Path: news.netway.at!newscore.univie.ac.at!europa.clark.net!208.134.241.18!newsfeed.internetmci.com!152.163.199.19!portc03.blue.aol.com!newstf02.news.aol.com!audrey01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: emirikol7@aol.com (Emirikol7) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Player's Guide - Etiquette & Party Rules Date: 5 Feb 1998 18:05:43 GMT Lines: 74 Message-ID: <19980205180501.NAA12511@ladder03.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder03.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Xref: news.netway.at rec.games.frp.dnd:122130 These are some guidelines our gaming groups use to help an adventuring party be more efficient and fun. Any feedback or additional suggestions would be very welcome. 1/23/98 RULES FOR THE PARTY (Hafner) 1. All goods found will be put in the party treasure sheet. One person will be responsible for keeping track of this sheet even though the weight of the items will be distributed among several characters. Distribution of any treasure found by the party shall follow rule #1 and be distributed by a roll of a d20. Highest roll gets first pick. Roll again when the last person has chosen an item and follow the procedure again. Thou shalt not claim an item that would best fit another PC unless they have an item you wish to trade for. 2. Thou shalt not screw over the party. 3. Thou shalt not go off adventuring on ones own and ruin a whole night of gaming for the rest of the group. 4. Thou shalt design a character that will fit well within the group already established. 5. Thou shalt not follow the guidelines of an alignment to the extreme that causes undue party unpleasantries. e.g. Evil PC's shalt not screw over a good PC at the expense of the party. 6. Inter-player fighting shalt not be carried over into in-character situations. 7. Whence a PC is charmed, unruly, unbecomming, or otherwise 'not-themselves', thou may thence strike a character with a weapon ONLY whence an overbear or pummel is not in order. 8. If a PC goes down into the negatives, he shall be saved by the least busy character. 9. Cost to raise dead is first taken from the party treasure unless one performed #3 above. 10. Thieves of the party will not steal from the party to a point that the party is cheated in any way. 11. Thou shalt not sabotage another's character by 'borrowing' items that make their character 'fun to run' unless #7 applies. 12. Thou shalt give the party ample warning when they won't be able to attend a crucial gaming session. 13. Thou shalt not infringe upon another players goal to have fun unless rule # 7 applies above. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Gaming Etiquette. Courtesy to the Host. Please respect the property and premises of the host. Try to show up no earlier than 1/2 hour prior to game time and clean up your garbage before you leave. We will try to start on time and will attempt to game even if only one person shows up and wants to play (Host's option). If you have a long drive, call ahead to confirm the schedule. If nobody calls or shows up by 30 minutes late then the game is off. Smoking is not allowed in the house. Consult the DM and other players before inviting observers or anybody new. Running Late? We won't hassle you about being late or absent as long as you call. Tell your DM or another player as soon as you find out: 2 hours prior to game time at the latest if you cant make it (any excuse will do). If you're going to be late, call whenever you get the chance. Nothing anger's a DM and other players more than people with no respect for anyone else's commitments. In consideration of the other players and your DM (who works for hours designing adventures around YOUR character), you should tell us if you're not going to be gaming with us anymore (for whatever reason). If you dont call us and are absent 2 sessions in a row, you are considered to be out of the group. -------------------------------------------------- Jay Hafner B.S. (4/99 add D.C.)