On Etiquitte

Over at Stuffer Shack, Jade gives some great information about player responsibilities at the table. They include things like “Be on time” and ”be prepared for the gaming session.”

It’s some fantastic advice, something that anyone can follow. I myself help out my players a little in regards to “Be prepared for the game session. Have your character sheet, dice, or whatever else you need to play.” I usually keep the player’s character sheets on hand myself, unless the player has things they want to change on their own. Of course, this is when I run games at my house, so it’s not much work for me to throw the character sheets into a folder and keep them for the

following week. It keeps the players from forgetting to bring their sheets since it’s an undue hassle if we’re a player short. They just drove an hour to get here, I’m not going to make them sit out the game.

Also, I have a ton of dice, so getting those for my players isn’t a problem.

“Try to create a character that will fit in the rest of the group. If everyone else in your group is playing good characters, leave your anti-paladin at home, unless the GM and group say otherwise.” Nothing is more annoying than a character who doesn’t fit with the rest of the party: The anti-paladin, the sith in the party of jedi… Save that character concept for a more appropriate game and play a character that gets along with others.

“Don’t hang around the host’s home long after the game session has ended. Unless you’re invited to stay by the host, thank her for hosting and leave when the other players do or when the host asks everyone to.” This can get really annoying, especially if we’re playing late into the night. I’ve got work in the morning, I don’t need you deciding to stick around an extra couple of hours to discuss the night’s game or other topics. Especially if I’m standing by the door, ready to open it for you to leave.

The rest of the advice is phenomenal, and should definitely be followed. I encourage game groups to create a group contract, and this should be a part of it.