D&D General Player Responsibilities

[NotAYakk]

I seem to recall that Bilbo Baggins didn't want to adventure with a bunch of obnoxious dwarves. But anyway, if the PC doesn't have a reason to stick with the party, the GM should assist by providing an incentive for that PC to participate. It takes two to tango.

Yes, but (a) Bilbo had a bond with Gandalf, and (b) a compulsion to give hospitality (like a fate aspect the DM could tap) and follow his promise, and (c) the author can make Bilbo be reluctant but go along with multiple editing passes. Players often don't like it if your DM does multiple editing passes over your decisions.

It is. But from the perspective virtue ethics compared to duty-based or situational ethics. I believe that proposing a list of specific dos and don'ts is ineffective. Instead, I look for players who naturally exhibit the virtues that contribute to my subjective definition of good gameplay (intelligence, humor, creativity, individualism, confidence, well-spokeness (get the joke?), reliability, honesty, etc.)

The goal is to make marginal players good, and poor players marginal.

Having clear expectations helps people do that.

That may not be your goal. You might not consider that worth your bother. You have a supply of players who are awesome and everything is perfect and an unerring ability to find and filter out dross players.

That is fine. But meanwhile, for the rest of us, being able to take someone who is a marginal player, add a rule or two and get a good player out of it, or a good player, and encourage them to be great, has high value.

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To me, this means not having a huge long list of rules. Having a few nice rules that nudge players into being more enjoyable would be my goal.

If you need 50 rules to be an acceptable PC, you just playing whack-a-mole with every poor DM-Player relationship you have had. And that sucks.

Figuring out minimal such rules/responsibilities is the thing, to me.

 

[Lanefan]

Player responsibilities:

Take the game seriously enough to show up on time for the sessions and to become and remain engaged once there.

At the same time, don't take it so seriously that you tantrum when something bad happens to your PC, or take PC arguments (or romances!) into real life. Separate your PC from yourself and keep 'em that way.

Pay attention, dont interrupt game talk with side chatter, use phones for game-related stuff only (our spells and rules are largely online)...the usual stuff.

Be ready willing and able to give your character some character, different from the last one you played; make it more than just a collection of numbers and dice rolls.

And every now and then pour me a damn beer.

 

[MNblockhead]

By this point in the thread, I think that most of the core principles have been covered. I would just state a bit more strongly the need to know the rules. I believe the entire table bears responsibility for knowing the rules. The DM has the role of judge where there is confusion or disagreement over the rules, but it isn't the DMs sole responsibility to memorize the rules before the game and look them up during the game.

 

[Helldritch]

1) Be there on time.
2) If you need to cancel, do it as early as possible.
3) Know your character.
4) Respect the other players (me included).
5) When it is your turn to act, don't take forever.
6) If you have a familly event, do not come, cancel and be with your familly.

These are my rules. There are a few others but they are game rules, not players' expectations that I am looking for.

 

[Hriston]

Yes, but (a) Bilbo had a bond with Gandalf, and (b) a compulsion to give hospitality (like a fate aspect the DM could tap) and follow his promise, and (c) the author can make Bilbo be reluctant but go along with multiple editing passes. Players often don't like it if your DM does multiple editing passes over your decisions.

Bilbo had this flaw: I got something a bit queer in my makeup from the Took side, something that's only waiting for a chance to come out. When the chance came, he took it and earned inspiration by seriously complicating his life.

 

[Maxperson]

This sort of came up in my mind in another thread and I did not want to derail any further.

What do you consider to be player responsibilities in actually sitting down and playing D&D as a group? I don't mean stuff like bringing snacks or not being abusive, etc... I mean as it relates directly to play.

My #1 is that players need to create a character that both WANTS to go on the adventure(s) at hand (roleplaying reluctance is fine as long as it doesn't lead to actual avoidance) and a character thatworks within the context of the PC party. That last bit is both a roleplaying consideration and a mechanical consideration.

Beyond that, all the players should form the party in a way that makes sense for whatever setting and scenario is presented, and allows for a relatively easy process of coming together and bonding. A group of lone wolves is just trouble waiting to happen.

