At my table, we...

[Rechan]

There's often discussion of house rules, but that's edition specific. Yet there are habits that we do that may differ from table to table. The conventional notions that everyone in the group generally agrees on.

A simple example is how many, many groups have "No evil games/PCs". Or "No Griefing/intentionally playing your character to give others a bad time". Or how it's understood that PCs shouldn't attack one another, that you should generally play someone willing to work with a team.

But it can even differ on how you start a campaign. How the group makes characters (alone or together?). Do you use minis - and if so, are they painted minis, specific to your character, or generic?

What are the little table traditions or habits your group does, the House Rules that have nothing to do with the rules or the system?

 

[Rechan]

At my table, I don't use special minis. If minis are necessary then I'm using legos, pennies, aquarium stones, little plastic bunnies, and other odds and ends.

If I can, I prefer players to create their characters together instead of just showing up with a character. That not only means doing the numbers/saying what you'll make in the same room, but also collaborating in the style of Spirit of the Century/Dresden Files RPG.
[sblock="For those who don't know"]Spirit of the Century/Dresden Files has a great background method to get players to create PCs with interwoven backstories. They do as follows:

1. Imagine your character's first adventure was a novel focusing on them, their origin or first real exploit. Write out 3-4 sentences detailing this first adventure.

2. Pass your character's novel to the person next to you. Now, your character guest stars in this person's novel; you provide some sort of assistance to aid them in achieving what they are trying to do in their first adventure. Write a single sentence detailing what your character did to aid theirs.

3. Repeat step 2.

This way, each PC has two other characters entwined in their backstory.[/sblock]
My biggest emphasis is for groups to make characters that will work with a party, and won't disrupt the game. What they make is less an issue for me.

The PC races that players initially choose are the world's PC races. Anything else is rare, new, or ancient and rediscovered.

The only things I make players track are system relevant things (Fate points, treasure totals, what they've used, etc). Ammunition, rations, accounting for every purchase to the copper, it's not important to me unless it's story relevant. I'm not really concerned with what you have in your pack.

You don't have to have every role/class filled. I'll tailor things to suit that, rather than stick it to you. But, it will make things harder. (I've ran a two person game with a warlock and a ranger).

 

[innerdude]

Fun topic!

I'm trying to think of our group's informal cultural rules.....

1. Food is community property, but don't abuse the privilege. If you've mooched for 2 weeks in a row, bring something to share.
2. Mechanical character builds can be done alone/anytime, but character backgrounds have to be vetted by the GM, and depending on the campaign, the group as a whole.
3. Remember: Splatbooks are a privilege, not a right.
4. You know whether you're cut out to play a spellcaster or not. If you have to ask, you're not ready.
5. Evil characters are allowed, but they have to roleplayed realistically. Just like no one likes "Lawful Stupid" characters, nobody enjoys "Chaotic A-hole" either.
6. Min-maxing is neither encouraged, nor discouraged, but if you do it, you'd better let the GM know.
7. As a player, you have as much freedom as you want until the GM says, "No." And when he/she says no, it's the final word.
8. The GM doesn't have to explain anything, or show dice if they don't want to. That said, in our group, with much power (the GM) comes much responsibility (to not waste the players' time with un-fun).
9. If you're going to make a food run, offer to get stuff for other people. If they don't have money, buy something for them.
10. Pay back the people who buy food for you.
11. Feel free to ask the GM for whatever you'd like. Just don't expect him/her to tell you what the real consequences/side effects of getting it are.
12. Good role-playing gets rewarded; good roll-playing is merely complimented.
13. Share your books.
14. Don't abuse/mark/write in the books shared with you.
15. Never, EVER touch another player's dice without their permission. It's about karma, baby.
16. Your character sheet is your responsibility. Yes, your GM told you he/she would keep it for you. It doesn't change the fact that it's YOUR DAMN CHARACTER SHEET.
17. Expect to get feedback, both as players and GM. Everybody wants to have fun. No one knows how to help you have fun until you say something.
18. Come with the attitude that you need to add SOMETHING to the group. If you're not adding anything to the group at the table or away from it, your group membership is open to debate.
19. Above all, follow Wheaton's Law.

