Tourists at the table

[Doug McCrae]

One wasn't there, the other forgot his character sheet and didn't do anything all night.

We've found it's a good idea if the GM keeps the character sheets. Otherwise at least one will be forgotten per session.

 

[Arc]

We have people drop in and watch a game every once in a while, and it's rarely too much of a problem. It's nice to actually show what DnD is, rather than simply try to explain it in generalities, and it's a decent way of getting new members in the hobby. Also, it works as a screening method: If they're annoying just watching the game, it's fairly certain they'll be annoying when playing it too.

 

[francisca]

Yes. It's how I recruited our most recent addition to the group. he started making suggestions, so I handed him the char sheet for one of the NPCs tagging along with the group and a set of dice.

he's been back every session since.

 

[Virel]

I don't like observers in principle, I want them to be involved with the game if they are there. With that said I have allowed folks that wanted to observer do so. Turned out that was a very wise more as my group gained four players over the years by doing so. I think it's worth doing and enduring the distraction short term for a few sessions etc.