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PnP Fan
2007-03-12, 01:53 PM
Okay, I keep reading horror stories about players and DM disputes that turn ugly, and end in someone leaving the group (most often the player). What I'd like to know is who do you game with?

My friends who also happen to game?
My gaming friends?
My gaming group (some of whigh might be friends)?
The folks at the local game shop (who I may not even know their real names)?
Whatever random group I can pull together at the shop/gaming club?

Voleta
2007-03-12, 02:00 PM
I currently game with the following group:
My best friend and former significant other
Previous person's husband
Previous person's significant other
First person's significant other
First person's Co-worker
Previous person's husband

Confusing much?
We've had some problems, but that mostly stems from all of them being utter newbies. One person tries way way too hard and overcomplicates (I cannot read her PHB because every other word is highlighted), and another... lets just say, I'm so sick and tired of "I appraise the situation! *roll die*" and "No monks can block attacks they don't see it says right here (confusing-to-the-slow wording of uncanny dodge)" and "Shouldn't i be able to dodge that? I have the dodge feat.. (That is accounted for in your ac, like I told you the last dozen times)"

Steve_the_ERB
2007-03-12, 02:03 PM
I'm in two PnP games and both are "Just other gamers" as evidenced by the fact that I have never seen any of the players outside the gaming table. Still, we've never had any disputes turn ugly. Probably a combination of the generally mature players and the fact none of us take it that seriously.

Galathir
2007-03-12, 02:04 PM
My gaming group is made of close friends, all from college. We get along great and other than minor discussions over the rules we never argue. My first introduction to D&D was a fairly poor experience and this group is what really got me hooked.

Oeryn
2007-03-12, 02:04 PM
I currently game with the following group:
My best friend and former significant other
Previous person's husband
Previous person's significant other
First person's significant other
First person's Co-worker
Previous person's husband

My brain has melted.

Silvershadow
2007-03-12, 02:09 PM
For me, it's generally a mix of friends who also game and gaming friends. A few months ago we added a bunch of new gamers whom we met through a local gaming site, and I must admit that most of them are not still gaming with us, for a variety of reasons (either they left of their own volitions, or they were slowly phased out just because they didn't work well within our groups). We did however gain a few decent gamers in the process. Our gaming groups are now a lot more stable and we have a lot less metagamers/rules lawyers/argumentative/cheaters, making the whole gaming experience a lot more fun for everyone.

These days, new people joining our already existing games tend to be either friends of the players already involved in the game, or other gamers we know to be reliable.

rollfrenzy
2007-03-12, 02:09 PM
Any way i have good freinds Who I game with and have never had any IRL problems. Some play style issues is all. I would like to try bringin in fresh blood (same group for 15 years) or playing with other people, just don't get the chance.

LotharBot
2007-03-12, 02:10 PM
I D&D with a group assembled on the internet. I posted a request to form a group on meetup.com, a few people responded, and we all had dinner together and decided nobody was too freaky to game with. One of the people who joined us at dinner dropped out (for a weak reason -- "your place is too far for me, 112th was my limit and you're on 101st" kind of thing. That's legit if you're walking, but not if you're driving.) Each of the others brought along a friend.

After 25-ish gaming sessions, I'd say we're now friends... but it started out as "just some gamers from the internet".

I also attend occasional LAN parties with friends from church... and I game a LOT with my wife.

Fax Celestis
2007-03-12, 02:17 PM
and I game a LOT with my wife.

I do too. We don't use D&D rules, though: it's more of a ruleless LARP variant than anything.

Bears With Lasers
2007-03-12, 02:24 PM
...in bed!

Voleta
2007-03-12, 02:29 PM
My brain has melted.
What's worse is that they are all 15+ years older than me.

Previously, I gamed with my then-boyfriend and a bunch of teenage boys from the local game shop. I didn't know them too well, and when I became single I steered clear of that place for awhile. Was fun, if aggrivating.

rollfrenzy
2007-03-12, 02:46 PM
A single Female gamer at a local games shop? That's like tossing a steak into the lion pen isn't it?

