Warning signs to watch out for in GMs/Players

[Ragitsu]

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General warning signs to watch out for (GMs and Players)

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Keep in mind that the following signs are general, and therefore may not indicate a GM or Player that is trouble. Some people really do deserve a fair shake, and others can mask their danger until far into a campaign. With that in mind...

1. Someone that consistently makes mention of their political views, especially if radical, or with a group that is known to mostly (if not entirely) assert themselves in an opposite direction. This is especially true if they start to insert elements of their political views into the game, to where they begin to overshadow the other participants.

2. Someone that consistently makes mention of their religious views, especially if radical, or with a group that is known to mostly (if not entirely) assert themselves in an opposite direction. This is especially true if they start to insert elements of their religious views into the game, to where they begin to overshadow the other participants.

(The above examples are fairly obvious and identical to one another. Basic as they may be, they're meant to get the ball rolling. Feel free to contribute!).

[CrosshairCollie]

3. The GM ever uses the phrase 'The GM is god'.

[Ragitsu]

4. Someone that brings their high maintenance dependent (kids, certain pets, a boyfriend/girlfriend, etc) to more than three sessions.

[Nevelon]

5: Cheating on dice rolls.

[Cygnia]

6. The players/GM are too tied up into the Geek Social Fallacies to ever call the problem person out on their crap.

[Celt]

5. The player, when describing past characters, seems to have a running meme even when inappropriate for a setting or style (i.e. always catbreed people, ultraviolent, orphan street rat, crazy, etc.) This can be the sign of a lazy mind, an unhealthy fixation with a single archtype or a fantasy fulfillment wish trend forever to be disappointed when game worlds and their characters place in it do not align with their interior mental image.

6. Player describes how they always take certain character limitations or disadvantages, especially ones which unlikely to be used by the GM often for fear of dominating game time and attention (e.g. extreme hunteds, weirdness magnets, social stigma unpleasant to current norms, etc.) This is usually simply an attempt to get points for nothing, but can alternatively be a desire to excessively hog the spotlight.

7. Mary Sues and Gary Stus. 'nuff said.

[Ragitsu]

(Assuming Celt's points are 6, 7 and 8 as a consequence of accidental bad timing...)

9. Anyone that says "it's just a game" when questioned as to why their supposedly heroic character is anything but.

[megaplayboy]

10. Someone who either has no sense of humor or whose sense of humor is radically different from everyone else in the group(and not in any way good). This can actually be kinda jarring.

11. There are two types of gaming "couples" to watch out for imo: those who join the group but really don't seem to want to be "of" the group, instead forming their own hermetically sealed clique; and the GM/GM's SO couple, particularly if a lot of adventures seem to center around the SO or if the SO seems to have rather a lot of capabilities for someone supposedly of equivalent level/points to everyone else.

12. Rules rapists. This should go without saying, but if you happen to get a submitted writeup that has a) any kind of NND killing attack, b) a broadly defined detect that essentially means they can never be blinded or snuck up on, c)feedback loop AID powers, or d) any power with +2 or better in advantages, or e)they want to play a half-elf cambion sorceror with natural psi talent blah blah blah(at this point I'm usually wondering why I haven't stabbed them in the eye with a pencil yet), you should probably politely ask them to lose your contact info and forget how they got to your place.

[Hyper-Man]

So what's the line between a rules lawyer (raises hand) and a rules rapist?

[dmjalund]

13. Someone who brings a preexisting character to a game, when you haven't even mentioned the genre.

[megaplayboy]

So what's the line between a rules lawyer (raises hand) and a rules rapist?

Ah, that was going to be my next one. A rules lawyer, at their worst, is someone who will exploit the more obscure aspects of the non-combat and (especially) combat rules in order to either secure some advantage, or possibly just to annoy the GM. More generally they are usually just annoying at worst, as they(some of them anyway) tend to pedantically insist they are correct on a particular interpretation, while bringing the session flow to a grinding halt. A rules rapist is someone who will exploit the mechanical aspects of character creation, powers, advantages, limitations and sfx in order to ruthlessly powergame/create munchkin PCs. At worst they will grandstand, upstage other PCs, romp over villains built on many more points, etc. And they will whine incessantly when any of their ridiculous limitations or complications actually occur.

Hope that clears that up for you

[Ragitsu]

12. Rules rapists. This should go without saying, but if you happen to get a submitted writeup that has a) any kind of NND killing attack, b) a broadly defined detect that essentially means they can never be blinded or snuck up on, c)feedback loop AID powers, or d) any power with +2 or better in advantages, or e)they want to play a half-elf cambion sorceror with natural psi talent blah blah blah(at this point I'm usually wondering why I haven't stabbed them in the eye with a pencil yet), you should probably politely ask them to lose your contact info and forget how they got to your place.

In your experience, and from what you've heard of others, how commonly do "Rules rapists" appear? It seems like silly builds would get thrown out right away.

[Ragitsu]

14. Someone with really really bad hygiene.

(Another obvious, but core, warning sign)

[megaplayboy]

In your experience, and from what you've heard of others, how commonly do "Rules rapists" appear? It seems like silly builds would get thrown out right away.

They seem to emerge at conventions like cockroaches coming out after the lights go out. In regular gaming groups they tend to be a bit milder, but they usually are the ones pushing the limits of what's permitted in the game. The old "Haggling" skill example from "Champions Minus"(where the player puts in a horrifyingly abusive ability in order to get the GM to sign off on a couple that are merely moderately abusive) comes to mind.

[Old Man]

In your experience, and from what you've heard of others, how commonly do "Rules rapists" appear? It seems like silly builds would get thrown out right away.

Some rules rapists come with the "bullying" skill, and there are some GMs that are poorly equipped to deal. The more benign type just gets some sort of thrill from playing the silly build they came up with; they think it's funny. Instant Change Usable On Others, anyone?

I'll admit to being a minimaxer, mainly because my free time is too valuable for me to spend it sitting around playing an unconscious character.