Dungeons & Dragons Etiquette Part II: Another Rant

 Before I get started, I just want to say that no, I do not regard myself as the perfect DM, and I don't see myself as some sort of oppressed, longsuffering tormented soul or anything like that. These things just irritate me, and I hope to 1) Find others who can relate, 2) Help make others aware so they don't do it to their DM and 3) maybe entertain a reader or two along the way.

Let's talk about more etiquette that people need to know.

Bringing in New Players

Do you have a friend who is intrigued by the way you describe your D&D group and is interested in joining? Here's a thought: LET THE DM KNOW. Because I actually got this at Church a couple weeks ago:

Him: "So I was talking to person A and person B about our group, and they want to join. Would that be cool?"

me: "Well, put them in touch with me. There should be room."

Him: "OK cool. So I can tell them to come on Friday?"

NO NO NO NO NO NO. Now, I'm not an English major, though I like to think I'm a reasonably competent English speaker. So you can understand where I'd be baffled by the idea that the sentence "Put them in touch with me" somehow translates to "Yes, tell them to come on in!" I indeed followed that with "There should be room" but you have to understand 2 things: First, until recently our D&D group was one huge 8-player game that I was DMming. One of the players brought in a friend (To her credit, she checked with me first on that) and with the additional person, we were now able to split into 2 groups. 2 DMs at the same time with 4 players in each group. So when I said "There should be room" that's true, but there are also 2 DMs now, and it isn't my place to speak for the other. I was willing to take one player, which means the second guy would have had to go to the second group.

Your DM is trying to perform a very careful balancing act by matching the difficulty of the encounters with the power level of the group. To just bring in new people without notice or to expect to be able to accommodate new people without letting the DM talk with them first is a massive disruption. I wanted to talk to those players first because I don't know what their play style is. My group is focused mainly on the narrative, which means we don't power-game... But some players do because that's just a different play style. What happens if a power gamer gets inserted into a group of casual narrative players? Yeah. Nobody has fun.

Keep track of your @!#$@! Dice.

I'm serious about this. Right now, as I type this, I have a nasty blood blister on the sole of my right foot because one of the players from last night's game dropped a D4 on my basement floor and left it there... so I stepped right on it in my bare feet as I was preparing the game table for a Warhammer 40,000 game this morning. The pain was... exquisite. I didn't see it because that D4 happened to be the same color as my basement floor tiles so I had no idea it was there until it was trying to push its way into my tarsal bones. The only good part is that it was I who stepped on it, and not one of my kids or my wife.  A die on the floor is a caltrop.  This is especially true of d4s.

Pick. Up. Your. Dice. If you bring a 5 lb. sack of dice to every game, and that's what's preventing you from keeping track of all your dice... LEAVE MOST OF THEM AT HOME. You do NOT need 30 dice to play D&D. You can do fine with 6. I know that to some, a big collection of dice is a status symbol, but get over yourself.

While we're talking about dice... That 5" diameter D20 is a cute novelty but that cuteness wears off rapidly when the migraine-inducing sound of that thing banging against the table every time you swing your weapon goes into its second hour. It was cute the first time you rolled it. Now put it away. The same goes for your heavy stainless steel dice and your novelty D20 that lights up like a restaurant pager when you roll a natural 20. We get it. We saw it. There's no need to point it out to us every time it happens.

Thank you for your attention.

Dungeons & Dragons Etiquette: A Rant

 Up until now, the posts on this blog have focused on wargaming.  In fact, the title had "wargaming" in it until I changed it just now.  I did this because I want to also talk about tabletop Role-Playing games and it doesn't make sense to me to create ANOTHER blog to talk about them there, especially when I don't play a lot of wargames anymore.

Also, this and the next few posts will be copy/pasted (and edited) from a forum I used to frequent but is mostly abandoned, and I wanted to save these posts before they end up deleted.  I think the comments I'm making in them are still relevant and I don't want to have to write the same thing over again.

I'd like to offer a few dos and don'ts of playing Dungeons & Dragons. Most people play at someone's home, but even if you play at some other venue, most of these still apply.

