Using anything to open an arguement.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I wasn't sure how to describe it in the title, and not sure if it should be in this area, but BAH this infuriates me.

Ever met a person that no matter what the discussion - and I put a huge emphasis on discussion because I don't like just flat out arguing, it makes me physically ill if my temper gets too high for too long - they always managed to bring out an old war drum of their's and start beating the fricken fracking FRICK out of it?

I'll give an example;

I was discussing with a friend what weekends we'd like to go and volunteer at the local animal shelters (read; PLAY WITH THE PUPPIES ) We like to do this every once in a while because we both know there are a lot of dogs that deserve some love, even if only for a little bit and it helps relieve some stress from the people who work there.

Once removed Friend Less-than-a-full-deck -she is a friend of one of our friends but not actually OUR friend, for good reason- butts into the conversation and starts complaining about how;

"I hate people who are so hypocritical they are all for animal welfare but they don't even support the most innocent and helpless in the womb because of some 'jurisdiction over their body' bs."

Note, both my friend and I are pro-choice, but we never told this person so we just walked away from that can of worms because we don't think she quite understands basic biology in terms of pregnancy anyway.

Okay, so maybe there was some kind of segway between our conversation and that one, so I'll give a secondary example with the same person.

Get together to play a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that I am running. It started out with a lot of set up about the world and I was explaining what each of their characters would know in terms of the world (some people's characters were more worldly than others, some had been sheltered, or just uneducated, etc.)

This girl, whom I did not want to include but I did on a favor from my friend, starts up with, "I wish I lived in this world. No one would even think of harming little, innocent babies still in the womb for their own selfish reasons."

Taking that as both an insult and a CHALLENGE I immediately created a character who basically did just that. What he did is in black so if you want to know highlight here: He kidnapped pregnant women to eat their fetuses - they keep him eternally young, oh and he has a female apprentice who just drinks the blood for now.

Just because I could. (Yes I can have a very twisted imagination when I get in a particular mood.) I'm still struggling over the idea of just refusing to let her come to the group anymore or unleashing this thing to scare her off. It's really mean, so I'm just thinking of telling my friend that she can't come anymore if she can't keep her politically charged, argument inciting, and frankly trollish behavior to herself and just play the game.

Blah!

Wow... sorry for the wall of text. But seriously, has anyone else run into this kind of person and how do you deal with them without going all out "I'm being an asshole because I don't want to deal with you anymore!"

[SongsOfDragons]

I'd meta-DM smite and kick her out. Makes it more obvious that her political whining has no place in roleplaying. Then unleash your awesome boss on the sane players so they can all have a giggle as they (attempt to) smoosh him.

[Andara Bledin]

If you want to just be rid of her, then ban her for being disruptive.

If you don't want to potentially alienate your mutual friend(s), then the next time she gets on her soapbox, tell her to stop and that there will be no proselytizing during the game session. However, you do have to enforce this across the board, so if other people start up, you have to shut them down, too. Give three warnings, then toss her for being disruptive.

^-.-^

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Okay yeah, I think I'll just warn her for now. I have another friend coming in on the next game session who had to have an abortion for her own reasons (I never asked, the fact she had the make the decision is enough for me.) I do NOT want this kind of bs to kick up when D&D is one of my havens away from it.

[HYHYBT]

It's not a wall of text if you break it in paragraphs, as you did Very readable, and all parts useful.

This seems very close to, yet also, I hope, vastly different in effect than, something useful I try not to overdo: drawing a parallel between subjects where the principles involved in an issue or the tactics employed by advocates of a position seem to me to be the same as those on a subject I'm more deeply familiar with.

And the reason I try not to do it too much is precisely that, useful though it can be, it can too easily *sound* like using any excuse to drag out a pet topic that is infuriating and/or boring to many people.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

And the reason I try not to do it too much is precisely that, useful though it can be, it can too easily *sound* like using any excuse to drag out a pet topic that is infuriating and/or boring to many people.

I don't think I'd be so annoyed with her if the initial topic of choice was a debate already, but she only does it when we're talking about something fun or that we're looking forward to doing. Although she may not mean to - which I doubt - she's raining on our parade every single time she draws out the pet topic.

If we were discussing the pros and cons to say.... universal healthcare, I could see her using that topic to spring board off into a further debate about abortion. But she's not. It's when we're talking about working on our costumes, or playing with our dogs, or planning for D&D marathon night that she brings the topic up.

I sometimes have the feeling that she knows she'd be trashed if she caught us already in debate mode, so she tries to blindside us or something.