Beyond those already listed.
Guys that treat the gaming table like a singles bar.
Guys who think girls can't understand the game and either need their constant help or makes fun of every tiny mistake made.
Along the same lines, I have a player who watches the women roll dice and then calculates their bonuses and shouts out the total before they can (Yes, he has their stats memorized). I can only assume he thinks they won't be able to do the math by themselves, or won't know which numbers to add to it.
I ignore him and wait for the player whose turn it is to tell me the total. Two of them have told me that they deliberately take a longer time to say it just to annoy him. I would get mad at them for holding up the game, but I think it's funny.
-Players who insist on working during play (cell-phones are a b!&%¤)
If you cant play - just say so- RISK/Munchkins is always fun:)
-Player who plays the same charachter (neutral - stupid)and class no-matter what.(in D%D it was a ranger with a big axe, in our homebrew it a was a woodsy type with a big axe, in warhammer it was a woodsman with...
Players who think they're "oh-so-clever" by coming up with names like Kar Pay Deeyem or Louks Ky-Wall-Kr or Liyt Say'Berr, or Accabwehc the Eikoow, or whatever.
When players act as if they're paying you to run the game. I'm one of those GMs that spend a lot of time and money on my games (to a ridiculous level sometimes) yet I tend to get treated like a bad employee if the players don't get everything they want with minimum fuss. I've almost quit gaming because of this (gave away hundreds of dollars of books in a fit of anti-rpg rage) but I keep coming back for another heap of abuse. I can't help but blame WoW for many of the annoying habits being displayed at the table these days.
Laptops at the gaming table.
People playing WoW at the gaming table.
This is the gamer that for some reason, be it exhaustion or boredom, cannot seem to stay awake at the gaming table. They doze off midway through the session and only respond when poked with a pointed stick in the eye.
I am that guy, and I feel bad about it.
People playing WoW at the gaming table.
If anyone ever pulled that stunt on me, I would ask him to leave the table immediately. Thou shalt not have another game beside mine.
Stefan
People playing WoW at the gaming table.If anyone ever pulled that stunt on me, I would ask him to leave the table immediately. Thou shalt not have another game beside mine.
Stefan
Not my game or I would tell him to leave. This is also the same guy who suggested that we should stop playing tabletop RPGs and play WoW instead.
Laptops at the gaming table.
People playing WoW at the gaming table.
Heh, that reminds me of something I saw at the ye old game shoppe a few weeks ago. Group of people playing the Champions RPG while one of the players was on his laptop... playing Champions Online the MMO.
Yeah, if I was running a game and one of my players started playing a video game mid session I would certianly ask him to leave and never come back. I would probably tell him this via a punch to the mouth.
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Players who talk during encounter descriptions. This is a variation on the player who doesn't listen during said description.
It usually goes a little something like this:
Me: So you enter a dank, wet cave...
Players: Yeah man that new (whatever the hell they are talking about) is awesome!
Me:... guys, would you listen?
Players: Sorry.
Me: You enter a dank....
Players: Yeah man it was awesome how he did that combo in that game.
Usually this can go on for a few minutes. Lately thought I've started to read a book or something. It's usually enough to signal the other players to the fact that someone isn't paying attention and they cut it out.
Not my game or I would tell him to leave. This is also the same guy who suggested that we should stop playing tabletop RPGs and play WoW instead.People playing WoW at the gaming table.If anyone ever pulled that stunt on me, I would ask him to leave the table immediately. Thou shalt not have another game beside mine.
Stefan
Incredible that the DM does not say anything to that. Tell him he can play WoW all he wants, but you don´t want to - if he is not totally hopeless, he even might get it...
STefan
Well, I'm new to this, so "Hello everyone" ^^ and as for pet peeves, I'd have to say that nothing pushes my button more than someone falling out of the game (stops roleplaying) at an important moment. There is nothing better than being in that moment, the energy is just right, the intensitity, the atmosphere and the imagery so perfect it's beautiful... then... someone spoils it. All it takes is lack of attention or imagination. It is simple: you play or you dont play.
Players who upon the slightest hint of a combat, start buffing themselves even though no initiative has been called. Awful hard to track powers/spells that have a duration of rounds/level that way. I just make them waste their buffs in that instance.