Arriving for the game

Arrive no more than 15 minutes early. If the game is scheduled for 7PM the host is not expecting to have to deal with people at 6:15. People who go to school or have jobs usually get home not too long before game time and may still be setting up, relaxing a little, having dinner, getting dressed, etc. When you show up early you disrupt whatever routine they have before the game and that's rude. The host may not necessarily call you on it, either. They may feel guilty like saying something to you about it would be rude or inhospitable. Know why? Because they're relying on you, the guest, to know proper etiquette and it's awkward to have to explain it to people, especially adults. When you breach etiquette it tends to make people second guess themselves because they'd rather not believe you're just being an inconsiderate jerk. Just don't do it.

If you're going to be late, let someone know. Ideally, you would contact the DM to let him/her know but in a pinch, it's fine to tell another player who can relay the message. This is so that the DM can make a decision on whether to start without you or wait. Sometimes the adventuring party is right about to confront a particularly difficult or dangerous foe and will want to wait for you before engaging so that the battle will be fought with the group at full strength. Sometimes it's okay to just go on without you and you can jump in when you arrive. Only the DM knows the scenario enough to make that call.

Supplies

Everyone occasionally forgets supplies. Pencils, dice, paper, miniatures, rulebooks, etc. are all things that can easily get left at home if we're in a rush to get ready to go to the game. There's nothing wrong with borrowing spares from someone else in these cases. That said, if you're consistently having to borrow these things from others, you're being a jerk. Sometimes people are extraordinarily nice and bring extra to lend as needed, but if you're relying on that because you either don't care to bother bringing your own or don't want to obtain your own, then you're taking advantage and you need to get your own stuff.

Snacks

Bring chips, soda, cookies, etc. If everyone pitches in, there might just be enough for everyone. Don't be "that person" who never brings anything. Yes, people do notice even if they don't choose to say anything.

Pre-Game

The time before the game starts is the time for socializing, chatting, sharing, etc. This is usually done before everyone has arrived. Don't wait until an hour into the game to share your work stories or talk about how sick you were last week. People came to play D&D, not hear your stories.

During the game

Keep the side conversations to a minimum. The time for those is the pre-game.

Also, yes, we've all seen The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Yes, those movies are very funny, and yes, they're highly quotable. No, it's not okay to quote them during the game at every possible opportunity. That stuff gets really old really fast, and nobody's laughing anymore the 1,456th time the party approaches a castle and someone says "It's only a model." If you think "Nobody in my group is really that bad with the quotes" then it's probably you.

The same goes for quips in general. Yes, I'm sure you're very funny and would probably have them rolling in the aisles if you were a stand-up comic, but it gets really old really fast when the DM is trying to establish a certain mood or theme and here you are tossing out one-liners like Hawkeye Pierce in the O.R. Sometimes they're great and a useful way to break tension at the right moment, but chances are, your comedic timing isn't that good so it's better to keep quiet.

Don't argue with the DM. Seriously. Occasionally the DM might make a mistake and it's appropriate to point it out, but if the DM doesn't change their mind, it may be that there's more going on than you realize, and your arguing is more likely to mess up the story than improve the game. If you really feel the need to have a discussion then wait until after the game.

Remember that you're playing a game. Arguing with the GM because "common sense" says you should be able to do something that isn't allowed in the rules is a silly thing to do. D&D is a fantasy game, not a reality simulator. The game rules allow us to do all kinds of things that aren't possible in real life and the trade-off is that sometimes it disallows things we could do. Just play the game.

Keep your cell phone or other devices put away unless your character sheet is stored in it or something. Nothing is more irritating to the DM (and the other players) than it being your turn to take your action and you have to be brought up to speed on what's happening because you've been texting or checking social media for the last 15 minutes. If you have something better to do than pay attention during the game, then go do it somewhere else.

After the game

Help clean up. At the very least make sure you've collected up your own trash and thrown it away. Don't leave behind your empty soda cans, potato chip bags, cookie tins, etc. for the host to clean up later. Yes, that also means keeping track of your trash during the game.

Leave. D&D games played in the evening tend to run late into the night and people are tired. When the game ends, don't stand there and chitchat for an hour. Have you noticed that some of the players have already left? Yeah, your host may not say anything, but they're waiting for you to leave too. See that's the thing. You can go whenever you want. If you're tired you can choose to dart out the door whenever you want to. The hosts don't have that luxury. They're in host mode until the last player leaves, whenever that is. Don't be the last one out the door unless the rest of the group is right in front of you. If you're chatting and notice the host yawning or looking conspicuously sleepy, THAT IS A HINT. Go home. Here's a handy rule of thumb. After the game, if you're talking about something or telling someone a story, get to the point in a reasonable time, and once you've made that point, don't initiate any new topics of discussion. Save it for later.

