Drinking and gaming?

[Mark Chance]

Always some sort of alcohol: various import beers to sample and compare, single malt whisky, vodka, sometimes saki, et cetera. No one gets drunk, and not everyone drinks. I personally shall be giving up alcohol for Lent, so for a bit I'll be one of the non-drinkers.

 

[S. Baldrick]

If I had been asked this question eleven years ago then the answer would have "Always." Now, it is rarely if ever.
Part of it is that I always have to drive to the games that I am involved in. If the game was held at my home, I might be more inclined to have a drink or two during the game. Also, most of the people that I game with these days don't drink.

 

[sjmiller]

During our dinner break, depending on what we made for dinner, we will drink beer, wine, cider, bourbon, scotch, champagne, or whatever floats your boat. Once or twice a year we do a champagne toast, and sometimes we make Irish Coffee to start the day (since we start at the crack of noon). We're all responsible adults well over the minimum drinking age. Heck, I have scars that are old enough to drink!

 

[SteveC]

For me, I think the answer to this question depends a lot on the group dynamics.

In my current D&D group, we play at the University, and so have access to some really good imported beer and cider, so about half of the time we'll get a pitcher to split between the six of us.

In other groups, we've had to ban alcohol because one or more players have had problems abusing it at the game. One of the games I remember in particular had a player that consumed a 6 pack of really cheap beer at each session. It did make for some unintended comedy at points, but it was really a problem, so our GM banned it from the game altogether.

So I guess I'd have to say that "it depends." That and, if you're going to drink, at least drink something that's good!

--Steve

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Yep--we get wasted. A friend of mine passes out on the Spell Compendium almost every week... :\

 

[Nebulous]

We drink sometimes, although never to the point of getting drunk. I know of other DM's though who will drink heavily, HEAVILY into the night, partaking of hard liquor until unconsciousness looms. To me, that doesn't sound like fun, but everyone has slightly different ways of how they internalize alcohol. I generally get pretty sleepy after a short while, which ain't good for gaming.

 

[Doghead Thirteen]

I put always. We all have a few during play, and in fact it's part of the design methodology for the game system we're working on - if any rule mechanic gets ditched once we're all a touch drunk, it's too complex and will slow down play.

We don't usually get smashed; two or three beers apiece is enough to loosen up and be able to tell when a rule mechanic is too much like farting about. We have played while absolutely hammered before, in fact some of our most memorable moments involved drunk players, such as the occasion when my brother's character went off like a land-mine because (in character) his drink got spilt, and ended up demolishing everything within five blocks of the bar.

But, generally speaking, being blind drunk isn't conducive to good roleplaying, everyone having fun, or remembering it next morning, so we stick with getting mildly buzzed.

 

[Pbartender]

So, I was rereading this thread, and I couldn't help but wonder...

(especially not me as I despise beer *YUCK* it tastes like urine.)

...just how exactly do you know what urine tastes like?

 

[Umbran]

There's no rule against it at my table, but nobody has ever brought alcohol. My players don't drink much at any event.

I would not mind someone having a beer. Given how I structure my games, getting a notable buzz would be disruptive.

 

[Ulrick]

One time we celebrated the DM's birthday and we played D&D. The rest of us had one or two beers. I had a small scotch on the rocks. But DM just took the bottle of Scotch and drank it straight up.

At the final battle at the end of the adventure, the DM kept forgetting to have his bad guys take their turn. It was hilarious. He kept asking us, "Um...who's initiative is it now?"

"Uh...mine."

Afterward he stumbled to the couch and passed out.

While amusing, I'll never drink as a DM and never let a DM get that drunk.