---------------------------- (Emirikol7@aol.com, JHafner@nwchiro.edu)------------------------ (Greyhawk Web Page: http://members.aol.com/emirikol7)----------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Chris Barnabo" Message-ID: Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd References: <19980205180501.NAA12511@ladder03.news.aol.com> Date: Fri, 06 Feb 98 00:39:33 Reply-To: "Chris Barnabo" X-Newsreader: PMINews 1.02 Beta 1 For OS/2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Player's Guide - Etiquette & Party Rules NNTP-Posting-Host: 166.72.209.40 Organization: IBM.NET Lines: 141 Path: news.netway.at!newscore.univie.ac.at!europa.clark.net!208.134.241.18!newsfeed.internetmci.com!165.87.194.242!newsm2.ibm.net!ibm.net!news3.ibm.net!166.72.209.40 Xref: news.netway.at rec.games.frp.dnd:122296 On 5 Feb 1998 18:05:43 GMT, Emirikol7 wrote: >These are some guidelines our gaming groups use to help an adventuring party be >more efficient and fun. Any feedback or additional suggestions would be very >welcome. You asked for comments ... FWIW, here are mine (from the perspective of being a GM in a campaign with relatively well-behaved players). None of my comments are meant as a judgement or slight on your opinions ... just my $0.02! >1. All goods found will be put in the party treasure sheet. One person will >be responsible for keeping track of this ... I let the party deal with this on their own. There have been some unequal distributions (particularly on the part of the party's theives), but that's part of the fun. Generally the characters play fair with one another. >2. Thou shalt not screw over the party. I let the party deal with this on their own ... they're quite capable of enacting retribution if they feel it's justified. >3. Thou shalt not go off adventuring on ones own and ruin a whole night of >gaming for the rest of the group. Depends on the situation - if it's called for (scouting ahead, errands about town, etc.) I allow and even encourage it and have different methods of handling the situation so it doesn't detract from the evening. If it's uncalled for and the player is just being difficult, such adventures quickly turn to misadventures with a real chance of serious injury or death. They know this, thus they don't do it. If that's not managable due to the circumstances, I'll let them wander off and then ignore them while concentrating on the main party: again, they know this, thus they don't do it. >4. Thou shalt design a character that will fit well within the group already >established. Characters are born, not made, and I believe they should have no foreknowledge of their impending situation. Thus, characters are made to fit the players wishes in accordance with their ability scores and in the absence of information about other characters. If absolutely necessary for game balance I might hint in a particular direction, but I leave the choice up to the player - if they can create a character they feel "connected" with, they play a whole lot better. >5. Thou shalt not follow the guidelines of an alignment to the extreme that >causes undue party unpleasantries. e.g. Evil PC's shalt not screw over a good >PC at the >expense of the party. Hasn't been a problem, but again I'd allow the party to deal with this on their own. >6. Inter-player fighting shalt not be carried over into in-character >situations. Absolutely. And vice-versa! >7. Whence a PC is charmed, unruly, unbecomming, or otherwise 'not-themselves', >thou may thence strike a character with a weapon ONLY whence an overbear >or pummel is not in order. One of my favorite "tests of player character" is to let them get charmed, controlled, drugged, etc. and then have the player properly play the affected character. Doing it right, even to the detriment of the character or the party, is worth bonus XP. I'd expect such a controlled character to react appropriately to any situation - a character that's possessed, for instance, would resist attempts to drive out the possessor with all possible means, even killing. Players who aren't charmed/controlled/etc. should react according to their own character's beliefs and alignment. >8. If a PC goes down into the negatives, he shall be saved by the least busy >character. Up the the players. >9. Cost to raise dead is first taken from the party treasure unless one >performed #3 above. Hasn't happened yet (and such magic is *extremely* rare and *extremely* costly IMC) - I'd leave such a choice up to the party. >10. Thieves of the party will not steal from the party to a point that the >party is cheated in any way. As I said, the party is quick capable of enforcing this one on their own. >11. Thou shalt not sabotage another's character by 'borrowing' items that make >their character 'fun to run' unless #7 applies. That would count as theft in my book! The affected character would be free to do whatever he/she chose in response. >12. Thou shalt give the party ample warning when they won't be able to attend >a crucial gaming session. We can't always manage this ... but their character is *always* present, player or not. Any non-present player has their character run as an NPC to the best of my ability, trying to play as I think they want to be played. "Mechanical" experience points still accrue (combat, etc.), but no roleplaying experience, obviously! Not warning