DMing is a lot of work.
...I'm a little floored at the number of people who can't bring their own dice, though. This isn't preschool. Everyone should contribute.
Perhaps there should be some "Basic Etiquette Guidelines for the Gaming Table" published somewhere. A list of "10 Top Guidelines" (people like Top 10 Lists) that could be part of a DM Screen, or as a hand-out.
This isn't to be mean or rude, or a means to bypass basic communication. Many gamers just prefer clear communication and rules.
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You ever notice that the players that complain the most and give you the most hassle, are the ones that never DM or if they do thay put the least amount of effort into it.
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My Expectations as a GM...
1. I don't mind corrections, but I do mind derailing. If we can't find a rule for something right now, I will arbitrate something that seems fair, and we'll look it up at downtime. Also, be respectful. Your being impolite just means I (and everyone else) are less likely to listen.
2. Have your actions ready on your turn. If you cannot, I'll assume your character is going on full defense for the round.
3. Prepare spammy, or mechanically complex aspects ahead of time. This includes summons, wild shape effects, and having such things as spells on-hand. If you need help, say so. It's likely another player will be willing to pitch in and help you learn.
4. Your sheets are open. I can call on them any time. My calling on them is not necessarily a statement of a lack of faith in you--rather, it is part of what goes into ensuring the game as a whole is fair for everyone. For instance, your interpretation of a rule may not be mine, and you deserve to know that. Also, other players assume I have this oversight. It makes it at least "feel" more fair for everyone, and that's important.
5. Respect others. From showing up on time to general attitude, be respectful. This is a group of friends, first. If it isn't, why are we here and why am I GMing?
6. Contribute equally to group resources. This includes things like snacks, or if there is one, a "dice pool." No one person should have to shoulder the financial burden. If you are unable, talk with the group and find another way to contribute. Our group may have a sign-up sheet to help organize this. If so, you're expected to use it, too.
7. Share the spotlight. If the spotlight shines on one character one time, be patient that it will shine on you the next time. If it doesn't, talk with me. Don't try to force the issue on your own, and don't take the 'light away from other players.
8. Be respectful to the person whose house it is. Everyone helps during table cleanup. We want to be invited back.
9. Thank your GM, and the other players. This doesn't have to be something outright, but remembering to say, "I enjoyed the adventure!" can go a long way. Plus, it feels really great when someone says, "Bob really mauled that beholder! Way to go!" So, consider doing this from time to time.
10. In sum, don't be a jerk. Conduct yourself in a way that's respectful of those around you, and be that person that others want to see at the gaming table next time, not the one they don't.
...someone else might boil this down into a "Top 10 List" style. I tend to get a bit wordy!
Also. To all the GMs out there, "Thank you!!!" You really do make a difference. :)
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I have been pretty blessed as a GM with players who are generally mature, responsible, decent, appreciative and socially appropriate (don't smell, don't get drunk, etc.)
So maybe my input is not meaningful if your situations involves childish, rude, smelly and drunk players. I don't think I'd put up with that as a GM, but luckily I haven't had to.
There is no way to "appreciate" a GM's work appropriately. I always make it a point to thank the GM and do my best to single out at least one thing the GM did during the session that I thought made the session more fun, interesting and/or memorable.
"Hey, thanks for the session, I know it's a lot of work to do for us. I especially liked the way you set up the second encounter and the tactical challenges the archers on ledges presented." etc. etc...
When I GM I do my best to just provide the group with an opportunity to have fun. If the game goes well and people have a good time, I get all the "appreciation" I need just from the realization that my game allowed the group to escape from reality for a bit and exercise their imagination and socialize with their friends. If someone actually expresses appreciation for my efforts, that's just gravy.
I have one player who is never prepared. He's not really into the nuts and bolts of the game. He forgets his dice, forgets to level up his character, forgets to write things on his character sheet, etc. So I just bring extra dice, extra miniatures and keep a spare character sheet available for him. Then we just play. He contributes during the game and is a good friend, and the bottom line is the game is all about getting our group of friends together.
Of course we're all a bunch of old married guys with children, wives, mortgages, layoffs and economic distress. Just getting out and spending a couple hours away from all that is usually enough for us to enjoy the afternoon or evening.
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The thing that tends to bug me the most is when I as GM get blamed for players behaving like idiots.
