Post/Author/DateTime	Post
bansheeman 11-20-05, 10:46 PM	Alright I got a little question game for all you DM's. How do run your table? 1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? thats it. Thanks All. :D
SneakyPetey 11-20-05, 11:20 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? My wife bought me a sword two years ago. It's about the size of a bastard sword. It's for decoration only, but it looks *really* intimidating! ;) I take it to every session and lay it across my lap. I've noticed I've been getting a lot fewer complaints about my DMing... :D 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Most of the players prefer to sit on couches when we play. I set up a card table, and I'm the only one using it. It stays fairly well-organized. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. Each characters' stats are recorded in a DM log I've created. The information includes your basic combat stats, skills, immunities, bonuses, etc. I usually don't check each character's memorized spells or anything. I can trust them now (see #1 above). I let them take their character sheets home after every session. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) We eat lunch before we start playing to avoid long delays due to excessive eating. Otherwise, snacks and drinks are okay with me. Players who fetch beverages for the DM are usually rewarded in one way or another... Usually I just say "Thanks!" The real winners are the players who help me lug all my stuff back out to the car. :D 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Now that I bring an actual sword to gaming sessions, I've been able to enforce a dress code. Business casual attire is required. Since I view personal hygeine to be of paramount importance, I also require my players to wear their underwear on the outside of their pants, so I can tell that they're wearing a clear pair... :D
Draco Strang 11-20-05, 11:36 PM	1. A laptop. It's invaluable for referencing obscure rules from my pdf books, jotting down notes when a pen isn't handy, digging up a fast picture for something off of google, and a million other things. 2. Minis and mat are in the middle, everyone's allowed a character sheet, PHB, dice, pencils, and a drink. I try to keep my table fairly austere. 3. I have a copy, they have a copy. If the two don't match up when we go to level up, then the player and I sit down and go through it forward and backward until we fix the discrepancy. 4. My DM fee is a few cans of Dr. Pepper each session. As long as I get those I'm cool. As for food? Sometimes we'll throw down for a pizza, or go out to eat afterward. 5. My playstyle is somewhere in the middle. I don't require a 300+ page backstory and a working knowledge of the Draconic language to play, but I like my players to RP a fair amount at the table, and keep the metagaming to a minimum. OTOH, I'm the first to crack a joke if the situation warrants it. We all have fun.
Board_Rider 11-20-05, 11:55 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I am with Draco with the laptop thing too...it is great. What makes my DM life easier too is having all of the PCs stats on a card too. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I don't have a rule per se. However I do like to have it clean but just roll with whatever is there. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I have the main things like skill bonuses and stuff but the players keep their PCs. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) Everyone usually brings food and we eat beforehand. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Casual. Sometimes a bit too much so. I would prefer a bit more seriousness sometimes.
Bowlich 11-21-05, 12:16 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I've got a milk carton that has all my books in it, cover-edge's upwards so that I can glance down and see all of my d&d books. They're arranged in order of type (monster books, core rule books, setting books, etc.) 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I've usually got stacks upon stacks of notes scattered all over the place in a mess around my side of the table, the floor and my side-table, so I'm typically a lot messier then all the player's combined. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. Once upon a time I let the player's keep their sheets. Then they'd go home and promptly loose them or misplace them and come back the next week without a character sheet. Or they'd not show for a session and someone would need to know what equipement so-and-so was carrying, or what's so-and-so's stat's on his sword was (because they're barrowing it). Now I keep the character sheets, so if any character goes missing its my fault. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) The session takes a brake when the pizza arrives, it doesn't start up again until everyone is done eating. Any munchies in between I don't mind. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? I like to keep it middle of the road. Too strict and people aren't having fun, too casual and we might as well just get rid of the dice and shoot the breeze.
Koji 11-21-05, 04:29 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? A pad of paper and a pencil. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Don't spill food on the battle grid, please. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. If I need important information, I just look at their sheet. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) If you're going to drink beer while playing, please don't take it to the head and get drunk. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Pretty casual. It's D&D, not SOVIET LABOR CAMP.
strcpy 11-21-05, 08:23 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I use a pack of accounting cards (A6 size). Simply I write down my players names and the monsters they fight. When they roll iniative I sort the cards into the right order. This way initiative is so simple to keep track of, as well as spells, effects and such as you can write down notes, counters and spell durations on the cards ;) 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Never came up in my game, so long as I have space enough for all my DM thigns I don't care what my players do with there space. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I use to keep my players sheets, but only because it was conveniant for them, as I just shoved them into my file with all my other notes. Now my players keep them. I have a DM sheet, with their hp, AC, saves and certain skill checks. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) I cannot be bribed perioid. The only food rule is to bring as much as you can :D - if you bring you must share... as everyone brings this is not a problem. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Very casual, DnD is a serious matter, it's a reason to get together and spend time with your friends and family. The way I see it, DnD is a catalyst for a time well spent with people who's company you enjoy.
