Zardnaar
Legend
Few years ago there was a storm in a teacup around consent forms. It was mostly an online thing I've never had a player present one or even know what one is.
I have seen them referenced online and read the horror stories around them when wielded by drama queen/seafood pizza type players. Yes you can present one to the DM but ultimately it's their choice if you even get to play or not.
Some of you may know that I e recently started to aim my games at beginner players. There's a DM shortage and a lot of groups may not want beginner players or players with kids who want to play. I'll pretty much give anyone a chance.
Consent forms are mostly A waste of time imho but it did change the way I run a session 0 or advertise for players. Online insanity tgat won't really matter IRL.
So basically happy DM beats happy player. Unhappy player they leave. Unhappy DM no game. Theoretically anyone else can step up in practice that doesn't happen. I recently shut down one of my games. The group dynamics are the lost important thing in D&D. This over rides edition in my experience.
So what I do is clearly communicate what I'm offering, how I roll and what I expect. I'm not going to change what I enjoy doing for a hypothetical consent form. DM and player might have different expectations I wish you well in finding a game you like. You're a moron if you don't listen to players however.
I'll paraphrase my recent players wanted ad. I was after 1 or two got 8 responses and which 7 turned up. I have around 14-15 players to draw on. Gamers dont tend to be good at communicating and cultural traits here don't help with that.
My games are run around PG13 with F bombs. I swear, my players swear, gamestore people swear. A Consent form won't fix that if it's a deal breaker so be it. Generally I ask if players are familiar with Game of Thrones, BG3 and if any of that offends them. My games don't go that far but it gives you a very good idea where they're comfort at. I will also reference history often the classical world.
I will mention violence, slavery, genocide, racism and spells that over ride free will. Don't role play a jerk or be a jerk. This includes pvp, stealing off other players fireballing the party, raging etc. Your right to have fun stops when your behavior impacts other players enjoyment of the game. Last 10 years I have booted out 4 players. 3 went out at once and promptly got booted from their next two games. The 4th has been fired from his job and been banned from half the Soth Island public gaming places from the sounds of it.
Also mentioned is physical violence. Seems odd but I have seen it happen. One of my players is a big burly guy works at Port. I used to work at Port. At Port you encounter gang members, ex cons etc it can be a bit rough. It's been a while but we had a loud stereotypical American who couldn't keep his hands to himself. Some players wear steel capped work boots just saying. Self correcting problem.
Consent forms won't capture everything. Explicitly state anything specific that's a problem I can accommodate reasonable requests. PG13 covers most reasonable things your PCs won't get tortured or worse. If something bad happens it's off camera, fade to black roll up a new character. You may get eaten for example but I'm not going to graphicly narrate a mind flayer dinner.
DM die of Doom d20. This is basically to avoid playing favorites or having the most annoying/extroverted player hogging all the screen time whole getting everyone involved. Say a merchant approaches the group. Everyone rolls a d20 highest result the Merchant approaches that PC. For critical negotiations the parties face can do their thing.
If the event is negative eg pick pocketing or you want to keep them guessing ask for the lowest result. That player cops the proverbial arrow to the face. If you do it early in the session odds are they've forgotten in 2 hours time when the event happens.
The DM paradox. During session 0 I include this. Basically villains are going to villain. This may include offensive behavior eg xenophobic racist Drow come to mind. Being a villain you can hit them with the pointy end. You may only have to deal with them the once or in short amounts. If a players is doing that it's an aggravating ongoing event every session.
PG13 tends to avoid most of the problems along with no evil PCs without DM and other players consent. LE types are often less annoying than your stereotypical CN types.
The Hard Decisions
So being a LE tyrant DM there's some Grey areas. This is usually players who behavior isn't bad enough to boot from the game but they have poor social interaction skills in the way they play the game or interact with players. As a DM you hear the other players complain or they annoy the DM.
Often it's just a lot of small things that add up over time. Screen hogs, talking over other players, being really bad at playing their characters, poor hygiene or maybe they're fine individually but don't mesh well with certain individuals or disruptive as a pair/group. In game they might smash chests before the experts can have a crack or recklessly trigger traps. Destroying loot and triggering traps on others gets annoying fast. Unreliable attendance is another one (50/50 or worse).
They're not bad enough to boot from the game but they may get broken up or not invited back to the next one. They think they're having fun in private others are asking you to boot them or indifferent to their fate if you ask about cutting them.
