Problem: Players talking OOC all the time and interrupting

Problem: Players talking OOC all the time and interrupting.

I'm DMing a 5e DnD game, and I have an issue with two players. They constantly talk when it's not their turn, interrupting other players and even me during DM narration. Sometimes it's OOC suggestions, like pointing out which monster to go after, and other times its debates about rules or predictions about the next plot twist or conjecture about the secrets they've discovered.

I tried to rein them in by gently reminding them that their character isn't nearby to talk, or that they can discuss their thoughts during a break later. It didn't seem to work.

Then I laid down a rule: You can't talk when it's not your turn at all.
On your turn you can
>1. Ask a OOC clarifying question,
>2. Move your speed,
>3. Do an action like an attack, skill check, or cast a spell,
>4. Say something to an ally or npc.

Having this kind of strict structure paradoxically works really well for the good players. They are paying attention, ask a good question, roll the dice, get their turn over with, and talk in character about what's happening in the dungeon. The bad players however start asking several different questions in a row, don't know how many squares to move, take forever to decide what to do, and don't bother to talk or say anything when it's their turn. Then when its a monster's turn or another player, they are back to yelling over everyone to get their joke heard or making OOC suggestions for another player's turn. It's gotten to the point where whenever one of them starts to pipe up about literally anything I just immediately say "It's not your turn, you can't talk." It feels rude and disrespectful for me to have to do that but otherwise its near constant talking, sometimes within seconds.

What should I do? I don't want to kick them because they are actually pretty good at RP and come up with clever dialogue and in general have a good time. But the constant interruption and metagaming is limiting the game.

Sounds like you just want to trample on everyone else's fun.

Have you tried actually talking to them about your problem?

He can't, it's not in his rules.

I did sit down with the two of them and explain that I'm glad they are excited about the game and I like their enthusiasm, but when they talk constantly they distract other players and take away the focus on whoever's turn it is. They want to have their decisions during their turn be considered important and to respected about making choices during the game, so they need to be able to give that respect and attention to the other players when it's not their turn.

They seemed to get it and were better during that session. The next one they were back at it again. A few other players came to me and told me they didn't like being shouted over and wanted me to come up with something. I'm trying to brainstorm a strategy for next time we meet.

>silently pisses on your carpet

well, i tried to tell you i was gonna take a piss, but you wouldn't tell me where your bathroom was because i'd used up my talking allocation

Ooc chatter that is not meta gaming is fine, your just an autistic control cunt if you are anal over this. Now the meta gaming part is stupid on their part, but you could always jyst find new players, since it seems that you cant deal with these ADD newbs.

>eats all the pizza

well, i was gonna ask if you wanted a slice, but you said no talking

>Ooc chatter that is not meta gaming is fine
You're implying that no level of OoC chatter is too much, which is stupid. The amount that's appropriate varies depending on the group and the tone of the game, but it has obviously become a problem in OP's game as other players have complained about it.

If it's really a problem, then just tell them there is no OOC. If you're discussing tactics, your characters are discussing tactics. If you're goofing around, your characters are goofing around. If you ask the DM a question, your character is trying to think of something.

Obviously there's a sanity exception for shit like because aspies have to be told sanity exceptions exist.

Next thread you're gonna be bitching about how they're on their phones the whole game
Well done

Wow. so Veeky Forums stands for 'those guys'

I know you're being sarcastic but we play at a game shop, so there's no issue with the good players getting up to handle phone calls and things like that. It's more that if I didn't impose a rule there would be no end to the talking, even in combat. They would just yammer on and on and probably would never stop until I announced whose turn it was. Meanwhile the players who were paying attention would start getting impatient because they would be keeping track of whose turn was next and wonder why it's taking so long.

>Then I laid down a rule: You can't talk when it's not your turn at all.
I don't think that regimentation is the answer, and by what you say, I think you're discovering that. What you need is for people to be considerate and observe a reasonable guidelines with regards to how much talk is acceptable, what kind of talk, and when. This is basic social etiquette, but many people are social retards or just don't give a shit if they're being rude.

