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Viking_Mage
2011-01-30, 04:14 PM
Two of my friends tried gaming after some finagling and convincing (well, actually only one of them need convincing, his girlfriend joined after she saw us playing). Now they like the hobby and I bought them both a set of dice as a welcome to the hobby gift like the guy who got me into gaming did for me.

I wonder if anyone else has any gaming traditions or etiquette they'd like to share?

Adrayll
2011-01-30, 04:15 PM
Don't leave the cost/obligation of bringing snacks to one person. Share it around, maybe make a schedule.

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 04:16 PM
It's like my sister told me: "Here, kid, your first hit's free."
I got my first dice from her at the ripe old age of 8-ish. (Many, many years ago..:smalleek:)

The_Scourge
2011-01-30, 04:17 PM
Four words: Mountain Dew and Funions.

TheCountAlucard
2011-01-30, 04:33 PM
In our Exalted game, we've made it a sort-of rule that if a player is going to play an odd-man-out splat (like a Lunar in a game of Solars), that player is going to need to own the appropriate Manual of Exalted Power for it.

Because otherwise it'd be like running a game of D&D, and one of the players asks to play a Binder, except he doesn't have Tome of Magic, so he's gonna need to borrow yours every time he does something... :smallannoyed:

Also, Mountain Dew is a privelege, not a right. :smalltongue:

Waker
2011-01-30, 04:41 PM
Well, though there are of course the question of who's bringing the chips I imagine you wanted things more related to the game itself.

Though this is true of players at any level of experience, this is especially true when you first get your start. Take the time to familiarize yourself with your class and the basic rules. If you are playing as the mounted knight, take the time to learn all the basics about mounted combat. I don't expect you to know about grapple or sunder, but take the time to learn what you expect to use the most. It is very inconsiderate to stop play every time you need to open a book and decide what to do.
As time goes by you are of course expected to learn more beyond your class and more unusual combat tactics, but for now just focus on what you need.

Amnestic
2011-01-30, 04:45 PM
Don't leave the cost/obligation of bringing snacks to one person. Share it around, maybe make a schedule.

I've heard the suggestion of "Anyone who brings snacks get 5% extra EXP" which I thought was quite good.

The-Mage-King
2011-01-30, 04:46 PM
Do. Not. Touch. Anyone. Else's. Dice. Without. Premission.

Dice are the SOUL of the gamer, and should be treated respectfully.

PanNarrans
2011-01-30, 04:50 PM
Our group just doesn't have any dice superstitions or customs. We just grab handfuls. Probably because most of them or mine, but even PyroJesus will let anyone use his personal purple dice if they're closer.

No netbooks at the table is a rule that's often stated but laxly enforced.

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 04:58 PM
No netbooks at the table is a rule that's often stated but laxly enforced.We have a no electronics at the table rule, too (however, ours is highly enforced). If you need something it better be in treekiller format, or you obviously don't need it that badly. I can't tell you how irritating it is for me to hear tap-tap-taptap-tap, or click-click-clickety-click, coming from a laptop or netbook while I'm trying to pay attention to the game.

Kurald Galain
2011-01-30, 05:02 PM
The main one we have is "bring munchies". Also, several DMs here (including myself) enforce the tradition of "no lengthy rules arguments during the game". Save them for after the game; while playing, Rule Zero trumps all.

randomhero00
2011-01-30, 05:04 PM
huh, we don't really have any ettiequiete. Guess we're too good of friends.

Clepto
2011-01-30, 05:29 PM
In our group, we rotate who's house we play at. The people hosting determine what food is to be had, and delegate secondaries to the rest. For instance, last night the host was making enchiladas, so I brought the drinks, someone brought dessert, and the other brought chips/salsa.

In addition, we also have a loosely enforced "no electronics" rule.

And I second the dice sentiments. People are welcome to use my rather extensive collection of dice if they ask, but grabbing without asking is not remotely cool.

Swordguy
2011-01-30, 05:35 PM
We have a no electronics at the table rule, too (however, ours is highly enforced). If you need something it better be in treekiller format, or you obviously don't need it that badly. I can't tell you how irritating it is for me to hear tap-tap-taptap-tap, or click-click-clickety-click, coming from a laptop or netbook while I'm trying to pay attention to the game.

Seconded.