Wow. I've had so many of these experiences.
My biggest peeve? People not calling when they can't show up. I've just resolved to run two campaigns. One for when most of the players are there and the other for when most of them aren't. (So I'm running a 3.5e FR game and just starting a PFRPG game as the alt. game.)
I have had... a player bring a laptop and play WoW at the table. I put a "no laptops at the table" rule in my house rules.
I've had a player fall asleep during the session. (Two players, actually, but not the same session.) That doesn't bother me as much as the first two complaints.
Players who wander away from the table when it isn't their turn. Playing on a Saturday night, if someone is watching TV in the next room I may look to someone for their turn and they're standing in the doorway watching Saturday Night Live.
A player who is familiar with D&D but is new to my game and doesn't take it seriously. I mean seriously, he made a female elf sorceress named Arwen who attempted to cast an enchantment spell on the NPC giving the quest. This was my brother's only session of DMing.
The player who wants to play a new class every session.
Players who play with their (polyhedral) dice like they're building blocks when it isn't their turn. To the point where they have to get more dice so they can build higher. (I provide most of the dice at the game table so it isn't like they're stealing dice to do it though.)
.... What else?
Players who lack the nerve to say they're dropping out of the game. Seriously, if you want to leave the game, tell me. I would be happy to fill your seat with someone who is more interested in playing. This goes back to the thing about people who miss a session without advanced notice. I have two players who can make it to 90% of our sessions, and they're the two who are usually coming the furthest, so if you can't make it you need to notify me for the benefit of your fellow players. Seriously.
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As far as in-game in-character antics go, these usually don't bother me. I feel like I'm accomplishing something if I can get my players to roleplay rather than just hack & slash. Some of the most memorable moments in my games have been when one of the players does something completely unexpected by the other players and they have to contend with it.
Examples of stuff that others might find irritating but which amuse me:
The party finds a portal. They decide not to go through. The ranger goes through anyway. It's a one-way portal.
The party encounters a group of hobgoblins and goblins fighting a horde of zombies. They are willing to stand by and let the hobgoblins destroy the zombies. The ranger attacks a hobgoblin.
The party ranger (the player!) cares more about his dog animal companion than he does about anything else in the game. He orders it not to fight and will do anything to protect it, even potentially sacrificing his own character. (Though it hasn't come to that yet.)
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The Monty Python quotes used to bother me but now it's the Left 4 Dead quotes that get to me.
"We've got a Boomer over here!"
"Blllahaurhghhh!"
One of my players routinely imitates a boomer puking. I threatened to dock him XP for it. (I don't plan to actually do so, but I don't know that he knows that.)
Players who play with their (polyhedral) dice like they're building blocks when it isn't their turn. To the point where they have to get more dice so they can build higher.
I'm sorry about that. :) I have a compulsive thing about stacking die, although I use my own. I also square up my PC sheet & Player's Guide with the edge of the table, and then my pencils parallel to the sheet. I never seemed to be disruptive about it, but now maybe the other players and GMs were just being polite.
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Pet peeves... hmm.
Well I have been lucky as of late and haven't had major issues. Though I have had my share of stunts to make one want to hang up your dice bag for awhile.
I've experienced the gaming table turning into a one sided dating game. The results were funny. Can you get the hint that the Druidess is not into your gnome and is a lesbian, and the player is actually creeped out by your actions?
I've had the stoner gamer issue as well. I politely ask them to not do it on my street, as the police were always drive by on weekends due to a neighbor. As for drinking, everyone is of legal drinking age and there is always room to crash if someone had too much, like the mudslides I made one summer that was too strong.
WOW at the table was more my fault but I did try to curb that issue, and well now I just don't play anymore so no biggie.
The not paying attention thing was always a big on my list and well I made a sign for Box Text just to make sure that everyone payed attention. I've also punished the non-attentive player with stat drain in their primary stat and force them to adjust immediately before anything else happened, so as the players would get peeved at them as well. Many of them learned quickly as their casters lost spells and at times whole spell levels. Oh yeah I picked the spells they lost as well, always taking the ones that would matter.
Doing other things at the table other than gaming. It happens but it isn't that bad for me. I have one player who knits and they tend to pay attention to the goings on well enough, though I've had the cellphone tag games going on but usually with a pre-game preference that they are expecting a call from someone about something important, and it usually ends after they get said call.