Being a good D&D player isn't just about knowing the rules and making good decisions during the game.  It's also knowing how to be a good guest.

Ranks and Flanks, Please.

So Age of Sigmar.

The last time I mentioned Warhammer Fantasy in a blog post it was when we were still anticipating 9th Edition.  Yeesh.  That was... yeah.  A train wreck?

I had started collecting those 4 End Times book sets toward the end of WHFB but gave up.  It's not that I couldn't find them.  I was actually able to keep up fine.  The problem was that I started getting a funny feeling that all these dollars I was spending for these books was not going to feel like money well spent when it came down to it.  Boy, was I right or was I right?

I mean, as collector's items they're great... provided you have the space and the desire.  As gaming accessories... Pffffft.  Can't use 'em in Age of Sigmar, can ya?  and oh, the world got destroyed at the end of that fourth one anyway. 

That's when I walked away.  Age of Sigmar is another skirmish game in a hobby that's overflowing with skirmish games.  That, and Bretonnia basically got, as my buddy put it:  "the whole finger."  Yeah thanks for that, GW.  Glad I spent money on your overpriced Bretonnia minis when I could have been buying generic medieval minis all because I wanted to support the brand end encourage more Bretonnian content.  See what that got me?  And people wonder why I have a sour taste regarding Primaris Space Marines.

Happily, there's Kings of War.  I switched to that because I like my ranks & flanks style gameplay and Mantic was more than happy to not only  keep that going, but to provide army lists for all the now homeless Warhammer factions.  The added flexibility also meant that I could have elements in my Bretonnian army that I never did before, like heavy infantry and monsters.

Kings of War 3rd Edition is coming soon, and I'll be buying it.  I haven't played in a while, so this'll be a good time to shake off the cobwebs.  

Side note:  When the switch from WHFB to AoS occurred, I was a  big fan of the Garagehammer podcast.  You know, it was these guys who made me aware of Kings of War in the first place, back when they did Garage gamer episodes.  They crowed about it so hard that for a moment I was afraid the podcast was going to go full KoW.  Then later, when AoS dropped and they switched to it, they actually spoke disparagingly of people who didn't switch with them.  I distinctly remember Dave saying "Aww... can't live without your ranks & flanks?"  or something like that.  Jerk move, man.  

Look, I got into WHFB in the first place because of the ranks & flanks style.  I like it because it's a better approximation of how medieval battles were conducted on a large scale.  That's the kind of wargaming I wanted to get into back then.  I still like it so yes, I like my ranks & flanks and I don't know why that's somehow a bad thing now that GW has moved away from it.  Fanboy much?

It's not like Kings of War is the only option for ranks & flanks anyway.  There's Hail Caesar (which I can also use my Bretonnians in, as a medieval army) as well as some really old ones like DBA.  I went to KoW because they had army lists for all of us in my group of friends who were sitting on fantasy armies.

Yeah I know, this post isn't exactly current events.  Well that's what happens when you're back from a 4 year hiatus from wargame blogging.  You come back with a few old things to get off your chest.

Local Meta Can Be Fickle

So after writing that last post I took a moment to look over the older posts from this blog.  I hadn't posted a thing since 2015 and that's only partly a result of my hiatus.

So much has changed in the wargaming community at large as well as my local area.  Stores have risen and stores have fallen.  My favorite one is dead but there's one or two more good ones that have arisen.  (Or I've become aware of.)  And yet... I've barely played in the last year or so.

Part of it is the community.  Not to be disparaging, but the gaming community around here just isn't for me.  (Maybe it's the same everywhere in regards to this particular aspect.)  The problem is the "flavor of the month" thing was getting pretty heavy for a while there.  Here's what I mean.

I could walk into a place like DropZone (RIP) in April and people would be all about Malifaux.  There'd be a Malifaux ladder, tournaments, special events, all the Pick-up games would be Malifaux (or 40k.  There's ALWAYS 40k.)  Come back in July and it's Infinity.  New Infinity tables scattered about the store, new Infinity displays, Infinity global events, Infinity ITS events, etc.  Come back again in October and see what's next...

