If it's the DM's job to make sure the players have fun...What is the PLAYER'S job?

[JoeGKushner]

Player's Job?

Know the rules. This can be as simple or as complicated as you want to take it but at the very least, the player should be able to run his own character without having to ask someone else how his powers and abilities work. This doesn't necessarily mean knowing what supplement X does, but if you have a power from product Y, know what it does without having to reference it each and every time your turn comes up to point.

Pay Attention: While the game is not every second about each and every player, in many situations involving combat, don't sit there on some external device such as an iPod or Zune or your cell checking Facebook. there are other people involved and while yes, your time is important, the other people's time is just as important. Equal true is that you may miss the opportunity to use some combo with another player or take advantage of a sudden opening.

Don't Be A Jerk: Don't play a character you don't want to play and them cry about having to use those abilities in ways you didn't want to. the new WoTC book talks about leaders and how if you need to read this section to know what NOT to do, you probably shoudlnt' be playing a leader. This has a few other implications, but that goes into oterh venues a bit.

It's a group effort: Sure, stealing from everyone you meet, backstabbing everyone you meet, playing up your alignment because that's what your character would do, is all in character, but who the hell in their right minds would travel with that person? Make sure your character has a role with the party either in the role playing terms or in the roll playing terms.

Work with the GM. If you've agreed to play in the campaign with rules X, Y, and Z, don't start looking for ways around them with supplements A, B, and C. A GM may be going for a certain feel and tone and working deliberately against that because you're trying to min-max the system gets back to... don't be a jerk. If you don't want to play in an all human campaign, don't play.

Know When To Walk Away: Don't try to force a group to adopt to your particular style if it's not working. If everyone is happy with the way things are and all you can add is criticism and non-constructive advice, it's not the group for you. Move on. Sometimes silence is golden. No one is going to think you're a dramatic hero because you've pointed out how bad the GM is or how poorly three people role play or how terrible the treasure division is going.

I'm sure I'm missing some but seriously, if you can't hit most of the above, you're not really trying.

EDIT:

Be ready to game. I've been to many games with the game is set back half and hour or more simply becuase people can't find their character sheet, don't have their favorite dice, don't have the up to date character sheet, don't know what they've brought with them, etc... Part of being a player is realizing that other people are involved and you need to respect other people's time.

EDIT 2:

Clear Communication: Let the other players know if you're not going to make it to the game when possible. the sooner the better.This is one I've been guilty of a few times myself thanks to an unwieldy work schedule. If your character is nearly dead, don't wait till he's down to one hit point to try to get healing. If you know there is a trap ahead, it's not funny to send someone else into it.

Keep Track of Your Stuff: In a game like D&D where there can be numerous effects and bonuses going on at the same time, it's not the GMs jost to keep track of all of your bonuses from all of the situational and special modifiers going on. The GM has a very full plate to begin with. If there are a lot of special effects going on, grab some paper, write down the effects and keep it on the table where you'll be able to use it as a visual tool or something to keep yourself on your toes.

 

[JoeGKushner]

And surprisingly it's still better to deal with a jerk than an empty suit in a chair. A jerk at least supplies something to work with.

Disagree. A jerk is a jerk. Something to work with assumes you're not working with... a jerk. A jerk doesn't give you something to work with because the very fact that they're a jerk is indication of that.

Now if you want to talk someone whose new to the group, new to the system, new to the playstyle, sure, I'll give 'em a little time to grow into the mold, but a jerk is... yup, a jerk. I'd just straight out tell him that his style doesn't mesh with the group and I'm not 18 with many hours a week to game and that since my gaming time is precious, he's gotta go.

 

[Wolf1066]

Hey! That's not what I said...

There're proactive players who move the game along and make it exciting and enjoyable for everyone - often consulting with the rest of the team before putting their schemes into action - and there're jerks whose unilateral self-absorbed decisions have quite the opposite effect.

I have no problem with the former.

The latter on the other hand, well... as a player I've cheered their character's demise and been relieved when the player packs a tanty and storms off, never to play with us again, as a GM I've cheered the character's demise and been relieved... you get the picture.

A former proactive player took a character I threw in as a moral challenge (11-year-old mugger armed with a pistol) and made him his ward then, unbeknownst to the team, recruited his assistance in a variety of really bizarre and shady schemes that kept everyone guessing. It was the high-point of the game that everyone wanted to know the answer to when the game wrapped up with (as near as Hell to) a TPK.

Contrast that to a game in which one player proved so unpopular that the GM asked the player's girlfriend (who was quite a good player and had been introduced to the group by the player in question) if she'd consider continuing to play after the GM killed off the guy's character (which we all knew was likely to result in a tanty and storming out) - the girlfriend was quite willing to continue gaming with us and was right behind the idea of wiping out the player's character and prompting him to leave the game...

 

[Alzrius]

What's the player's job? Here's a sampling:

Show up on time! When the DM says the game is at 10, that means arrive at 10 - it doesn't mean that 10 is when you should leave your house to go pick up the other player carpooling with you, stop to pick up some snacks, and then arrive for the game, making everyone else wait for you!

Don't sulk! You can't always get what you want - sometimes you roll badly, sometimes the treasure you want isn't there, and sometimes the DM rules against you. Deal with it instead of just sitting there all quiet and pouting and not doing anything except mechanically making your die rolls when prodded. You're ruining it for the rest of us!

