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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dykstrav" data-source="post: 5672682" data-attributes="member: 40522">I end up playing with new people a few times per year. I don't consider myself "fickle," since I'm not changing my mind or anything like that, but I definitely have a low threshold for BS.Typically, I'll give a new group about three levels or so of play before I decide whether or not I'm going to stick with them. After I've made the decision to stay or go, I'll stick around for another session or two, until there's a logical point for my character to leave, and have a talk with the GM. I'll thank them for their time and share my reasons for bowing out. Admittedly, the reasons are usually that I'm either just not having fun or that the schedule isn't working for me... But I stay on good terms and consider the group and its players for future games.All of that goes out the door if it's something more serious than my personal preferences or scheduling. For example, I was running a 3.5 game circa 2007 or so and one of the players literally asked my girlfriend out on a date, in front of me, after I introduced her as my girlfriend. That was the last session that he played of that campaign. Hygiene and general snottiness also rank high on the stuff that I just won't put up with. So it's mostly personal issues that make me drop games or players.The only directly game-related thing that I really consider a "cardinal sin" (on both sides of the screen) is time management issues and accountability. Punctuality is one of my hot-button issues. I don't mind someone being between five and ten minutes late, which is the normally accepted guideline in Western cultures. With people that are consistently twenty minutes or so late, I ask them if there is something that prevents them from being on time (the answer is always no, they just lost track of time or whatever). I'll then offer to start the game later if they need it, which is usually enough to shame them into showing up on time from then on. But I won't wait for people to show up to start playing--we usually shoot the breeze for ten minutes or so while I'm setting up, do a brief recap, and jump right in. We're playing within fifteen minutes of the scheduled time. People that show up more than twenty minutes or so late get no special consideration. They get to wait until there's a logical point to insert their character into the session. If this sort of lateness is habitual, I ask them to bow out. I'm generally more lenient for "drop-in games," but I don't do many of those and they usually don't last very long.Accountability is my other hot-button issue. There are players out there that want the GM to manage their character sheet for them. They don't write down the items they find, track their own hit points, or look up the effects of their spells--they simply announce their intentions and actions to the GM and expect the GM to track all of that for them. There are players that don't answer emails or phone calls. There are players that make characters or select options such as feats or spells without consulting the GM for what they allow or the players for what the group needs. There are players that rebuild their characters whenever a new sourcebook comes out and don't even say anything about it until they show up to the table to play. Perhaps worst of all... There are players that take actions, then want a mulligan when they don't succeed--they directly ask for rerolls or retries when they roll natural 1's, or decide that they didn't really want to cast a spell when they don't beat the target's SR or the target succeeds on their save. Those sorts of players get a conference once or perhaps twice, then they are asked to leave.</blockquote>

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