Goodies and Gold Grabbers - When Players get greedy

This is something that happened to me quite recently. I'm designing adventures so that players each have a chance to get some gold and goodies and something special to hold on to. However, just recently I've had to change the way I distribute my treasure because of the behaviour of one player. I'm sure there are many other players out there like it.




The type I'm talking about are those players who grab all the treasure and gold they can. They are magnitised and their soul and body is drawn towards unopened treasure chests. They generally play the rogue so they are able to safely unlock and disarm traps. Room full of well armed goblins? Forget that, I'm going for the chest! It's even gone so far as the rogue finding something that another character would be able to use (such as a magial longsword) and selling it regardless of the players pleas and cries for the powerful weapon. It just got to stupid point and I needed to sort something out.



So I did something I never did before, incorporate the idea of a magic bad. This bag was unable to be tampered by the players and whenever a new piece of treasure was discovered, or gold, it would be magically transported to this bag at the end. The players were told what it was, then it was sent to the bag itself. At the end of the adventure or the session, I would then begin to distribute the contents of the bag evenly to all the players. Firstly, I would begin by declaring what were the useable contents of the bag (such as potions, weapons and scrolls). If a player argued over who should get it (aside from just wanting to sell it), they would have to roll for it. All the treasure that is left behind and unwanted is then sold. The gold is then distributed evenly to all players.



Yes it can abolish the idea of merit, about how players who do more should get rewarded more but I was desperate. The other 3 players were finding the game boring because they couldn't get their hands on anything. The rogue kicked up a fuss saying the lime light of the treasure finder was being taken away...however he was still finding the treasure but that treasure was being distributed evenly. He was still using his skills and abiities to find the treasure, I was just making sure they were working as a team.



Any DMs or players care to share their experiences? You think it was a good idea to introduce this magical treasure bag?