Recently: Half the group showed up an hour late. I had 3 out of 5 players spend in total over an hour arguing about what they considered to be honorable behavior. They also split up into 3 different groups wandering around the city. I kept trying to end the day and move on since nothing was going to happen. They were trying to force something to happen. In two 4 hour sessions, they haven't made it as far as I expected them to get the first session. Then I heard complaints that they didn't make any progress, it was too slow, we didn't get enough XP.
Previous campaign: The party went and told the constable they had attacked and killed half the people in a legal business (it was a slaving operation, but legal in that city) and that they were going back to kill the rest of them. They were upset with me for constable going to try to arrest them.
I have spent hours building worlds and scenery that no one ever cared about.
I have probably spent years of my life creating worlds that my players don't care about.
My own mistake really. I game with with people who are not readers. They are part of the console gaming generation and they experienced console RPGs before they ever experience PnP RPGs.
They actually experienced JRPGs before WRPGs, so the damage was doubly done.
Now, only recently did I kind of realize this and I have become a "dungeon crawl" DM.
Truth is, everyone at the table is having more fun.
I'm putting all the work I used to put into detailing dwarven funerary practices into devious encounters, traps, and puzzles.
Right now my players are hiding in an extradimensional space in a dungeon with the cleric needing 2 days of sleep just to wake up and start healing (he's at -9).
So I USED to feel under appreciated, but it was a disconnect between what my players wanted and what I wanted. I adjusted my wants to be in line with theirs and I no longer feel so wasted all the time.
Now, only recently did I kind of realize this and I have become a "dungeon crawl" DM.
Truth is, everyone at the table is having more fun.
I'm putting all the work I used to put into detailing dwarven funerary practices into devious encounters, traps, and puzzles.
Right now my players are hiding in an extradimensional space in a dungeon with the cleric needing 2 days of sleep just to wake up and start healing (he's at -9).
So I USED to feel under appreciated, but it was a disconnect between what my players wanted and what I wanted. I adjusted my wants to be in line with theirs and I no longer feel so wasted all the time.
It's good that this worked out for you, but this isn't necessarily good general advice. I don't think that I would be air o make that transition, for instance. But I'm a fiend for stuff like dwarves funeral rites, so ...
It's good that this worked out for you, but this isn't necessarily good general advice. I don't think that I would be air o make that transition, for instance. But I'm a fiend for stuff like dwarves funeral rites, so ...Now, only recently did I kind of realize this and I have become a "dungeon crawl" DM.
Truth is, everyone at the table is having more fun.
I'm putting all the work I used to put into detailing dwarven funerary practices into devious encounters, traps, and puzzles.
Right now my players are hiding in an extradimensional space in a dungeon with the cleric needing 2 days of sleep just to wake up and start healing (he's at -9).
So I USED to feel under appreciated, but it was a disconnect between what my players wanted and what I wanted. I adjusted my wants to be in line with theirs and I no longer feel so wasted all the time.
My end goal is to try and weave my story/setting stuff better into the dungeon.
Like right now they're in a ruined dwarven mining fortress. There is a tomb in this fortress. If they find it (it's hidden), they will learn about dwarven funerary rights by seeing it first hand.
I'm hoping it makes the setting stuff "stick" a little more, since they'll see it in practice.
For what it is worth asking for simple courtesy is the best approach. And yes we have all been there. Before the next game sit down with your table of friends and explain to them that cancelling is okay (we all have lives) but if it is at all possible to cancel earlier rather than later it will save a great deal of irritation and frustration on your part. (no one wants an irritated GM as that leads to TPKs and other nastiness) try to keep it light but also point out how you spend a lot of time planing the game ahead of time and if you know that a game night is going to be scrubbed it frees you up to study, watch a movie or what ever else you might want to do.
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Fleshgrinder... I hear you.
I am a world builder. I have notebooks full of material detailing my campaign. Recently I've been putting it online at my gaming blog. I still have reams and reams of stuff to put online. My gaming world has entire royal families, at one point I had an army of dragons, each named and statted out, over a hundred individual dragons. I had detailed maps with one particular subterranean complex filling up over 20 notebook pages.
Then I started making miniatures. Dozens and dozens of miniatures. Lately I've started making terrain. I use Hirst casting molds to cast blocks and create caverns, castles, etc. In fact I am in the process of packing up my gaming room for a (I hope) move to a new house and I've got seven boxes of gaming stuff already, and I haven't even touched my miniatures, Hirst blocks, pre-made terrain etc.
