GM: Ok, people are screaming as they get knocked outta the way! Sirens and flashing lights behind you, accompanied by a hail of gun fire overhead. Looking up you can see what appears to be a helicopter following you...
Player: Aww why me?
GM: Well let's review. You started a fight in a juicer bar, slaughtering a few patrons and employees (MD laser on unarmored skulls). Then you fled by driving your motorcycle at top speed through a crowded city street in mid-day (Kingsdale) and ran over several people. The gun fire behind you is from the pack of angry juicers from the bar and good semeritons on the street trying to stop your rampage. The helicopter is the military coming to intervene. Seriously, pull the same crap in a biker bar downtown today IRL, you'll get a similar response. This is Rifts, not Grand Theft Auto.
Player:

As you might have guessed, this is a paraphrased excerpt from an actual gaming session.

[DocS]

There is a difference from being a munchkin and playing a high power campaign. If you expect to keep up with the rest of us you must pay attention.

There is no difference. Players who want a high power campaign will make characters who are as powerful as they can be..... How does this differ from 'Munchkins'? It doesn't. To think otherwise is to think the below statement is sensical.

"I'd like to run the highest power campaign I've ever run... so make the highest power characters you can. Jack up that power level! I want you fighting Dominators here! I been seeing these things for years and now I'm going to use them! Oh yeah, by the way, don't be munchkins".

I think we can all see the inherent contradiction in the above statement. Now look at the original post.

Honestly though, i just recently been playing in a group with some friends who are beyond Power Munchkins. They use this pdf of a compilation of skills that some fan created and all they do when they make characters is try to get the most attacks and bonuses AT LEVEL 1 !

If you're the GM for this *group*.... you have two choices.

1) run adventures for that group which they will enjoy, aka high power adventures with much butkicking and combat...
or
2) Don't run for that group. Period. There is no law that requires a GM to run for every group or every player that ever walks in the door.

Option #3 (the one which ironically seems to be the majority opinion of the thread)

3) Veto all their characters or run adventures designed to humble their characters in a million ways to show 'em that they aint so tough!

Option 3 is the same as

3) Run a game the players wont enjoy.

And if you're going to willingly run a game that the players don't enjoy, then don't run the game. Don't like the players' style? Fine, don't run for them. But to willingly put things in the game to 'humble' them....

Characters can be humbled easily... but *Players* should never be humbled. Why not? Simple, being humbled isn't *Fun*.

[asajosh]

I think we may just have differing ideas on what is meant by Munchkin, DamonS.

I define a munchkin as someone who tries to run the most powerful, near-rule bending critter they can, regardless of the power level of the campaign.

That being said Im sure you can see the difference between munchkin and running a high power campairn.

[asajosh]

Characters can be humbled easily... but *Players* should never be humbled. Why not? Simple, being humbled isn't *Fun*.

Agreed.
That being said, the easiest way to deal with munchkins is to pre-screen characters and filter out undesierables.

[DocS]

I define a munchkin as someone who tries to run the most powerful, near-rule bending critter they can, regardless of the power level of the campaign.

'regardless' is very important there.. Most of the talk about munchkins revolves around the power level, I think this thread should instead focus on the 'regardless' idea. Firstly because 'regardless' swings all sorts of ways (high and low power, prima donna characters of all stripes), and because 'regardless' also understand the party context. Ergo, if everyone in the party is maxing out their characters, some GMs think they have a munchkin problem. I however, think that in that case, the GM has a party who is unified in what kind of campaign to run, so there is no problem there. The first post here complained about a party of power munchkins.... there's no problem if *everyones' doing it, unless you're the one guy who refuses to.

'regardless' players should either have their characters vetoed (in the hopes of it being an honest mistake), or be removed from the game (if they're refusing to tailor things).

[asajosh]

.........I eat them.

Hehe my first thought on "how do you handle power munchkins?"
Hit'em with a rock.

[mellowmaveric]

As much as they want to munchkin there is always somone biger and bader. More knowlidge, more guns, more experience, more training more what ever. If they want to be total chese munchkins then do the same to them so they understand how it feels then after you have compleetely crushed them convince them to start over with somthing basic and have them earn the cheese instead of being handed to them. Earning is more rewarding that being handed somthing with no merrit.

[The Beast]

Arise. ARISE! ARISE YE DEAD THREAD!!!


I'm really starting to have a serious case of de'javu...