the GM that you'll be absent is a *bad* thing ... >13. Thou shalt not infringe upon another players goal to have fun unless rule ># 7 applies above. Infringing on another players fun is a no-no in every situation - fun is the point of the game. Luckily, we all get along and it hasn't been an issue! >Gaming Etiquette. >Courtesy to the Host. Please respect the property and premises of the host. >Try to show up no earlier than 1/2 hour prior to game time and clean up your >garbage ... Good guidelines. We have the GM and 7 players, we cancel without question if 3 players will be absent, and try to take census for the next session at the end of the present one so we know in advance. *Everyone* has e-mail access, which is also a big help. Bringing observers requires GM *and* party approval. Bringing new players is an absolute no-no - we've already got a large party, and I require a *lot* of prep work with a player before they start running with us. At the moment, our table is firmly closed. >Running Late? We won't hassle you about being late or absent as long as you >call. Agreed! -- Chris ________*________ Chris Barnabo, irish89@ibm.net ____________ \_______________/ www.geocities.com/~cejb \__________/ / / __\ \_______/ /__ "The heck with the Prime Directive, \_______________/(- let's destroy something!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: news.netway.at!newscore.univie.ac.at!europa.clark.net!204.59.152.222!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!portc01.blue.aol.com!audrey02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: cmuel59749@aol.com (CMuel59749) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: Player's Guide - Etiquette & Party Rules Date: 6 Feb 1998 06:17:25 GMT Lines: 49 Message-ID: <19980206061701.BAA02057@ladder03.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder03.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com References: <19980205180501.NAA12511@ladder03.news.aol.com> Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: AOL Offline Reader Xref: news.netway.at rec.games.frp.dnd:122303 In article <19980205180501.NAA12511@ladder03.news.aol.com>, emirikol7@aol.com (Emirikol7) writes: >These are some guidelines our gaming groups use to help an >adventuring party be more efficient and fun. Any feedback or >additional suggestions would be very welcome. >1/23/98 RULES FOR THE PARTY (Hafner) >1. [snip] A few additions from experience... 14. Thou shalt always be DM-friendly. Thou shalt never harass the DM in or out of the game. Thou shalt assist the DM in play by looking up spell descriptions if thy character is currently unoccupied. 15. Thou shalt not interrupt another player or the DM, especially when the DM is describing a situation; UNLESS thy character is taking impulsive action or has knowledge which must be immediately acted upon. 16. When creating an item (magical or otherwise), building a castle, researching a new spell, etc. - thou shalt do this on thy own time and not during game play. Thou shalt contact the DM before hand to deal with this matter without interfering with the other players' enjoyment of the game. 17. THOU SHALT TAKE NOTES!! Thy DM is not at thy beck and call for thy faulty memory. When thou learn the power(s) of a magical device, thou shalt write down its range, duration, area of effect, and other pertinent information so thy DM does not have to look it up for thee again. 18. Thou shalt never call out the statistics of a creature with which thy character is unfamiliar. 19. Thou shalt never carry a grudge between characters into real life. This is a game. Guardian (cmuel59749@aol.com) Guardian (cmuel59749@aol.com) Check out my AD&D website: http://members.aol.com/cmuel59749/Main.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: news.netway.at!newscore.univie.ac.at!europa.clark.net!205.252.116.205!howland.erols.net!newspeer.monmouth.com!news.lightlink.com!news.graphics.cornell.edu!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!usenet From: "David R. Klassen" Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: Player's Guide - Etiquette & Party Rules Date: Fri, 06 Feb 1998 08:36:23 -0700 Organization: Cornell University Astronomy Department Lines: 39 Sender: drk14@cornell.edu (Verified) Message-ID: <34DB2DF7.156DE83@cornell.edu> References: <19980205180501.NAA12511@ladder03.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: istacaran.tn.cornell.