In all honesty, the majority of the stuff I've made has never seen game action. Not the maps, not the minis, not the terrain. I make it faster than I can play it.
But you know, I make it for myself really. Maybe when I retire I can run campaigns for the local gamers and I'll have years and years of material ready for them. I can't believe that maps, miniatures or terrain will ever be obsolete.
So I do it for the next generation.
Really I do. :)
AD that is so sick.
Grimmy, yah, but it's a cool sickness. As my wife says, it's better than gambling, whoring or doing drugs.
Not much better maybe, but better.
It does provide a very rich level of verisimilitude when I can pull out a miniature of the Lord's evil twin brother who lives in this other castle I just happen to have a map of (but haven't yet built out in 3D.... yet).
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I definitely hear you about "doing it for myself."
If I didn't enjoy the act of being a DM, and world building, and encounter building ect I wouldn't be doing it.
I wrote up the bloody breeding cycles for every intelligent race in my campaign just because I found the subject interesting and rarely touched on (do YOU have any idea how many Kender are born in a litter? I don't).
I just wish my players had SOME interest in the campaign stuff.
The level of apathy my current players display when it comes to anything approaching roleplaying is depressing to say the least.
I'm almost considering throwing hero points and RP XP rewards in just to sort of give them an incentive because I think they'd enjoy it.
Sorry, I talk like a teenager still. I meant "that is so awesome"
And that was before I even looked at the blog and saw your terrain. I just meant the fact you have notebooks full of setting and maps.
Grimmy, yah, but it's a cool sickness. As my wife says, it's better than gambling, whoring or doing drugs.
Not much better maybe, but better.
It does provide a very rich level of verisimilitude when I can pull out a miniature of the Lord's evil twin brother who lives in this other castle I just happen to have a map of (but haven't yet built out in 3D.... yet).
It sounds like your wife is a bit cooler about it then some, but honestly, it's not a vice it's a virtue.
Grimmy, the little fragment of map that I use as a blog banner is the very first map I drew of my campaign world back in 1982, if my memory is accurate. I have since scanned it and traced it using computer art progarms that let me zoom and pan as I like, but I still have a soft spot for that old low tech hand drawn stuff...
It looks great, I've been agonizing over maps for months, trying to find a style that's just right. I want the right balance of old-school charm, functionality, and a little bit of the wow factor that you can get with digital.
Notes to self
1. Thank most of my players for being really, really awesome.
2. Find my way to a game DM'd by AD!
I have had problem players but thankfully I haven't had nearly the trouble many of you seem to have. I run chat and play by post games, so I occasionally have problems with people missing mysteriously, but for the most part my players have been great. People miss on occasion, with work or school or just life interfering, but I almost always get warning and if not at least an apology. The players seem moderately interested in the world, and very interested in the game, and while there are always things that go wrong for the most part I've been incredibly lucky with the things that have gone right.
Something I heard from a GM once who also ran LARPs. He said that LARPS were twice the work as a tabletop with half the reward.
Twice?! Half?! ... less a factor of two and more a factor of ten to twenty, most of the time.
I'm fortunate in that I know a LOT of gamers. I get to both play with and GM for some really good folks these days, but I can sympathize with almost everything in this thread. Most especially the insane addiction of world building. =)
-TimD
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I feel ya OP. Sometimes i wish I could throw my players off the balcony I get so frustrated at them.
My players these days consist of 1 powergamer who min-maxes way too much to be efficient and his wife that doesn't even know how the game works (like "which dice do i roll to hit". This is after playing for 3 years, 3 YEARS!). A family member of mine who thinks it is his job to argue about every single DM call anyone makes, ever(not just when I DM). For weeks. He also enjoys making characters that don't fit with the group and makes every one of his characters paranoid to the point of it being a psychosis as a bonus. A friend of mine who is nice but couldn't RP his way out of a wet paper bag (Does not really bother me though). Lastly all my players complain there is not enough storyline/RP, but then when I make a campaign that is purely political instead of RP'ing it has been "Well my diplomacy check was a 30 that should get whatever i need right"?
I used to have more players but I have stopped inviting them due to paying more attention to iphones and netbooks than what was going on in game. That and I can never get anyone to arrive on time. We have been gaming at 6pm on saturday for the past 7 years, but every week I still get asked (and respond) with what time we get together, and everyone is still 30 min to 2 hours late.