I think that the only effective solution is to get the problem players to recognize and correct their problem behavior, but to do that, you have to get them to care enough to look for and correct the things they are doing wrong. You seem to have already tried the light touch, so I don't see any other way around this other than bluntly challenging them when the behavior occurs. This can obviously lead to confrontations or hurt feelings, but the gentler, more deferential approach hasn't worked, so I'm not sure what else you're left with.

At a certain point, you have to more forcefully call people on their shit and hope that works. Don't let them interrupt and talk over people only to get a gentle nudge afterwards. Shut them down before they finish, so they're not getting anything out of it. And if that doesn't work, maybe it's time to find new players.

I like this idea, but one problem is that the players are actually good enough to make a distinct voice for their characters. When they are talking in character, they do a little accent and tone to show it's them. Out of character they use their normal voice.

The other issue is when their turn does come around, they want to do 10 different things at once. They pick up their mini and just teleport around, asking a million questions about what they see and what-ifs about the things they might do, and want to just keep rolling skill check after skill check. I had to impose the strict question-move-action-talk policy to stop their turns from become a time-stop runaround like fucking Barry Allen.

So what you're saying is you have a couple betas in your group who are physically unable to speak up and communicate AND that you do a terrible job as a referee when DMing

>Sometimes it's OOC suggestions, like pointing out which monster to go after, and other times its debates about rules or predictions about the next plot twist or conjecture about the secrets they've discovered.
>I tried to rein them in by gently reminding them that their character isn't nearby to talk, or that they can discuss their thoughts during a break later. It didn't seem to work.
This is the sort of thing I start docking XP for. If somebody slips up once or twice, that's fine. Nobody's perfect and there's no sense in being super uptight. But if they continue to do it despite being continually warned not to, it's time to bring the hammer down. Unwarranted OOC suggestions confer a potential advantage to the PCs that they shouldn't be having, so it only makes sense to balance this sort of thing out.

If you use something like fate points that let you bend reality, they're perfect for something like this. OOC suggestions are bending reality, so you make the offender fork one over. If he runs out of fate points, that's either when you start getting harsh and shutting them down, or you start issuing deficit points to be subtracted from the next batch of fate points they get (maybe you never reduce they amount they get by more than 1/2, carrying over any remaining deficit to the next time after that they earn points).

>Out of character they use their normal voice.
I think you're missing the point. The point is to penalize them for talking out of character by making it in character. So if they start blabbing about shit, their character does it (or something similar), giving everybody in the game the opportunity to hear what they are saying, and potentially taking up in-game actions.

Maybe that's the trick, some kind of mechanical disadvantage in-game. I'm hesitant to do that because it might come across as tyrannical and petty. I also don't want to selectively force the rule for the times when the other good players speak out of turn, which is never a big issue but happens sometimes.

Unfortunately this only works when the things they are suggesting ar goofy jokes. Oftentimes though, the 'helpful suggestions' are things like asking for bonus damage from made-up stuff, or ways they think they should be able to kill enemies like chumps.

>two cultists are standing near to some barrels in an alleyway
>eldritch knight runs up and wants to do thunderwave on them
>talkative player whose character is all the way across the map in a different room starts shouting 'no don't do that' and telling the EK what to do
>tell him 'it's not your turn you can't talk'
>EK does thunderwave, I pick up the dice to do the cultists con saves
>while I'm rolling talkative player haranguing EK about how it would have been better to do X instead
>one cultist fails the save and is pushed back and takes damage, the other makes the save and takes half damage and isn't pushed
>talkative player pipes up saying the cultist who saved should take extra damage from wood splinters
>I say "well he took half damage from the spell so that damage must have been from the splinters."
>he starts whining about how it would be better if the guy was knocked down then
>I say "he passed his save, he's too tough to be knocked back and the spell doesn't knock down anyway."
>he keeps arguing until I tell him it's not even his turn anyway

End result is instead of Thunderwave Eldritch Knight feeling cool about blasting back cultists, loudmouth stole the spotlight by bitching about made up rules when he wasn't even there.