My other pet peeve is the reliance of the players on making one other player take notes for all them. Even when she isn't party of the encounter. It has gotten better, but it can still use improvement. I think I will start a blue book for my next group so I can set things up for them personally, and also give them a way to communicate any ideas they may have for after game.
Players who play with their (polyhedral) dice like they're building blocks when it isn't their turn. To the point where they have to get more dice so they can build higher.I'm sorry about that. :) I have a compulsive thing about stacking die, although I use my own. I also square up my PC sheet & Player's Guide with the edge of the table, and then my pencils parallel to the sheet. I never seemed to be disruptive about it, but now maybe the other players and GMs were just being polite.
I'm guilty of stacking my dice too.
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Players who play with their (polyhedral) dice like they're building blocks when it isn't their turn. To the point where they have to get more dice so they can build higher.I'm sorry about that. :) I have a compulsive thing about stacking die, although I use my own. I also square up my PC sheet & Player's Guide with the edge of the table, and then my pencils parallel to the sheet. I never seemed to be disruptive about it, but now maybe the other players and GMs were just being polite.I'm guilty of stacking my dice too.
I'm guilty of doing it when I'm DMing.
Let's see...
- Players who are late at every session. Being late can obviously happen, but each time ? Are they late at work ? On dates ?
- Players who don't show up and won't call to let the group know that they can't come.
- Players who expect a kind of game, often out of nostalgia for an old campaign or just to satisfy their character's aspirations, and won't even try anything different.
- Players who are DMs themselves and often forget they are not in THIS game.
- Players who pull their with cellphones, ipods, gameboys, PSP, laptops or whatever gizmo.
- Players who spend their game time the nose in a book, even if it's a game accessory, or are not attentive in general.
- Players who think they are so experienced and so cool that it gives them the right to bully or patronize other players, especially "noobs".
- Players who are not dedicated to the game or motivated in general. I don't mind players who don't the rules, but i can't stand players who don't care about the game. If you don't like it, don't play.
The player who wants to play a new class every session.
Perhaps suggest they play a Chameleon? :)
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I completely forgot to mention 'archetype cliches' - the players that, when playing a certain class/race: behaves a certain way, or take certain things for granted; as a GM it can be frustrating to deal with them, but its almost worse as a player, because your only recourse is to hope the GM has enough sense to curb their enthusiasm, or lack thereof.
- Spellcasters who believe that new magic should always be accessible to them as a trade commodity, and who attempts to abuse the item creation feats; the kind of player who can't understand why the old Hedgemaester in a tower five miles outside of the rural bumpkin town doesn't seem interested in exchanging a scroll of Fireball for twenty copies of Mage Armor, or why the Local Wizard's Guild in the Capital City is hesitant to sell potentially harmful magic to an unknown, cocky, smartass from out of town.
- The Fighter who fights. And that's about it. The kind of individual who feels that character development = "I've graduated from Orcs, to Trolls, to Giants!" No particular reason for your skill at arms? No real history there? No? Oh, you were in the army... and then? Know what? Never mind, just go hit that Troll over there.
- The treasure-monger. It's been mentioned before by others in this thread, but I always get irked on three different levels when someone attempts to claim a particular item from the party pool without legitimate cause, or the people who go so far as to say "I killed this guy/disarmed this trap/opened this lock, so this stuff is mine."
- The zealot healer who demands you worship their deity, or forever be at the mercies of potions. I can understand requesting a small prayer of thanks, or an offering (like, say, the spell component, something insignificant to an adventurer) in exchange for the working of a divine miracle, but outright demanding I worship Skormag, Lord of the Tree People a my chief deity lest I not be healed/buffed is outright ludicrous. Conversely, the monotheist who outright refuses to offer a small prayer in thanks, or some small compensation; in a polytheism, you can't tell me your character refuses to pray a deity and honestly expects to benefit from their gifts.
Some of these behaviors can be curbed with game mastery tricks. Carrots work better than sticks.
Here are tricks I use to avoid these irritations. They're all from Minimus.(Full disclaimer, I wrote Minimus.)
1) Encounter Bonuses for Descriptive Failures.
If you succeed in an action, I describe what happens.
