What are your "Group Rules"?

What are your group's "Group Rules?" Not house rules for a particular game or system, but a set of implied or explicit codes of conduct or behavior that everyone is supposed to abide by. Who's supposed to bring the chips and soda (or beer)? What happens when there's a disagreement? How many players have to be present to play? Stuff like that.

Please, share!

The only rule we've had to enforce strictly is don't take it so seriously! We actually just lost a player because he thought we were "wasting time" and "being distractive to him"... all of us mind you not just one or two players. :\

Oh well, the rest of us had what we all agreed was "BEST... SESSION... EVER " last week in his absence.

Common Curtesy. That's nuumber one, if you can't do that I don't want to game with you. Other then that it is have fun, we play with 3 players present in one game and another we need everyone to be there. Food is sometimes talked about before hand,m but one game we usually do pizza and the other we grill.

My groups are pretty laid back, so we don't have a lot of hard rules.

I generally won't DM if we don't have at least 3 players for a regular game, or 4 for a one-off game. I make food (lunch/dinner) for each session, and everyone throws in $5 for food, snacks, and drinks. Even that is not hard and fast for every game - I've had players not pay me for 3 months before catching up, but it's no big deal.

For disputes, I will typically let those work out in game, unless it is something so controversial that it is getting players mad at other players - in which case I will table it for future discussion on my website or something similar.

I don't mind a certain level of joking or off-topic stuff, but will ask everyone to refocus on the game if it goes on too long or happens too much. After all, I've put in the work and we are there to play, not talk about how great/lame some movie is...

"Never feed the DM trash."

Seriously. It is an unwritten agreement that the more players tend towards putting together highly implausible combinations of feats, races, and classes, the more the DM will do the same. Excessive (or what seems to be excessive) min-maxing on the players' part without regard for RP will be met with excessive min-maxing on the DM's part (which usually IS part of continuity).

In essence, we have something like a standoff. Either side launching an initial salvo of nukes will precipitate armageddon.

Anarchy Rules!


Sorry, just could not resist.


Scott

I agree with "Don't take it too seriously". My buddies and I play RPGs, but we could just as easily be playing poker or doing a pubcrawl. We do this to have fun, blow off steam, and complain about work. If the dice don't roll well, we toss em. If the rules get in the way, we toss em. If we start BSing and forget about the game, so be it.

But other unwritten rules include:

* Bring homebrewed beer if you have some. We have two homebrewers in the group.
* If your PC dies, he goes up on the Valhalla Wall.
* If someone makes a rules mistake and realizes it after his turn is up (including DM), the mistake stands. No "I would have hit that hill giant three turns ago because I forgot to add flanking bonus and I would have dropped him before he hit me with the crit" allowed.
* If we don't know the rules for a given situation, the DM will make something up. He'll look it up between games and use the RAW next time.
* If you don't show up, we may play your PC or he might be an NPC, or he might disappear for the session--group choice. He may or may not get XP or treasure. He may fall down a blade-lined chute and then down a 100' drop to his death only to be looted and buried by the party.
* If you make your PC do something cool, it will almost always succeed.

No nudity (fortunately, there hasn't seemed to be a need).
No foul language around the kids.
The DM screen sits where the DM bloody-well set it.
The DM is god. If you can't trust the DM to run a fair game, there's a real problem.

* In the same vein as "don't take it so seriously" we suggest that folks remember it's just a game. A very good, engrossing game to be sure...but a game nonetheless.
* The host sets rules for his/her house. Some players ask that no alcohol be consumed in their home; others ask that we watch foul language when children are about; still another pleads with us not to whistle indoors because an old Russian, family superstition says it's bad luck.
* If you aren't going to occasionally bring chips, beverages, snacks, etc., then you better toss in some cash to mitigate things once in a while.
* If you're going to miss a session, let the group know in advance.
* Our minimum number for gaming in one group is three players plus the DM; the other group (which contains six players plus the DM) generally doesn't play if more than one person will miss the session.
* Deal with it. Meaning that sometimes inexplicable and irritating crap may happen during a given session to your beloved PC. It's not personal, it certainly doesn't need to be fair, and most everyone else probably thought is was cool or funny.
* The DM may make a rules mistake from time to time, but once they've made their final determination on a given matter, that's the end of the conversation. Concerns and questions can be addressed ex parte after the game is finished for the night.
* Don't ever touch another player's dice!!