Whether as a player or DM, if I'm not doing something at a given moment I take my favorite set of die (favorite because, yes, they roll better regardless of what "science" says, my precious; but also because they're blue, which is my favorite color), and line them up from d4 to d20, then turn all the faces to their maximum values (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20). After I finish using them for a fight or skill check or the like, I set them back. I have less time to do this as a DM, but as a player, it's constant.
I roll initiative for NPCs during adventure prep, typically when I type up their stats. I hate asking for Initiative, rolling for the enemy, missing half of what the player's reported for their rolls, asking for it again, writing down the order, nearly forgetting what I rolled for the NPCs, etc. It takes up a huge amount of time needlessly. I just roll a d20 when I make the mooks and BBEGs, write their score down, and then note their actual initiative bonus parenthetically in case I should need to roll it again and not want to recalculate the stats.
As others, I've replaced orcs for half-orcs as a default player race in my campaigns. I didn't swap them out for the idiotic stats in the MM, though, nor did I just keep half-orcs as per the RAW and change the fluff. The biggest change I made was removing the half-orc's Charisma penalty (so that they gain +2 Strength in exchange for only -2 Intelligence). I don't have a problem with orcs being crappy wizards, but I figure if a demon can be charismatic (check out their stats in the MM!), so can an orc. Also, I figure if dwarves can be legendary for their endurance with only a +2 Con bonus, orcs can be legendary for their Strength with only a +2, also. As I'm running for a point-bought orc barbarian who had 18 Strength at first level without any boosts (22 in rage), I think that's sufficient. Why anyone thought the stats for orcs in the MM were a good idea, or even sensical, is beyond me.
Aside from orcs, I've got some other minor racial house rules to cover issues which I really can't stand, such as elves and secret doors. Otherwise, I tend to run pretty house-rule light.
I tend to think about irrelevant things in adventure prep waaaay too much. Just today, as I drove home, I pondered whether the famed eagles in the country of my current campaign should be described with red feathers tipped with golden flecks, or simply red feathers, based on whether or not that would help them blend in with their surroundings in this region's specific geography (not that this will effect their statistics in any way, nor will their statistics likely be more relevant than those of, say, an oak tree). Note that I still haven't fully thought through the impending boss battle, and this is what I spend my time on. I went with red feathers and gold flecks.
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The only quirk that is kind of personal to me relates to dice. All of mine are the same (chessex fire - red with yellow spots and black numbers). Thats because, I've always said that dice roll randomly and so don't want to have favorite D20s and so on.
I think it's because I teach maths, but the result is whenever I go to a con or gameshop I'm looking for one sort of dice. If I see one I buy it.
Pretty much everyone I have ever played with has different coloured D20s and you occasionally see them flung across the room in frustration when they let the player down.
In a similar vein, the guys I play with have one taboo. Never touch their dice. If you do then the luck runs out. As the DM, they often come over and touch mine after I've rolled particularly well. Of course, I don't mind so everyone is happy.
Cheers
I've got a similar (recent) die quirk. I was cleaning out my shed about 9 months ago, and came across my original D&D dice from 1984 that had been put away untouched for at least 23 years. I've been using those almost exclusively lately. (except when I need extra d6's or d4's to roll damage).
I would (only slightly) dispute the "dice roll randomly", only from a physics standpoint. If you've ever seen the Gamescience dice booth at Gencon, they have a display showing a stack of d20 from Chessex versus a stack of their d20's. Apparently the polishing tumblers that most dice manufacturers use to smooth out the edges will wear the die faces unevenly, resulting in some faces having more surface area than others. This results in some degree of patterns in the rolls of any one die. It's probably on the order of some numbers coming up a few percent more often than others, and nothing to dispute in a game. (It's probably not at all related to the "this die comes up 20's more than any of my other dice" feeling - that's probably more superstition than reality.)
I have also returned exclusively to Gamescience and precision-edge Chessex dice.
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I can't wait to pass this onto my guys. True or not, they will believe they have the perfect reason for their dice rolling well or badly.
On other minor quirk that I try not to do but sometimes can't help myself is when one of the players has to make an important but fairly easy roll, I'll say something like, "go for it, just don't roll really low.."
This now invokes a death stare from one or two of the players.
What can I say, I like to build pressure on my players. These little nudges add up.
Cheers
BTW I may borrow the pre-roll initiative idea that is a good one.
I have a rather time-consuming quirk. I insist on having a visual aid (art or photograph) for almost every NPC the players encounter, not just key enemies or allies, but also local authorities and priesthoods, henchmen, outlaws, other adventurers, petty rivals and often even shop-keepers.