/endrant
Tell me about it. No really, tell me about it. It would make me feel marginally better to know I'm not the only one. Two of my players just cancelled on today's session with abolutely pathetic reasons. Reason A: "I've got a sore knee". Reason B: "I've got a house inspection tomorrow". I'm almost certain that the real reason in both cases is that they are just too damn lazy to get out of bed.
I think a lot of players don't really realise how much preparation it takes to make a roleplaying campaign happen. I spent about 6 hours yesterday drawing maps, making notes, and printing out handouts, then another 3 hours this morning transferring their character sheets from an illegible scrawl. All for them to just flake out and forget to show up. I've been DMing for about 15 years, and been with this same group for about 5 years. What does it take to make them realise how much work goes into this stuff? I love doing it, but sometimes I feel so taken for granted.
Lot of laziness out there bob. There there owlbear, there there *pat pat*.
You can be so excited, ready, eager to get started, and they can sometimes not arrive, or come ridiculously late. Reasons will be poor more often than not.
Some of my new players are alright though. They are learning the game and quicker to pick it up than some. Matthias, I know that feel bro.
I feel ya OP. Sometimes i wish I could throw my players off the balcony I get so frustrated at them.
My players these days consist of 1 powergamer who min-maxes way too much to be efficient and his wife that doesn't even know how the game works (like "which dice do i roll to hit". This is after playing for 3 years, 3 YEARS!). A family member of mine who thinks it is his job to argue about every single DM call anyone makes, ever(not just when I DM). For weeks. He also enjoys making characters that don't fit with the group and makes every one of his characters paranoid to the point of it being a psychosis as a bonus. A friend of mine who is nice but couldn't RP his way out of a wet paper bag (Does not really bother me though). Lastly all my players complain there is not enough storyline/RP, but then when I make a campaign that is purely political instead of RP'ing it has been "Well my diplomacy check was a 30 that should get whatever i need right"?
I used to have more players but I have stopped inviting them due to paying more attention to iphones and netbooks than what was going on in game. That and I can never get anyone to arrive on time. We have been gaming at 6pm on saturday for the past 7 years, but every week I still get asked (and respond) with what time we get together, and everyone is still 30 min to 2 hours late./endrant
The technology, yes! I've seen games slowed to a crawl with players who didn't know what was going on, because they were playing steam games or mobile phone games, or on facebook. Pen and paper can be really hindered by high tech and other entertainments. This was seriously a big issue in a game I previously played in. Dm didn't want to come down on people, but he eventually got quite annoyed (mmmm I love being right, lol).
In my current game, it has worked out tech wise. People can bring their laptops, some keep their chars on them. They don't play other games on them, and the use of phones is discouraged. I've got some decent players as I said, but it was some of the older roleplayers in my last game and a gf of one of them, that had no respect for the dm and the other players present (largish party).
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First of all Shifty, Like good GMs always do, you know where to look for and utilize the right tools and resources for the situation. You couldn't have picked a better venue to vent or seek commiseration and counsel than this forum -- that alone I'd place as a testament to your likely skill as a GM.
YES. I'd reckon almost all but the most fortunate GMs feel this way from time to time, (though to varying degrees of legitimacy and intensity) -- The phrases "Heavy wears the Crown" comes to mind here, as does "With great power comes great responsibility" -- GMs have to realize and insulate themselves or develop coping mechanisms that come with the particular burden in doing what it is we love. Because while everybody at that table is there to have a good time, and there are fewer hobbyists more devoted than GMs -- there is no denying that our roles are analogous to being the daddies or the mommies in our gaming groups... Daddies and mommies, by definition, perform labors of love and can even taken for granted by the 'kin' who love us back, much less the folks who are insensitive to our burdens or flat out are taking us for granted (I haven't had many if any such folks at my table, but to deny their existence would be foolish) -- Our best friends who share our campaigns no doubt appreciate us for the most part, and to the extent they don't, they will when they remember fondly all those epic adventures. Such is the way of things. So hopefully this paragraph serves to tell you -- YES. Your pain is shared, identified with, and hopefully diffused for you knowing it's not alone your cross to bear. Our players are as children in the fields of our creation -- and to an extent it is their abandon in it that gives us the most pleasure. It's only when they take it for granted or don't show up and the newly cleaned sandbox lies fallow that their abandon may smart a bit!
