What are the no-goes for you?

[Varianor Abroad]

What causes me not to play?

1. Timing - I have a mildly chaotic schedule. If it's a game on a weeknight, especially when my kids have school, that's a problem.
2. People I don't get along with at all. If there's one or two that aren't my first choice, okay. As long as the group as a whole is cool and the game is fun.
3. DMs who just don't provide a good time. If the adventures are consistently lame, or the DM can't meet their obligations, or some similar issue, I will leave.

That's about it. Gaming is good. More gaming is more good.

 

[Piratecat]

Most of Ari's match mine as well. I don't mind drinking as long as folks don't actually get drunk, and I'd rather not have people smoking at the table while I'm playing.

I love gaming, and I choose not to play with people acting like inconsiderate jerks. One thing that has driven me away from a game is a player who is out to have fun at the expense of the other players. This is the thief who steals all the treasure and ambushes the party while they're hurt; the character who insists on splitting off the party and then demands large swathes of the DM's time and attention; the person who endlessly badgers the group about not liking the chosen system, just so they can play one he likes and no one else does. An inconsiderate or self-involved DM can be just as big a problem.

In comparison, I'm really easy about what game I'm playing. I learn things even while playing games whose rules I don't necessarily care for.

 

[ggroy]

I simply prohibit anybody who has a reputation for showing up stoned or drunk all the time to games. Back in college, some players would show up high on drugs like lsd, cocaine, hash, etc .... or they were really really drunk. For the most part, they were completely disruptive and the game hardly got anywhere.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

- Small children present, unless kept in a separate room and not requiring attention from the DM or any player

You'd hate my house then. I DM and my wife is in charge of the children while I game. But they always can come see me and are encouraged to do so. They also are allowed to socialize with my players and their "aunts" and "uncles" encourage them to do so. Anyone who can't handle hanging out with my kids can't hang out with me, they are a part of my life. Now, if they are being disruptive they will be scolded and sent away.

Smoking indoors, people being actually full-on drunk (as opposed to tipsy, mellow, etc.), anything illegal going on at that time and place (there might be exceptions, but none come to mind right now), abusive behaviour, and asshats in general I suppose.

Something like that.

As for my no-goes I agree with Aus.

 

[Piratecat]

Oh, one other thing. I hate having a TV on in the same room where we're playing. Talk about distracting!

 

[wingsandsword]

I won't play in a game where role-playing (things like "speaking in character") is forbidden. I'm not interested in a minis tactical game masquerading as an RPG.

There are games like that? Wow, never heard of banning roleplaying at a roleplaying game. Yeah, that would deal be a deal breaker for me.

I won't play with people smoking inside. I used to, and I can't tolerate it anymore.

Yeah, I've got a few gaming friends that smoke, but they know to step out for smoke breaks.

I won't play with people who are drunk or stoned. A beer or two is one thing, but if it starts impeding your ability to take the game seriously--or, alternatively, causes you to take it too seriously--then it's impeding my ability to enjoy the game.

Yeah, I've gamed with alcohol, and I had a GM once that was a far better bartender than a GM (her games were mediocre at best, the drinks she served were incredible), but we weren't getting drunk, but I personally don't want to be where illegal drugs are in use (I don't want any trouble).

For me, the real deal breakers:

1. GM's who don't know what they are doing, and aren't trying to learn. We were all novices once, but I've played under a few GM's that didn't know the rules, just made up new rules to replace them as they went, then got angry with you when you didn't know their rules they just made up or that you tried to educate them on what the rules were. This also goes for GM's that are trying to make the game into a novel (run away!), let their SO play some uber-PC clearly superior to the rest of the party (or have a pet DMPC played by their SO that runs right into "Mary Sue" territory), or is running on such a tight railroad that there really is no way off and you might as well be handed a script to read from.

2. Games that go way, way too late or start way, way too early. I had a GM once that ran games that were supposed to start at 2 PM and go until 10 PM, a decently long 8-hour session. The problem is, she started as soon as most of the PC's were there, or she felt like starting (which typically meant she'd start the game at noon or 1 PM), and she wouldn't stop until she felt she was done, which meant the games often dragged on until after midnight.

3. Nothing happening. I've played in games where the GM spent more time focusing on petty inane parts of life than adventuring. I'm not there to spend an hour roleplaying talking with a baker about the weather while waiting for the mornings bread to finish baking, consoling a random scullery maid whose daughter died of plague, or being chatty with the NPC cab driver on a long drive (yes, I've had all of those happen!). If there are sessions where I spend hours playing and not a single thing happens with regards to plot, something is critically wrong.

3. I'm no "canon lawyer", but if a GM is going to deviate seriously from the established setting if it's one I am very familiar with (Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Star Wars, Star Trek. . .) I'd appreciate plenty of advance warning, or if the GM doesn't know the setting well and is changing things because they are sticking with what they know and I know the canon better, I can deal with it, but I'd at least like to know what to expect so I don't go in talking about Spaarti Cylinders with a Star Wars GM that never read the Thrawn trilogy, or talking about Karsus's Folly with a Realms DM that doesn't know anything about the Fall of Netheril.

4. I expect the GM to know that gaming is a hobby, not my life. If I have a family emergency or something work related come up, I may have to bow out for the night, and don't take it personally. I enjoy gaming, I like gaming and talking about gaming, but I won't sacrifice family or career for it.

 

[maddman75]

Well, I'm a smoker but we even go outside at my house. Having some beers is fine, as long as people aren't getting drunk. Wanting to ban relationships is weird to me, as I've always gamed with couples and never had any problems. So what's my no-goes?

- Social retardation. I know, our hobby is beloved by the socially maladjusted and I do have a lot of nerd sympathy. But it does reach a point where someone's inappropriate, rude behavior will interfere with my enjoyment of the game. So yes, I've had to tell people "I'm sorry, but you're just not cool enough to play Dungeons & Dragons with me."

- Refusing to speak in character. This is a hypothetical one, because I've never encountered it. But according to the internet some people play roleplaying games without ever speaking in character, which is the activity I most associate with roleplaying. To each his own, but it would weird me out and I'd find it very disruptive.

- Railroading. When I play, I don't want to play 'guess what the GM thinks is the only solution to this situation'. Give me a problem and let me and mine figure out a way to deal with it, and give us the consequences. I'm more of a character-driven kind of guy, which means I really don't care about your plot or your setting except as it lets me explore my character. (And I take the same attitude when GMing).

- Excessive powergaming/rules lawyering. I don't care how much damage you do, how awesome your 'build' is, or whatever. It really isn't interesting and if you derail the game going on about it, or constantly arguing with the GM over rules minutae we're going to have a problem.

I think more important than GM, setting, or system is being on the same page as the people you're gaming with. There's nothing wrong with people who fall into the above categories (except the first one, in which case you got bigger problems than getting into a roleplaying game), but that doesn't mean they'd have a good time with my group.

 

[Bumbles]

Oh, one other thing. I hate having a TV on in the same room where we're playing. Talk about distracting!

I can concur with this one! Even music channels can do it.

 

[maddman75]

Oh, one other thing. I hate having a TV on in the same room where we're playing. Talk about distracting!

I'm about one more phone call or text away from banning cell phones as well.

 

[Cadfan]

I banned Fireball because it meant I couldn't have any monster under 4th level survive past round 1. Too power trippy? I might change my mind.

You articulated a reason unrelated to your own aesthetic preferences. Even if I completedly disagreed with your reasoning, I wouldn't call it power tripping.

My ire is reserved for people who ban a thing just because they don't like it, without any legitimate, believable explanation as to how banning the thing would lead to a better game.