Only play with people you'd be friends with...

[Prince of Happiness]

a very bad day at the races that one was....

and he wasn't even playing. he was the boyfriend of one of the players just come to watch us game. i didn't include him in the list above...

I want the story, I want the story, pappy, I didn't git ta hear it...pleeeeeeeeeeease?

*gap toothed grin*

 

[diaglo]

I want the story, I want the story, pappy, I didn't git ta hear it...pleeeeeeeeeeease?

*gap toothed grin*

once upon a time... all stories should start with once upon a time, it makes them sound more like legend or myth that way... i only wish this one was...


anyway, i was playing the newer (newest edition at the time) edition. and the campaign i was in was drawing to a close (i was a player not the DM)... so i tried finding another group in the area. i'm always looking to find a good game.

i got several emails from local groups to play. i like to answer the groups in the order to which they were received... so i answered the DM of one group very near my house. he was looking for several players as he had just lost some to moving. he said he was gonna start the campaign fresh and had invites out for others also. he had 2 players returning from his previous campaign.

so the first session i arrived and the 2 buddies soon after. we spent a little while talking about what we had played/play and what we thought we'd like to do in the campaign, etc... the DM explained he was still waiting for another player to arrive. she was bringing her boyfriend. we all laughed. D&D is not a spectator sport.

she did finally show. and the boyfriend too. she was young. i guess i don't need to say it, but i was the old man. she and the guy were both on the goth side of things. dark lipstick, dark clothes, dyed dark hair...interesting tatoos and piercings...

the boyfriend sat off to the side and kept pretty quiet.

so we gamed for awhile...

she and the boyfriend communicated something... but i was pretty oblivious to what... so she got up and went to the bathroom. the boyfriend went too a little bit later.

the rest of us continued to game.

they came back. and the girl was roleplaying a bit with the DM. when suddenly the boyfriend attacked the DM and tried to bite him. he had the whole fake teeth and everything...

a scuffle broke out and the couple was ejected...


i never went back to that group. i know it wasn't the DM's fault. i was just too wierded out by the whole thing to shake the image from my head.

 

[Henry]

they came back. and the girl was roleplaying a bit with the DM. when suddenly the boyfriend attacked the DM and tried to bite him. he had the whole fake teeth and everything...

a scuffle broke out and the couple was ejected...

As I said, life is too short...

I have nothing against gaming with people you don't know - I do it three times a year - but should I go back and pick up someone who acts like the couple in Diaglo's experience? Heck, no. I'll game with a civil stranger, but someone who ticks me off, or weirds me out, I'm not inviting them back.

 

[Castellan]

they came back. and the girl was roleplaying a bit with the DM. when suddenly the boyfriend attacked the DM and tried to bite him. he had the whole fake teeth and everything...

Yow. I was going to complain about a couple of people I've gamed with in the past, but this put everything in a whole new light...

I think I feel better, now.

 

[Melan]

I see this over and over in threads.
Why?
Why be so isolated and restrictive in your thinking? Why NOT game with people completely outside your social circle? Broaden your horizons!

...

GROW! Play with people you don't socialize with. People you don't work with. People you wouldn't necessarily invite to dinner. People you don't like! Learn how to deal with it. Their quirks, their strange ways of thinking. Listen to their oddball logic and opinions. And maybe, just maybe, you might learn something about yourself in the process. Or grow beyond your established mental patterns.

Ugh, no. It may sound cold, but gaming is not a charity. I game to have fun, socialize with my friends and to blow off steam. I do not game to achieve some sort of greater purpose, to become a better human being. And I do not owe anybody anything. It is hard enough to organize a session for 4+ adults with jobs, lives and responsibilities. Dealing with people you actively dislike is a sure way to frustration and disillusionment with a game that should be entertaining.

And as long as we play around my table, I determine who I am going to invite. Fools shall not pass the threshold of my home. If they feel excluded, so be it; I certainly will not cry for them.

 

[PJ-Mason]

she and the boyfriend communicated something... but i was pretty oblivious to what... so she got up and went to the bathroom. the boyfriend went too a little bit later.

the rest of us continued to game.

they came back. and the girl was roleplaying a bit with the DM. when suddenly the boyfriend attacked the DM and tried to bite him. he had the whole fake teeth and everything...

a scuffle broke out and the couple was ejected...


i never went back to that group. i know it wasn't the DM's fault. i was just too wierded out by the whole thing to shake the image from my head.

WOW. Thats wild. I wished i had been there to see that!
Do you think they were still trying to roleplay something? Or just flat out crazy?

The best i can do is that i was invited to game once and a wicken (sp?) ceremony broke out. I stayed for a little while, but i left before i burst out laughing.

LOL.

Aside from above, the only problems i have had with groups in the past is that i'm the one who usually put them together. The only problem ended up being that the players all got along with me, but ended up not getting along with each other. Made for the occasional irratating exchange and i got sick of being the middleman. That and the latest group i got together partly disintegrated and the remnants will ONLY play D&D and no other. They also have got way too social (half gaming/half yakking all night) and roll-playeriery (hey look, a whole new word!) for my blood.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I'm definantly in the gaming with only friends camp. Gaming is a social thing for me anymore these days. With job, family, and all the other little things life throws at me to keep me away from my friends, I don't have the time to spend gaming with people I don't really know. That is not to say that I wouldn't game with strangers, but they'd likely be (and are when the situation arises) friends of friends.

After all, IMO, life is simply too short to spend with people I don't like. Especially when I'm an evil DM that likes to be vicious to myplayers upon occasion!

Kane

 

[diaglo]

As I said, life is too short...

I have nothing against gaming with people you don't know - I do it three times a year - but should I go back and pick up someone who acts like the couple in Diaglo's experience? Heck, no. I'll game with a civil stranger, but someone who ticks me off, or weirds me out, I'm not inviting them back.

good things come from gaming with new people too.


i had stayed in touch with shayne (the DM of the my first stab at the 2000ed) and other members of the group on and off since leaving the campaign. been in a couple of campaigns of other former group members. or mixed it up with friends of friends and run into them. or etc... shayne found out i was looking for a game. so he invited me to join another group with him as a player.

that's how i met Angelsboi.

the campaign was not exactly what i had in mind... but i tried it for several sessions.

however, the group was great. a very good mix.

shayne and i convinced Olgar Shiverstone to run a session while Angelsboi was away.

we had a blast. so we dumped Angelsboi's campaign for the one in my sig.

Ryan was a much better player than DM. sorry to say. but he was also very good at adapting. and full of good ideas and energy.

i've made some good friends by taking chances with gaming. i've also been periodically contacted by many people coming to or interested in games/groups in the area.

 

[diaglo]

had a guy (the Jester) come crash at my place while passing thru Ga. on his way to Fla. and back again on his way home.

he sat in on a session with our group the first time.

and ran a session for a small group on the way out.

he is a very good cook.

 

[Sage]

IMO playing with strangers is just fine... once or twice.
Seriously, if I rub the wrong way (OOC) with someone I'm playing with that game becomes less enjoyable, and for me at least, gaming is more about enjoying myself (with friends) than broadening my horizon.