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A little handy gaming advice #1: How to be invited back to a game table.

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, February 10, 2011, 04:57:59 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Cramulus on February 10, 2011, 07:04:32 PM
what's that?

If the party clears a dungeon level/encounter region in one session, without their characters leaving the dungeon/etc, I give them a 10% bonus on all XP gained on that level/region.

A level/region is usually about 14 encounters.  A four person group will usually get the bonus, a 6 person group will almost never get it.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Sister Fracture

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:03:47 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:02:02 PM
Probably for the best, then.

Yep.  I'm holding onto the cleansweep bonus, though, because it discourages table talk and the wandering off of players.


Yeah, table talk and wandering players do bug me, even as a player.
Roaring Berserkery Bunny of the North End™

A Tucsonite is like a Christian in several important ways.  For one thing, they believe what they say about their god in the most literal, straightfaced way possible.  For another, they both know their god can hear them.  The difference between the two, however, is quite vast in terms of their relationship with their god; Christians believe in His benevolence, but Tucsonites KNOW of The City's spite and hate.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:03:47 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:02:02 PM
Probably for the best, then.

Yep.  I'm holding onto the cleansweep bonus, though, because it discourages table talk and the wandering off of players.


Yeah, table talk and wandering players do bug me, even as a player.

That was a major problem with the campaign at Jake's. 
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Sister Fracture

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:11:53 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:03:47 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:02:02 PM
Probably for the best, then.

Yep.  I'm holding onto the cleansweep bonus, though, because it discourages table talk and the wandering off of players.


Yeah, table talk and wandering players do bug me, even as a player.

That was a major problem with the campaign at Jake's. 

Very much so. Way too big of a group.
Roaring Berserkery Bunny of the North End™

A Tucsonite is like a Christian in several important ways.  For one thing, they believe what they say about their god in the most literal, straightfaced way possible.  For another, they both know their god can hear them.  The difference between the two, however, is quite vast in terms of their relationship with their god; Christians believe in His benevolence, but Tucsonites KNOW of The City's spite and hate.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:15:30 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:11:53 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:03:47 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:02:02 PM
Probably for the best, then.

Yep.  I'm holding onto the cleansweep bonus, though, because it discourages table talk and the wandering off of players.


Yeah, table talk and wandering players do bug me, even as a player.

That was a major problem with the campaign at Jake's. 

Very much so. Way too big of a group.

Naw.  It's just that two members of the group kept leaving the room for 20 fucking minutes at a stretch, with no warning.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Sister Fracture

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:17:47 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:15:30 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:11:53 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:03:47 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 10, 2011, 07:02:02 PM
Probably for the best, then.

Yep.  I'm holding onto the cleansweep bonus, though, because it discourages table talk and the wandering off of players.


Yeah, table talk and wandering players do bug me, even as a player.

That was a major problem with the campaign at Jake's. 

Very much so. Way too big of a group.

Naw.  It's just that two members of the group kept leaving the room for 20 fucking minutes at a stretch, with no warning.

And with the babby and the shitneck, it was hard to focus all the time when they were there.
Roaring Berserkery Bunny of the North End™

A Tucsonite is like a Christian in several important ways.  For one thing, they believe what they say about their god in the most literal, straightfaced way possible.  For another, they both know their god can hear them.  The difference between the two, however, is quite vast in terms of their relationship with their god; Christians believe in His benevolence, but Tucsonites KNOW of The City's spite and hate.

President Television

I have an amusing story involving #10.
I wasn't there for that particular session, but before my group got kicked out of the good DM's campaign, a (now former) friend of mine had been annoying everyone else at the table for a while. His first character was cross-gender, and he played her as an incredibly stuck-up bitch that nobody liked. Eventually, the DM decided that she had her memory wiped and was put to work for the church of Pelor. The next session, he came back with a new character: basically, a french-accented elvish rogue who was a horrible ripoff of Jack Sparrow. I played that session long enough to get tired of his atrocious accent, and wasn't able to come back for the next session. When I got back the week after that, I saw the aftermath: chair with tray shoved under the table, with broken pencils and tear-soaked wads of  paper that, upon inspection, turned out to be the guy's character sheet and inventory.
As it turned out, this player had decided that as party rogue, it was his prerogative to pick the pocket of the party's half-orc barbarian, Dim DeLarge. Needless to say, the barb found out when he tried to get an appraisal of his stolen possession (a sizeable pearl, if I recall correctly) from the party bard. The prime suspect, or course, was the recently-met untrustworthy rogue, so the barbarian demanded a confession and challenged him to a duel.
As it turns out, a triple-crit with a greataxe from a character with a STR of 20 will lead to tearful accusations of metagaming.
My shit list: Stephen Harper, anarchists that complain about taxes instead of institutionalized torture, those people walking, anyone who lets a single aspect of themselves define their entire personality, salesmen that don't smoke pipes, Fredericton New Brunswick, bigots, philosophy majors, my nemesis, pirates that don't do anything, criminals without class, sociopaths, narcissists, furries, juggalos, foes.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Unqualified on February 10, 2011, 07:27:11 PM
As it turns out, a triple-crit with a greataxe from a character with a STR of 20 will lead to tearful accusations of metagaming.

