There are a million blogs and articles full of how to be a good DM. I want to talk about the flip side of the coin, how to be a better player.
Now, I'm going to use D&D3e for my examples, but these apply to any RPG.
My credentials? I used to do a lot of convention play, which means I could play with up to 30 other players each convention, and I would do this four or five times a year, if not more. I've seen just about every type of player that was in Living Greyhawk.
@Canageek There was a group of players who would show up to the local cons called the fun vampires. As in, they showed up and sucked out all the fun.
They all had hyper-optimized characters, only cared about combat, and didn't respect people who couldn't keep up with then in combat.
This resulted in an arms race with local adventure writers until a few local people stepped in, as it made the adventures too lethal for everyone else.
@Canageek The ineffective character.
I played with a halfling fighter 2/cleric 2/wizard 2. That means at 6th level they will die if they go into melee, and yet that can't cast any of the useful wizard or cleric spells. A default wizard, cleric OR fighter would all be more useful then this character.
Don't be this person. You are forcing everyone else to spend their time keeping you alive, without giving anything back.
@Canageek When building a character ask "What do I bring to the party?" That can be fighting ability, spells, social abilities, anything. Now, talk to your DM about what you're party needs. I brought a character to my current game that is far more combat heavy then we need (though this is in part due to the changing nature of the campaign over four years)
But if I ask you what you contribute you should have an answer. #RPGchat
@Canageek That last example would make me constantly throw storms and turbulent seas at them
@ryusei That unfairly penalises the other five party members who built characters that don't have that ability. Doubly so as we were from a semi-arid country that is land locked.
@Canageek Communication between the GM and the players about the future campaign and group character creation can go a long way. Then they could at least talk about the fact that one player wants a swashbuckling character and can talk about how much swashbuckling will go on in the campaign
@Canageek Also, it needs to be something fairly general, OK?
I knew another halfling fighter that was an acrobat type. So if he needed to fight on a ship's mast in a storm, he was ready. Great, you are useful like, once a year. (I don't know what it is about halfling players)
I mean, it came up, but we were a landlocked nation.
By the same token, if you are doing a swashbuckling campaign, don't be the default fighter in plate who is great any time you are off the ship.
#RPGchat