How to be a better player

[Pseudonym]

Recently we had a guy who said he poisioned his DM. Totally not up to Bugaboo's standards. A little dissapointing really.

He was a tough act to follow. I don't think anyone could rise to that standard. It was a work of art.

2. Pay attention. Don't sleep, read, watch tv, kibbitz with other players, play your GameBoy, snog with your girlfriend/boyfriend, play with the puppy, or do anything else that keeps you from keeping your mind on the game (this one is my downfall, I fear).

A major peeve with me, wether I am on the other side of the DM screen or even as a fellow player. I tend to break out the wandering damage chart when this happens in games I run. My former gaming group were big offenders on that score.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Don't eat all the muffins.

Frank?

 

[Hussar]

Another idea is to have a cheat sheet for your character. If you have feats that are a tad funky, photocopy them and stick them in the back of your binder for quick reference. Same goes for pretty much everything from skills, PrC's, class abilities, spells, you name it.

It actually doesn't take all that long to print out a quick reference sheet for spells. Honestly. Saves HUGE amounts of time.

Also helps to bring your own minis if you're playing a 3e game. They don't have to be works of art. Paper tokens glued to the back of poker chips work great. This is especially handy if you player any sort of summoning character. Have your summoned critters statted up, and minis ready to go and your DM will really appreciate it.

Oh, and this should be obvious, but if your DM gives you a handout with information (or posts it to his website) READ IT!

One other really good idea is to write a game log. After the session, while it's still fresh in your mind, just write what happened in that session. Three, four paragraphs should catch it. You'd be surprised how much fun it is to reread that later. Plus, you have the added bonus of being able to keep track of various plot points much better.

 

[Meloncov]

Out of curiosity, is their an equivelent of Robin's Laws for players?

 

[Ed Cha]

Don't be a crazy.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I think a good player recognizes this is a cooperative endeavor where he, the other players, and the DM should have fun. So I sometimes make suboptimal powergaming selections so that I can help other players enjoy the game, e.g. when prepping spells I might earmark a couple good buffs for a PC that is having trouble being effective.

 

[Greylock]

Beano.

HTH

[And read the damned PHB. The rest of us did.]

 

[shaylon]

I would say learn the rules. Some people, including myself sometimes, are new to the rules and maybe don't understand them. That is fine. When the DM has to tell you what to roll and what to do everytime your character does something and you have been playing for 3 months then that is where I draw the line. It's ok to be ignorant of the rules; it's not ok to shirk the responsibility of learning them just because someone else does.

Oh and feed the DM. And make sure he has plenty to drink. The dialog boxes can get wordy, no need for the DM to become parched.

Lastly, if it is an ongoing campaign, think about what you want to do for the next game in between sessions, if at all possible. My group has a message board where we progress the game a bit in between sessions. It really helps with some of the more mundane tasks plus it allows us to roleplay a little bit. Most of the guys in my group can roleplay their characters well but it gets forgotten during a battle or after some time during the session so the message board is a good place to balance that aspect out.

-Shay

 

[mythusmage]

For the Player

Pay attention, ask questions, show some initiative.

For the GM

Describe things. Never forbid an action just because somebody doesn't have a feat or something. Allow it. Assign penalties, but allow it.

For Both

COMMUNICATE!

 

[Odhanan]

Be a better player?

Rule number one: try to shine, but not steal the spotlight from the others. Help the other players get their moment of spotlight too, even if your character is not cooperative. (there are ways to do this - for instance, with your evil PCs, provoke the paladin into discussing the tenets of his/her religion - this gives him/her an opportunity to shine in RP)

Your character should not be right all the time. People aren't right all the time in real life. Even if you know the game better than another player, it doesn't mean that your character should know the game as well as you do. It's cool to roleplay moments in which your character f#cks up. It emphasizes moments in which s/he will shine.

Now indeed, the best player is prepared, has read the class abilities and the spells the character can cast. The best player is curious about the game itself, the way it's run and the way it unfolds. The best player helps the DM in-game by the roleplay of his/her character. The best player understands the charge of DMing and tries to make it easier for everyone to enjoy the game. The best player provides loads of hooks for the DM not only in his/her background, but in-game also.

The best role-player enjoys RP drama and conflict, but never lets it go against the flow of the adventure. The RP makes the adventure better and isn't an obstacle to the DM (this assumes of course the DM is rolling with whatever the players come up with of course - one of the basic skills of DMing).