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<blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6190568" data-attributes="member: 6681948">Biggest single issue: TALK to the players. Many issues, hardly limited to alignment, come from &quot;gotcha!&quot; play. &quot;HAHA you just changed alignment - lose a level heeheehee&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Oh you forgot to say you were using Selective - you heal the Bad Guy too!&nbsp; HAHA!&quot;I expect the players not to use out of character knowledge.&nbsp; I also don't expect them to have all the knowledge their characters would take for granted.&nbsp; That sometimes means reminding them of abilities they typically use, discussing the mechanics of their proposed action, etc. This is even more important for new players.&nbsp; We forget how many rules and game conventions we just take for granted. The player clearly didn't know Shocking Grasp would kill a typical sailor.&nbsp; So maybe someone else should have asked &quot;Are you sure?&nbsp; That will probably kill a typical sailor!&quot;&nbsp; Maybe someone should also have noted that &quot;It's pretty unlikely you'll KO the sailor with a single punch - the rules for unarmed combat don't generally result in a fight ending that fast.&quot;&nbsp; And there's nothing wrong, when it becomes clear a rules misunderstanding resulted in an action the player would not have taken had they understood how the rules work, with saying &quot;OK, since Character would know his Shocking Grasp is lethal, we'll back that up - what do you want to do instead?&quot;It is possible to fall somewhere between the extremes of &quot;no alignments - tear those pages out&quot; and &quot;any deviation costs you a level&quot;.Or we can keep playing &quot;beat up the newbies&quot;, and wonder why it's so hard to find new players, the hobby keeps shrinking and good game publications get less and less common.&nbsp; Too often, the newbie is there, seemingly, to be mocked for his poor knowledge of the extensive rules as he learns the game. Then we wonder why they don't come back after a few sessions.I like the idea of another player helping a newbie out in an experienced group (the GM has too much on his plate already) to help the player enjoy our favoured hobby from the outset, and maybe sells it to his own friends, rather than turn him into one of &quot;those guys&quot; who leaves the hobby with a bad taste in his mouth, and thinks of the gaming community as a bunch of unwashed ill mannered socially maladjusted nerds - a view he also shares with anyone who cares to ask.OK, I'll get off my soapbox now!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="N'raac, post: 6190568, member: 6681948"] Biggest single issue: TALK to the players. Many issues, hardly limited to alignment, come from "gotcha!" play. "HAHA you just changed alignment - lose a level heeheehee" "Oh you forgot to say you were using Selective - you heal the Bad Guy too! HAHA!" I expect the players not to use out of character knowledge. I also don't expect them to have all the knowledge their characters would take for granted. That sometimes means reminding them of abilities they typically use, discussing the mechanics of their proposed action, etc. This is even more important for new players. We forget how many rules and game conventions we just take for granted. The player clearly didn't know Shocking Grasp would kill a typical sailor. So maybe someone else should have asked "Are you sure? That will probably kill a typical sailor!" Maybe someone should also have noted that "It's pretty unlikely you'll KO the sailor with a single punch - the rules for unarmed combat don't generally result in a fight ending that fast." And there's nothing wrong, when it becomes clear a rules misunderstanding resulted in an action the player would not have taken had they understood how the rules work, with saying "OK, since Character would know his Shocking Grasp is lethal, we'll back that up - what do you want to do instead?" It is possible to fall somewhere between the extremes of "no alignments - tear those pages out" and "any deviation costs you a level". Or we can keep playing "beat up the newbies", and wonder why it's so hard to find new players, the hobby keeps shrinking and good game publications get less and less common. Too often, the newbie is there, seemingly, to be mocked for his poor knowledge of the extensive rules as he learns the game. Then we wonder why they don't come back after a few sessions. I like the idea of another player helping a newbie out in an experienced group (the GM has too much on his plate already) to help the player enjoy our favoured hobby from the outset, and maybe sells it to his own friends, rather than turn him into one of "those guys" who leaves the hobby with a bad taste in his mouth, and thinks of the gaming community as a bunch of unwashed ill mannered socially maladjusted nerds - a view he also shares with anyone who cares to ask. OK, I'll get off my soapbox now! [/QUOTE]

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