What Makes a Good Player?

[Derulbaskul]

Be prepared to spend some time learning things for yourself. The DM's job is not to hold your hand every session and explain everything on your character sheet.

[roguerouge]

Make major decisions at the end of sessions where possible, rather than postpone them until next time. Don't make your DM guess which adventure hook you're going to pick up next time. Decide and tell him before you end the session.

Be able to talk in character when the DM leaves the room to do side-stuff with individual players. I loved sessions where the PCs were able to entertain themselves while character-building side stuff occurred 10 minutes at a time in the other room.

Have cheat sheets for your character: spells, attack routines, whatever. If you can't make it, someone should be able to pick up your sheet and play your character at 90 percent effectiveness. Do not have random scribbles on a piece of paper unless you plan on never getting sick.

Please remember that your character is a professional hero. His choices will be geared towards maximizing his survival chances in various ways. Maybe he takes feats that make him better in combat, that minimize his weaknesses, or that help him advance party goals through charisma or utility powers. So there's no reason to take Skill Focus: Innkeeper at fifth level unless you plan on retiring the character. It's not good role playing; it's just a different form of lone wolfism.

Remember that combat scenes, diplomacy scenes, and world-building scenes are all equally important. Give them your due attention.

Yes, your DM CAN read your facial expressions and body language. Zoning out comes through loud and clear. Don't be rude about it.

[Durn]

Add up all the modifiers ahead of time. Roll fists full of dice (hit/dmg). Draw pictures of the story in progress. Maintain a "player's box".

[Hejdun]

De-escalate and win. Don't come up with a terribly contrived ways to Win The Game with one dice roll. Don't try to come up with every cheesy combo you can find to cake walk through combats when the rest of your group is just trying to play normally. Making a character with disproportionate power relative to the rest of the group just hurts everyone.

[tmatk]

Don't cry if your character dies.

[PIM68]

Always remember your DM is a player too.

Without your Dungeon Master, there is no Dungeons & Dragons.

[Hereticus]

Originally Posted by roguerouge

Have cheat sheets for your character: spells, attack routines, whatever. If you can't make it, someone should be able to pick up your sheet and play your character at 90 percent effectiveness. Do not have random scribbles on a piece of paper unless you plan on never getting sick.

Having PDFs of the Players Handbooks is nice, because you can copy powers and feats to your character sheet.

It is also helpful if you describe what you are carrying, and where and how you are carrying it.

[Noumenon]

Maintain a "player's box".

What's that?

My favorite players are the ones who come up with secret little plans to change the world, and ones who provide little grace notes to their character like making shadow puppets on the wall when they're on night watch.

[Zinovia]

• Bring food!
• Pay attention. Don't fool with cell phones, or PDA's, or sit there reading a novel.
• Be ready for your turn and have an idea of what you want to do.
• Add up all the modifiers for attacks beforehand. if you aren't sure about the math (which modifiers apply, etc), ask at the beginning of the session - don't wait until combat.
• Don't cheat.
• Have fun! If you are not having fun, talk to the GM after the session about why that is. Together you can figure it out. Sitting there not having fun but not saying anything won't help.
• Know your character's abilities and something of how to use them. You don't need to be a tactician - just know that your Big Sphere of Hurt spell is a close burst, and so centers on you before you go to use it.
• Try to limit the off-topic discussions. Keep pre-game socializing to a reasonable time before the game (whatever works for your group - half an hour or so for ours). Avoid it during the middle of the game please! You can talk during the dinner break if you have one, and of course after the session. It's good to talk to your friends about the latest movie you've seen, but don't interrupt a great scene or tense combat to do so.
• Don't expect to hog the spotlight; everyone needs to get their share of the limelight when their character is the focus of attention for that moment. That means some of the time, you will be watching the other characters do their thing. Be patient, try to enjoy the scene, your turn will come. If it never does, then talk to the GM (see Having Fun).
• Don't refuse to go along with the story for the sake of being contrary. Don't demand to know what is off the edge of every map. GM's have only so much time to prepare information.
• On the other hand, don't be afraid to suggest things you would like to see happen. Do this between sessions and give the GM time to work them into the story. It's great when players are engaged in the story and have their own ideas, but they may need to be adapted to fit in.
• It's fine to politely question a ruling if you think the GM made a mistake, but once he has said "my decision stands", that's it. Talk to him afterwards about it if you really disagree.
• Don't tell other people how to play their characters. You could roleplay out your suggestions such as "Davin, get behind that orc so we can take him out!", but don't tell the characters which powers to use, or exactly how they should move. It's their character, not yours. It's okay to remind them to do something they may have forgotten to do like marking a target, unless you can see that it's annoying the other player.
• Stay engaged, do cool stuff, have fun!

[Durn]

Originally Posted by Noumenon

What's that?

Here is an ok picture of a player's box. You can see this one has the character sheet and powercards on the lid, and the second page of the sheet and dice in the box. Its just a handy way for a player to have is scene well organized and easily moved about. A player with a player's box is a quality player indeed!

[Noumenon]

We hear so much about the DM screen, and never have I heard of the players' box! I think I would clip to mine the grapple rules, and a list of NPC contacts I could use to solve problems.

[Durn]

maybe its an new thing, but its great, especially when you have limited table space, which I always seem to have. You can put all kinds of cards and rules
and notes and handouts in there. A player who shows up with a play box is definitely going to get props from their DM, I imagine. Its just taking it to the next level.