 Howdy how's it going? My name's Davy Chappy and honestly, after doing my DM guide on how to properly etiquette eyes yourself to the big role, my brain started running through all the different faux pas of being a player and that spun me into writing a completely new script that shows us the opposite under the DM screen, the player. So given that I'm currently playing in five different games from 5e to Pathfinder, I thought that I would share the tips of the trade that will hopefully enhance your table's game day. As always, keep in mind that the vast majority of this is just my opinion and I'm gonna double back on saying that this is just my opinion because it's important to recognize that every group is different and you can watch as many of these how to be a player videos as you want from as many people as you want, but that won't necessarily prepare you for how to play your game properly because sometimes friends just wanna throw all boundaries out the window and do things completely different. As long as everybody's having fun and nobody gets hurt, do whatever the hell you want and don't let some guy on the internet influence you too hard. But with that out of the way, let's begin. Rule number one, be a team player. It's what my character would do is the single most annoying excuse utilized by those players who want people to play their game, not the game. To clarify, for those of you who haven't heard the saying, it's what my character would do, it is a common term coined by players who create characters who have decided to go at odds with the party and disrupt everyone's good time for the sake of their own good time, such as attacking NPCs whom you've just met against the party's objections, splitting off on their own to play Edge Lord's point and click adventure, being completely obstinate and unwilling to budge on your decisions, stealing everybody's shit and the list goes on. Now, the pros of this line of thinking is that your character is supposed to be a real person and real people disagree sometimes, sometimes often. But the con is that by deciding out of the game to create a character that has the sort of personality that isn't conductive to a party group, when you are specifically creating a character that you know is going to be in a party, you've thrown everything off balance and made things unnecessarily difficult for everybody else, and that falls completely on you. Yeah, you could make a character that steals things, but you can also not steal from the party itself. You can make a character that is normally a loner, but still haven't recognized that in this instance, a team is better for now. You can make a character that doesn't like to change their mind but still knows that upsetting the rest of the team is worse, so even if they don't like it, they're gonna go with the group anyway. There are ways to make your flaws still work with the party dynamic and there are definitely ways to make your flaws not throw a wrench into everybody else's plan. So if you often find yourself on the outs with your D&D groups, perhaps retool the way that you play your character. Rule number two, let people have their moment. Don't be the guy who constantly jumps in and says, okay, now I do this. Whenever the DM talks about something happening to a player other than you. Yes, you're there and you wanna get in on the action, but unless it really looks like the other person needs help, just let them have that moment for themselves that they'll get to remember from then on. Way the opportunity cost of letting somebody have a wonderful memory that they can pull back to when they think about D&D and the instant gratification that comes with throwing yourself into it. Like think back on your favorite moment with your favorite character where they did a cool, funny, heroic, bad ass or just plain entertaining thing that you like to bring up whenever you're sitting around a table with friends talking about how much you like D&D. Now think of how insignificant that moment would suddenly become if at the time someone else in your party just broke in between the middle of you and the DM explaining what was going on with a and then I cast Fireball. Either because they want to inject themselves into what is becoming a cool moment or because they're just doing it for the mean. Like there are plenty of times in campaigns where the team needs to rise up and get that bread gamers as a team. Defeating your first group of goblins as a team effort. Stopping the cult from summoning the ancient dragon lord as a team effort. But it's all of the smaller individual moments within that grander picture that makes people enjoy being able to flesh out and play their characters. Hell, a perfect example is when a member of the party gets the last hit on a powerful foe in the relatively unknown. I'm just gonna shout it out here. It's a podcast you might have heard of it called Critical Role and Mr. Mercer stops the flow to ask how do you want to do this? The idea is to give that lucky player the chance to have a moment for themselves, a moment uninterrupted by anything or anybody else where they get the chance to shine on their own. Nobody cuts off a how do you want to do this? That's a sacred thing. Try to let all of those other less obvious moments be a little more sacred too. Rule number three, for the love of God, please stop taking things as soon as the DM says that there is something to take. Unless your character is alone. No, I'm not going to just let you grab the loot right in front of everybody and then when they cry