If you fail in an action, you describe what happens and how your failed.
Note: When you describe your failure, other players may nominate you for an encounter bonus. I, as the GM, cannot nominate you for the description of the failure. I can second a nomination by other players.
Once players wrap their heads around this, they will describe far more horrific failures for their characters than you, as a GM, will ever inflict on players you hope will show up for another session. They also start 'playing to the audience'.
This generally rewards a lot of 'interesting play'.
2) Box Text & Clarifying Questions
When I describe an encounter, I pull out a notepad. I then point to each person in turn. Using the senses their character has and the information their character has, they get to ask a clarifying question that can be answered 'Yes' or 'No'. Anything they get a 'Yes' to is a detail (and I jot it down). I go around the table until everyone has one 'Yes', or has been told 'No' twice.
Anyone who incorporates one of those details into their description of their action gets a +1 die roll modifier. They may not use the exact same description/detail pairing more than once (though using the same detail in creative ways is kosher). They may only use the detail they provided twice; they can use anyone ELSE'S details any number of times. Particularly creative uses of multiple details can get to larger bonuses. (I find that taking the square root of the number of details worked into a description is about right...)
This rewards players for LISTENING and THINKING about the 'box text' or encounter description.
3) Describe and Draw Initiative
I don't roll d20s for initiative. I do this, instead.
Each player describes what their character is going to do that round, going from left to right around the table. Players are encouraged to take notes. These action-descriptions may not put ANY conditional statements in. Bob the Fy-Tor may not say "I wait until Peter the Pyromaniac Fire Mage casts his Lava-Wall Spell and then shoot over it." He can say "I shoot at the Orc, using (Mechanic set X)"
Once everyone has described, I pull out a deck of playing cards and dish them around. Everyone gets one card. They look at it. For the next 30 seconds, they get to trade cards amongst one another. They may not speak, or make hand gestures or otherwise communicate the value of the card. They MAY flip their card face up, but this indicates they are no longer trading; it does tell everyone else (roughly) where in the sequence that player's actions will be.
When the timer dings, all cards are flipped and that's the order combat goes in.
This rewards players for A) planning before the combat, and B) paying attention to what their teammates are intending to do in the combat. It also results in combats that are a lot more chaotic than you'd otherwise expect.
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- Spellcasters who believe that new magic should always be accessible to them as a trade commodity, and who attempts to abuse the item creation feats; the kind of player who can't understand why the old Hedgemaester in a tower five miles outside of the rural bumpkin town doesn't seem interested in exchanging a scroll of Fireball for twenty copies of Mage Armor, or why the Local Wizard's Guild in the Capital City is hesitant to sell potentially harmful magic to an unknown, cocky, smartass from out of town.
This reminds me of another of my pet peeves. Player's who believe that every magic item in the book should be avalible in every village larger than two people. This is not Finla Fantasy where there is a magic shop in every town people!
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Yeah, I had a DM get mad at me for creating a background for my character one time that prevented him from playing a prank on him. My chracter's parents were kiled when a giant attacked his village, so he wanted nothing to do with giants, except to kill them. So when we find stash that includes what the DM assures us is Girdle of Giant Strength, my ranger passes on it. The DM started yell about why didn't ant it and that he had put it in just for me. I explained that he wants nothing to do with anything relatd to giants. One of the other party members, a monk, took it and instantly turned into a woman. It was actually a Girdle of Gender Changing. The monk locked herself in her room and we did not see her for three days.
People who roll their dice then snatch it back up before anyone even got a look at the results (especially the GM).
Sheboygen,said
Spellcasters who believe that new magic should always be accessible to them as a trade commodity, and who attempts to abuse the item creation feats; the kind of player who can't understand why the old Hedgemaester in a tower five miles outside of the rural bumpkin town doesn't seem interested in exchanging a scroll of Fireball for twenty copies of Mage Armor, or why the Local Wizard's Guild in the Capital City is hesitant to sell potentially harmful magic to an unknown, cocky, smartass from out of town.
My players act like I'm some kind of jerk because I won't sell them mid level combat spells (fireball etc.) or high level control spells (charm/dominate) to They can research or find them I just don't sell danger or illegal spells. You can buy rocket launchers at Walmart either.