Although this takes some extra work on my behalf, it does have distinct benefits as well. It helps me to role-play these characters (taking cues from their appearance) and it also helps the PC's to remember who-is-who in the story. My plots tend to involve a lot of interpersonal intrigues and a large cast of characters that the players have different relationships with, so for this flavour of D&D it's worthwhile.
Like French Wolf I like to put the pressure on as well. We've a little in-joke where I begin each play-session with the words: 'I just want you guys to know you've done really well to have survived the campaign this far.'
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BTW I may borrow the pre-roll initiative idea that is a good one.
I pre-roll all the NPCs and monsters attack rolls and damage as well as initiative! It makes things run smoother and quicker in my mind and lets the players have more of the spot-liehgt (like they should).
Another quirk is that I always get the PCs caked in blood, mud, dirt etc. so much so that (in 3.5) our wizard ALWAYS prepped Prestidigitation.
Cheers! :D
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If you've ever seen the Gamescience dice booth at Gencon, they have a display showing a stack of d20 from Chessex versus a stack of their d20's.
Also tend to roll dice randomly ... more a habit than anything intentional, but it drives some players nuts ... the level of paranoia does rise a bit when I start rolling random d20s.
I've had players that were halfway to nodding off suddenly spring up and start getting really paranoid when I started to randomly roll dice. I think they get conditioned to tune out everything the DM says unless its accompanied by dice rolls.
Okay, I have a quirk as a DM that I only allow my players to use options out of books I own. This cuts down on a lot of the, but it's in the book I have at home, crap that I had to deal with when I first started DMing. I wondered if any of you other DMs out there have any quirky habits or traits like that.
As long as they can photocopy the page and bring it in they are ok. The only other exception is if I happen to know how the ability works. If I don't know it with 100% certainty, and there is nothing for me to see to bad for them.
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I tend to be rather onomatopoeic whenever there's a sound I consider relevant for whatever reason.
I make sound effects. I guess it's a quirk because I've never had another DM sound out goblins squishing, horses snorting or rats squeaking. After all my wacky noises at one game, the players expected to hear something dreadful for the approaching owlbear so I changed it up a little, hopped my owlbear mini across the table and declared, "Rawr! I'm an owlbear! Rawr!" That line is now the natural call of all owlbears in my campaigns.
I have the "if I don't own it, you can't use it" rule too. I don't know if it's a quirk so much. It just seems like common sense to me.
I'm also disinclined to let anyone use something from a book I don't have, but I'm a real book-collecter, so there's little people are looking for that I don't have.
Another habit I have--which is non-DM specific--is that I almost always have a d20 in my pants pocket, along with my change and keys. It's not always the same d20--heck, I'm not a love-one-die-only freak, after all! :)--but there's usually one there.
Hmmm.
I too restrict to the books I have, but I have a lot. A very lot. Some of which I don't allow, hypocritically enough. (Mostly just alternate campaign books, like Dragonmech)
I do voices at my table. Accents, tones, speech patterns. When I was younger I always wanted to be a professional voice actor after hearing people like Jim Cummings and such do so many different voices and characters. My players love my kobolds, and look for trenchcoats when a beholder starts to monologue. I really get into it, apparently, but my players love it.
My biggest quirky trait though is probably that when I'm running an Adventure Path, I don't track XP at all. I houseruled away XP costs for magic items and spells a long time ago (using the gp to xp formula, now aided by Pathfinder magic item creation). Players level up at the appropriate points in an adventure. Conversely, I allow players to make wisdom checks during "boss" battles, to unlock a single ability of the new level mid-fight. Such as an extra use of rage, access to a new level of spell, even just access to that extra +1 base attack. DC 10 Wisdom check during the fight, made at the start of each round after the first. Players seem to like it, lets them have the whole "pulling something new in a moment of desperation" feeling.
Conversely, I allow players to make wisdom checks during "boss" battles, to unlock a single ability of the new level mid-fight. Such as an extra use of rage, access to a new level of spell, even just access to that extra +1 base attack. DC 10 Wisdom check during the fight, made at the start of each round after the first. Players seem to like it, lets them have the whole "pulling something new in a moment of desperation" feeling.
I like that. I may consider using it, though I'd change it to a level check so all classes have an equal chance. It's always kind of bothered me that someone gets a new level and the commensurate abilities without ever having demonstrated or tested them before, except perhaps in the off-stage "downtime" the game assumes. It's never been that big of an issue, but this mechanic would assuage my concerns and make the players happy, too. :)