The etiquette for pretty much every game I've ever run or played in boils down to eleven simple rules. Here's the current iteration that our group uses:

1) Don't be a ****.
2) Respect the other players and their desire to enjoy themselves. If your idea of fun inherently overrides somebody else's (negating their character via your build choices, etc), then find another group.
3) No electronics at the table. The gaming market is bad enough without people having PDFs. If you want "item or ability X", then you need to lay out the cash to go get the actual book. Cell phones and Blackberries are to be set to "off" (not vibrate). Exceptions will be made for doctors (etc) who are "on call"; which means you are being paid for this time. If you are not being paid, you do not have an exemption (*looks pointedly at IT guys*)
4) Even if the mechanics make it easy, do not try to break the game. Attempts to deliberately break the game will result in "no", regardless of the actual rules legality. Repeated attempts will result in removal from the group.
5) Everyone is responsible for their own food or drink, including cleanup. If the group decides to go in for "group food" (ie, pizza, etc), the GM is exempt from paying.
6) Rules arguments during game time have a maximum time limit of 5 minutes, at the end of which the GM's decision is final. A unanimous decision by the group between games may overturn this decision in instances of rules questions or interpretations ONLY - game atmosphere, fluff, and permitted resources are not contestable..
7) Do not miss games. Emergencies happen. However, you made a commitment to be there on a given night. Live up to it or leave. "If didn't feel like it", "We were raiding", "The game was on", or similar are not valid excuses. 4-6 other people took time out of their lives to be here, and by missing the game, you disrespect the effort THEY took to be here.
8) Do not mess with other people's stuff without permission. This includes food, dice, books, and significant others.
9) The GM is the final authority on the game. That is, everything relating to the in-game atmosphere and mechanics. If he says there's no ninjas, there's no ninjas. If he doesn't want to use the Book Of Awesome Mechanics That Are Just Perfect For Your Character, then it doesn't get used. Unless the GM is the homeowner or renter of the play space, he has no authority over the rest of the group outside the game world and related subjects.
10)No Children or Man-children. If you are unable to sit quietly and concentrate on one thing for at least 4 hours, you are not welcome. This includes parents bringing small children to the game; find a babysitter. The sole exception is when playing at the GM's house: a child at the house and not at the table does not violate this rule. Note there is no age limit; a 10-year old can be welcome and a 35-year old may not be.
11) Do. Not. Be. A. ****. Because, frankly, Rule #1 needs restating.

Jarawara
2011-01-30, 05:59 PM
I'm surprised at the no electronics rule. I can understand a "no texting" rule and the like, but no electronics? I mean, there's nothing more irritating than having half the game table covered in books and paper, when it could all easily be contained to a few tidy net-readers.

And I don't get paid to be on call, but dammit, I'm going to have my cell phone handy. I'm not going to miss my dad's passing because there was a troll threatening a caravan.

So yeah, there's one gaming ettiquete: Don't be a ****. All else is negotiable.

*~*~*~*

Tweet posted to my Twitter page: "Am discussing with group a no-tweeting policy during games. Am opposed. Also, troll is threatening caravan."

Lurkmoar
2011-01-30, 06:01 PM
Everybody uses coasters. No exceptions.

Coidzor
2011-01-30, 06:03 PM
10)No Children or Man-children. If you are unable to sit quietly and concentrate on one thing for at least 4 hours, you are not welcome.


... You guys must have bladders of steel to be able to do that consistently and consume the ubiquitous copious quantities of mountain dew. :smalleek:

Katana_Geldar
2011-01-30, 06:05 PM
Laptops can be distracting and you can't see people's faces. As are cell phones, with the exception of emergency calls.

There is nothing wrong with leaving it on silent and checking it during a break.

The height of rudeness for me was a DM who answered his phone mid-encounter. I've had my phone ring mid-encounter, and I answered it as it was my birthday as I explained before hand I would. But I declared a break beforehand and went out of the room with it.

BTW, Mountain Dew doesn't have caffeine here. I often wondered why it was a gamer's drink of choice as here it's just a sugary drink.

Swordguy
2011-01-30, 06:10 PM
... You guys must have bladders of steel to be able to do that consistently and consume the ubiquitous copious quantities of mountain dew. :smalleek:

We don't drink Mountain Dew. Pretty much at all. We're almost all actors and thus have to manage our body weight. Water and tea (green or sweet) is pretty much it - caffeine needs are handled via 5-hour energy shots; you work in theatre and you damn near live on the things.

Secondarily, it's not like you have to wait for the whole group to take a break to use the bathroom. Find a time when you aren't likely to be doing anything and go real quick, then get back to the game.

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 06:19 PM
BTW, Mountain Dew doesn't have caffeine here. I often wondered why it was a gamer's drink of choice as here it's just a sugary drink.GAH! :eek: WHAT?!?!?!?

The Big Dice
2011-01-30, 06:28 PM
I'm another one in the "no electronics" camp. I don't care how convinient it is to have your books on a laptop and your sheet hosted online somewhere. If you've got digital copies of the books, print the relevant pages for your character, then keep those pages with your character sheet. Plus, laptops are a distraction. They hide faces and they allow a means of diverting attention from the game at hand.

Other things include, don't go looking at other people's sheets without permission. Don't go hadling other people's stuff without permission. And the most important one, don't be a ****.