I have seen them referenced online and read the horror stories around them when wielded by drama queen/seafood pizza type players. Yes you can present one to the DM but ultimately it's their choice if you even get to play or not.
Some of you may know that I e recently started to aim my games at beginner players. There's a DM shortage and a lot of groups may not want beginner players or players with kids who want to play. I'll pretty much give anyone a chance.
Consent forms are mostly A waste of time imho but it did change the way I run a session 0 or advertise for players. Online insanity tgat won't really matter IRL.
So basically happy DM beats happy player. Unhappy player they leave. Unhappy DM no game. Theoretically anyone else can step up in practice that doesn't happen. I recently shut down one of my games. The group dynamics are the lost important thing in D&D. This over rides edition in my experience.
So what I do is clearly communicate what I'm offering, how I roll and what I expect. I'm not going to change what I enjoy doing for a hypothetical consent form. DM and player might have different expectations I wish you well in finding a game you like. You're a moron if you don't listen to players however.
I'll paraphrase my recent players wanted ad. I was after 1 or two got 8 responses and which 7 turned up. I have around 14-15 players to draw on. Gamers dont tend to be good at communicating and cultural traits here don't help with that.
My games are run around PG13 with F bombs. I swear, my players swear, gamestore people swear. A Consent form won't fix that if it's a deal breaker so be it. Generally I ask if players are familiar with Game of Thrones, BG3 and if any of that offends them. My games don't go that far but it gives you a very good idea where they're comfort at. I will also reference history often the classical world.
I will mention violence, slavery, genocide, racism and spells that over ride free will. Don't role play a jerk or be a jerk. This includes pvp, stealing off other players fireballing the party, raging etc. Your right to have fun stops when your behavior impacts other players enjoyment of the game. Last 10 years I have booted out 4 players. 3 went out at once and promptly got booted from their next two games. The 4th has been fired from his job and been banned from half the Soth Island public gaming places from the sounds of it.
Also mentioned is physical violence. Seems odd but I have seen it happen. One of my players is a big burly guy works at Port. I used to work at Port. At Port you encounter gang members, ex cons etc it can be a bit rough. It's been a while but we had a loud stereotypical American who couldn't keep his hands to himself. Some players wear steel capped work boots just saying. Self correcting problem.
Consent forms won't capture everything. Explicitly state anything specific that's a problem I can accommodate reasonable requests. PG13 covers most reasonable things your PCs won't get tortured or worse. If something bad happens it's off camera, fade to black roll up a new character. You may get eaten for example but I'm not going to graphicly narrate a mind flayer dinner.
DM die of Doom d20. This is basically to avoid playing favorites or having the most annoying/extroverted player hogging all the screen time whole getting everyone involved. Say a merchant approaches the group. Everyone rolls a d20 highest result the Merchant approaches that PC. For critical negotiations the parties face can do their thing.
If the event is negative eg pick pocketing or you want to keep them guessing ask for the lowest result. That player cops the proverbial arrow to the face. If you do it early in the session odds are they've forgotten in 2 hours time when the event happens.
The DM paradox. During session 0 I include this. Basically villains are going to villain. This may include offensive behavior eg xenophobic racist Drow come to mind. Being a villain you can hit them with the pointy end. You may only have to deal with them the once or in short amounts. If a players is doing that it's an aggravating ongoing event every session.
PG13 tends to avoid most of the problems along with no evil PCs without DM and other players consent. LE types are often less annoying than your stereotypical CN types.
The Hard Decisions
So being a LE tyrant DM there's some Grey areas. This is usually players who behavior isn't bad enough to boot from the game but they have poor social interaction skills in the way they play the game or interact with players. As a DM you hear the other players complain or they annoy the DM.
Often it's just a lot of small things that add up over time. Screen hogs, talking over other players, being really bad at playing their characters, poor hygiene or maybe they're fine individually but don't mesh well with certain individuals or disruptive as a pair/group. In game they might smash chests before the experts can have a crack or recklessly trigger traps. Destroying loot and triggering traps on others gets annoying fast. Unreliable attendance is another one (50/50 or worse).
They're not bad enough to boot from the game but they may get broken up or not invited back to the next one. They think they're having fun in private others are asking you to boot them or indifferent to their fate if you ask about cutting them.