Messer 11-21-05, 09:09 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I use a Totem, a Conch, or, even a gavel, to make sure that people are aware that, when I am talking, that only I am talking, and that, when people are all talking at once, I can get a little order. But, I play with players who have attention/crazy problems... (I'm glad they can't read) 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Throw away your trash at the end of the night. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. If I hear anything incredibly stupid, I ask for the math, and then I say, "Is that right Kyle?" and kyle says, "yes/no" but hes my human calculator 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) No, bribes do not work, however, I am willing to, for the sake of the story, use the following line, "Okay guys, I'll tell you what, if (player) does this right at this moment, I will rule that the following happenes.... (explaination) ....does that sound fair?" 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? me? you might, if you didn't know, think that I am not even in the room, and that the guys are playing without me. My playing style is mostly by the books, but I like to keep it low, and let the guys run the ship. I am a very open DM who really wants to hear the players explain how and why they expect things to work, so that I can make a good story for them. If I pull too tightly on the strings, no one has fun, and everyone feels 'forced' and if I am too loose, people forget that we are playing and start to talk about work. Sit quietly, and prod when people get stuck, if there is too much table chatter, throw down a little, "So and so is talking" and ask the other players, "what are you going to do, do you agree? anything to add?" the guys really like it now.
BurgerKing 11-21-05, 09:27 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Air-conditioned room. My country is hot year round. Plus, I have a marble table and 2 marble arm chairs. Very antique and serious looking. And marble keeps us cool also. (although it was abysmal carrying up that freaking heavy furniture set.) 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I stack everything I need when I'm the DM. My side of the table looks like a mini cityscape. Players are not allowed anything on the table except their character sheets and stationary. My players mostly leave the books they need on the floor within reach. This keeps the table relatively neat. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I keep my players character sheets, simply because i got one player who will call me in the middle of the week to ask to change a feat or some such. I always say 'no' and allowing him to keep his sheet maybe a bit too tempting. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) I supply the drinks. I never ask my players to bring any food. However if they were to bring food, sometimes the God of Random Treasures may smile on them, but they will never know that. That's the difference between a bribe and a reward. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? A bit of both. Or in between, if you want.
boytbpc 11-21-05, 09:35 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Laptop plus DM Genie 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? If the table starts getting too dirty, I inconspicuously start to gather my things then 'accidently' kick it real hard to send drinks and food scraps flying. :devil: 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. DM Genie does it for me. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) No Food = TPK Food = Maybe no TPK 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Does the name Benito Mussolini mean anything to you?
TalonofTiamat 11-21-05, 01:36 PM	Alright I got a little question game for all you DM's. How do run your table? 1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? White board to keep things like initiative, spell duration ect. on. This is unitl I get a laptop. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I'm not a NFN but I like to keep things orderly so I can find anything I need quickly. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I used to have everyone keep their sheet, but since many of the PCs lose theirs, I'm going to start keeping a copy. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) I always need something to eat during a session. We usually get pizza, but I'd like it if we would just have cheetos or something so we don't take a huge break to order then eat. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? It's more casual, but I have to be business like to get the PCs to stay on task.