If you can't make the session, give as much notice as is reasonably possible. Life happens, but there's nothing worse than (as happened to us once) turning up at your GM's house only to find that he moved out without telling anyone. The flipside of that is, if you're leaving the group, don't be a **** about it. It's only a game, so be honest and just say you're not going to play anymore.

WarKitty
2011-01-30, 06:30 PM
Our group has a rule that if you're going to be using summons, have a laptop. For that matter, if it takes up more than 5 pages, bring a laptop instead of having to flip through sheets all the time. No one wants to wait while you flip through 20 pages of paper for the right spell.

Erom
2011-01-30, 06:33 PM
I used to play with a Dont-Touch-Dice group and it annoyed me to sufficient extent that with the group I dm, I bring the dice, they go in a pile in the middle of the table, and anyone can use any dice they damn well please.

This has resulted in my players occasionally passing a "hot" d20 around the table, which I find amusing.

Electronics are allowed at my table (and encouraged if you are doing something complicated that would require a lot of paper), but answering a phone call mid-game is frowned on, and should be accompanied with an apology. Sending a quick text when it's not your turn for combat is totally acceptable.

Moff Chumley
2011-01-30, 06:45 PM
My group's pretty weird...

1) One laptop, with all of the PDFs on it. Because finding the right PDF and control+F is faster than flipping through books. All other electronics are banned, and texting is punishable by instant dismemberment.
2) Rules arguments get one minute, and then the GM calls it.
3) Rules take a back seat to fun ten times out of ten. The Rule of Awesome applies.
4) Arguing about what sort of pizza is ordered gets twenty minutes. After that, it's Final Destination, one stock, no items. :smalltongue:
5) It's just a game, and anything that makes the game more fun for the group as a whole is encouraged.

...we don't take the game very seriously. :smalltongue:

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 06:47 PM
Our group has a rule that if you're going to be using summons, have a laptop. For that matter, if it takes up more than 5 pages, bring a laptop instead of having to flip through sheets all the time. No one wants to wait while you flip through 20 pages of paper for the right spell.Personally, I'd rather wait. But a player should be doing this when it's not his/her turn. I have a thirty-second egg timer for combat rounds (as in each player has 30 seconds to look up and describe their actions - not including dice rolling - once they have researched and stated their actions, the timer stops and they can roll their dice). It speeds things up quite a bit. It also keeps players thinking ahead, so they don't waste their character's turn standing around being indecisive (because that's what happens when the timer goes off and a player is still thinking).
Even when I'm not DMing, I use the egg timer for myself, so I'm not the one wasting everyone's time looking stuff up.

Mando Knight
2011-01-30, 06:48 PM
BTW, Mountain Dew doesn't have caffeine here. I often wondered why it was a gamer's drink of choice as here it's just a sugary drink.
Because someone decided that the world can't have real Mountain Dew, which is primarily (almost exclusively) consumed for its caffeine and sugar content.

Xefas
2011-01-30, 07:40 PM
1) No bladed implements at the table. (This includes switchblades with the knife part concealed)
2) If someone draws blood from another player, the game is over for the week.
3) Please no spitting on each other.
Yes, I'm poking fun at all you people whose "traditions" or "etiquette" amount to "Dredge up the strength of character to be a decent human being for a few hours", as if you should be playing with people who that would ever be an issue for.

mint
2011-01-30, 07:49 PM
1) No bladed implements at the table. (This includes switchblades with the knife part concealed)
2) If someone draws blood from another player, the game is over for the week.
3) Please no spitting on each other.
Yes, I'm poking fun at all you people whose "traditions" or "etiquette" amount to "Dredge up the strength of character to be a decent human being for a few hours", as if you should be playing with people who that would ever be an issue for.

Same here.

Tech Boy
2011-01-30, 07:58 PM
Woah! Some of you guys have some pretty hardcore regulations!

My group, containing a 3 high school kids, a college kid, and three out of college folks, has some pretty basic table rules.

Not in any order:
1) It's ok to take a whiz break during some mediocre RP, but NOT combat.
2) Don't interrupt the DM during plot progression with a joke, no matter how funny.
3) Laptops are allowed, as the DM uses one, and two of us are Techies and find it easier to use digital than carry around a ton of books
4) Be sure to help out on the bringing of food.

Other than basic manners, we run a pretty laid back game, haha. :smallbiggrin:

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 08:29 PM
Woah! Some of you guys have some pretty hardcore regulations! Actually, we're pretty laid back. The egg timer and no electronics (and of course Rule 0) are pretty much it. We don't generally need to ban spells or classes (except for fluff reasons, sometimes), because we just get together to have fun. We don't even mind joking, even during "serious" roleplay. (Especially during said "serious" roleplay.)