file, you say, well, it's too bad, now I have it. If you're a rogue, the opportunity may arise sometimes where you can sneak off and steal some shit, but maybe have your character consider the fact that since they have joined up with this party, your income has increased dramatically. So perhaps even if you are thief, you can still recognize the opportunity cost of getting on the bad side of the best deal of your life. And besides the kleptomaniac rogue, too often do I have players who right as soon as I mentioned there being something even remotely valuable will actually cut me off just to say that they take the thing that I literally just described. Yes, items, gold, magic things are really cool and you want to get as much out of the campaign as possible for yourself, but remember that everybody wants that. And you can either be the little dicky that hears that and thinks that it means that they have to grab as much as possible before anybody else does. Or you can be the big altruistic chungus who hears that and understands that they should split things up evenly. Because yes, everybody wants some. Rule number four, don't be a dick. I know this sort of feels like it might have been covered by the last two rules, but let me explain a little bit better. This should go without saying, but more from an out-of-character perspective, if a lot of your jokes are at the expense of someone else in the group, DM or player, you could potentially be aggravating them and unknowingly ruining their place at the table. If you're the stereotypical D&D player, then you probably remember being the quiet kid in school that just let people say whatever they want and tried not to occur, all the while internalizing it and making new reasons to not wanna go anywhere or do anything because of those one or two people who have developed a sense of humor that relies on making fun of the easy target. Yeah, you should say something. You should tell them to stop, but you also aren't the best at talking and if your bullies are, then they can twist things to make you the bad guy for making a big deal out of nothing. So you shut up and deal with it and hope that the good outweighs the bad on that particular day. During D&D, people making jabs at each other may seem fine, but unless you really, really know each other, then you don't know if what you're saying is affecting them in ways that they don't wanna bring up because they don't wanna ruin the vibe of the group by misjudging their own discomfort. Just be cool and keep any bad vibes in character where they belong. Rule number five, be a performer. Yeah, you heard me. It's not just the DM that needs to work for their hobby and whereas the DM has to put a story together, get maps ready and keep everybody happy during the entirety of the however long play session, all you have to do is scribble on a character sheet and show up. So the actual act of being your character should honestly be pushed harder. Yeah, the DM is making your world, but if my other tips are anything to go by, it's not their responsibility alone to make sure that everybody's having a good time. Yeah, stories and worlds and lore are all fine and dandy, but no one gives a shit about them if the characters suck Star Wars. Hell, with the success of that one nameless show I mentioned, everybody talks up Matt Mercer for being the best DM in the world and it's true that he's great. But what about the other seven people on that show that I maybe sometimes hear about once or twice after everybody has already gone down on Matt? For as good as he is, Matt can't carry the show on his own and the players of a campaign add talent to the show, to the game that nobody ever gives them credit for because we've conceptualized the entire success of a campaign as being due to the DM, completely forgetting the archetypical nature of five or six kids laughing and playing together around a table, everybody looking like they're in on the same joke. D&D is like acting. You have to bring your player persona to the table or else it'll be harder for everybody to get into it. Hell, when I'm playing games, I do my best to always be talking in my voice, always respond with the opinions that my character has, even if I'm obviously talking out of game and always making sure that, unless the moment really calls for it, as I'm keeping up an environment that makes people want to bounce their own characters off of mine until we're all completely in character, even out of game. It's that that makes a game special when everybody is putting effort into it, not just the DM. That makes that game the one that you talk about for years upon years to come and different groups are different. So depending on your group composition, you'll have varying levels of role-play necessity to make the game fun. But if your attitude towards this is that you'd rather relax and chill out after a long day and you don't want people pushing more responsibility onto you when you don't think you should have to do it, then tell your dungeon master that they don't have to either and either continue from there or maybe play a different game for a little while. But that'll about do it. I hope you enjoyed this video. I know I get a little bit more rambly on these talkative non-rulebook guides, but it's just because I have a lot to say I'm not always the best at articulating it. I just hope that somebody gets something out of this and it helps them with their own party groups. Remember to like, comment, and slap that subscribe button for 3,725.95 miles per hour. But yeah, dab you out.