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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DarrenGMiller" data-source="post: 2683990" data-attributes="member: 23174">Interestingly, in middle and high school, we never needed table rules.  When I started gaming as an adult, they were indispensible.  I started my first 3E game without them and the players drove me insane.  Up until this past spring, they were extremely important and we could not play without them.  They were a constant topic of conversation.  We updated them often and ironed out loopholes, etc.  Generally, we treated them like the US Constitution.  They covered every possible circumstance by the beginning of 2005.Then, I had my player problems.  Despite the table rules, the behavior of my players (who had contributed many of the rules and helped modify our codes of conduct) became increasingly bizarre.  The maturity level sunk to amazing levels.  People were rude and inconsiderate and most of the players thought it was funny.  I stopped running the game for six weeks back in the spring.  It had just become more like work... I am a teacher.  My students are more well behaved on a daily basis than my players were.  A year ago this month, my group consisted of 8 players and myself.  My group now consists of 7 players and myself.  Only 2 of those players were in my group a year ago.  We have not had a need for table rules since about May.  That was when 2 of my pre-hiatus players quit.  We have managed to be nice to each other, share food providing, stay on topic and get a good bit accomplished in the game without any thought to table rules.What is the difference?  Everybody is there to have a good time gaming.  We are all within a fairly narrow age range (my pre-hiatus group age range was 20 years, the age range now is 10).  We love gaming, but nobody is treating it as a job or being so serious about the game that it scares everybody else (we had a couple of players who were WAY too into it before).  At the same time, we only have one player who is a bit too casual at sessions (out of game humor is a bit too prevalent from him), but he is only there about every other session and he settles down when he needs to.  We are all friends now and enjoy each other's company (not necessarily true before).I am not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this, but I have found that gaming with people who are on the same wavelength about gaming reduces the need for table conventions.  A document to fall back on that establishes what the group normally does is helpful for new players or unforeseen circumstances though.DM</blockquote>

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