D&D 5E Your Biggest Gaming Pet Peeve

[innerdude]

People with too many niggling pet peeves. And I'm not just saying that to stir the pot. If I'm having to spend too much time during or after a session mediating a bunch of nonsense I'll kindly show you the door. Serious issues can arise and I'll likewise take those seriously, but if Jim doesn't like how Ken roleplays his character or if Sam doesn't like how Sally rolls her dice... people are going to find themselves out on their duff. It's a game. We're all here to have fun and taking it all a little too seriously can be a problem in and of itself. Relax or help yourself to someone else's table.

I get what you're saying, which is why in one of my follow up posts I mentioned that "comedy characters" aren't really a deal-breaker. When I see a "comedy character" hit the table, I don't storm off in a huff and refuse to play. But I do roll my eyes, sigh massively, and think to myself, "Maybe someday . . . maybe . . . I'll get to play a game where one of these doesn't show up." Hasn't happened yet*, though. LOL.

And it's just . . . so . . . predictable. Every single game, there's someone who thinks their newest "punny" character is this amazing contribution to comedy, and that it's never been done before, and oh look, just how clever am I? Isn't this character going to be GREAT??!

*For my next campaign, which will assuredly be Lord of the Rings, it will be an ABSOLUTE requirement for all characters to be done seriously. There WILL be a lengthy "Session Zero" conversation about how I will flat out reject any comedy characters, and I WILL expect players to actually play their characters as if they have a connection to the game world, and if they don't like the idea, they're welcome to see themselves out the door or find someone else to GM. And I don't even care if it makes me seem like a jerk.

 

[iserith]

People with too many niggling pet peeves. And I'm not just saying that to stir the pot. If I'm having to spend too much time during or after a session mediating a bunch of nonsense I'll kindly show you the door. Serious issues can arise and I'll likewise take those seriously, but if Jim doesn't like how Ken roleplays his character or if Sam doesn't like how Sally rolls her dice... people are going to find themselves out on their duff. It's a game. We're all here to have fun and taking it all a little too seriously can be a problem in and of itself. Relax or help yourself to someone else's table.

Completely agreed. Being too fussy is not a good personality trait in my view. And D&D is silly as can be in my opinion. I don't think we should pretend it's something it's not. Embrace the silly, I say, and have a laugh.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Guest 6801718]

Melf.

Male Elf.

M/elf.

From Gary Gygax's son.

If tragedy + time = comedy, then bad wordplay + time = D&D canon!


(Edit- and if you think about it, Monks use ki .... I mean, we are discussing a class based in part from a 1970s disco song, and elaborated on by 1970s TV and bad genre movies)

Interesting! Plus fun.

Well, my friend didn't got that deep with his interpretation for a funny name, as far as Ki. He would actually make monkey noises and mime scratching his head and picking bugs off himself. So that was more of his inspiration. I may have appreciated the humor more if he went with Monk Ki. Then there is an internal reference. I think he took his inspiration from a short lived parody show of late night television called Night Stand. I wish I could remember the host's name. Anyway, there was an episode where a monk named Key was the guest on the show. Key was having an affair with someone at the monastary. That lead the host to quip "I guess this is a case of Monk Key see, Monk Key do!" (which did make me laugh).

 

[innerdude]

Greetings, DM Innerdude!

Allow me to introduce my character. Per your exacting standards, I will not be playing the same character I have played for the last four decades, Legolas.

Instead, I will be playing ... an elf ... an amazing archer ... by the name of Leg o' Lamb!



/runs away, ducks from dice being thrown at head

*Shaking fist* Why I oughta . . . . !!

*mumbles* something something 'fleas of a thousand camels nesting in your nether regions' something something *mumbles*

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Guest 6801718]

Confession time, I'm totally that guy that plays the same thing all the time. I always play a paladin. I just love them. In fact, at the start of pretty much any D&D, our group gets together to make characters and do our session zero. The DM will say "So what's everyone going to play, besides manduck who is playing a paladin". I've been doing that since AD&D... I may have a problem. Is there a Paladins Anonymous? I'm manduck and I have a paladin problem.

Another Pet Peeve of mine is the player who always checks his phone at the table. We've tried a no phones/devices rule at the table, though some players use digital tools or digital character sheets. When someone gets on their phone, the group is usually pretty good about calling out who ever is doing it. Though really, if you don't want to be at the table, don't come. It's rude to be on your phone when the rest of the group is trying to have fun and pay attention.

 

[Guest 6801718]

I know! I mean, just look at the names of the countries ... or the map itself ... for Greyhawk.

Or you can just cast Drawmij's Instant Summons.

Drawmij ... as originally played by Jim Ward. Let that one sink in.

Nice! Our group was never really into Greyhawk. We were more of a homebrew or FR table. Though now I want to go back through my old stuff and look for funny references. I do get a kick out of the Drawmij one

 

[Waterbizkit]

Don't misunderstand, I can see why people will have the various pet peeves that they do, everyone has something that invariably will put a hair across their . I just don't enjoy having to moderate it all, that's the hair across my . Serious issues that arise need to be dealt with. If someone at my table was getting harassed, for example, the person at fault would literally be out the door so fast it'd make their head spin. Letting the little things get to you, at least in contrast, seems like something I'd rather do without.

For a game, or hobby as a whole really, that pop culture likes to portray as the haven for socially awkward basement dwellers the truth is that this is a social experience. Being a social experience communication is key. At session zero, before each session, after each session. People need to learn to talk to one another and maybe clear the air a bit and I genuinely think we'd run into less of this little stuff.

As I said though... all of that is my pet peeve. I sit down to this game to have fun. Sometimes that means serious roleplay of dramatic situations, sometime it means having Punny McPunderson the comic relief halfling bard break out yet another of his dirty limericks, or having just as much OoC conversation and IC roleplay... or some combination thereof. But if the group addresses this stuff like adults then hopefully everyone can have a good time.

Anyway, like I said I wasn't popping in to dump all over everyone else's pet peeves just to rant about my own...

 

[Skyscraper]

I've read a number of replies about puns in RPG character names in this thread.

That is certainly a pet peave of mine, although it now rarely happens anymore.

One writer once wrote "puns are the excrement of conversation".
(My translation, the sentence was elegant in the original version).

Puns are usually bad jokes. They're so easy. With the upcoming Christmas festivities coming, think about that loud uncle that uses puns all the time that nobody laughs at, usually with not so subtle elbow jabs for his neighbor on the couch, as if the person didn't get the obvious joke because they have an IQ below freezing temperature. I have a brother like that.

Really. Puns on PC and NPC names are old, predictable, easy, not funny, a crutch for humor; they torpedo immersion at least for a while. If your players have that habbit, I strongly urge you to have this pet peeve discussion with them and simply agree that you are all intelligent enough to find a more subtle, unpredictacle and intellectually stimulating humor from now on. And maybe one day, we'll be cured of puns in RPG names if we all work hard on fighting this affliction