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Personal Rules for Playing
The other day, I posted my personal rules for Narrating a game, so I thought today I’d share my rules for playing in a game.
Object Only Once. Everything deserves one objection. If a rule is applied incorrectly, or something impossible or unfair happened, it deserves pointing out. After doing so, and the Narrator has made a decision, it shouldn’t be brought up again until after the game, lest all play grind to a halt.
Make the In-Character/Out-of-Character Line Clear. By making it clear when I am speaking as a player as opposed to a character, a lot of misunderstandings are avoided. Making it clear when I am speaking In-Character encourages other players to respond as their characters as well, encouraging role playing. Often, simply adopting a speech pattern different from my own is enough to alert other players. In some situations, I have seen an additional signal used to signify Out-of-Character speech, such as raising a hand or visibly crossing the index and middle fingers.
Share the Story. Ideally, my character’s story should strengthen the stories of the other characters and be strengthened by their stories. While the weaving of stories together is the Narrators job, it’s best not to make that any more difficult by providing as few restricting details on the story as possible.
Clear New Characters with the Group. Whenever I roll up a new character, I make sure that the concept is acceptable to the rest of the group. While problems rarely do crop up at this point, it is often best to establish whether or not a Paladin may be acceptable in a party, or whether a Ranger would be a bad choice as the other players intend to focus on Urban Environments.
The Party Comes First. While I am generally loathe to sacrifice role playing or any aspect of the story simply for game’s sake, there are some situations where this is almost required. When playing a character who will do something which can affect the party in a significant and story altering, I try to find a time to clear it with each of the other players. The story is theirs as well, and if they feel that a particular action would derail the story or ruin their enjoyment of it, I talk to the Narrator about finding a solution to the problem.
Always Participate. I may find puzzles boring, and my character might even find them boring, but it is still important to pay attention to them and participate in them. The Narrator worked hard to design the adventure and puzzle, and not participating or engaging part of it is at best discouraging and at worst insulting. When caught in these situations where you feel impotent or bored as either a player or character, a good fail-safe is to participate by active observation and learning. Watch what the other players do, and you can learn both how to accomplish new things, and sometimes how to enjoy doing so.
Ask Questions. My most important rule. There will always be times when a rule is not fully understood, or something happens which I do not follow at the time. When this happens, ask questions immediately. It is better to pause the game so that an explanation can be provided than to temporarily withdraw from play because something wasn’t understood.
What are your rules for playing in a game?
Keep My Promises:
If I say I’m going to have something done by a deadline, I always aim to finish beforehand. This is especially important to me in character creation. I hate to be the one holding up the game.
Give it Two Sessions:
If a game isn’t clicking with me, (and by this I mean, not that there are things that annoy me, but I’m having to seriously work up any enthusiasm for it at all) I give the game at least two more sessions to recapture my interest.
Bookkeeping via email:
Whenever I can, I clear away any bookkeeping or rules issues with the GM via email. Game time is precious and should be spent playing the game, not in paperwork.
Those sound kinda grim and not fun, but I’ve found that if I can clear my mind of things like this, and focus more on the game, I have a lot more fun.
- Brian