Sometimes 40K would absolutely dominate, sometimes Warmachine/Hordes.  Sometimes you could get a pick-up game easily in one of those if you were lucky, but play anything else and... Maybe somebody who was playing when it was mega-popular still has their stuff with them and may engage with you in a game.  Maybe not.

Add to that  my own introverted nature and the idea of going to the game store for some pick-up gaming or a tournament frequently enough (and laying out enough money) to keep up with the latest fad and... no thanks man.

Don't get me wrong, I like all these games.  I've had armies for all of them.  Rasputina crew, Joan of Arc centered Pan-O army, Black Templars, Menoth, not to mention Soviets for both Flames of War and  Bolt Action... Plus ships for X-Wing, Star Trek: Attack Wing...  Ugh.  Too much.  Just too much.  And if you don't have someone to play against then these things just collect a lot of dust.

Most of that is on its way to eBay.  I need space in my basement.

I think, as great as it is to see so many options in wargaming, the downside is the way it dilutes the player base, except when the local meta is in love with a particular system.  Then you lose the advantage of flexibility but you still have to keep up with the meta because it's constantly changing.

If you've got all the time, cash and energy in the world to keep up, then I say more power to you.

I just don't.

Hello Primaris, Goodbye 40K.

It's been a while since I updated this, mainly because I've been taking a break from Wargaming.  I had gotten into too many games and not enough people to play them with, so they've been sitting on my shelves, gathering dust.

Keep an eye on eBay as I consolidate.

Of the several games I have, I plan to keep only a couple... the ones which I know people who play.  One of those is Warhammer 40,000, but I'm not sure whether that means I'll actually stay in it.

It's this Primaris marines business.  This may very well be the death knell for my Warhammer 40,000 'career.'  That's sad,  because I've really been into it for a really long time.  I'm even one of those guys who occasionally shows up at a convention wearing a full scale Space Marine suit.  (A Black  Templar, if you're curious.)  

I knew when we first started getting Primaris sets that these were going to ultimately replace the classic Space Marines entirely.  The models are properly scaled to other models in the game, they're far more effective on the tabletop than the older marines, and now all the named Space Marine characters are getting upgraded to the Primaris state.

Why?  Well it's simple.

Space Marines have been around for a long, long time.  I've got a couple of squads in my army that I've had for about 30 years now.  Over that time, I've been building my army and at this point, I really don't need much more, if anything.  My army is complete.  Now, with a lot of guys like me out there, Games Workshop really has to work hard to get us to buy stuff.  Sure, occasionally there's a new type of Space Marine unit that hasn't existed before, like Crusaders... or sometimes a new type of tank... Maybe some new characters, or whatever.

But what if there were a way to get all these players who have established and complete armies to buy, essentially, a whole new army over the next few years?  Especially when the models are more expensive and you just can't do without them?

Meet Primaris.

Space Marines, but more powerful, so you just have to have them in your force, more expensive, so GW is going to make a mint on selling them, and the models themselves are more impressive and just look better.

"But stop all this moaning."  you might say.  "Your existing army doesn't HAVE to go away.  The Codex still has rules for all your old stuff."  Sure it does.  For now.  And no, not all.  Got a pre-primaris Pedro Kantor, Grimaldus or Helbrecht?  I betcha this next Codex will only have the Primaris versions.

"You're still moaning."  You say.  "You can just use the old model.  The great thing about 40K is that it has the 'counts-as' rule."  Yeah that's true, but let's be honest.  How long (if at all) will officially sanctioned tournaments allow that?  Or even unofficial tourneys?  Think about it.  The non-Primaris model is smaller, which means it has an advantage when using terrain to take cover behind.  Is it a game-shattering issue?  No, but it'll get worse.  What about models that won't have a Primaris equivalent?  How far can you push 'counts-as?'

The last issue I have here is the fluff.  Let's be honest again... Primaris are a straight-up retcon.  Nobody ever heard of them before, never have they been mentioned or even hinted at, and now all of a sudden they've been around since the Horus Heresy and have seen enough action that the 'Primaris Ancient' is a thing.

Look, I'm not trying to talk you into not playing Primaris marines.  They're cool models, they're powerful as hell, and they are the future of Space Marines.  I get that.  If you like them, then more power to you.  Go buy 'em, paint 'em and play them to your heart's content.  I even understand why GW is doing it.  I'm a believer in capitalism and GW is, first and foremost, a for-profit company.  That's fine.