WarKitty
2011-01-30, 08:34 PM
Personally, I'd rather wait. But a player should be doing this when it's not his/her turn. I have a thirty-second egg timer for combat rounds (as in each player has 30 seconds to look up and describe their actions - not including dice rolling - once they have researched and stated their actions, the timer stops and they can roll their dice). It speeds things up quite a bit. It also keeps players thinking ahead, so they don't waste their character's turn standing around being indecisive (because that's what happens when the timer goes off and a player is still thinking).
Even when I'm not DMing, I use the egg timer for myself, so I'm not the one wasting everyone's time looking stuff up.

We have too many new or inexperienced people to do that. Plus a lot of people only own pdf copies of the books (pathfinder), and a few don't own copies at all.

Depends on the group I guess. Our group doesn't object too much to interludes in combat. Combat is actually the traditional bathroom break time - as your turn ends, you declare your next action and hand your dice to the person next to you. Getting up during roleplaying is heavily discouraged.

Players who are too engrossed in electronics are dealt with by loudly announcing "I'm going to throw <<your character>> off the bridge, ok?"

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 08:39 PM
We have too many new or inexperienced people to do that. Plus a lot of people only own pdf copies of the books (pathfinder), and a few don't own copies at all.We're all old hands, with printers. :smallbiggrin: No newbies in our group (it's not a rule, it just happened that way).

Depends on the group I guess. Our group doesn't object too much to interludes in combat. Combat is actually the traditional bathroom break time - as your turn ends, you declare your next action and hand your dice to the person next to you. Getting up during roleplaying is heavily discouraged.Well, we're all military, and we're used to a 10 minute break on the hour during classes and briefings and such, so it's not very hard for us to just leave off doing whatever and pick it up again in 10 minutes. If something did happen to a player during combat, we'd just eat snacks/drink coffee and wait for him/her to get back. Some of the people I game with are kind of picky about their rolling.

Players who are too engrossed in electronics are dealt with by loudly announcing "I'm going to throw <<your character>> off the bridge, ok?"Oh. :smallredface: We'd probably throw the player off the bridge. :smalltongue:

Hammerhead
2011-01-30, 08:55 PM
1. At least give the rules a read before bringing a game to the table. There are exceptions, but not many.

2. If you're the only person who knows how to play a game, you GM the game (if the game has a GM). Expecting someone else to do it is kind of unreasonable.

3. Bring enough copies of the game that everyone can leaf through them on their own. Provided the game's one the players are supposed to know how to play. Electronic versions are usually not only acceptable, but preferred.
3a. Make sure you have necessary items ahead of time. Scrounging up color-coded dice sets, poker chips or matching card decks while everybody else is expecting to play is just bad form.
3b. If a game needs cards or character sheets to play, print them ahead of time.

4. Funny voices are awesome.

5. Don't be a weirdo.
5a. Don't be that dude who somebody brings under the impression that he's a pretty cool guy, but then who plays some naked space pixie lady and spends half the game session discussing his character's chest.
5b. Don't be that couple that everybody knows is having a rough patch, but who acts it through hostility and heavy-handed flirting with outside players in-game.
5c. Just pretend to be a socially competent human being for a couple hours, okay?

6. Maybe run it by the other players first if the game you want to play is about child abuse or puppy-killing. There's a time, a place and an audience for those things.

7. Prep food ahead of time.
7a. Crock pots are awesome.

8. Stick to the time allotted.

9. Don't steal indie games. It's not cool. They're usually cheap and the companies don't have the longest life expectancies.

10. Try to contribute something beside Monty Python jokes. They were kind of funny the first four dozen times, but you're a few decades late for that.

11. Bridge the cards when you shuffle. If you can't, let somebody else do it.

12. If you're playing a rules-heavy game and you're playing a character who relies on a particularly convoluted mechanic, mark the relevant pages and learn how the rules work ahead of time.

13. Make game expectations clear. If you want to play D&D because you want a tactical wargame with an emphasis on character-building that you can use to tell the story of a smalltown farmhand's rise to godhood, and your DM wants to play D&D because it's a zany game where dudes in armor rut around in caves until they get killed by spring-loaded bee traps, things will probably get ugly.

Erom
2011-01-30, 08:58 PM
11. Bridge the cards when you shuffle. If you can't, let somebody else do it.
Oh man, I have tried and tried and tried and for the life of me I can not figure out how to do that. No one in my gaming group can. My father spent hours trying to teach me and I just could NOT get it :(

The-Mage-King
2011-01-30, 08:58 PM
13. Make game expectations clear. If you want to play D&D because you want a tactical wargame with an emphasis on character-building that you can use to tell the story of a smalltown farmhand's rise to godhood, and your DM wants to play D&D because it's a zany game where dudes in armor rut around in caves until they get killed by spring-loaded bee traps, things will probably get ugly.

...I so want to play in this DM's game.