Boo hoo hoo. 

The really hard part for a DM is culling a player who isn't working out, if the player's spouse or other friend/relation is in the game.

We used to have a 3 session probation period, where after everyone left on session 3, I'd check a coffee cup that I'd leave on the counter.  If there was a black die in the cup, the new player was out.  If there was more than one die at the end of sessions 1 & 2, same thing.

I now have a very strict 6 player maximum, and a waiting list.  Turns out that running a book campaign geared toward "fun" is fairly rare here.

Also, we have a monthly DM convention here in Tucson, though I've stopped going, after the hour-long heckling session we inflicted on a guy who insisted that the advert listed him as "The best GM in Tucson" (can you believe it?), while he was trying to explain to us why we were all inferior DMs with his lecture time.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Luna

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:35:37 PM
The really hard part for a DM is culling a player who isn't working out, if the player's spouse or other friend/relation is in the game.

Yeah...  My old gaming group from college, did not (to put it delicately) appreciate my husband's playing style.  (That campaign I walked away from was HIS gaming group.)  Watching my friends invite me to a game while trying really hard NOT to say anything bad but not inviting him was painful.
Death-dealing hormone freak of deliciousness
Pagan-Stomping Valkyrie of the Interbutts™
Rampaging Slayer of Shit-Fountain Habitues

"My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement."

Quote from: The Payne on November 16, 2011, 07:08:55 PM
If Luna was a furry, she'd sex humans and scream "BEASTIALITY!" at the top of her lungs at inopportune times.

Quote from: Nigel on March 24, 2011, 01:54:48 AM
I like the Luna one. She is a good one.

Quote
"Stop talking to yourself.  You don't like you any better than anyone else who knows you."

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Luna on February 10, 2011, 07:39:46 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:35:37 PM
The really hard part for a DM is culling a player who isn't working out, if the player's spouse or other friend/relation is in the game.

Yeah...  My old gaming group from college, did not (to put it delicately) appreciate my husband's playing style.  (That campaign I walked away from was HIS gaming group.)  Watching my friends invite me to a game while trying really hard NOT to say anything bad but not inviting him was painful.

One really neat thing about Nurse Enabler is that she's the "group glue".  She's not the most outgoing member, but she tends to be the diplomat during disagreements.

I have yet to meet anyone worth knowing that can't get along with her.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

President Television

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:35:37 PM
Quote from: Unqualified on February 10, 2011, 07:27:11 PM
As it turns out, a triple-crit with a greataxe from a character with a STR of 20 will lead to tearful accusations of metagaming.

Boo hoo hoo. 
Yeah, he was kind of a whiny bitch. And a sociopath. And a pedophile, as it turns out. Hence why I'm no longer his friend.
My shit list: Stephen Harper, anarchists that complain about taxes instead of institutionalized torture, those people walking, anyone who lets a single aspect of themselves define their entire personality, salesmen that don't smoke pipes, Fredericton New Brunswick, bigots, philosophy majors, my nemesis, pirates that don't do anything, criminals without class, sociopaths, narcissists, furries, juggalos, foes.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Unqualified on February 10, 2011, 07:58:44 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 10, 2011, 07:35:37 PM
Quote from: Unqualified on February 10, 2011, 07:27:11 PM
As it turns out, a triple-crit with a greataxe from a character with a STR of 20 will lead to tearful accusations of metagaming.

Boo hoo hoo. 
Yeah, he was kind of a whiny bitch. And a sociopath. And a pedophile, as it turns out. Hence why I'm no longer his friend.

ew
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Cainad (dec.)

Our troubles at the game table usually don't have to do with shitty behavior at the actual table (although we've had some hardcore dunce moments from a few people); it's usually other drama that makes people not want to play with each other for six hours straight.


However, many of us are terribly guilty of #8 (table talk), and I've been an offender more than once. I've generally found that the best solutions include: (a) following the rule that everyone should have something to do in each encounter and (b) allotting a bit of time before the game actually starts to chat it up and get it out of our system.

Cramulus

the acceptable level of tabletalk varies by group. In the end, D&D is an excuse to hang out with your friends while engaging in some creative/cooperative activity... if nobody objects to the amount of tabletalk, it's probably fine.

at the far end of the spectrum -- I used to play a pure dungeon hack game which was so bare bones none of the characters even had names. It was mostly just something to have on the table while we drank beer and BS'd. We might have gotten through two encounters in one evening. If the DM got up from the table somebody else would sit down and run the monster's turn. It was often very silly. Only lasted about three weeks before we got itchy for more substance.

Requia ☣

I do have to somewhat agree with Cramulus here (even if he is a filthy 4E player  :lulz:) Different people have different playstyles.  I'd *never* be able to run a game for Roger's group (though I do like playing in that style as well), my games are far too story oriented, and lack much in the way of encounters (a combat heavy session will have 3 fights).  It works great for the people I play with though.
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.