 

[Janx]

great topic. table rules, rather than game rules.

Ones we use:

• no outside distractions (TV off, no texting, surfing, hand-held gamees, etc)
  
• players must build a PC with suitable background that that party would accept as a new member. This prevents infiltration abuse of jerky PCs that would have been rejected had they been NPCs.
• GM reserves right to adlib a rule decision if nobody actually knows the rule and its taking too long to resolve
• GM reserves the right to approve list of allowed game material for rules content
• GM assumes automatic search when party is in careful mode for traps, secret doors etc and thus pre-rolls them
• GM rolls for PC when failure would not be obvious to the PC
• Party agrees to bite the plothook providing plothook is inherently interesting to the party and does not abuse their trust

2 of those rules basically control expectations of trust with a goal of getting the game moving. You can't bring in the party backstabber, loner PC just because the players are going to let you join because you are a fellow player (where they would otherwise refect the person if they were an NPC), and the party will go chase the obvious problem/opportunity the GM has presented for the night, but the GM can't go making that a big screwed'ya that the party saw coming but were obligated to pursue for the sake of getting game night moving.

 

[Lanefan]

Some that we use, with a greater or lesser degree of consistency:

- when generating a character you can ask what the party needs but are not obliged to fill said needs; if the party has no Cleric, for example, you're still welcome to play a Thief if that's what you have in mind - if the party does some recruiting the DM can fill holes with NPCs
- no microchips at the table (except calculators)
- anything goes character-alignment-wise but you have to be prepared to accept the outcome in a sportsmanlike manner e.g. if you try to bring a Paladin into a mostly-evil party and it dies the death within hours, them's the breaks
- alignments come in shades of gray rather than black-and-white
- party infighting is allowed, though it's best if it makes in-character sense and players keep their own feelings separate from those of their characters
- each character has its own mini (usually painted) but as there's been far more characters than minis the minis do get recycled now and then; minis or tokens are also used for monsters, NPCs, etc. when needed
- player dice are rolled on the table; if it goes off the table, try again
- DM dice are rolled in secret though in cases where it's a known life-or-death situation the DM might roll it on the table
- where a character is acting independently of the party e.g. a Ranger scouting out of sight ahead this will be done by note until the rest of the party have a reason to notice anything
- if a possession, item, etc. is not listed on your character sheet you do not have it, regardless how illogical this might be in game (yes, if you forget to list rations you're going hungry) - this to prevent any recurrence of some record-keeping arguments from the past
- if you miss a session your character(s) will be run by those who do show up; if you give instructions to the DM ahead of time they will be reasonably followed, if you don't your character does whatever the players present decide (the DM can veto something blatantly out of character)
- character sheets always stay with the DM, that way if you can't make the next session the party can still be played
- almost without exception experience points are a character reward rather than a player reward; you don't get extra experience for bringing more food to the game or writing up a great long character back-story. The rare exception is sometimes exceptional role-playing will get a few xp.
- players are allowed to throw curveballs at the DM's plot; the DM is allowed to throw curveballs at the players' plans

There's probably more, but that'll do for a start.

Lan-"hitting the curveball since 1984"-efan

 

[Gronin]

cool topic....

First and most importantly do not touch another player's dice. If you forget your dice (and yes it has happened) there is a bin of "community" dice you can dip into for the night (expect poor results).

Food is communal.

We start on time.

If a player is missing, then the character is missing -- not the most realistic but we all agreed that it really slows things down playing an extra character you aren't familiar with (especially as there is often debate as to what the character should/would do)

If the GM doesn't own the source book we aren't using it (and by association - if the GM just picked it up and hasn't had a chance to read it yet we aren't using it).

Characters do not need to be generated at the table.

We use miniatures (alot).

Player's are encouraged to be ready for their turn (some pre-rolling can happen if that helps speed things up).

Characters do not screw over other characters.

Characters are either of good or neutral (unaligned) alignment. To be honest we prefer to not worry too much about alignment.