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I) Xref: news.netway.at rec.games.frp.dnd:122375 Chris Barnabo wrote: > > On 5 Feb 1998 18:05:43 GMT, Emirikol7 wrote: > >These are some guidelines our gaming groups use to help an adventuring party > >4. Thou shalt design a character that will fit well within the group already > >established. > > Characters are born, not made, and I believe they should have no foreknowledge > of their impending situation. Thus, characters are made to fit the players > wishes in accordance with their ability scores and in the absence of > information about other characters. If absolutely necessary for game balance > I might hint in a particular direction, but I leave the choice up to the > player - if they can create a character they feel "connected" with, they play > a whole lot better. But, to stay in game terms, adventuring parties are *chosen*. If they meet an incompatible character, why would they take him/her along? Just because it is a PC instead of an NPC? Doesn't make sense. A player coming into a current group is obligated to make a (relatively) conforming character. If all players are starting at the same time, they are obligated to make a (relatively) conforming set of characters. And characters *are* made, not born. If you ask to bring your slinky, ethically questionable thief into my group of necromancer-hunting followers of [insert favorite *LG* god here] and you will be highly dissuaded. Partly becuase you will cause disruptions trying to do things 'your way', and partly because the group will be at odds with you more times then not. -- David R. Klassen Department of Astronomy Center for Radiophysics and Space Research 404 Space Sciences Building Cornell University Ithaca NY 14853 phone: 607-255-6910 fax: 607-255-9002 http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/staff/klassen/klassen.html drk14@cornell.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: news.netway.at!news1.onsi.com!news9.digex.net!news6.digex.net!digex!newsreader.digex.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!globalcenter0!news.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news-out.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!152.163.199.19!portc03.blue.aol.com!audrey01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: emirikol7@aol.com (Emirikol7) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: Player's Guide - Etiquette & Party Rules Date: 6 Feb 1998 17:30:58 GMT Lines: 14 Message-ID: <19980206173001.MAA19601@ladder03.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder03.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com References: <19980206061701.BAA02057@ladder03.news.aol.com> Xref: news.netway.at rec.games.frp.dnd:122406 <<<18. Thou shalt never call out the statistics of a creature with which thy character is unfamiliar. >>> Go-go, Gadget Monstrous Encyclopedia! I've played with DM's that strike PC's dead if they pull this one... Good call! Jay Hafner B.S. (4/99 add D.C.)---------------------------- (Emirikol7@aol.com, JHafner@nwchiro.edu)------------------------ (Greyhawk Web Page: http://members.aol.com/emirikol7)----------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: news.netway.at!newscore.univie.ac.at!europa.clark.net!206.229.87.25!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!newsfeed.internetmci.com!152.163.199.19!portc03.blue.aol.com!audrey02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: eschlon@aol.com (Eschlon) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: Player's Guide - Etiquette & Party Rules Date: 6 Feb 1998 18:34:54 GMT Lines: 19 Message-ID: <19980206183401.NAA15908@ladder02.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder02.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com References: <19980206061701.BAA02057@ladder03.news.aol.com> Xref: news.netway.at rec.games.frp.dnd:122423 Please don't take any offense to this but the rules and guidelines that you posted sound more like an adventuring contract than game etiquette. Personally I do tend to give out a few extra XPs to those characters that make the game run more smoothly or make the game more fun. I also give out extra XPs to those characters who roleplay well, and if that roleplaying means that they need to split with the party for a while, or that they need to stab one of their party members in the back then as a DM I just tend to accept the annoyance as annoying, but Ok. Actually I ran a really complex campaign once in which each Player controlled 10 characters (but not at once, although it got kind of difficult to try and keep two of thier characters from meeting...) The objective was to show a HUGE war from all sides, and it succeded quite well despite constant party break ups. Now, when the party dissolves into chaos... When there is a big PC war... Well, that's when you just start killing people and passing out helms of alignment change... Esc][lon