I wish my group was as cool as this...

[Dr Simon]

On the 'sample games' front, I like the subtle differences between the old 1st Ed. DMG sample and the 3.0 Ed. example, of essentially the same adventure. The old group talks in rather arch prose "Put it in your pouch, Good Cleric" compared to the new group who say things like "Cool! A crit!"

 

[jollyninja]

I have been both the player and dm. in my younger days, when my paladin found and raised a dragon hatchling to a size big enough to be a mount he named it phonetically as-wee-pay, though it was spelled differently. since i started running plot heavy games, when i get a larger group together, it eventually degenerates into me yelling "if one more person asks me the armor class of a town guardsman, of which you have killed 40 now by the way, there's no more town guard! the town thanks you for the future bandit raids! anyway, its 19! f'ing write it down! and no, they are not carrying everything they own while they are on duty, you get an average of 50 silver off of each! do you want to go to where their wives and children are to get the rest of the loot?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

i am in the midst of a break from gming until i can get a group of players together who want a bit more then a continual dungeon raid with full use of minis.

 

[Henry]

On the 'sample games' front, I like the subtle differences between the old 1st Ed. DMG sample and the 3.0 Ed. example, of essentially the same adventure. The old group talks in rather arch prose "Put it in your pouch, Good Cleric" compared to the new group who say things like "Cool! A crit!"

Keep in mind that Gary's original players were the ones who tried to ride a brass sleigh and a team of geese to the moon, and had PCs named after themselves, backwards. So no matter how straight-laced one keeps it in character, a little bit of silliness inevitably creeps out in a game somewhere.

Our Eberron game was pretty straight-laced, and even then we still had the occassional show-stopper of an out-of-game comment, or a guy who sky-dives using his ninja ghost step ability to avoid major injury, by getting spit up out of the ground.

 

[Dragonbait]

So no matter how straight-laced one keeps it in character, a little bit of silliness inevitably creeps out in a game somewhere.

Our Eberron game was pretty straight-laced, and even then we still had the occassional show-stopper of an out-of-game comment, or a guy who sky-dives using his ninja ghost step ability to avoid major injury, by getting spit up out of the ground.

There is no shame in some humor. I know that if there are no laughs in a session (usually inspired by an OOC comment, but sometimes inspired by the adventure), it's because my players are borde.

In the RuneQuest 3rd Edition rules there was one of those samples of play, although that was slightly more realistic with one player who keeps interrupting the GM and trying to attack the bad guys out of turn. We read it out as a play once, for fun. What a bunch of saddoes!

Dang it.. Now I need to get that book.

 

[Kularian]

All of this sounds so saddeningly familliar, I'm glad I'm not alone,

I'd love to put up an example of one of our games, but I'm afraid I don't have it on hand, nor could I remember everything that was said. But we do have a bookworm, and one who occasionally sleeps through the game, (a wizard, no less.) Granted, he's just one of those who falls asleep early, it's not really his fault. Whenever we wake him up, he says, 90% of the time, "I Fireball it."

*sigh*

Fun games though...just not all that into RPing. Occasionally, we get into the groove, but that happens about once every other month. We end up doing more in that one game than in all the rest combined,

 

[Joshua Randall]

You cannot interrupt the DM's description of the room in order to gain a surprise round!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed this quote.

In fairness, I'm pretty sure I stole it from someone's Usenet .signature from waaaaay back in the day. Just to give credit where credit is due.

 

[Infiniti2000]

They'll find some way of reducing any name into some kind of slang. Two languages to play with lead to alot of degrading nicknames for the BBEGs.

My group does, too, and in fact it inspired my custom title. Those familiar with RttToEE should recognize Evil Hatrack.

 

[Aeson]

My group is "We goez in we killz em we lootz the place and we legz it." They don't care about names or places. They worry about loot and money. "Don't use that scroll it costs too much." NPC drinks a potion...."He's drinking our treasure." They try to take anything not nailed down and even tried to take the stuff nailed down a couple of times.

 

[Captain Howdy]

Me [DM]: The floor of the grand ballroom has black, lavender, and ivory tiles that spiral in toward the center of the room. Directly above the spiral's core hangs a dazzling crystal chandelier lit by magic flames. A tapestry hanging on the north wall has a dark symbol stitched into it. The symbol resembles an eye impaled on an upward-pointing arrow. Beneath the tapestry stands a narrow table covered with a magnificent arrangement of crystal wine goblets, each one filled with some sweet vintage. A semicircle of seven black chairs faces the tapestry and the table of goblets.

Player A & B: Talk about next gen video games and their prices.

Player C: Drawing pictures.

Player D & E: "So wait... This is, like, a ballroom or something?"

Player F: "HAHAHA IT MUST BE WHERE THEY KEEP THEIR BALLS LOLAMIRITE?"

Player G: "I make a search check."

Players A & B: Finish their off topic discussion. "Wait wait wait... Can you read that description again?"

Me [DM]: *shoots self*

 

[Justin Bacon]

Leigh (Mialee): But I was already holding my beer and he was about to say something so he shouldn't be expecting it!

Me (DM): Please don't start arguing, you do this everytime. If you'd just read the PHB sometimes you'd get a better understanding about surprise rounds and the amount of actions you can do in a round!

Although, to be fair to your player, the complete inability for the game to handle this situation effectively is a major shortcoming, IMO.

The easiest solution is to allow a Sense Motive or Spot check to allow the satyr to notice that he's about to get hit by beer. If the satyr fails the check, he's unaware that combat is about to erupt and Mialee gets a surprise round. If he makes the check, he's aware of what Mialee is about to do and an initiative check is used to determine whether he can react before Mialee actually throws the beer in his face.