There may or may not be steps you can take to improve things, and I am sure there is PLENTY in the thread preceding this post to that effect. My best suggestions are letting those in your gaming group know you felt slighted (it really doesn't do well to stew over these slights, or suffer in silence, and regardless of whether it was foul or just thoughtless you give it a little platform, so they know you minded, and you make it about respect. Those who are not beyond redemption will get the point.
It probably isn't an issue but you've said you've needed to go on hiatus or take breaks -- do you think you've ever left your gaming group jonesing without an outlet or high and dry? Not that I'd suggest your group were being punitive, but you may seek solace in the idea that perhaps you're not the only one in your group that ever felt like you have when you posted, especially if you have players who have more than once curried your favor and attention to run a game for them. You may not be the only person (by whim or obligation) to be out in the cold ever, is all.
If your feelings of being unappreciated persist, My best advice is to seek another gaming group through the message boards at your local game stores -- both to be a player at other people's games, or perhaps to CAREFULLY AND WITH DISCERNMENT cultivate another group of players to run for. I expect one of two most likely results, both of which are win-win:
1) You find that the other GM has is SOOOO much worse than you do, or the folks you tried to run for, as discriminating as you were, are simply fit for little more than slapping each other with hot mops. You can return to your gaming group and appreciate, despite travails, how good you actually have it....
OR
2) You discover you're really enjoying a vacation as a player in somebody else's world, and giving THAT GM the perfect and appreciative player that we GMs so often can move ourselves to be -- concerned with story, heavy to role-play, and into creating synergy at the table. Conversely if you've decided to GM for new folks rather than be a player elsewhere, you may find your new group a better audience and players for your craft, and you either won't miss your formers, or they'll be better for being injected into your new dynamic where your standards can be, and are, a bit higher.
In any case, keep up the good work, fight the good fight, and know you ARE appreciated. By your players, AND your community. I salute you.
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Oh yeah! Forgot to add... if you feel like your preparation pearls are being cast before swine... PHONE IT IN SOMEWHAT! Don't put so much work into stage dressing, try to play it a little more fast and loose, and maybe spend a few sessions making the best use of random tables and generators, and test your GM mastery acumen by paying great attention to all that random s~&+ and in so doing, see the patterns that allow you to knit various patterns into some semblance of continuity. Your players will be amazed, and you will not have had to work so hard!
Loyalist.... TELL ME that you never tried lying to them that the game was actually at 6:30 so the people who arrive half an hour late arrive on time?
As a sidenote, I'm one of those people who even though I know the game is at seven, I always ask -- because I never want the host to think I'm inviting myself over or taking them for granted. I know it's retarded, but some of those folks have their heart in the right place, we're just not tea-time styled folks or cavalier about when we arrive even if we're confident we're expected.
I had a frequent guest who I nicknamed (privately) "The Vampire" -- because it was friggin' RIDICULOUS... he KNEW when the game was, he KNEW he was welcome. He always called ahead and asked "wassup" until I asked him if he'd like to come over and game with us. He NEVER offered to join us out of some weird social complexity. (Diamond of a guy though!)
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Tell me about it. No really, tell me about it. It would make me feel marginally better to know I'm not the only one. Two of my players just cancelled on today's session with abolutely pathetic reasons. Reason A: "I've got a sore knee". Reason B: "I've got a house inspection tomorrow". I'm almost certain that the real reason in both cases is that they are just too damn lazy to get out of bed.
I think a lot of players don't really realise how much preparation it takes to make a roleplaying campaign happen. I spent about 6 hours yesterday drawing maps, making notes, and printing out handouts, then another 3 hours this morning transferring their character sheets from an illegible scrawl. All for them to just flake out and forget to show up. I've been DMing for about 15 years, and been with this same group for about 5 years. What does it take to make them realise how much work goes into this stuff? I love doing it, but sometimes I feel so taken for granted.
I'm popular, but I should be charging money for what I provide as a free service.
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Naaa, I wouldn't turn it into a wage thing. People might start getting narky like entitled consumers if you did.
I paid you money, I expect to level this session and always win!
Keep it a game and labour of love, not for profit.
I only ever feel a bit under-appreciated when it comes to having players constantly show up late - there is this measurable thing that happens with my group:
We set a schedule based on when everyone will be typically available, and every shows up on time for at least a few weeks...
One night the game gets bumped a little later (not re-scheduled, mind you, just someone ends up running late - like being stuck at work with an unruly customer/client or something), and that flips the switch.