If a rules question/debate comes up the GM makes a quick decision and a note is made to look into in more detail after the session. Nothing messes up the flow of the game like an hour long debate over a rule.

The GM has the final say.

 

[Lanefan]

If the GM doesn't own the source book we aren't using it (and by association - if the GM just picked it up and hasn't had a chance to read it yet we aren't using it).

Reading this a few times in this thread makes me *so* glad I run 1e and don't really have to worry about the splatbook headache.

Lanefan

 

[Cor Azer]

I'm sure they'll flood to mind after I post, but I don't know if we really have many such table rules.

Really, all our rules slim down to "don't be a jerk".
* Play an odd alignment? Sure, just don't be a jerk.
* Not sure if you'll be on time? Sure, just don't be a jerk (let us know asap)
* Want to use Book A? Possibly... You planning to be a jerk?
* Someone offered to share food? Don't be a jerk.

As to gameplay, minis are cool, but generally we just grab whatever tokens are handy.

Character generalities are usually hashed out in email, but mechanics are often done up separately.

 

[Celebrim]

It's widely varied from group to group, but 'at my table':

1) It's understood that regardless of what character you want to play, your character will ultimately be loyal to the other party members and advance their interests. The easiest way to do this is to have everyone on the same team with the same general goals. Departure from this requires prior permission of the GM. If you have a story arc where you are betraying or working against the party members, you are responcible for making sure everything works out in the end. Intraparty conflict needs to be worked out OOC how they are going to handle it in a semi-consensual manner between the participants before it comes to the game.
2) You don't split the party to the extent that I'm forced to run multiple campaigns.
3) The game is basicly PG-13 rated. If we are veering into tough, obscene, or offensive material pull back, close the curtain, or move from explicit to suggestive. It's an adult game and should deal with serious themes, but it should handle them in an adult manner. Profanity should generally be confined to the most appropriate dramatic moments - "I want my father back you...", "Frankly, my dear, I don't give...", "Not my daughter you...". Characters with consistant foul language should find fantasy ways to express their coarseness.
4) Everything about your character (once approved) is yours. Everything about the setting is the GM's. Any violation of that should be through mutual collaboration.
5) The rules are flexible and belong to me. I'll try not to change them midsession and I'll try to warn you when a rule is on my watch list, but expect the rules to be tweaked slightly on a fairly regular basis.
6) Death sucks. Death happens. Try not to cry about it for more than 15 minutes or so. Everyone shares your pain, but the game has to go on.
7) Your character has lots of social skills. But you can't roll the dice until you've made some effort to role play sufficient for me to understand what your character does and what approach he is taking. Likewise, your character has lots of investigative skills, but you can't roll the dice until you explain what your character is doing and where.
8) If you don't record the treasure you find on your character sheet, its as if you've never found it. I won't keep track of your possessions for you.
9) Don't cheat. If you cheat, I'll cheat on the monsters behalf against you and targeting you by an equal amount.
10) In many cases to avoid passing metagame knowledge, the GM rolls for you. This includes all attempts to notice, percieve, and understand things and all saving throw type mechanics where their is not an obvious and immediately noticable threat or consequence of failure. The GM is allowed to roll in secret; you aren't. Just because the GM is allowed to roll in secret doesn't mean he will. Whenever the consequences are immediately obvious, I'm happy to roll in plain view and will always do so when the player's life is on the line.
11) We play at a table.
12) We use mini's only when absolutely necessary. It's not a board game. It's a game that should be occuring primarily in your imagination.
13) We pretty much only play when everyone can play. So show up if you don't want to be known as the guy that always keeps us from playing.

 

[Umbran]

A couple notable things:

When the player is not available, the character is generally run by the GM. The character won't take major initiative, but does acquire a significant amount of "script immunity" while the player is absent.

Most of my players want to play heroes. You may play an "evil" or villainous character if you want, but do so with the understanding that such characters are outnumbered. The rest of the party is probably going to figure it out soon enough, and deal with you. The GM will give you *no* protection from this.