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 09:00 PM
13. Make game expectations clear. If you want to play D&D because you want a tactical wargame with an emphasis on character-building that you can use to tell the story of a smalltown farmhand's rise to godhood, and your DM wants to play D&D because it's a zany game where dudes in armor rut around in caves until they get killed by spring-loaded bee traps, things will probably get ugly....I so want to play in this DM's game.That actually sounds like something I would do...:smallredface:

Tech Boy
2011-01-30, 09:13 PM
I'm assuming that the egg timer is for combat turns?

THAT IS BRILLIANT.

tahu88810
2011-01-30, 09:19 PM
Back when there was five of us, and not three, we would order pizza every single DAY we played. Pull an all nighter? Order pizza at 7pm, and then later at 4am the next day.

Since we also had 3 DMs at the time, we also would unofficially ensure that all the characters throughout the campaigns were similar in some way: One person's character was always very free-willed/chaotic and refused to fight with anything but a bow/crossbow, my characters all had a very strange quirk (knight insisting his horse enter dungeons, in case there might be room for a mounted charge, a ranger who could outdrink a drunken master and a dwarf, and a tiefling wizard who insisted he was the son of Asmodeus) and came up with insane ideas like filling the sewer system with oil and then lighting a fire just to deal with some spiders, and another player's characters were all violent drunks...not that all adventurers aren't.

And while it was Ok to touch someone's dice, you did NOT under any circumstances roll them (unless given permission). And if you had a set of red dice and a set of white dice, the two different colors should never ever touch or bad things would happen.

Tengu_temp
2011-01-30, 09:31 PM
1) No bladed implements at the table. (This includes switchblades with the knife part concealed)

Even if it's Knife Fight Friday?
(Cookie for anyone who gets the reference. Except Fri, because I know he knows.)

Triskavanski
2011-01-30, 09:34 PM
At our table.

Any book is allowed. Anyone memory isn't. If you are trying to play a character that isn't core, at least have a pdf or hard copy of the thing your using. (Or my eventual compulation of everything.)

We had one character who was trying to play a druid from phb2 that had some sort of ability of shapeshifting.. We knew we were in trouble when he couldnt' rember the name of the book.

While your character is premitted to do crazy things, at least have some respect for them. Don't go summersaulting down 40 foot cliffs. Even if another player jumped off and used feather fall.


We totally use electronics at our table. I personally would have a hard time playing if I wasn't allowed to, as I'm the "rules guy" and the ability to look up things on my index pdfs makes everything so much easier. Do need to upgrade my lappy though as its starting to show its age.

Tech Boy
2011-01-30, 09:38 PM
Do need to upgrade my lappy though as its starting to show its age.

Windows 7 is bliss. :smallbiggrin:

Fri
2011-01-30, 09:42 PM
Even if it's Knife Fight Friday?
(Cookie for anyone who gets the reference. Except Fri, because I know he knows.)

:smallfrown:

First thing I thought when reading those three rules was disappointment anyway. Bladed instruments are cool.

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 09:44 PM
Windows 7 is bliss. :smallbiggrin:

The Ubuuntu GUI (Linux OS) is so much more stable than win-slow could ever hope to be, and a whole hell of a lot less resource-hungry. :smallwink:

Wings of Peace
2011-01-30, 09:45 PM
My group is fairly informal. The only 'rule' we have is no laptops aside from the DM for quick reference purpose (even this is more of an unspoken understanding than anything).

Dice grabbing is fairly liberal since rather than our own dice we have a massive pot of factory seconds one of us got at the San Diego comic-con.

Tech Boy
2011-01-30, 09:48 PM
The Ubuuntu GUI (Linux OS) is so much more stable than win-slow could ever hope to be, and a whole hell of a lot less resource-hungry. :smallwink:

:smallbiggrin:

I've never enjoyed Ubuntu, I loaded it onto a flash drive to have my own computer during high school. It was nice for that, and still is, but my home lappy will always be windows.
:smallbiggrin:

dsmiles
2011-01-30, 09:50 PM
:smallbiggrin:

I've never enjoyed Ubuntu, I loaded it onto a flash drive to have my own computer during high school. It was nice for that, and still is, but my home lappy will always be windows.
:smallbiggrin:Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy Ubuuntu, it's just better. I have win-slow, because god forbid any company makes their games available for Linux.

Tech Boy
2011-01-30, 09:52 PM
Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy Ubuuntu, it's just better. I have win-slow, because god forbid any company makes their games available for Linux.

OUCH.

I never realized that before...
Huh.

Well, not to be a jerk,but....
Windows:1
Linux: 0
:smallbiggrin:

valadil
2011-01-30, 11:46 PM
I'm surprised at the no electronics rule. I can understand a "no texting" rule and the like, but no electronics? I mean, there's nothing more irritating than having half the game table covered in books and paper, when it could all easily be contained to a few tidy net-readers.