Rocketboy13 11-21-05, 02:08 PM	1. I push work off on the players by making them keep track of initiative and temporary effects. Ieven make them do work on the off time to inhance the game, creating gods, organizations, generic NPC stats, names and adventure ideas (heavily moded by myself before they see use of course). :plotting: 2. I try to keep my books in as good a shape as possible, so food is allowed on the coffee tables or tv trays but not on the card tables or the battle mat especially. I also think players should be considerate enough to wear deoderant and clean clothing. :twitch: 3. If a player has a problem keeping track of his gear I hang on to it, otherwise I let the players keep track of their materials in case they want to rewrite it onto a new sheet, or look for prestiege classes on the off days. 4. Snacks are good, but it is prefered if it is something that is not too messy to eat, candy bars, cookies, anything that doesn't drip or leave grease stains. I do not acknowledge bribes, and punish those who challenge my integrity. However I am a ***** for flattery from female gamers, but then again I am also tougher on them in more serious games when the issue of violence and what being taking prisoner means for them. :uh-huh: :mymy: :bigeyes: :eek: 5. It depends on the adventure. Casuel if we have noobs, but serious if we are in the mood for some deep gaming. (Casual is easier, and does not leave you mentally tapped out). :zzz:
FireJewel 11-21-05, 02:26 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Index cards of monsters... all of their stats laid out... their special attacks looked up and defined. The laminated Battle Mat. Crayola's fat washable crayons... for some reason the dry erase markers don't come off of laminate, but the crayons do. The minis. Lots of Dice. Dice are often my trees... or bad guys if I run out of minis. Also, it helps to have a paper with tavern names, different race names, town names, etc... that way the story flows better then it does with "Miscellaneous Merchant Number B" 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I am a neat freak... not too overbearing, though. They are slobs. Well, sometimes. They just can't seem to find the sink before they leave... so I have cups out on the table in various states of fullness. Sometimes they leave their dice out. I have 2 cats... they love dice. (New rule - if you leave your dice out - it's not my fault if they're gone). They don't gather up their sheets for me. They don't help put the mini's away... except one player. If they're reading this... GOOD! Quit bein' slobs. Oh yeah, and put the toilet seat down when you're done. :rant: 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. Whatever... really. I write down important stats if I need to. I generally keep the character sheets during the week so nothing gets lost. I used to keep a DM log... but it's just one more thing for me to track. My players are *really* honest. I don't have to do much in secret. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) There are no bribes... I even cook for gaming. I don't get stuff brought to me. Reading these posts, I think I am getting a raw deal here. I should go on strike. They're allowed to have food at the table. Then again, we've been gaming for about 15 hours a session. Player: Why aren't we finding any magical weapons? Me: Why aren't I finding a slice of pizza? :P 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Casual... we get off topic at the beginning of the session... but once it's up and running, it's easy to control. Edit: adding a thought to point 1
Illion the Red 11-21-05, 02:40 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I keep a "vital statistics" sheet handy with the relevant info for the PCs so I can make secret rolls if needed, keep track of their damage, power points, spells, or whatever. Also, I find it very useful to have a personalized DM screen that has all of the silly little combat rules on it - Grapple, Sunder, and Disarm are my three biggies. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? If you spill something, clean it up. Other than that, shower sometime before the game and make liberal use of deoderant and we'll be fine. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I keep a copy of all of the player's character sheets. How else am I supposed to put together my cheat sheats? 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) Bring whatever you want. I'll be serving dinner and dessert. They'll be some appetizers on the table when you get here. The soda's in the fridge. If you want to drink something harder than soda - 1. Have a ride home. 2. Do not let it interfere with play. 3. Do not give any to a minor. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? We're mostly casual, but when the game's good, OOC stuff just fades away and we just get into it in character. When it's not...well, I have bad days too.
VerinBlod 11-21-05, 03:00 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? The best thing I use is my note book, list of random names, my books and of course the dice. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? As long as no one spoils anything over the battlemat or my notes I really don't care if the table is messy. I myself tend to be a NFN. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I get copies from them. I used to have the rule that if there are any discrepancies between the original and the copied sheet than my copy is the one that counts. But I haven't enforced that rule for a long time. My players are an honest bunch :) 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) No I don't accept bribes. We don't play that long that we have to order any food. We don't have any breaks either for getting food. Snacks, drinks, etc are provided by all. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Depends. If my players are in the mood for playing than we have very in depth roleplaying. But than again you'll have those days that people are just tired from work that they just like an outlet for their frustration and just have fun. Either way is good with me although I the in depth roleplaying more.
Board_Rider 11-21-05, 04:03 PM	[4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) There are no bribes... I even cook for gaming. Bring whatever you want. I'll be serving dinner and dessert. They'll be some appetizers on the table when you get here. The soda's in the fridge. Jesus where do you people live!!!???!! Do you have a open spot at your table? I am willing to move. Seriously.