Let's just be honest about what's happening and why.

All I'm saying is I'm really not interested in re-purchasing my army when I've already got the Black  Templars XVI Crusade completed.  Yes, I have some Primaris models and yes, I've used them and yes, I know how good they are, but at this point I'm just  not looking to start over.

So many options, so many vendors, all for Flames of War

So I decided to try Flames of War.

When I say I decided to "try" it, don't misunderstand me and think that by that I mean I decided to find a demo game or two, play them, think about it, look at some books, examine some models, sleep on it, and maybe in the future start putting money into it.

No, I mean I already chose a faction (Soviets) and have started buying books and models.

At first, it might seems like that's a stupid way to proceed.  What if I hate it?  What if I'm no good at it?  What if I can't find anyone to play with?

Well none of that really maters, because I've realized that 95% of my enjoyment of wargames comes from building the armies.  I love to build models, I love to paint minis, and I love the feeling of working toward building something cool.  I may never play Flames of War, but I'm gonna have an awesome Soviet force for it anyway.

That said, I don't want to rip the bank down doing it.  I make a comfortable living but that's not enough to let me spend money stupidly.

I started off with some inspiration, my first tank.  I picked up the resin/metal T-34 obr 1942 at my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store).  It ran about $13 and is absolutely horrible.  The resin is so brittle I broke the fenders twice (in 2 separate places) on the resin hull.  Both times were before I had glued any other parts to it.  The first time, I dropped it from a height of about 3" onto my wooden dining room table, and I have no idea how the second happened.  I was able to glue the broken bits back on, but sheesh.  After gluing and painting the model it looks decent, but man... $13 per tank would kill me even if the quality was decent.

So I started to explore other options.  I know Battlefront sells all plastic tanks in various box sets and come in at around $9 per tanks.  That's still steep.  If I wanted to build a full size tank company I'm looking at $90.  I could break that up into two small companies and add an HQ command tank and have the minimum size Tank battalion with that, but what fun would that be?

So I bought a box of 5 tanks from Plastic Soldier, at a price that comes in around $5 per tank.  That's more like it.  I just received the box yesterday so I haven't started building them, but already I'm pleased to see I can build the tanks as 1942 T-34s or 1943 T-34/85s.  I haven't decided yet which way to go with that, but effectively I have a complete small tank company for half price.  I also ordered a box of 2 T-34s made by Battlefront in plastic, so I can compare the kits, but I have a feeling it won't matter much.  The Plastic Soldier kits are great and have plenty of detail for wargaming.

Once I have both boxes in hand, I'm thinking of doing an unboxing write-up on them.

Warhammer 40,000 Taxes Due

So it's only been 2 years, and there's a new Codex: Space Marines now available for pre-order.

A lot of people are griping about it.  A lot of people are happy.  I'm going to try and say something different, though I admit I probably won't.

I don't know what's in the new Codex.  It might be totally amazeballs.  It might be the greatest Codex the Space Marines have ever seen.  Not sure when I'll know, because at this point, I don't have a lot of desire to buy it when it drops.

The problem is, more and more I feel like I'm paying to play.  With my other wargames I can stop spending money at any time and still be able to continue to play the game in any venue, at any event.  Not so with Warhammer.  With new codexes/army books/main rulebooks hitting every so often, it's like a gaming tax imposed by Games Workshop.  Want to keep playing?  That'll be $58.00 plus tax, please.  Otherwise you won't be participating in any tournaments or other organized events.

It hurts a little more than usual this time because it's been only 2 years since the last Codex: Space Marines was released.  Presumably this is because it was also only a 2 year gap between the release of the 6th edition main rulebook and the 7th edition.

Is it a huge expense, even stretched over 2 years?  I guess it isn't, but for that same money I could buy units or other models that DON'T come with an expiration date.

Yes, other games do sometimes introduce updated editions of their games.  Infinity is on 3rd Edition, Warmachine, Malifaux and Firestorm Armada are all on 2nd Edition.  I guess my gripe with GW is that their books are MUCH more expensive than the other games, and seem to come out a LOT more frequently.  This is one of the reasons I shrunk my Warhammer collection.  For a time, I had 3 Warhammer Fantasy Armies and 3 40K armies, but that's just too many books to keep up with.