I'd agree with this if there was any way to guarantee that the electronics were limited to gaming documents. However, it's impossible for the GM to tell if a player is looking up rules in a PDF or looking up casual encounters on Craigslist. The internet is too great of a distraction IMO.

We don't have too many rules. I don't invite ***** to my games, so there's no need not to tell anyone not to be a ****. Simple as that.

I have a tradition in my games. Before each session, someone has to give an in character recap of the last session. Not only does it prevent "uh, what happened last week, guys?" syndrome, it also let's each player see a little through the other characters' eyes. When players get into this kind of thing, they're more likely to set apart their own telling of the story, and that means making their character's view of the story that much more unique.

Glyde
2011-01-31, 12:09 AM
Everyone needs to be prepared and have their attention on the game. No talking when the DM's talking.


We're the opposite of a couple groups here - Namely, the no-electronics group. Our four-man party all has their laptops out during the game, as our sheets, treasury and the like are on there.

dsmiles
2011-01-31, 03:57 AM
OUCH.

I never realized that before...
Huh.

Well, not to be a jerk,but....
Windows:1
Linux: 0
:smallbiggrin:
:smalltongue: I can't argue with that.

Tech Boy
2011-01-31, 07:11 AM
:smalltongue: I can't argue with that.

:smallsmile:

Yora
2011-01-31, 07:50 AM
Do. Not. Touch. Anyone. Else's. Dice. Without. Premission.

Dice are the SOUL of the gamer, and should be treated respectfully.

I have no problem with giving some of my dice to other players. But I'm slightly compulsory when it comes to keeping things tidy, and people always grab my dice without asking, roll them somewhere on the table, and never put them back!
Every 10 minutes or so I'm asking someone to give me my dice so I can put them back on the heap in front of me. Where they belong! :smallbiggrin:

hewhosaysfish
2011-01-31, 08:16 AM
I have no problem with giving some of my dice to other players. But I'm slightly compulsory when it comes to keeping things tidy, and people always grab my dice without asking, roll them somewhere on the table, and never put them back!
Every 10 minutes or so I'm asking someone to give me my dice so I can put them back on the heap in front of me. Where they belong! :smallbiggrin:

At least the dice turn up again.
The pencils, on the other hand, suffer a continual attrition.

Paladineyddi
2011-01-31, 08:47 AM
Do. Not. Touch. Anyone. Else's. Dice. Without. Premission.

Dice are the SOUL of the gamer, and should be treated respectfully.

Ramen brother

WarKitty
2011-01-31, 08:49 AM
Everyone needs to be prepared and have their attention on the game. No talking when the DM's talking.


We're the opposite of a couple groups here - Namely, the no-electronics group. Our four-man party all has their laptops out during the game, as our sheets, treasury and the like are on there.

At this point I'm not even sure how I'd track my encumbrance without a laptop. Actually, that's the other reason we keep the things around - we have stuff that does the math for players that don't want to keep track of it themselves. Saves adding up a bunch of stuff.

Traveler
2011-01-31, 11:50 AM
In no specific order of "rules" and traditions.
Unspoken rules. Well, sometimes spoken.
Please do not disrespect host or his/her place or belongings.
The host buys pizza. The host also has the right to ask the players to chip in to buy said pizza.
Players bring snacks and drinks.
If your character has it on his/her sheet, bring the source book/pdf.
Please no texts, calls, or anything similar during the game. Taking a few minutes while not in combat or heavy role playing for something important is fine.
Do not touch someone else's dice without their owner's say so. Same goes for all other possestions of said owner.
Jokes are fine. Avoid saying one when the DM is role playing the villian unless it is really funny.
Do not disrespect other player's character build or role playing choices. Well mannered jokes are fine.
Do not argue more then a minute about how to pronouce paladin.
Again most of these are unspoken and almost none of these have ever come up aside from telling the new guy about snacks.

Traditions.
Charge dice by placing their highest value number face up.
Buy the new player a pewter mini of their first character (provided they stick around longer then three sessions and want to continue playing).
Do not tell new players about the pewter mini tradition.
Take a minute arguing about how to pronounce paladin.
Have an hour talking about nothing before starting the game.

Wow. We have alot more then we thought we did. I don't know if that's good or bad.

JellyPooga
2011-01-31, 12:18 PM
7a. Crock pots are awesome.

This is so true. One thing I've always wanted to do is provide decent grub for a game instead of the usual fair of junkfood. A pot of stew, a french loaf and lashings of butter is easy and tasty (and relatively cheap)...I'm just loathe to do it in case I get roped into doing it every week!

Mando Knight
2011-01-31, 01:56 PM
Do. Not. Touch. Anyone. Else's. Dice. Without. Premission.

Dice are the SOUL of the gamer, and should be treated respectfully.