What do you think players should be responsible for in terms of actual play?

I just simplify all that into.....

#1 Don't be a jerk.

That covers wanting to go on adventures, not derailing play through other means, no tantrums, etc.

 

[wingsandsword]

1. Make a good-faith effort to learn how the rules of the game work, especially rules related to your character. (I've seen people want to play who need to be walked through every action, even weeks or months into a game)
2. Create a character that can co-exist with the other characters in the party and has some motivation to adventure (no needless and unwelcome antagonism with other players on the grounds of "my character would do this" and no arbitrarily turning down adventure hooks by saying your character has no motivation to go adventuring. . .sounds crazy, but I've seen it come up)
3. Be generally engaged in the game, paying attention, and trying to interact with the DM and other players (Unlike a certain player I can think of who loves to go to D&D games, but actually when at games he sits there reading a book or on his smartphone the whole time and has to be specifically snapped out of it to be told there's combat to engage in, or his character is being directly addressed)
4. Make a good-faith effort to help everyone else have fun.
5. Play the game honestly, not cheating nor intentionally misreading or twisting the rules in ways they weren't intended to function.

 

[Reynard]

Actively think of different things to try when the same thing you have been doing for multiple turns in a row is not working and leading to a worse and worse outcome, forcing the DM to make the bad guys act illogically just to give you an opportunity to do all the cool things you are capable of and asked to have an opportunity to do.

I mean, just of the top of my head...

 

[nevin]

Having a character that will bite the hook of the game is so important. If my hooks aren't appealing, that's a different conversation, but if you're just going to try to walk away from the campaign (I had a player that would routinely need to be convinced by all the other players why he should want to Do The Thing. I no longer game with that person, but in hindsight, I should've just told him "okay, your character walks into the sunset; now make your new character that is motivated to be a part of this campaign.") or are going to hold the campaign hostage so that you can extort more imaginary gold pieces from the quest giver, that's going to make the game so much less fun for everyone.



Other than that, showing up is important. I get that life gets in the way sometimes, but don't show up every few months and act like I should thankful that you finally made it.

Knowing what you're going to do on your turn is another thing. It's fine if you have some questions, but few things kill momentum like that dead air as a player's gears grind.

Finally, players have a responsibility to other players. It just makes a game better when the PCs interact with each other, exalt each other, and work as a team.

As for the rules, I'm fine if a new person isn't sure on the rules. They have to start somewhere and I want them to have a fun time. Now, if a person has been playing a while and consistently gets it wrong, that's another problem. That means every time that PC does something, I have to stop to look it up to be sure that they're not way off-base. It's like if you've been playing for years and can't figure out what your spells do, maybe you shouldn't always play a spellcaster.

everytime I've seen the won't bite the plot hook DM wanted to keep the new concept "secret" till the game started. I had a character start in forgotten realms as a wild who hated humans got thrown into another world where humans hated elves and was promptly imprisoned for no reason and DM spent three game sessions trying to convince the character to hero up and save the world full of humans who hated him. if a player concept is a bad idea at least tell the player that the entire game will be against them with that concept.

 

[Ath-kethin]

This sort of came up in my mind in another thread and I did not want to derail any further.

What do you consider to be player responsibilities in actually sitting down and playing D&D as a group? I don't mean stuff like bringing snacks or not being abusive, etc... I mean as it relates directly to play.

My #1 is that players need to create a character that both WANTS to go on the adventure(s) at hand (roleplaying reluctance is fine as long as it doesn't lead to actual avoidance) and a character thatworks within the context of the PC party. That last bit is both a roleplaying consideration and a mechanical consideration.

Beyond that, all the players should form the party in a way that makes sense for whatever setting and scenario is presented, and allows for a relatively easy process of coming together and bonding. A group of lone wolves is just trouble waiting to happen.

What do you think players should be responsible for in terms of actual play?

My question is always "why does your characters want to participate in this group?"

If your character does NOT want to participate, that's cool. Make a new character that does and describe why.

There's no room for lone wolf types at my table.