Roleplaying Social Contract

A few things have emerged over time. I’m trying to collect these.

No party fighting – no fun.
No solo missions – boring for everybody else.
No party splits – boring for the other half.
We need three players and the referee to sign up.
We use Google Groups to organize.
If the campaign is about playing X, play along. Don’t undermine the game the rest of us signed up for.
Players are responsible for their character’s motivation. If your character has no reason to come along, change characters.
If you decide you want to quit the game and found that talking to the other people at the table doesn’t help, play along for the rest of the session, go home, write a friendly good-bye email, and be done with it. There’s no need to argue – sometimes people just don’t fit and that’s ok. It’s the spice of life. Conversely, if I feel it’s not working out, I’ll do the same thing.

I’m constantly tinkering with a set of house rules called Halberds and Helmets.

Comments

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If you need to quit, give notice. If you decide to quit the night before, don’t be a selfish d-bag. Suck it up and play one more session, then let everyone know after.

– Tom 2009-10-08 18:21 UTC

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I’m not so sure… If somebody wants to leave – did not want to come! – how much entertainment are they going to provide at the table? You might be better off playing without such a person, or you might be better off not playing at all. Sure, that’s not cool. But *given that this person wants to quit*, it might still be the best choice.

– Alex Schroeder 2009-10-08 19:13 UTC

Alex Schroeder

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This is one of the best model social contracts I’ve ever read.

– Noumenon 2011-10-18 11:13 UTC

Noumenon