Take, take, and take and never DM. What do players bring to a gaming group?

[Chimera]

In my game, if the players I DM for don't help clean up the room afterwards, they're getting a little talking-to. If that doesn't fix it, they can go play somewhere else.

Good point.

I once had to tell a GM that one of the players was no longer welcome in my house when I hosted, because despite sitting 5 feet from the garbage can and having it pointed out to him several times, he left a sea of sunflower shells, mostly (but not completely) empty Mountain Dew cans and empty candy wrappers spread in a circle around where he had been sitting.

Oh, and he put his muddy shoes all over my couch.

Then just walked out the door and left me the mess.

Honestly, I've seen this sort of behavior several times in my life, in gaming and at other social events, and I don't get it. Why would you be so obnoxious, and why would you expect people to put up with it and invite you back?

 

[RFisher]

We all agreed (even the players who never DM) most players take and take and take and don't give back much.

(O_O)! Even with the humor tag, I'm completely at a loss for how to understand "take" in this context. In no way could I describe what my players do as "take".

 

[babomb]

I can understand being frustrated with players showing a lack of appreciation for the DM, but if you seriously don't think players bring anything to the gaming group, try playing without them.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Is that after all you've snarked at me over the years, one of us should probably put the other on Ignore.

How odd. To be honest, I don't remember you from Sam, for you to have such a strong opinion of me. But if you haven't already, do feel free to put me on ignore.

 

[Elf Witch]

Judging by the effort and $$$ DM's have to put in, I like the ideas that the other posters noted. Would it be wrong to REQUIRE those things of your players (just the same as requiring that every player bring their own PHB?) or should I just sit there and 'expect' players to contribute and be able to 'read my mind' (as elf witch notes)?

Here's how I'd balance it out (let me know if I'm off-base).

* I spend 2-5 hours prepping for each game session every other week.
** Players spend 20 minutes driving to my house and spend 10 minutes levelling their characters after a game.
***Players should be setting up the room and cleaning up afterwards.
***Players should be buying all the food and beer for the DM each session

* I have to purchase Dungeon magazine, DMG, Sandstorm, Frostburn, Monster Manuals (because I have a job and a life and no longer have time to create my own adventures).
** My players have to purchase a PHB and print out a character sheet.
*** Players should donate $10.00 each per year for dungeon subscription and any books I want to buy for the game.

* I have to create and modify adventures
** Players get to show up
*** Players should give the DM names of a few NPC's relevant to their characters past (with 3 sentences of backstory) of which the DM can pick and choose the ones he wants to include.

* I have to know all the rules
** The players get to argue the rules, because they "almost died."
*** Differen't players should be designated to know particular rules (especially grapple, overrun, disarm, etc.)
*** All players should know how to quickly lookup rules for the DM if there is a dispute

Others?

jh

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Dude you have a real dislike of players going on.

With your attidue I don't know if I could play with you.

As a player I own every book WOTC has put out as well as a lot of third party books my DM borrows books from me.

I have the subscriptions to both Dungeon and Dragon and photocopy articles for my DM.

I Paint minitures for the game.

I take the game notes every session and then spend about about two hours after a game transcribing them on the computer and emailing them to the rest of the group. I also write a character journal after every session this takes about three to four hours.

I know the rules of 3.5 as well as any DM.

The players in our group all write journals, know the rules, contribute food, help clean up after the game, own a variety of books, many get dragon and/ or dungeon, find pictures of pCs, draw maps for DM, help DM create NPCs. Buy DM books if needs it supplies, programs.

I have never played in a game with players who just show up and just sit there waiting to be entertained.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

My current players are great. Their only downside is that sometimes they get too obsessed with rule details, and I find rule discussions fairly boring.

But I never had any actual complaints.

 

[Darmanicus]

It seems that a few of the DM's that complain must be advertising for gamers or maybe kidnap hobos off the street or something?

Our group comprises of friends only. Mostly known each other for years and there's no issue about who should bring what.

The DM DM's because he much prefers it over RP'ing and the rest of us are more than happy to play.

I think Pendragon mentioned earlier about players and DM's both bringing fun to the table and he's damned right, without either you don't have a game and there really shouldn't be any expectations other than hauling yer asses to one spot and having a good evening.

Apart from that, one of our players hosts the event at his place, wee all bring our own books, one brings copious amounts of minatures, one gives me and a mate a lift and I bring the beer......LOTS of beer.

 

[Emirikol]

there really shouldn't be any expectations other than hauling yer asses to one spot and having a good evening. Apart from that, one of our players hosts the event at his place, wee all bring our own books, one brings copious amounts of minatures, one gives me and a mate a lift and I bring the beer......LOTS of beer.

As DM's, we wish that we could do that. We wish that we could just haul our ass to a game and show up to have a good evening, but that's not the case. We love our players, but there should be some equality here. If a DM is prepping 5 hours, buying all the scenarios and books, and probably hosting too, there should be a standard of what players need to give back to the DM.

NOTE: Is there anywhere in the PHB that even indicates that the DM deserves any respect or that you should help him out in the least?

Players TAKE, TAKE, TAKE (except for the virtuous posters here who note that they help out...what are the other 5 people at the table doing? I'd like to hear that.)

Dm's are all about giving and I would, for the sake of our hobby, see some standardization of what players need to contribute (besides just showing up like "hobo's").

jh
BTW, the reason I bring this all up again is because how I've seen other DM's treated..and as we can see, when we bring up the subject of having players help, how much resistance there is to that.


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[cmanos]

I swap the DM hat with our DM. He's running AoW. I am running Eberron, and hope to move into Savage Tides. We both like to play, and we both have great interest in running what we are running, so we both enjoy our time as DM and our time playing.

Last session, the players got together and got the DM a gift card for allowing us to use his house and have his wife cook for us. We all usually bring food and such. One guy collects DMD minis and has a huge collection that we use. Another guy has highly detailed, hand-painted miniatures for all our characters. I've taken time to build Hirst Arts (hirstarts.com) scenery that we use extensively, instead of battlemats.

 

[Emirikol]

With your attidue I don't know if I could play with you.

SOunds like you're curious though..wink.

jh