D&D 5E GMs of EN World: What player behavior annoys you the most?

[Flexor the Mighty!]

It's funny. One of my pet peeves is DMs who expect me to remember everything that my character would remember because I want to pay attention to the game and not be constantly taking notes.

I may not remember that the Prince's dog was named Alfonzo because we last played a month ago and I have a life. For my character? If it's important to the plot and it was just brought up 2 hours ago in game time that the Prince's brother was also named Alfonzo and the dog looks remarkably like the "missing" brother's painting? Yes, my character would probably remember.

I assume the PC was as absent minded as the player. And I'm no talking about trivial issues like the prince's dog. But I do expect a player playing the game to maybe jot a quick note down now and then. Its why we keep sticky note pads all over the table.

P.S. thanks for letting me on the fact you have a life.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

There's also something to be said about running the kinds of adventures that speak to your players' abilities. If my players are bad at remembering a lot of plot-critical details and don't feel like taking notes, then I'm just going to run scenarios that don't hinge on said details. You probably don't have to remember the prince's dog's name if you're just bashing goblins in a dungeon.

When they forget a key detail it rarely derails the entire scenario, but it may make things much more difficult or force them to work out a new solution. An adventure where forgetting Spot's name ends the entire thing wouldn't happen. But remembering something about that dog that opens up a way to avoid having to run the gauntlet of trolls does happen. And I will reward players who remember key details and other things with bonus XP for good play.

 

[iserith]

When they forget a key detail it rarely derails the entire scenario, but it may make things much more difficult or force them to work out a new solution. An adventure where forgetting Spot's name ends the entire thing wouldn't happen. But remembering something about that dog that opens up a way to avoid having to run the gauntlet of trolls does happen. And I will reward players who remember key details and other things with bonus XP for good play.

You said in your previous post that it's a "big one" of yours that players don't remember things or bother to take notes. This would seem to indicate it's an ongoing problem. Is your position and solution working?

 

[Nevvur]

The first two posts cover my top two pet peeves in the past, but instating a no-devices rule and discussing "dysfunctional adventurer" concepts during character creation has pretty much eliminated them from my tables.

Lately I've been playing more on roll20, which has created my new biggest pet peeve: microphone issues. The lesser of two evils in this category involves players' microphones not working at game start time. It's something that should've been handled before we start, and dealing with it after the fact eats into actual play. The greater, not using push-to-talk. The distraction of background/incidental noise is greatly magnified for me, whether its a dog barking, kids screaming, clearing your throat, or whatever. The absolute worst is when I can hear people chewing their food. On this last point, that sound doesn't bother me in the least IRL, but when its getting beamed directly into my earholes...

 

[Oofta]

I assume the PC was as absent minded as the player. And I'm no talking about trivial issues like the prince's dog. But I do expect a player playing the game to maybe jot a quick note down now and then. Its why we keep sticky note pads all over the table.

P.S. thanks for letting me on the fact you have a life.

All I'm saying is see it from your player's perspective. You last met 3 weeks ago as a group while in-game time it's been 2 hours. To the PC, it just happened and was critically important to their survival/success. To the player it was the stuff that happened while they were waiting for the pizza to be delivered.

I would no more expect my players to bench press my couch than I would expect them to remember something their wizard with a 20 intelligence should remember.

Personally I would not want to play with a DM that expected the level of detailed note taking you require. YMMV.

P.S. Why the snark? I'm simply saying that you should look at it from a player's point of view.

 

[robus]

I’m as a keen a player as the next person, but in the PotA campaign I was playing in I would regularly forget key things that happened from one session to the next. I wasn’t trying to be unhelpful, I just didn’t have the investment/context that a DM has. (I always know what’s happening/important as the DM). What made matters worse is the DM did not recap the adventure so far, so eventually I had no idea what we were doing or why yes I could have made extensive notes I suppose (one of the players did fortunately) but I was there to immerse myself in the moment and have fun.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

You said in your previous post that it's a "big one" of yours that players don't remember things or bother to take notes. This would seem to indicate it's an ongoing problem. Is your position and solution working?

It is an issue for half the group yes, and it will lead to changes for the next campaign. Though I probably overstate it a bit when I'm whining here about my group. Possibly membership changes in the group but we will see. I won't be running a AP style thing again though. Going to be a more dungeon focused game with the terrain and stuff I'm crafting/painting. Should alleviate some of the issues but if you are racing your party members to cut the correct hand off in order to attach the Hand of Vecna you better not expect to make an INT check to remember which one.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

The most annoying for me is people who design their characters with some aspect of personality that lets them role play being a jerk 24/7. It does not take long in a DnD world for said character to get murdered by someone they have annoyed but it matters not because their next character will just be another iteration of "the jerk".

I know the solution, but I have no time or interest in little side conversation where I have to explain to another grown person that being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk because "it is just a game" is still very annoying and gets very old very fast.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I’m as a keen a player as the next person, but in the PotA campaign I was playing in I would regularly forget key things that happened from one session to the next. I wasn’t trying to be unhelpful, I just didn’t have the investment/context that a DM has. (I always know what’s happening/important as the DM). What made matters worse is the DM did not recap the adventure so far, so eventually I had no idea what we were doing or why yes I could have made extensive notes I suppose (one of the players did fortunately) but I was there to immerse myself in the moment and have fun.

Though as a DM I have to ask how invested is a player if he can't even remember what they are doing and why from week to week? Not trying to take a shot at you but I've got players who are there just to hang out and have a few beers. Fine, but honestly I put a lot of work into running the game, money as well, and its irritating at times. I will say on a larger scale despite many in the group having a lot of memory issues a player will keep a party journal each week. However that is a broad overview that leaves a lot of things out that are important to individual players. I don't think its too much for Frank the Thief to jot on a sticky note that his main contact is Stabby the cutpurse and that Hank the town sheriff is on the take.

 

[manduck]

One of the guys in my group took care of any recap or remembering issues for us. He's a web designer. So he made a website for our group, records the sessions, and puts them on the site as podcasts. In between sessions, we can listen to the adventure to get a reminder. Or someone who missed last session can get their own recap. Typically, I put on the podcast while getting in a work out or doing chores. So remembering little details got a lot easier for us.