How To Play Good: Table Etiquette

Each table and group has its own etiquette. Who brings the snacks, where you’ll be playing, on down the list. Some groups insist on dice trays for rolling, so dice don’t go all over the place and knock over miniatures on the map. If you’re joining a new group, ask. Ensure such things get covered in Session Zero so everyone knows what’s expected of them.

Corollary: “Be Mindful” is the core of How To Play Good. It goes well beyond the game table, though.

It means show up on time. Really. Set an alarm if you have to. If you must be late, let someone know. In today’s connected world of social media and smartphones, there simply is no excuse for being late. If you are forced to be late, let someone know about it. Really, if you’re perpetually late, it’s because you can’t be bothered to give enough of a shit about your friends to remind yourself about something that’s important to other people.  Is that who you want to be?

Remember the stuff you need to play the game, like dice, a pencil, and your character sheet. If you’re so inhumanly disorganized that you’re likely to lose, misplace, or forget your character sheet, leave it with your GM or a responsible player. But if you do that, you abdicate the right to bitch when they get irritated for you forcing them to be your mommy.

There’s more, but that’s something to start with.

Every week as part of the How To Play Good series you’ll get a different post with tips and tricks in this series. But if you don’t want to wait, you can get the whole thing here, along with a crap-ton of GM tips.