Player Advice

[Teapot Salty]

Hey guys.

So, with this thread, I am hoping to create an area were players can look to for advice. In general I want to keep this as system independent as possible, and if you are going to post something for a particular system, inform us. This thread can give help to players or GM's. And here is a sample piece of advice that is the general idea of what I'm going for, and should be formatted in a similar fashion:

[Roleplaying, Player]
When the GM presents a plot hook, at least show interest. You don't have to immediately go after it, but at least RP your character to have had it grab their attention.


Or:

[3.5, Player]
Try to understand the power level of your group and stick to it. If you are fully capable of optimizing, and are at a table of inexperienced players, keep your character on par with theirs. Maybe try out a concept that you didn't want to do because it was under powered? (NOTE: I put this under 3.5, because in 3.5, the power gap can be MUCH higher, optimized wizard in a game of low OP fighters, monks and paladins? C'm'on guys.)

Something of that sort should be good. Thanks, and let's hope that this thread becomes a gold mine for players seeking advice.

[Slipperychicken]

1. Make the character before you build the stats. Flesh him out, give him a name, hometown, political views, his opinion of his parents, hobbies, favorite kind of cheese, whatever you need to bring him or her to life. Only once that's done should you start writing numbers on a character sheet. Believe me, it's a lot more fun that way.

2. Don't cheat. Cheating means you're not only cheating yourself, you're cheating your friends too. If you want to change a rule or something, that's fine: talk to your group about it outside the session, but don't hide it from them. If you want to change things up by tweaking enemies' stats, give your players a good idea of what sort of changes they should expect. Trust is crucial to a fun game, and it can quickly break down if others think you're cheating.

3. Make a PvP policy before the game starts. Sit down with your gaming group and figure out whether it's acceptable for PCs to kill each other, hurt each other, screw with each others' goals, kill each others' NPC girlfriends, steal from each other, "prank" each other for lethal damage, and so on. Trust me, there are a ton of horror stories on these boards which could have been avoided by setting these expectations beforehand.

4. Figure out what happens after a PC dies. Talk to your gaming group about it. Are you going to resurrect him? How do you pay for that? Is it okay to loot his stuff? Are you allowed to raise him as a zombie? Do you have to give him an honest burial? Are you bringing the body back to his next of kin? Is the player going to control an NPC or antagonist while his PC is dead? Is a new PC going to come in? What level and what resources will the replacement character have? These will save you a lot of headaches if you figure them out in advance.

5. Set boundaries. Are PCs going to get raped in this game? Will there be a lot of lewd speech and gestures? Will PCs urinate on dead foes' corpses? Is it okay for the GM to dictate to players that their PCs want to bang his NPC? Will descriptions of excessive gore and mutilation be acceptable? Will it be tolerated out-of-character to kill children in-game? Are people going to make page-long descriptions of sexual acts? Does anyone at the table have triggers? To what extent will you (both players and GMs) accommodate others' needs? Countless groups have broken up, many campaigns have ended prematurely, and many horror stores have been posted because of stuff like this. You can avoid mountains of drama and awkwardness if you can settle boundaries before the session starts.

[Airk]

http://lookrobot.co.uk/2014/01/10/si...ter-character/
http://lookrobot.co.uk/2013/06/20/11...er-roleplayer/
The X Card - obviously more useful when gaming with strangers.

[lytokk]

1. Make the character before you build the stats. Flesh him out, give him a name, hometown, political views, his opinion of his parents, hobbies, favorite kind of cheese, whatever you need to bring him or her to life. Only once that's done should you start writing numbers on a character sheet. Believe me, it's a lot more fun that way.

2. Don't cheat. Cheating means you're not only cheating yourself, you're cheating your friends too. If you want to change a rule or something, that's fine: talk to your group about it outside the session, but don't hide it from them. If you want to change things up by tweaking enemies' stats, give your players a good idea of what sort of changes they should expect. Trust is crucial to a fun game, and it can quickly break down if others think you're cheating.

3. Make a PvP policy before the game starts. Sit down with your gaming group and figure out whether it's acceptable for PCs to kill each other, hurt each other, screw with each others' goals, kill each others' NPC girlfriends, steal from each other, "prank" each other for lethal damage, and so on. Trust me, there are a ton of horror stories on these boards which could have been avoided by setting these expectations beforehand.

4. Figure out what happens after a PC dies. Talk to your gaming group about it. Are you going to resurrect him? How do you pay for that? Is it okay to loot his stuff? Are you allowed to raise him as a zombie? Do you have to give him an honest burial? Are you bringing the body back to his next of kin? Is the player going to control an NPC or antagonist while his PC is dead? Is a new PC going to come in? What level and what resources will the replacement character have? These will save you a lot of headaches if you figure them out in advance.

5. Set boundaries. Are PCs going to get raped in this game? Will there be a lot of lewd speech and gestures? Will PCs urinate on dead foes' corpses? Is it okay for the GM to dictate to players that their PCs want to bang his NPC? Will descriptions of excessive gore and mutilation be acceptable? Will it be tolerated out-of-character to kill children in-game? Are people going to make page-long descriptions of sexual acts? Does anyone at the table have triggers? To what extent will you (both players and GMs) accommodate others' needs? Countless groups have broken up, many campaigns have ended prematurely, and many horror stores have been posted because of stuff like this. You can avoid mountains of drama and awkwardness if you can settle boundaries before the session starts.

6. Treasure Split Decide before the first reward, how loot is going to be distributed. Need before greed? Even split? is there and extra share of treasure for party expenses? Figuring this out beforehand an coming to an agreement will ease headaches in the future.

[DragonkingUs20]

7. Group Dynamics: Be conscious of the players in your group and their general moral compass. Some minor clashes in personality may help with group dynamics and make for interesting role-playing, but too much can obviously be a bad thing. Playing a crazed-bloodthirsty madman may seem fun, but it may not encourage a fun gaming experience for the rest of your do-gooder group. Do you want your PC to become the BBEG? Because that's how your PC becomes the BBEG.