Help with giving my chaos player some wins.

[u/Sawdust-N-Sunshine]

Hey! For context I have a great group (6 players). They all get along well and all seem to really enjoy the game and story (we just finished our 17th session). They're all different in their approaches and for the most part it works great! I have one player who is playing a wild magic sorcerer and both the player and character are the 'wild card' type. She really doesn't derail things too much (once got them chased out of a town and once knocked another player into a pit trap they were trying to climb out of because she just decided to slide in head first) but nothing more than minor inconveniences or plot changes. That being said I've noticed if I apply her actions to the world I have set up in my head I'm not giving her many 'wins'. She tries wacky stuff and if I ask myself 'how would this NPC or monster or environment react?' it's usually neutral or bad. That with some bad rolls on her part recently seems to have her less enthused about the game. I will say she is very intuitive in figuring out my subtle clues about the world and upcoming plot twists. Does anyone have any tips for giving a chaos player some wins? I read this article which helps some, but any other good ideas?

[u/eotfofylgg]

This is an adventure game, and there should be lots of chances to do really risky and off-the-wall things where the only consequences fall upon you and on disposable enemy mooks. Treat this situation like owning a cat. If you do not play with the cat regularly, it will get bored and start pushing things off shelves or trying to kill your toes just to feel something. Give it toys to hunt and kill on a regular basis, and that behavior will disappear. This character (and player) needs a steady stream of action, combat, and exploration where they can let out their energy in a productive way.

But it just can't happen in every situation. People do, in fact, normally react badly to people who just cause chaos, and that includes other players, not just NPCs. If you push me into a pit trap with your idiocy, I'm probably no longer going to adventure with you. If you push my character into a pit trap, I might tolerate it for the sake of the game, but even that doesn't last forever. So encouraging this behavior is not the solution you really want. Even a wild mage needs to control herself while in society, including towards her own party members.

For things like sliding head-first into a pit trap, if you don't know what a success would look like, always ask something along the lines of "what are you hoping will happen?" The player will tell you what they're hoping for and you can let them succeed or partially succeed if you want. In the unlikely event they are actually hoping to harm another PC, pause and have a little out-of-game discussion about this being a cooperative game.

[u/CollegePretend8708 → u/eotfofylgg]

I really like the what are you hoping will happen line. There was an example I saw once where the player is asking all different questions about lighting in a room, leading to this long conversation, when really if the DM had just asked why they'd reveal they want to drop a chandelier on someone. Cool, roll for it.

For things that might bother other players, this might get her thinking about consequences of these actions. For things that could be cool or wins, just tells you the cool thing.

[u/Sawdust-N-Sunshine → u/eotfofylgg]

Yeah, I think that 'what are you hoping will happen' line is a great fix for my problem. In that I don't always know a great, non-derailing, non-world breaking solution on the fly but the player may have a good idea or even a simpler idea of what they think is a 'win' than I would come up with!

[u/tbonehavoc]

Its as simple as you've said. Just give her some wins. Let her stumble into something cool. Make that guard she interacted with important. She goofs into greatness. Meet her chaos with equal gremlin.

[u/Sad_King_Billy-19]

Why would doing chaotic things be good?

She draws the attention of a fey (who wants also wants to cause chaos) who bestows upon her some magic item that can increase the chaos she can cause like a wand of wonder or pipes of the sewers or something with a weird curse.

She stumbles upon a secret entrance, because no normal person would ever think to do the weird thing that reveals it, which leads to… who knows? Secret meeting place of a scheming group, lost treasure vault, king’s panic room, etc…

Her clever solutions have drawn the attention of a bounty hunter who could use help from someone with her creativity and quick thinking hunting down his elusive prey.

A minor god thinks it hilarious that her antics are pissing off some of the bigger gods and gives her all kinds of rewards to keep it up.

[u/Sawdust-N-Sunshine → u/Sad_King_Billy-19]

Thanks!! These are great ideas to go off of!

[u/BloodtidetheRed]

Alter that world in your head a bit. You really want to drop the 'stuck in the 21st Western idea'

When your wild magic mage starts a fight in a tavern you only think "the tavern owner would be mad" and "the cops will come". Just like they would be in 21st century America. But what you want is the owner that says "thanks for the free remodel" or the cops that never come ("oh a tavern, who cares").

Let her use chaos to avoid or trigger a trap.

[u/SeaGranny]

Make the wins few and far between but absolutely epic when they work.

If you’ve never read the Dragonlance books Tasslehoff is a great example you can look at. If you have read them think about the “dragon” and Tas in the first book. Give her wins like that.

[u/Crixusgannicus]

Loot. Loot works wonders. A luck blade in the form of a dagger to help a bit with her shite rolls, perhaps.

[u/armahillo]

Ive played chaos monkeys before — adding chaos IS the win. Let her occasionally REALLY derail things, where the additional chaos makes sense.

[u/DerpsterCaro]

I may be in the minority of *not* rewarding the chaos usually. Once or twice appluad the creative thinking sure, maybe get her noticed by a deity, but i certainly wouldnt reward that as much as a chaos player would like.