Illion the Red 11-21-05, 04:20 PM	Jesus where do you people live!!!???!! Do you have a open spot at your table? I am willing to move. Seriously. Well...I was considering starting up a new campaign next year to parallel my current one. I only have two players right now, so I have room for another two...just make sure you have a 4WD and can handle the Northern New England winters :)
FireJewel 11-21-05, 04:26 PM	Jesus where do you people live!!!???!! Do you have a open spot at your table? I am willing to move. Seriously. :rofl: Sure... come on over. But if you don't put the toilet seat down... :ghosted: Seriously, though... we used to take time out of gaming to order food. Or take an intermission to pick up food. It was hard to get back to focus. Now, it's easier with a pot of stew on the stove... or roast beef... or lasagna... Whatever. People eat at their leisure and stay focused on the game. It also helps with attendence. ;)
thought_riot 11-21-05, 04:34 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Laptop/computer, white board for battle grid 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? We're incredibly messy. I don't particularly care as long as everything can be found. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I have my own copy of every player's sheets, and then I also keep their copies during their week because they're liable to lose them. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) We play Sundays from 9 AM to 2 PM, and we usually go to McDonalds or something for breakfast before hand, and take a shortbreak during the session for food. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Pretty casual. We're all teens, so the hormones rage. I'd like to get more serious and have some more indepth roleplaying though.
devinmdp 11-21-05, 05:18 PM	Alright I got a little question game for all you DM's. How do run your table? 1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? thats it. Thanks All. :D 1. A bigger room to play in. 2. It's never really come up, though I wish my players would pass gas less often. 3. I keep them. Tired of people telling me "whoops...I forgot to bring my sheet!" 4. No rules on food. Anyone can eat anything at the table. 5. Fits of casualness with periods of business like when the plot or action is thick. Devin
DragonDeadite 11-21-05, 05:43 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I use a DM Tracker that I picked up at a local hobby shop (HAIL Attactix!) that allows you to keep track of Init with a dry erase page on the back cover, as well as keeping track of everything for the campaign world to the character stats to their recent contacts, very cool thing. That and I play at my apartment so I have it set up where I run the game next to me PC so I have access to everything I've ever done if they decide to try and go back to someone they met six sessions ago. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I am SO not a neat freak. I keep all my stuff cluttered and we're constantly moving around the snack bowls in order to have fights. I usualy have to search through two or three stacks of papers to find what I need. Like this last game I did. The players unded up going up a set of stairs I wasn't expecting them to go up, took me fifteen minutes to find the papers on that section of the castle. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I keep them. I play in a game where we take home our character sheets every time, and every time we end up having someone short the next session and don't know the spells they have in their spell books or what items they have on them, as well as having people lose their sheets and redo it every friggin game, of course coming up with different stats every game as well. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) I ALWAYS accept bribes... but weither or not it effects the game is different. :D I have one player who comes to the game with two things every time: M&Ms and Mountain Dew. I get the Dew, my sister gets the M'ers. He knows who he needs to kiss up to... HER! Because she sits next to me and makes sure I don't cheat on the dice unless it's to their favor! 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Well, since I ran this last game thinking it was serious... until we had to take about half an hour break to stop from laughing, a couple of us were in tears it was so funny. I wont put it all in, but just think of the image of a cleric opening up a door and seeing the Skeleton... the skull raises up to attack and the cleric just closes the door... :confused: and the skeleton sits back down, grumbling to itself. It was just friggin funny man!! But yeah, I'm pretty casual...
cypherx 11-21-05, 05:48 PM	pass a spoon and raise your hand. if you have really loud obnoxious players, than this will help keep the peace. also, there is a rule for those joking players out there, say it you play it. so if they mention the bald bouncer's tat looking like [female anatomy], then their character says it. but only do this if things get out of hand. if things are ok, just ask that they try to take turns talking.
rbrt_Spade 11-21-05, 06:27 PM	Alright I got a little question game for all you DM's. How do run your table? 1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I have a section of my bedroom to gaming. A table rests with my die sets,books,grid, & notes. I supply everything for the gaming. :D 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I expect players have common curtisy to repect you and dress in clothing thats not dirty. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. Copies of them. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) Yes, if its pop & chips. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Sticking to business with kick in the door hack n slash style play. thats it. Thanks All. :D[/QUOTE]
scott644 11-21-05, 06:59 PM	Answers deliberately given before reading the rest of the thread. Perspective of a mixed player/GM. 1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? An open mind. There's tremendous amounts of resource in your fellow players (I feel as DM you're a player as well) if you're willing to accept their input and adapt it to your game(s). 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Depends who's hosting the game; some house rules are set by the people owning the house as opposed to the DM. ^_^ 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. That's more whim than reliable practice, although on principle I at least try to get copies. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) My game group is noteworthy for everybody bringing snackies at some point or another. Kinda renders the "bribe" thing pointless (although we do crack jokes about it, and often). 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Depends who's running the game. Some have a very business-like way of handling affairs, while others are more casual than a recliner. I'm pretty much middle of the road myself.