From then until the next time we sit down and decide what day and time a game will take place, the regular schedule means nothing and everyone shows up at whatever slightly later than scheduled time we started the game the one night someone was running late for a valid reason.
Our 11 pm schedule because 11:20 pm by necessity one week, and for the six months since then we haven't started a single session before 11:30 - all because of "logic" like "well, I figured why leave the house before Player D gets out of work..."
...it's like all of the players are trying to avoid spending any time at all seated at the table outside of game time.
I tend to remember, however, that while table-top RPGs are my go-to hobby and my number 1 passtime, that the same does not hold true for most of the players in my group - which means they can't possibly see how sitting at home playing League of Legends another match instead of showing up early to a game might be dissapointing to me.
Ugh, my main group has dealt with this for years. Same thing; we started out with a nice, consistent start time. One week, someone had to work late, so we started a little later than usual, and for the following 8 years we don't start until at least 30 minutes to an hour later than the scheduled arrival/start time.
We have one player in particular, who for whatever reason beyond all logic and comprehension, absolutely CANNOT arrive on time. He can't do it. It's like there's some trigger in his head that forces him to be 30 minutes late for every single thing he does. It doesn't matter if he leaves his house at 5:00 and the game doesn't start til 7:00, somehow, someway, he will not arrive until 7:30. It's been brought up dozens of times.
I think I figured it out though. In all our groups, for the first couple of minutes when the players all arrive, everyone socializes a bit with non-game related conversation. We share what happened earlier this week, what cool show someone saw on TV, what game so and so just bought, etc. So, our perpetually late gamer guy figures that by arriving late, he's just skipping the initial greeting, welcome conversation. But, it doesn't work out that way. Instead of missing it, he just delays it to start when he gets there; he has his own stories to share of the past week's occurrences, what game he bought, etc. It's maddening.
We have one player in particular, who for whatever reason beyond all logic and comprehension, absolutely CANNOT arrive on time. He can't do it. It's like there's some trigger in his head that forces him to be 30 minutes late for every single thing he does. It doesn't matter if he leaves his house at 5:00 and the game doesn't start til 7:00, somehow, someway, he will not arrive until 7:30. It's been brought up dozens of times.
Give that guy a (fake) starting time of 06:30. Should work.
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Start without him.
A few time have a quick immediate fight that he doesn't get any xps since he wasn't there.
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Naaa, I wouldn't turn it into a wage thing. People might start getting narky like entitled consumers if you did.
As opposed to how many players treat the GM now.
We have one player in particular, who for whatever reason beyond all logic and comprehension, absolutely CANNOT arrive on time. ...... I think I figured it out though.
That guy's a dick?
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Ahmen brother. In my group, we play at my house, use my books, my models, I bring pizza EVERY TIME, and the only thing they bother to bring is dice. At one point, one of them wanted me to drive all the way into Toronto (roughly an hour and a half long trip) and buy him a new model with my money because he was unhappy with the model that was available. Then they have the gaul to get mad at ME when I want to switch things up a bit. When I brought up the aforementioned things I had one of them say to me with a completely straight face 'those are all unimportant'.
To quote penny arcade: 'players are vampires'.
Most gaming groups I have DM'd for fit the words of the Smashing Pumpkins best...
the world (gaming group) is a vampire, sent to drain
secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
and what do i get, for my pain
betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
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Naaa, I wouldn't turn it into a wage thing. People might start getting narky like entitled consumers if you did.
I paid you money, I expect to level this session and always win!
Keep it a game and labour of love, not for profit.
Well, there is a professional DM who companies hire to improve the teamwork of some of their Employees. That's what I am referring to.
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I used to feel bothered by irresponsible players before, and was constantly angry and distressed. Then i realized that those people ruined my fun, and worse, disrespected my efforts. I have several simple rules:
1. No phones on the table. We all put our phones in a bowl near the table.
2. Computers except for mine cannot have internet, unless it is in my house where i resume to block all websites except PRD.
3. No out of game talk except on breaks.
4. If i see that players are behaving badly, i ask if i am doing something wrong and if they are having fun. If the answer is that i am doing things ok, i pack up and leave. I do not tolerate lollygagging.
5. I end the session immediately when i notice that their attention has dropped enough. We also make breaks every two-three hours for OOG talk and smokes and stuff.