Don't argue with the DM! Yes, sometimes the DM makes a bad call, and sometimes it'll negatively affect your character. But making everyone stop for ten minutes while you start up a debate about how the rule really works, checking the rulebooks, splatbooks, the FAQ, published errata sheets, and forum posts, is even less fun! Just talk to the DM after the game!

 

[WanderingMonster]

It's a group effort: Sure, stealing from everyone you meet, backstabbing everyone you meet, playing up your alignment because that's what your character would do, is all in character, but who the hell in their right minds would travel with that person? Make sure your character has a role with the party either in the role playing terms or in the roll playing terms.

This can't be overstated. I've known too many well intentioned players who enjoy playing abhorrent or annoying characters because it's fun for them. If immersing yourself in a character and making every decision from their POV is your thing, make sure you don't don't play someone who is uncompromising, antisocial, insane, or evil. And if the PLAYER has any of those qualities...RUN!

 

[The Shaman]

I am going to take some exception here. Proactive players are a good thing, when done well and in the spirit of the game the DM is trying to provide. Proactive players doing odd things just to "make the referee react" may just be jerks.

Players who are jerks are likely to be jerks whether they are proactive or not.

 

[Raven Crowking]

This can't be overstated. I've known too many well intentioned players who enjoy playing abhorrent or annoying characters because it's fun for them. If immersing yourself in a character and making every decision from their POV is your thing, make sure you don't don't play someone who is uncompromising, antisocial, insane, or evil.

Or, if you do, either be (1) redeemable, or (2) okay with the other PCs killing your character.

I have played characters that the other PCs have ganged up on and killed, and with good reason. So long as there is no grudge, and it is fun for everyone, there is no reason not to have these sorts of characters. For example, I once played a quietly psychotic elf that the party finally trussed up and cut the throat of in a ghoul-infested ruin. He later returned as a ghoul. We all had fun, and I had no problem whatsoever with the other PCs killing my character. In fact, I commended them for it. And, as the character was somewhat subtle for the most part, the DM had fun with it, too.

My next character was a swashbuckler who spoke like Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet. It's okay to have a character the other PCs want to kill; it is not a good thing to have such a character often.

(He was slain by a water weird. Sigh.)


RC

 

[Remathilis]

Here's one:

Respect the GM's World. There are players who play what they want to play regardless to whether the idea makes any sense whatsoever. They build characters they think are "ubercool" and be damned if they work with the setting. I'm talking about people who insist on drow rangers, half-dragons, vampires, elves in earth-based settings, or ninjas in medieval Europe, but also people who drag 21st century notions or learning into the game (No, you're 10 Int fighter who was a peasant all his life DOESN'T know how to build TNT), and can't resist making their character have a "joke" (joke names, bad french accents, etc).

Long-story short, don't take a crap on your GMs world just because you don't care what the setting of the game is!

 

[Wolf1066]

This can't be overstated. I've known too many well intentioned players who enjoy playing abhorrent or annoying characters because it's fun for them. If immersing yourself in a character and making every decision from their POV is your thing, make sure you don't don't play someone who is uncompromising, antisocial, insane, or evil. And if the PLAYER has any of those qualities...RUN!

Or, if you do, either be (1) redeemable, or (2) okay with the other PCs killing your character.

Just so - for both posts.

There's a balance that too few get right, and I suspect that for those that fail to get it right, it's because the player actually is uncompromising, antisocial, insane, or evil - easily spotted by the tantrum from Hell that they throw when the GM or other PCs permanently consign their character to the place beyond the veil and the way they subsequently storm off vowing never to play with that group again.

RC, you seem to have the same attitude and outlook as a player I once had in my games - and whom I'd happily have playing with us again.

The death of his second really annoying character - deliberately and inventively murdered by a fellow PC - elicited a loud "COOL!" (His first character's rather less spectacular passing was handled with "it's about time, I wondered when he'd get bumped off.")

He was a master at keeping the level of annoyance and disruption just short of actually threatening the safety of the group or the success of the mission.

His second character was obsessed with his personal kill count but manifested it in a "willing participant in any mayhem that gets started" fashion rather than "initiate hostilities regardless of the odds". Would not risk losing the support of the team by instigating something that put them or the mission at risk but once the team decided on combat it was all about personal glory and how many people he killed and "lookit MEEEEE". Also crude and arrogant.
On the redeeming side, he had street smarts and was a brave fighter that would not leave his team mates stranded.
Exquisitely played.
When another player decided to engineer a TPK, that character was singled out for "special attention".

The first character was a vain loony with a tiger body sculpt that kept playing with hand grenades then dropped one (turned out it was a dummy but caused some serious consternation).

Contrast that with a guy with a supposedly Lawful Good character who consistently played Chaotic Evil - initiating combat no matter what odds, murdering helpless captives, torturing etc - that refused repeated appeals from the GM to either play his alignment or take an alignment change. His ill-considered actions nearly resulted in a TPK more than once. GM eventually had him flash incinerated by a bolt of lightning around 40 levels below ground (never annoy a god...) - with the predictable tantrum and storming off as a result.

I seriously do think that the two players exemplify the difference between a basically nice guy who's a great character actor and a complete and utter bastidge who is using RPGs to act out fantasies that he'd love to do IRL.

 

[Wolf1066]

Here's one:

Respect the GM's World. <snip>

Given out too much XP lately to give you any for this.