Halo_Light 11-21-05, 07:28 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Designated dice roll area. I use a wooden checker board top with edges. No more, oops it fell off the table that doesnt count. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Theres usually mountain dew cans surrounding the table. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I keep them between games and check to make sure everything is right. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) Chips and salsa makes the game go on, as long as it doesnt go on the mat. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? We integrate our tavern game time with break time. so no leaving in the middle of the dungeon.
Interceptor 11-21-05, 09:37 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Just be organized. I have NEVER been organized for as long as I can remember, in work, school or general living, except for the one time I DM'd a "nerd-a-thon" (which is an attempt to run a D&D game for a full 24 hours - needless to say, me and my group have yet to accomplish such a feat...). The game went alot smoothly. Just be sure you and your players have all the necessary materials for the game (nothing worse than fighting over PHBs). As well, it also helps to have a DM screen and little printouts of quick-rules and such, for quick rule look-ups when the opportuinty arises. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? See above. As hard as it may be sometimes, may it be due to lack of space or whatever, it's best to keep it organized. Every player has their folder with their character sheet, and other misc. papers in there. Space is allocated to each player to have armroom and roll dice. The middle of the table is our battlegrid, which only miniatures are allowed to be on (no rolling on the battlegrid!), and the DM sits at the head of the table. I'm not totally strict on this, but meh, some slacking is allowed. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. Er, kinda. I keep them after every session, to quickly look for any "abnormalities" (either misplaced math or "cheating"), and to come up with ideas and such. During game, players keep 'em. I got a note sheet which the stats I need. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) Lol. I really don't know. We have drinks at the table, alcoholic or otherwise (surprisingly enough, no one has gotten accidentally drunk during a session, plus its nice to keep a pint of CrownRoyal in my sock for those "difficult occasions :D ). Food usually takes the form of chips and fast-foods, just small stuff, no big meals. Usually it's customary to have a big pizza feast or Chinese takeout, or if the weather is nice a big ol' BBQ (which is rare, since we only play D&D during rainy weekends... why would you play on a sunny day?? The ladies are about, people! ;) ), only when we all agree to take a break from the action. We are serious about are food! That being said, there have been incidents with drinks however. One of my players spilled a big glass of "Dr. Smooth" all over the table on time. I wasn't impressed. But see above, I had back-up sheets and his stats already denoted; his character sheet and all is information was salvaged. Wish the same could have been said about my white T-Shirt! 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? You kidding? Casual all the way! Seriously, me and my friends go through enough "business-like" attitudes at work and school... D&D allows us to rewind and joke around and everything. Sure, the gameplay isn't as smooth, since we do joke around at times. However, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, we play serious, play by the rules, and have a good time doing it. But it's not like we force everyone to play business like, it just happens when it happens... er, it's hard to explain. But yeah, definately casual!
tarsia 11-21-05, 10:02 PM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Keeping my adventure notes organized, even if just in a folder... and tossing out the old notes that I don't need anymore. I have a horrible habit of keeping everything, and if I have more than the current adventure behind my screen, I've found it annoying. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Somewhere in the middle. Sometime between the game sessions I'll generally pick up the table (put books away, toss trash, etc). Then maybe once every month or two I might give the place a good going over - scrub down the dry erase board well, etc. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. Nope. I keep some skills and save info for those 'special times', but other than that, I haven't felt a need. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) We don't have food rules, and no bribes beyond joking about it. Typically someone each week brings munchies for all. Not always, but most of the time. Or sometimes someone will feed the group a meal - ie last night my husband made pizzas for folks. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Somewhere in the middle, often depends on the adventure I'm running. This latest one is business like just to keep the pace and suspension going. But a lot of the time we're pretty casual.