6. If i catch anyone playing a game on their computer, that player goes home immediately.
7. If a player wants to bring a guest, he must inform me first. If that guest proceeds to be a nuisance, i ask them to leave. (if the aforementioned guest is a kid...well damn. We weather it's behavior and ask the player not to bring their kid to the session anymore. We actualy ended up paying for one guys babysitter)
8. Session begins at a precisely determined time, agreed upon a week before that (usualy on the previous session), arrivals for another half hour are tolerated. If a player phones in and says that he will be late, it's ok. Arrive late three times to my session and you're out of the game.
9. A player must inform us that he will not be coming at least a full 24 hours before the session, with the exception of unforseen events. If a player doesn't come to the session and does not inform us of it, he is out of the game.
10. I have spare dice for diceless players. I loan them for several sessions, until that player buys his own or the group buys them a set (we do this as a welcome present). If he forgets to bring them, he cannot use dice for that session.
11. Whiners are sent home.
12. No significant others who do not play.
It works surprisingly well, considering that nobody has complained thus far. I present every newcomer with these rules.
We have one player in particular, who for whatever reason beyond all logic and comprehension, absolutely CANNOT arrive on time. He can't do it. It's like there's some trigger in his head that forces him to be 30 minutes late for every single thing he does. It doesn't matter if he leaves his house at 5:00 and the game doesn't start til 7:00, somehow, someway, he will not arrive until 7:30. It's been brought up dozens of times.Give that guy a (fake) starting time of 06:30. Should work.
Nope. That's one of the ways our game time fell to 7:00 in the first place. Used to be 6:00.
I keep a tube of large (30ish mm) purple dice on hand for anyone that leaves their dice behind (once had a player drive 400 miles to game with us for a long weekend...expressly to game mind you...and forgot his dice). Forget dice at my house and someone will invariably shout "bring out the Dumb Tube!"
I love to obsess over silly things like handouts, NPC personalities, and descriptions of monsters and opponents that don't involve the classic "you see four orcs." But in play...my handouts tend to maybe get a cursory glance before they are burried beneath a mountain of nerd offal, my well cared for NPCs end up being far less interesting than a random scullery maid or street urchin made up on the fly (who then becomes a group favorite/mascot for an entire campaign), and despite how cinematic my description of a foe is..."yeah they're just orcs guys...I'm gonna hit the mook over there on the left."
It's all part and parcel of the task of GM'ing. That being said, rude or disrespectful attitudes/actions (like Kaz's group of leeches for instance) don't have a place in any game. Be it marco polo or tiddly winks.
We have one player in particular, who for whatever reason beyond all logic and comprehension, absolutely CANNOT arrive on time. ...... I think I figured it out though.That guy's a dick?
Could be, but I have a friend who is enthiuastic about everything he does. Great Guy. Great Guy to have at any activity really. The downside is he tends to think there are like 30 hours in a 24 hour day and being chronically late for things is a symptom of that.
And yes, we will lie about the start time of a movie to him.
Most players tend to be game tramps. They get whatever they can and really add nothing to the game. For example, DMs often have to take care of sheets, dice, books, pencils, while the players cannot be bothered to read what their character might or might not be able to do.
Most players tend to be game tramps. They get whatever they can and really add nothing to the game. For example, DMs often have to take care of sheets, dice, books, pencils, while the players cannot be bothered to read what their character might or might not be able to do.
I feel you on this one. Had a paladin in my group nearly die because he didn't remember he had lay on hands.
I think a lot of players don't really realise how much preparation it takes to make a roleplaying campaign happen. I love doing it, but sometimes I feel so taken for granted.
That's because you are being taken for granted.
I know exactly how you feel, most players don't understand or appreciate the amount of work that goes into running a good game. A simple thanks goes a long way. Paying for my pizza (or the modules/scenarios) would help too.
When I realized my players couldn't commit to the game on a consistent basis, I didn't bother torturing myself by spending hours trying to run a campaign, I just went to Pathfinder Organized Play. The core idea behind the move was that I'd rather play with a few players consistently (every 4 weeks) rather than play with all of my players inconsistently (every 6-8 weeks). Ironically, the "it doesn't matter if you show up" attitude actually makes everyone consistent for some reason.
I would suggest either:
1) Finding another group to GM.
2) Injecting new blood into this group.
3) Being a player at a local PFS group, maybe later GMing.
4) Taking a short break to see if the players really even miss it. It's possible that you might like playing much more than them.
5) Focusing your energy on something to progress your life.
6) All of the above.
Anyway sorry man, even though my group is decent now, I can completely relate and empathize with you.