Voleta
2007-03-12, 02:56 PM
That would be why I stayed away. We actually had quite a few females there, but most were teenage.. wenches, or mothers.

Fax Celestis
2007-03-12, 03:09 PM
That would be why I stayed away. We actually had quite a few females there, but most were teenage.. wenches, or mothers.

...or both?

squishycube
2007-03-12, 03:11 PM
I game with friends who game, I'd like any of my friends who are interested to join.
My group formed from a high school gaming group, we changed formation a bit over the years, but most current players where there from the start (5 out of 7) over seven years ago.

We have people liking some more than others, we have people growing to like certain people more or the other way around, like in any social group.

Two times I had someone join a party whom I did not previously know and both times it didn't work out.

Fun trivia about my group: Three times a girlfriend was brought into the game (same guy three times over :D) and three times the relationship went bust and the girl subsequently quit the game (They did all last more then a year though).
Several members quit and rejoined some time later (in my case several years later).
At the start, a good gaming night would consist of: Coming to game at +/- 18.00. Drink beer. Eating at 18.30. Drink beer. Start game at 19.00. Drink beer. Game for about 30 minutes. Drink beer and/or smoke joint(s). Game for about 15-30 minutes. Be drunk/stoned/something. Not game anymore. Leave at +/- 23.00.
Currently, a good gaming sessions has the players come in around 13.00, start game about 13.30. Game game game game game (eat crisps, cookies, drink juice.) 16.00 beer is drunk from now on, but gaming continues undisturbed. between 18.00 and 20.00 cooking starts (we almost never eat ready-made meals.) We take +/- 1.5 for cooking and eating. Then proceed to more gaming, which usually lasts until about 23.30, but can go on deep into the night on some occasions.

I think only the beer and the food are constants, everything else is different now!

We have lots of fun together and we go to each other's parties, meet outside the game (to do other games, usually :D), etc.

Toric
2007-03-12, 03:14 PM
Currently gaming with some fellow gameers I really just stumbled onto in another forum. I'm planning on joining an PbP game with a bunch of friends here at college, but it hasn't started up yet, so I didn't vote for that one.

Fax Celestis
2007-03-12, 03:15 PM
...in bed!

Well, yes. :smallbiggrin:

Meat Shield
2007-03-12, 03:19 PM
I guess I would go with the 'Freinds who are Gamers'. My old group back home consisted of one of my best friends and guys he gamed with in college. Then I moved many hours away.

I figured the best way to meet people was to find a gathering of like minded individuals - geeks. Where best to find them but posting to local boards about wanting to join a D&D table?

And thus I have friends that started as just gaming acquaintances, and eventually they do things like kidnap (literally - zip-tie cuffs and a pillowcase over my head) me on my birthday, throw me in the trunk, and take the hood off my head and show me that we are outside the IMAX theatre showing of 300. Good guys, and likely XP bonuses for all.

Druid
2007-03-12, 03:30 PM
I play with my friends who I've been hanging out with for years. Originaly my entire group of friends played, but I few have dropped out of the game over the years.

Tallis
2007-03-12, 03:49 PM
I started playing with friends who were gamers, but have brought in other gamers as the campaign developed and the original friends have mostly left. Now it's closer to gamer friends.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-03-12, 03:58 PM
I've played with all kinds of people, but I voted "friends who are gamers" since they're the kind I play with the most and enjoy playing with the most. It's good to know that these guys are there not only because they like the game, but because they like hanging out with me. Even if we didn't play D&D, we'd still be bros (and sis').

Sahegian
2007-03-12, 04:01 PM
I play one day a week with a group of friends that is made up of people I've known a while. I think we spend more time arguing about rules than actually playing, but that has always been how our games go. It has only gotten ugly once in my experience and the guy who left came back 3 weeks ago after a year long leave.

I play another day a week with a group of people that I don't really know. I say hi if I run into them outside of the game, but that is as far as our relationship goes.

