1. Be on time.

2. Be on time.

3. Please bring your own writing utensil; dice too if you have them.

4. Don't be a bitch or a crybaby when (when, NOT 'if') something doesn't turn out exactly the way you expect it to.

5. BE ON FUCKING TIME.

These are my only personal Gaming Commandments set in absolute stone. For me, other stuff is flexible and depends on the group/campaign. I don't think games themselves should dictate expectations by default; if they do, they should be loose guidelines and as interpretive as possible without being useless. Some extremely basic advice like "here's what you should probably expect to be doing as your characters in this game, here's what you should expect as GM" but providing more than that usually comes off as blowhard to me, or worse, wasted pages on a topic they truly cannot meaningfully broach when entire books have been written about these types of advice/philosophy/practical tools for years.

Stricter guidelines and play advice are becoming more and more common, ala Apocalypse World-style games mentioned above which tend to be quite explicit about what both the GM and players should be doing at any given time. I'm not a fan of this at all personally, this approach almost inevitably comes off as gimmicky to me and makes me feel like I'm playing a boardgame or some pre-packaged minigame RPG (note: 'feel like I'm playing a boardgame' in terms of 'mouth feel', I'm not literally saying this type of guidance makes them boardgames).

I think the question says more about how rude some people are than anything else. No normal adult needs to be told to show up on time, bathe, or be polite and bring beer/snacks to a party. That's just what you do. I don't show up to the beer league softball game without a glove, so why wouldn't you be expected to show up to an RPG without the proper supplies?

Yeah, I'm with Brad here in that I don't see the point in instructions of the kind "be on time" or "bring your supplies". Those are basic rules of conduct in society.

What instructions should be is about what is expected of the people as players in this particular game. If it's a sandbox style game, then tell them to be proactive and inquisitive; if it's GoT-like interpersonal drama tell them to come up with their own agendas even if it's conflicting with other players (specially if it's the case!); if it's a dungeon crawl, say what's expected of players in such a style as to enrich the experience. THAT's important info to relate to players, so they know what to expect and what to do.

I'm playing this videogame Darkwoods for PS4, which is a harsh survival and horror game, and right at the first loading screen there is this advice:

"Darkwood is a relentless game.

It won't take you by the hand.

So take it slowly. Respect the forest. Focus."

Right there the game informs the player what he should expect and how he should behave if he want to have a good time (instead of getting frustrated). That's what RPG books should do more, IMO.

Quote from: jeff37923;10898175. Don't be an asshole.

6. Put in effort.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1089824Oh man. We've got a player in our Starfinder Society group who's not quite an asshole, but he's knocking on that door.

One of the advantages of running a series of closed-ended campaigns rather than a single open-ended one is that you can use the break between games to reshuffle a bit. You start your first one and just email every gamer you know. Let's say 8 come and 4 stick around, and you pick up another 1-2 along the way. Now there's a break and you're going to start your next campaign, who do you email? Well, you start with the ones you liked.

Years of gaming plus years of being a trainer have taught me: love can be unreciprocated, but hate is usually mutual. If you dislike them the chances are they don't like you much, either, it's just that both of you are being too polite to bring it up. Simply not inviting them to the next term of gaming - probably they won't invite themselves, they'll just quietly go away. And they can become that story that gets told in games to come. "Oh, remember that guy - you haven't met him, Bob, but James played with him -" and James winces and puts his face in his hands.

Quote from: ItachiYeah, I'm with Brad here in that I don't see the point in instructions of the kind "be on time" or "bring your supplies". Those are basic rules of conduct in society.

You would think so, and yet...

Gaming, my gym clients, my gym co-workers, when I worked in hospitality, and of course socially... it's all the same. Most people do not have their shit together. It's not gamers in particular, nor is it that they're super-organised outside game sessions and hopeless within them - it's just people. Most people are not well-organised.

The only time in my life when almost everyone was reliable and prompt was the army. But that's because if they weren't then they were put on a fucking charge. That's how useless most people are, they won't become useful and reliable unless there is the entire weight of a totalitarian justice system forcing them to be so.

That's why one of the Big Five personality traits is Conscientiousness. There are arguments over what traits to put in those tests, or even if they're testable, but the real reason that's in there is because the guy who came up with the test got sick of unreliable people and wanted a measurement so he could know whether to bother having that person in his life or not. True story.

Interestingly, conscientiousness is also a big predictor of life success. In common parlance, it's essentially work ethic and is very important in all fields. Gaming is indeed a microcosm of the larger world.

Sure, players run their PCS into a GM's game like driver-less cars.

Always been that way. Players (usually) only care about their characters.

Find a resource that tells players to be mindful of what the GM is doing.

I'll wait.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1089802Looking over RPGs books, there are often laundry lists of everything the GM must (or should) do to make sure the game runs smoothly. Should there be an equivalent player section in the book that delineates what players should bring to the table other than their asses?

No.

I don't see anything that tells me how to play cards smoothly, or chess, or Monopoly or other games, so why RPGs?

Quote from: Spinachcat;1089802And what do YOU think should be discussed as "player responsibilities" or "expectations" upon them?

The ones previously listed are pretty good.

That's precisely why I show up to Monopoly games in my pin-stripe suit, doing my best Gordon Gekko impression, with a bunch of cocaine, cigars and whiskey...

And *every* single time it ends up pissing off the other players who tell me I don't get it.

I don't understand.

Quote from: tenbones;1089996That's precisely why I show up to Monopoly games in my pin-stripe suit, doing my best Gordon Gekko impression, with a bunch of cocaine, cigars and whiskey...

This is excellent play advice for anyone seeking to actually enjoy a game of Monopoly.

Quote from: Antiquation!;1089998This is excellent play advice for anyone seeking to actually enjoy a game of Monopoly.

It's even better when you call an actual mob hit when they can't pay rent!

Quote from: Brad;1090000It's even better when you call an actual mob hit when they can't pay rent!

The only issue I take with mob hit rules is after a few games, you run out of people to play with. My Diplomacy set hasn't been opened in years...

I think it's worth a shot. Most great GMs I've encountered often have explicit table rules (separate from the game rules) and often have plenty of stories to back up they operate that way.

So you agree with the GM that requires a full body-cavity search before and after each game-session?

Quote from: tenbones;1090012So you agree with the GM that requires a full body-cavity search before and after each game-session?

Bonus!