>I'm hesitant to do that because it might come across as tyrannical and petty.
You tried being gentle and nonconfrontational and it didn't work. At this point, you have a dog that's shitting on your rug and instead of reprimanding it to correct the behavior, you're just politely asking it not to do that again and again and again.

>I also don't want to selectively force the rule for the times when the other good players speak out of turn, which is never a big issue but happens sometimes.
Yeah, this is a concern. However, the fact that you can tell that there's a difference indicates that there actually is a difference. Besides, you've already given your problem players a lot of slack, so you wouldn't be treating them unfairly. Call out disruptive behavior and if somebody occasionally talks out of character in a nondisruptive way, just let it slide (and then give a warning if it starts to get a little bit too much, and only then go to mechanical penalties). If somebody complains you're acting unfairly, explain to them why you're going about things the way you are.

Recognize that that level of OOC talk may be okay in some games and folks may just think you're being a bit uptight about shit. Because of this, they may reign in what they are doing a little bit to appease you, but not discontinue the basic behavior because they don't see it as inherently wrong. There's nothing inherently wrong with the way they want to play things (I hate it, but, you know: opinions), it's just that it conflicts with the way that you and your other players want to do things.

But what we are coming down to here is group management, and like it or not, group management involves imposing behavioral standards on other people. That means using your position as GM and the force of your personality to make people act in the fashion you want them to. And like any time there are power dynamics at play, that can be tricky. But it's necessary unless you want to cede control and let things develop into a free-for-all where your least considerate players effectively set the standard for behavior.

I understand why you don't want to forcefully call people out, but what's the alternative at this point? Just wishing they'd be more respectful doesn't seem to be getting the job done.

In the example you gave, that's a clear instance of meta-gaming and what I'd do in that circumstance is say something like "You're not there to give advice. Do you want to use fate points / sacrifice XP to allow you to metagame here?" If so, fine. They're spending an in-game resource to get an in-game benefit. If it starts happening too much, you can always adjust how expensive it is. If not, then hold them to it. If they continue to metagame, then charge them fate / XP anyway (and if they complain, tell them you warned them).

The trick is finding the right balance. You need to give people a little leeway so the game doesn't feel oppressive, but not so much that they continue to misbehave (and then feel put out when you actually do enforce your rules).

Personally, I'd buy a gavel and bang it on the table whenever they speak out of turn, drowning out whatever they say.

I think you're right. It's not going to change or improve unless I tap into something that get's them to understand the value of clear communication. They responded well last time to a deliberate sitdown about how their behavior is disruptive. The heavy handed no-talking rule is limiting the fun the other players can have because it's an obstacle to them working together. I think being clear with warnings for disrupting and giving a mechanical price might work.

Good luck.

If he's not there, then tell him he can't talk, he's across the map. If he is, then he yells out his suggestion in character, and the cultists hear him and can react accordingly. And if he's arguing with you, then he's cursing the skies at the cultists' luck.

I could not survive a D&D session OOC if I was not allowed to talk and joke as much as possible. It's honestly more a board-game than a role playing game. If we were playing WoD or something, then yeah, I would applaud trying to cut down the jokes and OOC-chatter.

One system I've considered, but never tried, is to enforce strict in-character play, but take a break (10-20 minutes or so) every 30-or-60 minutes, and at any time a player requests it.

It's always the DM's turn.

Sure, but if you're talking over other players when they're talking with the GM then it's just rude and shitty thing to do.

Well, naturally. That's just being an ass. I was talking about OOC-stuff and metagaming.

You should tell the players who are bothered to also talk about it with the annoying players. They will probably take it more seriously then.

OP I have the same issue. I ran my D&D campaign last night and it felt like half the time we weren't even playing. It took them like half an hour to actually say they were doing something, they don't take any initiative, they don't try to do anything half the time. Finally I did a fight along the way just to make something interesting happen. I usually don't have this issue but I swear I feel like I am just boring the shit out of them but they seem to enjoy it. I even was explaining what they were seeing along the way to where they were going, they were just reading their books looking at their abilities. Campaign has lasted over 2 years now.