For the first time I have been invited in a group where I don't know almost anybody (it's me and a friend of mine and random people we met in a game association). Since I have social anxiety I am pretty worried at the idea. I am not great at playing since I haven't played many times and I don't know the rules (they play D&D 5 and I used to play Pathfinder). What are some social rules or behaviors I have to keep in mind?
[RPG] How to behave in the first session
group-dynamicsnew-playerssocial
Related Solutions
If you are expected to bring a character you should definitely bring that. If you're going to make a character there you should come with an idea about the following things (but remain flexible, you idea may not be exactly what you end up with).
- Character name
- Character race (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling)
- Character archetype (loyal knight, scheming wizard, back-stabbing rogue, etc)
As far as rules knowledge, the Players Handbook (PHB) helps but it will speed things along greatly if you know these few simple rules.
- For most things you will attempt (including attacks) you roll a d20 (that is a twenty sided die), add a modifier, and compare it to a target number. If your total equals or exceeds the target you succeed (hit, pick the lock, whatever).
- You have abilities. Some you can use all the time, these are called
At Will
. Some you can use only at intervals. These will beEncounter
orDaily
. - You have hit points and healing surges. These represent how alive/tough you are. If you run out of hit points you start dying. You can use healing surges to regain your hit points in certain situations. A healing surge usually regains one quarter (1/4) of your total hitpoints, rounded down.
- We refer to dice by the number of sides they have, preceded with a d. A d4 means a four sided die. 3d6 means three six sided dice.
- When in doubt round down.
- The DM overrules the rules.
Most of all, remember you're there to have fun! The other players and DM should be willing and able to help you with the details
Consider his perspective for a little while.
Most player misbehavior comes from playing around.
A lot of your complaints come from the fact that your player is not taking the game seriously. He is not taking the game seriously. The game is a thing of humor for him. I repeated that for a reason: He's enjoying himself. That's what we tend to do when we play.
Now, with that in mind, let's address the misbehavior:
Clowning
Clowning around is one of the main things that I've encountered as far as issues go. Fortunately, it's not malicious, nor is it particularly damaging. I had a huge problem with this in my first campaign, where I was being all dark, grim, and serious as a novice cyberpunk GM and my players were exploring the effects of their actions on the poor, hapless denizens of the world they were turning into a mess.
This is when they do stuff like buy nine thousand llamas to crash the economy. They're doing it because they can, but they're not ruining your game. My foremost advice when this occurs is to just let it happen. Your player is enjoying himself, and the other players will likely remember it fondly. If you must clamp down on it, be sure to do so with the consensus of other players, instead of just trying to end the "misbehavior" that everyone but you is enjoying.
Redirecting
I've often had players just not be satisfied with the way my campaigns go (and I've been on the participating side of this as well) and decide to intentionally mess with my plot points to redirect the campaign. Ninety percent of the time this has occurred in my games it's been either the result of good in-character roleplaying (for instance, demanding the best gear if the character being played is a greedy, self-serving jerk), or the result of a total lack of interest in the current direction of the campaign.
To deal with redirection, sometimes a soft approach is better. Give your players what they want. Remember that roleplaying is collaborative storytelling, and even though you're doing the lion's share of the writing and creative process you're still responsible for listening to others' inputs when appropriate. Never assume malice when curiosity is just as likely the driving force; I've had players try to kill important NPC's just to see how I'd react, and while it's annoying it's also a way to prove yourself as a good GM by reacting prudently and without exploding (though specifics depend on you and your style).
Trolling
Sometimes players troll you. They'll lock all the other players' characters in a bomb shelter, but reinterpret the meanings of the phrase to result in a deliberate invocation of the "chunky salsa" rule and make everyone re-roll their characters following some explosive goodness. This is usually the result of a player who's bored, discontent, or offended in some way and wants to make the campaign more "fun", perhaps at the expense of everyone else.
The important things to look at when dealing with a troll are rehabilitation or removal. Sometimes it's enough just to ask them to stop, politely. Don't place a "red line", either. It's a great way to get a player to quit in a blaze of glory having killed everyone else's characters. Other times you need to just ask a player to leave temporarily or permanently because their behavior is just so disruptive, but this should be a last resort following other remediation (i.e. the one-on-one chat). Manage trolls privately, not in front of the rest of the group.
A closing note:
One thing you may need to do is set guidelines for your player. If they're constantly playing the same character's mindset, but just remaking them according to different rules, you may need to set boundaries and restrictions on them. Consider very carefully that your player sees things differently than you do; if he doesn't know where things are going, he may very well be disruptive without knowing it.
Also remember that he may be playing the villain in lieu of your NPCs; I've seen this happen multiple times in my group because one player or another doesn't think that the core conflict is interesting, and injects another one to the group dynamic just to liven things up.
If you don't read anything else, read this: Get in your player's head and talk to him before taking any action, communicate your concerns and expectations, and be prepared to use in-game consequences or removal from the group only as a last resort.
Best Answer
The important things to keep in mind
Be yourself! They invited you because they think you'll be a boon to their group, don't be someone you're not, that's not who they invited.
Be nice! Obviously this is like fitting in 101, but, generally, people treat you the way you treat them. If you're nice, they'll be nice back.
Be considerate. If You're stepping into a group that's already a thing, and they're playing their game. Don't be a rules lawyer, stop and learn their table rules, how they play etc. If you're stepping into a new group with folks you don't know (the case here), then take some time to feel folks out in the group before being super assertive.
There are a few other things you can do, make sure you know if you need a character in advance, if so, work with the DM for what the specifications are. Make sure you know what the rules of the table are and if they have a social contract (probably not a bad idea to ask before you come about this). Most groups are super accommodating of new players, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. But if you are feeling anxious, have a chat with the DM about it and make sure he understands the anxiety and that you haven't played this system before (shouldn't be surprising it's brand spanking new).
The last thing you might want to do is go ahead and grab a free copy of the BD&D 5e rules and take a look. It's still D&D, but there are substantial changes from PF that you might want to get a look at. Wizards hosts this free on their website.