Slyde Shadowdart 11-22-05, 12:37 AM	Alright I got a little question game for all you DM's. How do run your table? 1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? I found a site from which I could yoink the various tables from the DMG and build my own sheets to slip into my Game Master Quad screen. This way instead of having to learn (and constantly forget) where things were on the "official" screen, or having to put up with having crap I never use, they're exactly the way I want them. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? We don't really play at one table, atm. We sit around my living room. The table is just a little card table with the battlemat on it, and when it's time for combat we all go up to it. In the vein of the question though, we generally keep the area pretty clean. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. [color=blue]Well, up to now I've been letting them take the sheets without a copy, but now that they're 3rd level and we're starting the "real" campaign I'll be taking copies at the end of the night at the very least (only if they level) so I can incorporate their characters a bit more specifically. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) No bribery here. One player's wife likes to come along and hang out although she doesn't play, and she loves to bake, so we all get free goodies. Other than that though, usually people fend for themselves or we go in on pizza. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? A mix. We tend to mix chatting and playing with a bit more emphasis on the playing. I personally prefer getting down to playing (business) because in my mind that's a big part of why we play D&D instead of having a weekly "movie night" or something, but we have players with varying tastes so it changes from game to game. I'm hoping it will be more play less "other" now that we're moving into the "real" game (I ran a prepublished adventure to knock the rust off everyone's hinges, and now we're moving into a homebrew world campaign). thats it. Thanks All. :D Welcome. :)
Ryven 11-22-05, 02:44 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? A shorter DM screen. I've gotta have my DM screen. Sometimes, drama calls for a fudged roll or two. Barring that, I'd like to have a table set into the table. Like a little shelf about six inches lower than the table top, to do all my rolling on. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Definitely not a slob, but not a neatnik either. I have a random scattering of notes and dice and minis within my DM screen, but I know where everything is. 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I let them decide. Some people like to keep their sheets. I know I like to keep my sheet, so I give my players the option. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) As long as I'm not cleaning up their empty McDonalds bags and cans of Dew after the session, I don't care what they bring to the table to eat. Sometimes, I get domestic and make a big dinner, and we eat during the game, or during a break. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Very casual. I crack jokes. My players crack jokes. We eat at the table. We all have a random smattering of papers around the table. It's very much a casual social situation, and a very comfortable one. I want to have my players, my friends, feel at home, like they're welcome. I don't want them to think that they're sitting in on a business meeting, or a class at school. Because D&D is a game, and games were meant to be fun.
Crimson_Concerto 11-22-05, 03:10 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Two things: 1) A spray bottle filled with water. Whenever a PC does something stupid, I spray them and say "Bad PC, no treat." 2) A butcher knife and sharpener. Whenever a PC wants to argue over ruling, I take them out and begin sharpening while arguing my point calmly. I then tell the PC that if there is a problem, he may take it up with me later, because it's taking up ever so gameplay time right now. I got both ideas from a board like this, and they work surprisingly well... 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? I'm an NFN... 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I let them keep it unless I find out something screwy going on. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) I do not accept bribes, but I DM not without food. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? I like to keep my current campaign in a semi-serious mood, but when somehting really funny happens, I can't help but lighten the mood myself.
Nom 11-22-05, 06:00 AM	1. What is the best thing you can use to make your life easier at the table? Well organised notes. Every time you say "uh, now just let me find that" is a chance for the players' attention to wander. 2. How do you rule cleanliness at the table are you an NFN (neat-freak-natzi) or a slob? Not a freak, but I do insist that players make sure that they don't spill drinks or oily / messy foods (chips, fruit, anything with sauce) on figures or paper (especially books). And wipe your hands before handling my books! 3. do you keep your players sheets or copy them or whatever. I keep a copy. As Bowlich says, that means if they go missing it's my fault. Very irritating when a player turns up late without their sheet, and wastes more time as they try to catch up. 4. Rules on food? (do you accept bribes?) Everyone brings drinks / snacks, and generally we pitch in for a meal (give or take). No-one's ever tried to bribe me specifically. 5. is your playing style casual or sticking to business like? Relax. Enjoy the game. But play the game. We have plently of breaks for off topic stuff, but when the game is on, pay attention. Especially during combat. The biggest problem is when the girls get it into their heads to play hostess during high-activity scenes (eg combat). "Sit down, finish what we're doing, and then you can get everyone coffee when we have a break in 20 minutes.".