Kiero
2007-03-12, 04:13 PM
My friends, who aren't really gamers at all. Some of them used to, none are anything more than "casual gamers". Which suits me, really.

DomarSaul
2007-03-12, 04:18 PM
I'm letting the face-to-face gaming slide while I'm abroad ("como se dice ranger en espanol?") but I am scheming to come up with a low-magic steampunk or horror campaign to lure in my girlfriend over the summer. She nearly played some World of Darkness once, but it fell apart before the session...

Mike_G
2007-03-12, 04:18 PM
I do too. We don't use D&D rules, though: it's more of a ruleless LARP variant than anything.

Ruleless?

How do you decide who ties whom up?

Fax Celestis
2007-03-12, 04:19 PM
Ruleless?

How do you decide who ties whom up?

Flip a coin, usually.

Diggorian
2007-03-12, 04:25 PM
Four of the six in my group are friends that game. Two of them I hang out with to game. I wouldnt casually associate with them outside of the hobby (different backgrounds) but they're good folks.

Seatbelt
2007-03-12, 05:44 PM
I play with random people I met on Facebook. Some addictions cannot be avoided.

silentknight
2007-03-12, 06:32 PM
I game with friends who became gamers or gamers who became friends. The problem with the groups I game with is that we usually have a surplus of people who wish to game. The last group I was a part of was up to 12 and I had another friend and my cousin who wanted to join as well. (Yeah, 12, and it was as chaotic as it sounds. We were lucky to get one battle each session.)

Lord Tataraus
2007-03-12, 08:08 PM
My gaming group are all gamers of various backgrounds.
My best friend is a D&D fanatic and overall fantasy/sci-fi freak
Then there is the optimizer (pulls off wizards' op boards), however he either never completes the build or when he does realizes he could be doing exactly the same thing three levels ago if he didn't "optimize".
Then there is the WOW fanatic and one of the best players except for his infinite amount of stupidity.
And finally there is "the creepy guy" who is actually pretty cool and very intelligent in game play who is, above all, the best at what he likes to do (barbarian smash!! or sorcerer blast!!) he always surprises me with his surprising wisdom in-game which he displays no where else.
Then we sometimes are joined by "that German kid" (i.e. German foreign-exchange student) who stays with my best friend and is a boat/ship/anything-to-do-with-boating-fanatic and the only player with a natural tendency towards LG.

Ethdred
2007-03-13, 06:57 AM
I voted gaming friends, as that's how I got to know them, but some have become general friends. We don't argue (much)

Maxymiuk
2007-03-13, 07:31 AM
Just Fellow Gamers, as I'm currently GMing and playing exclusively over the net with people scattered all over Europe and US. What's a bit surprising is that the people in my game are by far the best group I've ever had the pleasure to GM for.

Leadfeathermcc
2007-03-13, 08:29 AM
You didn't have an option for "Relatives who are gamers"

First group: Wife, Sister, Brother-in-Law, and friend
Second group: Son, Son (its great, they are both under 12 and watching how their minds work ingame is hilarious)

Jewish_Joke
2007-03-13, 11:38 AM
You didn't have an option for "Relatives who are gamers"

First group: Wife, Sister, Brother-in-Law, and friend
Second group: Son, Son (its great, they are both under 12 and watching how their minds work ingame is hilarious)

Yep, gaming with adolescents was one of the highlights of my DND game. My group once taught a four year old how to read because of DND. Now, at age 10, he know the rules better than I do!

I still play with my first group, and the only disputes are between my brother (Logic) and myself. Mind you this has nothing to do with the game or any rules... It usually involves something like him not making me any pancakes but making everyone else some!!! :smallfurious:

My other group is kinda iffy. I play with some coworkers from Barnes and Noble, but really only my girlfriend (one of the cafe girls! :smallwink:) and "the funny guy" from customer service are really any fun to play with. The other guy, the DM, has some rage issues, and his best friend (who also games with us, but doesn't work with us) I suspect may be an anti-semite...:smalleek: