My Cardinal Rule of Roleplay: What is yours?

[Kilgore]

Stay true to the Star Wars universe.

Have fun.

[l0mathon]

Have fun and make sure the rules/dice don't get in the way of the story ... and to have plenty of snacks on hand!
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Gamemaster at Large

[masque]

Cardinal Rules:

1. I don't care if you think that's what your character would do, if you're being a dick and purposely sabotaging other characters' actions, I tear up your character sheet and kick you out of the house.

2. If you're being a dick to other players in meatspace, I tear up your character sheet and kick you out of the house.

3. If you need to update your character sheet, please do it either at the end of a session if you need me to help you, or at home. Email me the changes. If you show up with a non updated character sheet, or you forgot your sheet and didn't email me a copy of the updates, you play with what you have.

3 is the only one I've had to enforce, luckily I haven't had to enforce 1 or 2 yet.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[mdlake]

The answer depends a lot on where you set the line of "too obvious to mention," which will vary from player to player, and with growing sophistication. The rules I currently keep in the forefront of my mind:

For GMs, give the players what they want.
This is not the same as giving the PCs what they want, nor is it even giving the players what they want round by round. But entertaining the players takes priority over both the rules and the GM's grand vision.

For players, embrace the genre.
Play something that will work in the setting. This may mean putting your favorite concept on the shelf for a while. Characters which interest you, and could be a terrific part of some other story, can nonetheless be toxic in the story at hand.

These rules may seem to run at cross-purposes. What if players want to play characters that violate the genre? Always, always talk the campaign concept over and get buy-in first. If you can't get buy-in, play something else. But once the players have agreed that a campaign concept sounds fun, and the GM has invested a lot of work in the background, it's time for the players to man up and cooperate. No fair agreeing out loud to a gritty western while privately thinking, "...and then I can see what it feels like to play a ninja/cat-girl/tentacled alien/vampire wannabe/etc. in a gritty western!" Besides, embracing the genre is good manners towards your fellow players as well as a GM-player issue.

[Whill]

I enjoyed reading this thread. You all have put up a lot of great stuff in the thread, so I'm not going to regurgitate everything that everyone else said. Yes, of course, have fun. But I will contribute to the convo on a couple points.

I think fudging is ok and long as it is not very often, and it goes both ways. I've not only fudged to help a player out but fudged against them to help the story. If you are only fudging one way or the other, or a lot, then you need to balance out your adventures better.

I have a rule of don't argue with the GM (or other players for that matter). If a player thinks I have ruled incorrectly on something, I am ok with them speaking up and pointing it out immediately. Sometimes I make mistakes. Not often, but it can happen.

If they don't point it out right when it happens, then they can't bring it up during game play at all. They can bring it up later on a break, after the session is over, or otherwise outside of game play. At that point it may not affect what has happened but may help prevent the mistake in the future.

If a player questions a ruling or thinks I made a mistake and points it out immediately when it happens, I may see what they are saying and say, oh yeah, you're right. That may change what I just said. I'm ok with being corrected immediately. But if I disagree with them, or I'm not sure right at that moment, we don't stop the game for it. Nothing more can be said on the issue during game play and we move on with my initial ruling, making a note to look it up later and take the time we need to figure out who was right, for the sake of next time.

It is really annoying for people to argue with me about rules or morality issues like if a PC really deserves a DSP or not. I'm happy to say this really hasn't happened since 1990 because all the players know my standards up front.

Another big one for me is that I expect players to play their characters according to their character concept and personality on the character sheet. If you don't want to play a Jedi correctly, then don't pick a Jedi.

And players should remember that failure is ok. They shouldn't expect to suceed at everything they try and get disappointed they fail a roll. If the PCs always succeed at everything they do, then where is the drama of the story? Han Solo stepped on a trig and failed to sneak up on the scout trooper, and what an exciting turn of events it caused. Things often have to get worse before they start to get better. It's called complications, rising action, turning point and climax. And sometimes, an adventure can even end on a down note. Look at Empire and Revenge. The worse the defeat, the sweeter the victory is later. I remind my players that failure is a part of the drama of the story. If it's fun and exciting then the point of the game is working.
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[THK]

I agree with the rule...When you post a character background and it is approved by a GM, and then, midway through the game's first chapter, the GM has points for playing your character different from what was agreed upon...It can be...very disappointing.
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Dagarthorn's Games

[Whill]

I love how garhkal always bumps these old threads to kick start new discussions. This thread was linked in a recent thread he bumped, and I thought this one was a good one.

Do yourself a favor and go back and read this thread. What are your cardinal rules or truism about roleplaying?
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[Cap'nCodskale]

[garhkal]

How is a pc's deep secret "metaknowledge" though?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Whill]

[shootingwomprats]

Some of the biggest rules I try to follow are:

1. The game is about the characters, they are the heroes and the center of the story.
2. Never say "no", say "yes, but ..."
3. Don't assume because you think the answer is easy that it is. You have all the information in front of you.
4. Remember to see things from the player's point of view.
5. Your players have good ideas, listen to them.
6. If things are slowing down or in a rut, speed things up. Give your players a hint or have the minions go down with a single wound.
7. Skip the boring stuff, try to start a scene wherever the action starts, think a movie being shot.
8. Get your players invested in the game. Ask them to describe what they see, smell, taste. Ask them to detail a scene.
9. Never put a player on the spot if you don't have to. If there is a problem, if it does not need to be immediately addressed ignore it and focus on the good players. Speak with the "trouble" player separately after the game.
10. Always ask your players if they had fun, what they thought was great and what you could have done better as a GM.
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Don Diestler
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[Cap'nCodskale]

[garhkal]

I disagree that the GM should be 'fan #1' of the pcs.. Too often that seems to always lead to favoritism and fudging to 'save them from themselves'.. just to keep the story going.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Cap'nCodskale]

I hear you, garhkal. While what you describe could happen (and I agree that it's not desirable), I'm not talking about fudging die rolls.

I'm talking about what—at least for me—is a shift in focus: Remembering who are the heroes of the story and keeping that at the front of my brain, ahead of ship stats, rules for cover, etc. No matter how cool that new alien race or YT freighter variant I invented may be, the universe is there for the player characters to save or to destroy—and I want to be delighted at either outcome.

In practice, this means I spend much time obsessing about the PCs (and their respective players) between sessions. What do I love about them? What do I desperately want to see them accomplish or experience? What do their respective players find particularly amusing?

During a session, I try to make each scene, and each moment within each scene, be worthy of our time and worthy of these awesome characters. If stakes aren't high (in ways meaningful to the players) almost all the time, then I could do better (esp. true in STAR WARS!).

Note that this is MY cardinal rule. To you it may be heresy!

[garhkal]

Also often when i hear people say they want the DM to be the pc's biggest fans, that also kind of gets the mentality of 'never let them fail'..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!