I also hate the guy that ask to start a off night game so he can pay a class no one else will run then bail on the game.
Or say that they feel bad and then I see them at a magic/war machine tornament.
Just tell me you have a match, I'll do something else that day.
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People who roll their dice then snatch it back up before anyone even got a look at the results (especially the GM).
We had a player who wasreally bad about tht. He thought he could get away with it because he was the DM's son. Finally, after he "rolled" fifteen nat 20's in a row, we conviced the DM to house rule it so that someone had to watch his rolls to make sure he was getting what he said he did.
Player's who just sit rolling their dice all the time and when the get a really good roll ask if they can keep that roll.
The players in my all-female game do this a lot. One of the few times I enjoy saying "no" to a lady.
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Players who play with their (polyhedral) dice like they're building blocks when it isn't their turn. To the point where they have to get more dice so they can build higher.I'm sorry about that. :) I have a compulsive thing about stacking die, although I use my own. I also square up my PC sheet & Player's Guide with the edge of the table, and then my pencils parallel to the sheet. I never seemed to be disruptive about it, but now maybe the other players and GMs were just being polite.I'm guilty of stacking my dice too.
+3
It doesn't mean I'm not paying attention, I'm just fidgety that way.
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These are all reasons I haven't played in two years now. I've actually run across about a half-dozen groups, but if they weren't discounted because they included junior enlisted, they were discounted because, after observing a single session, I could see many of the peeves aforementioned as common occurrences.
Here's another peeve of mine--
My wife is very attractive, more so than you'd imagine if you saw a picture of me before meeting her; yes, I'm pretty sure she married me for the money, but that's neither here nor there.
Peeve: The player who is otherwise a pretty good chap and gamer, but turns into a 12-year old boy when my wife walks into the room. God help him if he makes any ungentlemanly remarks! Usually, though, it's more along the lines of clumsily spilling his Coke, suddenly trying to be way funnier than he's genetically capable, rolling dice straight off the table--it's all so obvious. Then my wife leaves, having only stopped in to remind me that it's nigh on midnight, hint-hint. We all look at the imbecile, trying to mop up his spilled Coke with an old character record sheet but only managing to spread it around. "What?" he says.
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Players who play with their (polyhedral) dice like they're building blocks when it isn't their turn. To the point where they have to get more dice so they can build higher.I'm sorry about that. :) I have a compulsive thing about stacking die, although I use my own. I also square up my PC sheet & Player's Guide with the edge of the table, and then my pencils parallel to the sheet. I never seemed to be disruptive about it, but now maybe the other players and GMs were just being polite.I'm guilty of stacking my dice too.
+3
It doesn't mean I'm not paying attention, I'm just fidgety that way.
+4
Same here.
I completely forgot to mention 'archetype cliches' - the players that, when playing a certain class/race: behaves a certain way, or take certain things for granted; as a GM it can be frustrating to deal with them, but its almost worse as a player, because your only recourse is to hope the GM has enough sense to curb their enthusiasm, or lack thereof.
<whiny voice> "but that's how you're supposed to play the kender!" </whiny voice> :P
<whiny voice> "but that's how you're supposed to play the kender!" </whiny voice> :P
Oh yes! The guy who thinks 'in character' is an excuse to be annoying.
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This reminds me of another of my pet peeves. Player's who believe that every magic item in the book should be avalible in every village larger than two people. This is not Finla Fantasy where there is a magic shop in every town people!
You can't buy rocket launchers at Walmart either
There are obvious exceptions to the rule, such as the consideration that the world you're playing in is High-Magic friendly; Golarion and Faerun are hugely magical places, I mean, even the Crypt of the Everflame module, a "fake" adventure set up by a bunch of celebrating people from a moderately-sized town is handing out bits of +1 gear fifteen minutes in. Conversely, play a Thayan Red Wizard in FR and laugh maniacally as any spell from your chosen school becomes immediately available to you.
The issue for me isn't really the desire for magic, but the lack of common sense when it comes to obtaining it; like an undeserved sense of entitlement.
But, gentlemen, there is a flipside, which brings me to my next pet peeve:
GMs who outright deny players access to everything (Magic/Feats/Skills) without some long-winded RP effort. Its one thing to say "You take a few weeks to study x, y, or z under the tutelage of some expert or another/establish yourself with the local [your specialty here] community." Its another thing entirely to actually make the level-up process a focus of the game for the next two sessions.
This reminds me of another of my pet peeves. Player's who believe that every magic item in the book should be avalible in every village larger than two people. This is not Finla Fantasy where there is a magic shop in every town people!You can't buy rocket launchers at Walmart eitherThere are obvious exceptions to the rule, such as the consideration that the world you're playing in is High-Magic friendly; Golarion and Faerun are hugely magical places, I mean, even the Crypt of the Everflame module, a "fake" adventure set up by a bunch of celebrating people from a moderately-sized town is handing out bits of +1 gear fifteen minutes in. Conversely, play a Thayan Red Wizard in FR and laugh maniacally as any spell from your chosen school becomes immediately available to you.
The issue for me isn't really the desire for magic, but the lack of common sense when it comes to obtaining it; like an undeserved sense of entitlement.
But, gentlemen, there is a flipside, which brings me to my next pet peeve:
GMs who outright deny players access to everything (Magic/Feats/Skills) without some long-winded RP effort. Its one thing to say "You take a few weeks to study x, y, or z under the tutelage of some expert or another/establish yourself with the local [your specialty here] community." Its another thing entirely to actually make the level-up process a focus of the game for the next two sessions.
I completely agree.
This reminds me of another of my pet peeves. Player's who believe that every magic item in the book should be avalible in every village larger than two people. This is not Finla Fantasy where there is a magic shop in every town people!You can't buy rocket launchers at Walmart eitherThere are obvious exceptions to the rule, such as the consideration that the world you're playing in is High-Magic friendly; Golarion and Faerun are hugely magical places, I mean, even the Crypt of the Everflame module, a "fake" adventure set up by a bunch of celebrating people from a moderately-sized town is handing out bits of +1 gear fifteen minutes in. Conversely, play a Thayan Red Wizard in FR and laugh maniacally as any spell from your chosen school becomes immediately available to you.
The issue for me isn't really the desire for magic, but the lack of common sense when it comes to obtaining it; like an undeserved sense of entitlement.
But, gentlemen, there is a flipside, which brings me to my next pet peeve:
GMs who outright deny players access to everything (Magic/Feats/Skills) without some long-winded RP effort. Its one thing to say "You take a few weeks to study x, y, or z under the tutelage of some expert or another/establish yourself with the local [your specialty here] community." Its another thing entirely to actually make the level-up process a focus of the game for the next two sessions.
My question, then, is what should happen instead? I understand that these are two extremes, but there is very little wiggle room presented here. There was an excellent article on how to roleplay new abilities and trips to the "supermarket" a few years back...I'll post it if I can find it. Of course, that may be a topic for another thread, this one is more for venting than anything else.
I had a long post and it got lost.... D:
I have to mention three things:
1) When GMs think pathfinder is 3.5 and have only skimmed over the book. The time comes for a new mechanic of the game to kick in, and they have no clue about it, and instead of craking the book, they immediately revert to 3.5 rules.
I havestood up and walked out on a game when the GM didn't want to use CMB or CMD because "it's too complicated". Yes, I am serious. There isn't a point in playing pathfinder or even caling it that if all it's 3.5 with new races.
2) I am calling this out too, sneaking NDS or PSP handheld consoles to the table and playing them during adventuring. The intense seen comes and everyone is on the edge of their seat, and "that guy" has to be told it's his turn because he has to catch a stupid pokemon or something. The whole game grinds to a halt as either "that guy" has to be updated or an arguement breaks out as other players and GM get pissed at "that guy" for breaking the tenaciously built mood.
3) Whenever a player is dying and goes into suicidal kamakaze because they're bitter that they wandered off to get moreloot for themselves and brought back trouble. Now they're near death and what do they do? Point blank friendly fire. Clerics using inflict that ends up killing more friends then monsters or sorcerers throwing fireballs to hit one foe and three allies.
Don't get me wrong, there are situations that warrant these actions. Most of us are the kind of players that would bring you back to town, not the loot your corpse and leave your body to rot kind. Trying to take out everyone with you because you're bitter and board or trying to have it all to yourself tends end karmically.
In rare occasions I've seen a handful of dice throw at the dying kamaze player after they survived, then proceded to loot the dead ally trying to save them.
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I'm surprised that this hasn't been covered yet, but what about table-space hogs? This ties in with the laptop and millions-of-dice pet peeves. Players who take up so much room on the table that others can't see or reach the battlemat. Players who compulsively have all their books, binders, character sheets, dice, drinks, food and other gaming paraphernalia spread out around them because God forbid they have to reach under their chair or in their bag for something. Players who have so much gaming flotsam floating around them that they need their own table to set everything up on. When the GM needs to switch out battlemats it's a complete production to get all their junk off the mat (where it never belonged in the first place but inevitably sprawls there). Whew, that feels better now...
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Basically, what bothers me the most is the attitude that it's the GM's job to entertain the players and it's the players' job to sit back and be passively entertained, as opposed to the idea that everyone gets to have fun at the game session, including the GM, and that everyone shares the responsibility to make that happen.
It seems to me that when players treat going to a game session like going to a movie, it leads to a lot of the complaints described here, from zoning out on the parts that don't interest them and/or playing video games to whining when things don't go exactly as the players would like. If players take greater ownership over everyone's fun, they get more involved with the story and include elements that interest them rather than complaining that they're missing.
Also, if a player's first thought is "how can I make the game better for everyone?" rather than "how can I make the game better for my character?" it reduces the impulse to spotlight-hog or to try to "beat" the GM.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Guys who think girls can't understand the game and either need their constant help or makes fun of every tiny mistake made.On that same note, guys who "rescue" the gal player(s) ... even though she's better at handling the situation and has been playing years longer than they've been ;p
Luckily for me, only hit that at Cons or in MMORPGs, but makes me always want to stick their dice bag where the sun don't shine.
Funny story
First encounter with undead, the halfling sisters realize they're way outclassed (swords and daggers vs Dr 5/bludgeoning?) The ranger was also in trouble, but not as bad. I took command, in character. "Herrod, go help our ranger. I will save the halflings."
Later, the sisters got trapped on the other side of a spiked pit (crawlspace only small creatures could get through was the other way around the pit) I get ready to make my jump check saying "I will save the halflings... again."
It became a running gag, saving the halflings from themselves. Even to the point where the few times they could have escaped on their own, we saved them. Our characters even made little pins they'd wear like medals. The 'save the halfling' award.
Pet peeves:
players wanting to abandon the plot just to irritate the DM.
DMs who can't handle anything but the railroad.
Chaotic Neutral = screw over other PCs.
When we play at Tony's there's a dead zone, so cells don't work.
I have grown a great disdain toward people who play top-tier classes, then proceed to gloat about how much damage they do during combat, when in reality...they aren't
e.g. the egocentric sorceror who spams the hell out of a magic missile beacuase it always hits then don't really do much else in combat, maybe cast a mage armor or two, then they just sit there until combat ends.
players who refuse to see the negative, or lack of impact they have on the party
let's see....
player 1:"I don't like the looks of this dungeoun you guys..."
player 2:"don't you want extra EXP?"
player 1:"ummm...it's WAY too quiet in there"
player 2:"don't be a chicken!"
player 1: I just rolled a 34 on an auditory perception check and heard nothing and let's not forget, this is a dungeon"
rest of party:"yeah dude, player 1 has a point"
player 2:"well you guys can wait here if you want, I'm gonna go get loot and EXP"
five rounds later
player 2: WASP SWARM, RUN!!!!!!!
Basically, what bothers me the most is the attitude that it's the GM's job to entertain the players...
+1
Biggest Pet Peeve: NOT BEING THERE (either physically or mentally)
As a gamer (both GM and player), I REALLY enjoy these opportunities to submerse myself in an alternate reality/character, and (as has been mentioned by others) folks who: 1) no show/no call; 2) are constantly late/leave early; 3) sleep/play video games/text, etc during the game really annoy me.
Along those lines, the player (or God help them, the DM) who constantly, in the middle of the combat/story, interrupts with, "Oh, this reminds of the time in that campaign where..." -- suggesting that HIS game was WAY more interesting then the one we are currently in.
And folks who table-top game as though they were playing WoW, Halo, etc. -- people, this is NOT a 1st person shooter game, where the only goal is to kill stuff, take loot, and gain power. That's why it's spelled "role-playing, NOT "roll-playing". Story lines, NPC interactions, following the plot without a ring through your nose, party unity, etc, are prety important parts of the game for me.
And lastly, speaking of party unity, the player that ALWAYS has to be center-stage is annoying as hell. We have different classes, skills, etc, for a reason; my fave games are the ones where every player gets a chance to shine, and there is a sense of accomplishement when the campaign's goal is met, and that it couldn't have been done without all our help.
Thanks for letting me rant!
<dissassembles his soapbox>
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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True Story:
When I was in college, there was a long-running D&D campaign with Too Many Players (I think there were 8 - 10) and so a couple of us, with the DM's blessing, calved off and went our own way. (The party had been assigned eight great quests. We jst thought it would be more time-effective if we handled one or two of them.)
That DM graduated, and I took over running The Big Group, which had grown some more and was up to 12 players. Now, if you've ever been in one of the big Organized Play "Battle Interactives," you know that combat can get pretty complicated. And this was AD&D, where you didn't need miniatures and a battlemat, and I didn't tend to use them.
So, I announce that Bad Guy #7 acts, and atacks W.'s character, and W. immediately says, in a tense voice, "He'd ALREADY gone. I haven't had a TURN!" Everybody freezes. And I look, and she is right, and I apologize and life goes on.
After the game session, one of the other players mentions, "Good survival instincts there, Chris."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Oh, didn't you hear? Last year, W. went after the DM with a weapon."
"No. No, I hadn't heard. Um, do you have any details?"
"Well, the Big Party had split into two groups, and W. was in a group that was trying to gather information in a tavern. Everybody's character started to get woozy, and they realized that they'd been drugged. W. thought they were going to be sold to slavers, and didn't like that, and, well, do you remember the 'main gauche'?"
"Sure." She had been on the college fencing team, and had a weapon --epee, I believe-- snap off about a foot from the bell. Not wanting to waste a perfectly good off-hand weapon, W. had filed and polished the broken weapon down to a dagger with an overlarge hilt, which she carried around campus. (It was the 80's; nobody minded; other students had shiruken, nunchuku, and butterfly knives in their dorm rooms.)
"Well, she grabbed the weapon and rushed over to the DM and grabbed him by the hair and was going to stab him in the chest or the throat."
Another player piped up. "Yeah, it was at that time that I came back into the room from the vending machines, and I thought W. was demonstrating what her character was doing, and I sat down and that's when I noticed how tense the room was, and that T. was hiding behind the curtains, and how the DM was doing a great job of being inconspicuous, and how R. was trying to reassure her that nobody was going to take her blade away, and she should just sit back down and everything would be fine. Really? Nobody told you any of this?"
"Um no. Not at all. Huhn. That exlains why W. missed a couple of weeks of class, then?"
"Yeah, she went away for a while after that."
So, I hate players who forget to inform me when there's someone at the table capable of murder should her character get in trouble.
Basically, what bothers me the most is the attitude that it's the GM's job to entertain the players and it's the players' job to sit back and be passively entertained, as opposed to the idea that everyone gets to have fun at the game session, including the GM, and that everyone shares the responsibility to make that happen.
It seems to me that when players treat going to a game session like going to a movie, it leads to a lot of the complaints described here, from zoning out on the parts that don't interest them and/or playing video games to whining when things don't go exactly as the players would like. If players take greater ownership over everyone's fun, they get more involved with the story and include elements that interest them rather than complaining that they're missing.
Also, if a player's first thought is "how can I make the game better for everyone?" rather than "how can I make the game better for my character?" it reduces the impulse to spotlight-hog or to try to "beat" the GM.
+1...
Another peeve - Playing famous characters any denying it when it's blatently obvious, and then stopping the game to fact check every little thing it the campaign setting. Yes, I'm pointing my finger at the canonizing players who have read every forgotten realms book ever and make it a point to have a fit if you don't drop their favorite character in and play them how the fan wants it played.
"I'm a drow ranger that dual wields frost scimitars, but I'm not "him" because I have a spider monkey for an animal compainion." Just admit it, you're playing "that FR guy". If all the detail of your character matches the books, give it up. Otherwise we'll keep calling you Drizzt the rest of the night.