This almost doesn't matter. Dice? They know who's using them. Somehow. If you're using someone else's dice, you reap what you sow.

WarKitty
2011-01-31, 02:43 PM
This almost doesn't matter. Dice? They know who's using them. Somehow. If you're using someone else's dice, you reap what you sow.

The exception to this:

If for whatever reason someone is rolling for another person's character, you must use the dice of the player whose character it is.

Kerrin
2011-01-31, 03:11 PM
Before each session, someone has to give an in character recap of the last session. Not only does it prevent "uh, what happened last week, guys?" syndrome, it also let's each player see a little through the other characters' eyes. When players get into this kind of thing, they're more likely to set apart their own telling of the story, and that means making their character's view of the story that much more unique.
I like this. I'm going to have to suggest this for our group. It'll also server as a warm-up to get everyone back into character.

Xefas
2011-01-31, 03:31 PM
I like this. I'm going to have to suggest this for our group. It'll also server as a warm-up to get everyone back into character.

This is actually a mechanic in Mouse Guard. Whoever gives the pre-session recap gets to remove one of their status conditions (Angry/Hungry/Tired/etc). Which is great, because it typically ends up getting told through the eyes of the guy who had the most crap kicked out of him. The guy that got lit on fire, dragged through the mud for two hours, fell into a sea of poison ivy, and then had to hike back to town with no food, water, or map is the guy who needs the healing the most, so you get a pretty interesting (and often passionate) story.

Barbin
2011-01-31, 04:00 PM
Thou shalt not a be a dikuss to other player or the DM. Thou shalt be punished by Evan's Tentacles of Forced Intrusion.

That is pretty much my only ground rule.:smalltongue:

gomanfox
2011-01-31, 06:02 PM
I haven't had much experience gaming, so these are mostly things from the current game I'm in that a friend is running.

1. There is a three-strike rule with no-shows, excusing unavoidable circumstances of course. If a player decides not to show up and does it too often, they run the risk of being booted and replaced.

2. If a player doesn't show up and doesn't make any attempt to let anyone know they wont be coming, their character is not automatically safe for the session. The DM doesn't specifically target the character or anything, but he doesn't avoid it either. The player could come back the next week and find out their character was killed.

The character only really acts when other players direct it to, especially in combat. The DM might think to have a missing player's Wizard throw up Mage Armor in the beginning of combat, but that's the most he'll do for the character. Otherwise its survival depends entirely on how much the rest of the players pay attention to the character, and the DM's die rolls.

3. A tradition our DM has had when he runs games has been to give some sort of gift (a bonus or magical item) to a character when the player has their birthday. It's always something useful but not necessarily too powerful.

4. If you leave the room during combat and don't come back before your turn and didn't give directions for your character before leaving (written down for the DM, or told to another player), you lose your turn. This is mostly to keep the game going since four out of seven players smoke, and will leave to smoke at least once during a long combat. With 7 players, there's usually plenty of time between your own turns that leaving for a few minutes after your turn wouldn't be a problem.

We don't have any sort of "no electronics" rule, since there hasn't been any problems with them yet. Personally I don't think I could play without my laptop because I take notes on everything, both in-character and out-of-character information, and not only do I type faster than I can write, but it's easier to organize information electronically.

Most of my enjoyment in a game comes from learning more about the world its set in and my memory isn't perfect, so I like having some sort of record of what is revealed, as well as having some sort of log of each session. I'm usually busy enough typing stuff in when my character isn't active, so it's never a distraction from the game for me.

dsmiles
2011-01-31, 07:08 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot the biggest non-electronics rule in my group:

You say it, you do it. There are no such things as "takebacks."

I love that rule, it leads to some very interesting situations.

WarKitty
2011-01-31, 07:14 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot the biggest non-electronics rule in my group:

You say it, you do it. There are no such things as "takebacks."

I love that rule, it leads to some very interesting situations.

This one depends on who's running that time. One of our other DM's runs with this rule. I run with takebacks are allowed if you didn't know the rules (within reason) or something wasn't clear to you.

Kerrin
2011-01-31, 07:19 PM
This is actually a mechanic in Mouse Guard. Whoever gives the pre-session recap gets to remove one of their status conditions (Angry/Hungry/Tired/etc). Which is great, because it typically ends up getting told through the eyes of the guy who had the most crap kicked out of him. The guy that got lit on fire, dragged through the mud for two hours, fell into a sea of poison ivy, and then had to hike back to town with no food, water, or map is the guy who needs the healing the most, so you get a pretty interesting (and often passionate) story.
Mouse Guard looks like a lot of fun - our children would probably enjoy it a great deal! I'll have to try to find a copy since it appears to be out of print.

dsmiles
2011-01-31, 07:23 PM
This one depends on who's running that time. One of our other DM's runs with this rule. I run with takebacks are allowed if you didn't know the rules (within reason) or something wasn't clear to you.Funny story: I was running the introductory adventure for the 4e Gamma World, and in one room there is a slippery, sloped floor that tumbles the characters down towards a laser (not infra-red, but the damaging kind) web. The (DM of our 3.5 DnD)'s son, before I even read the full description of the room, yells out, "They already know we're here, I run through the lasers and attack!" I even asked, "Are you sure?" But he went ahead and ran in, triggering a blast 5 from the lasers, almost killing everybody.

