Dealing with Murderhobos

For those not in the know: a murderhobo is a derogatory term for a character who is typically Chaotic Evil and moves from place to place murdering everyone and everything in sight. It's from the school of thought that: 'my character is cool and they shouldn't have put it in the game if they didn't want us to use it'. 

So you've got yourself 'that guy'. The one who ruins your carefully crafted narrative and kills people at the drop of a hat. They're having fun to the detriment of everyone else at the table. 

Step 1: Have a word. 

Take them to one side and have a chat as to how their playstyle isn't in keeping with the tone and narrative you have created. Explain politely that the character they have created may not be suitable for this game and offer to help them build another that will compliment the storyline and also the playstyles of the rest of the group. If this doesn't work:

Step 2: Newton's Law

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

If you can't stop them outside of the game then stop them inside the game. There are people who deal with evil doers. Revenge can be a fun storyline, the murderhobo has killed a relative of a very powerful NPC and they have come to seek the character's head. The guard could be on alert for this character and then the inevitable arrest and trial will come about. Wanted posters and bounty hunters are useful tools as well. 

Step 3: Beat them or join them

You boot the player for not respecting the table or you could talk to the rest of the group and see if they wanted to change the narrative and become an evil campaign, then everyone is in on the fun. You can then have them deal with the above problems and also having to deal with organised crime groups. 

Booting a player is always a last resort and should not be done lightly, there will be a lot of resentment there. Throughout the process you need to make sure that the situation does not go player versus player, this causes friendships to breakdown and views to entrench. 

As you can see it is a very stressful position for everyone to be in so be preventative. Players: don't be 'that guy' everyone is there to have fun and having fun at someone else's expense is causing resentment at the table and you'll find that you'll quickly not have a group to play with. Dungeon Masters: be clear with your players if there are any restrictions to alignment before they build their characters; prevention is better than cure. 

May you roll well!