Marillion
2011-01-31, 09:56 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot the biggest non-electronics rule in my group:

You say it, you do it. There are no such things as "takebacks."

I love that rule, it leads to some very interesting situations.

In our group, we couldn't do that. We're all way too snarky and prone to throwing out hypothetical IC actions because they'd be funny.

"L'Empereur has insulted you. What do you do?"
"I put L'Empereur in a headlock, start giving him noogies, and make him cry Uncle."
"The Lightning Guards stab you 4 times. Each. Roll to see how many wounds you take."
"But I was...kidding...:smalleek:"

Instead, when we're speaking out of character (or in character but not really), we hold up our hand and cross our fingers. If one of us says something particularly outrageous with our hands down, the GM will clear his throat and stare meaningfully at our hands. If we don't throw up the fingers within 5 seconds, he says "Alright. You do it. And suffer accordingly.:smallamused:"

Gamerlord
2011-01-31, 10:05 PM
1. The DM has no right to interfere with your zany scheme :smalltongue:
2. Falling asleep while everyone else is RPing and nobody is rolling any dice is considered rude, but will be tolerated.
3.When it comes to dice sharing: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. No cookies for whoever gets the reference.
4.Edition wars are a crime worthy of your character exploding
5.Rules arguments are no more then 5 minutes, not including flipping through pages in X book trying to find X obscure rule.
6.You cannot blame the DM for not giving you a second chance to take back your zany scheme.

Oracle_Hunter
2011-01-31, 10:58 PM
Tradition & etiquette are important parts of any hobby. Gaming is no different.

I game with friends, so what is traditional around my table is usually merely a matter of appeasing the Gaming Gods rather than keeping things orderly.
The Tradition of DM Respect
The DM is running a game for the Players and therefore should be treated with respect. Common signs of respect are: fetching the DM food or drink, being quiet while he is speaking, and letting the DM have the last slice of pizza. If you disagree with the DM, voice your disagreement politely and then accept his ruling.

The Tradition of Dice Rolling
Dice are ritual instruments, not mere random number generators. Do not use another person's dice without permission and roll all dice in plain view. If a die falls off the table it is invalid and must be re-rolled on the table. Respect the die rituals of your fellow Players - if you mock them, you will be smote by the Dice Gods for your impiousness.

The Tradition of Promptness and Attentiveness
Gaming is a group activity; all people must be present and attentive for it to work at all. When you commit to a game, you agree to make a good faith attempt to attend all sessions and to let the DM know well in advance if you cannot make a session. Arrive on-time and ready to game. During play, pay enough attention to the game such that you can declare your actions without delay.
I impose greater constraints on groups that need it, but these three traditions serve as a fine baseline.

Thurbane
2011-01-31, 11:55 PM
Here's some guidelines I try to stick to (in no particular order):

1. Try to mutually decide on a schedule, and then stick to it. Having games at the same time and day each week (or month, or whatever) generally makes it easier for people to attend (on time). As part of this, try to decide if the session includes a break for a meal, or if people are expected to eat before or after the game.
2. If you can’t make a game, or are running late, try to let the others (especially the DM) know as far in advance as possible.
3. If you really don’t feel like playing, or aren’t in any condition to play (sick, drunk, upset etc.), it’s usually better to miss a session or reschedule than to play through it. You probably won’t enjoy the session, and it might affect other player’s fun, too.
4. Have a pre-decided course of actions for characters when the player can’t make it, but the game goes on. Either he vanishes off stage, is run as an NPC, controlled by another player or whatever. This avoids a lot of disputes later on. On a related note, always try to have a (spare), up-to-date character sheet available to leave with the DM.
5. If people need to travel a distance to get to the game, see if anyone can help with a lift, or car pool. Another option is to vary venues (this is what my group does) so that the game will be nearer to some of the further players on occasion.
6. Always be respectful of the venue. Try not to impose on non-gamers in the house, and always offer to help clean up and pack up after a game. I can’t stress this one enough – it’s very annoying if everyone scurries out of the house as soon as the game ends, leaving the occupant(s) to pack up, shift furniture back into position, dispose of rubbish etc.
7. As already mentioned, don’t leave the provisioning of snacks and drinks up to one person. Share it round, offer to contribute cash or snacks etc. In my group, there is a loose rule that we each bring our own drinks (usually beer), and each contribute a snack or two to be shared around.