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Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Boozing it Up at the Gaming Table - Yea or Nay?

+Vincent Florio had a post yesterday at The Evil GM talking about booze at the gaming table. I had an answer. I was going to post over at Vince's blog, but then I went down to the local pub for dinner and my evening bartender took good care of my wife, my son and myself. As I type this, I remember why I don't drink and DM - I simply can't stay focused enough to herd my usual party of cats.

Back in my college days I refused to allow beer at the RPG table (board games and the such were enhanced by the drinking tho.) I always felt it was difficult to keep the party on track when they were three sheets to the wind.

These days, in the middle of my middle age years, I find myself imbibing liberally during gaming sessions I'm a player in, but I totally abstain when I run a game. I can have difficulty enough staying focused while sober ;)

So, were do you stand with drinking at the gaming table? Or do you say fuck standing up, and just fall off to the side? ;)
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22 comments:

  1. Gothridge ManorSeptember 17, 2014 at 9:46 PM

    Nay for me. But I don't drink so it's very easy.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 17, 2014 at 10:00 PM

    The players can do what they want. I've tread lightly since 'the incident' in 1997. Other players have heard of that legendary session over the years and occasionally try and ply me with liquor in an effort to recreate it.

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  3. TheShadowKnowsSeptember 17, 2014 at 10:34 PM

    I don't drink myself and frankly don't much approve of it. People can drink on their own time, rather than indulging their vice during shared game time.

    That said, I would ten times rather have players drinking at the gaming table than smoking.

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2014 at 10:51 PM

    Have a few, sure. But I think my DMing suffers a bit if I black out, so I try not to get more than a slight buzz. As a player, sobriety is less important but I'm generally the kind of drunk that seems sober until I fall over, and who wants to miss the end of the session when loot is divvied up?

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  5. Ed AllenSeptember 17, 2014 at 11:28 PM

    Lately I've been at 1D3 -1 hard ciders as a player. GMing, mostly not. More to keep track of.

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  6. Venger SatanisSeptember 17, 2014 at 11:53 PM

    It seems ridiculous to have a 2 drink maximum at one's gaming table, but I found it necessary, unfortunately. There were a few drunken incidents over the last couple of years. One was really bad, the rest just distracting / annoying.

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  7. BillySeptember 18, 2014 at 2:20 AM

    We often have some light drinking at the table. Personally, I find it helps me get into the 'zone' for playing a halfling paladin.
    http://billygoes.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/one-hell-of-gaming-night.html

    That said, our group is all in our 30's or 40's and I don't think anyone is interested in drinking to excess.

    Actually, tonight, we have a couple teenagers joining us(a player's kid and the neighbor's daughter), so it's likely that snack food will have to suffice...

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  8. MarcSeptember 18, 2014 at 2:33 AM

    Game night is our guy night, we nearly always have a few drinks even when we're using a VTT. For us it is part and parcel of gaming. We're all in our 30s and 40s though and know how to handle a few drinks. Plus we've all known each other socially for years and are close friends who've been through a few real life adventures together. It might also be a UK thing as back in the day when every town had a games club they would often meet in in the function room of a pub and the deal usually was the landlord would let you have the room for free on the understanding you would buy a few drinks. Smoking at the table was ubiquitous back then too. Very rare now, it's illegal in pubs and heavily frowned upon to light up in someone's house without explicit permission

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  9. goeticgeekSeptember 18, 2014 at 7:55 AM

    My personal experience with drinking at the game table led to my only TPK when a very drunk player stormed the Great Hall in the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief and the other players just went along. After that I sought to limit drinking at my game table but we were teenagers then, these days I would hope that adult gamers would know how not to drink and delve, so if a player had a beer or two today I wouldn't object.

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  10. JDsivrajSeptember 18, 2014 at 8:18 AM

    One or two is fine over that an quality of play degrades.

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  11. Anthony N. EmmelSeptember 18, 2014 at 9:05 AM

    Well, my gaming group is, with one exception, 30+; therefore, we imbibe. My personal rule of thumb is a beer to three, depending on how long we're gaming. People who over-imbibe generally become obnoxious or pass out.

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  12. Marvin the MageSeptember 18, 2014 at 9:11 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. ChadSeptember 18, 2014 at 11:44 AM

    I've never been with a group that drink during gaming. I've had a drink on occasion when we go out to eat together (and with my college roommate, drank quite a lot at times), but never had anything at the table.

    There was one roll20 game that was dragging on, and I had a scotch while waiting for things to happen. But that was just me and just that once.

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  14. Peter DSeptember 18, 2014 at 1:11 PM

    "Yay." It's spelled "yay." As in "Yay, booze at the gaming table!"

    ;)

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  15. BadmikeSeptember 18, 2014 at 4:25 PM

    Not anymore. Too many ruined games when a couple of drunk dudes decide to try a judo hold on the lich-king or kick in the king's face because he needed kicking or somesuch nonsense.

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  16. Mark MorrisonSeptember 19, 2014 at 7:00 AM

    It is all up to you and your players knowing their limits. You can weed out the "drunks" from the table. Our group have been drinking at our table for over 15+ years and we have never had a "total drunk" player or DM. When you have people acting like morons because they can not handle the drinks, then I would say no to at the gaming table.

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  17. ClawCarverSeptember 20, 2014 at 7:03 PM

    In the late 1980s I gamed with my university RPG society and drinking (before, during and after the game) was very much the norm. One session of MERP got so drunk and silly (I vaguely remember helicopters and hand grenades and Elrond being turned into a carrot) that the society's president came over and accused us of "debasing Tolkien's legacy". Huzzah!

    Nowadays, nah. People have to drive home. We drink tea and eat biscuits. Sometimes there is cake.

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  18. s7610raSeptember 21, 2014 at 4:16 AM

    We are grown ups. It rarely is a problem nor a necessity. As a GM I wouldn't do it but as a player fine. Some GMs seem fine. In fact I am going to try it, maybe it'll calm the nerves

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  19. ParrishSeptember 23, 2014 at 3:06 PM

    I have a group that meets at a game store (no on that one), another at a bar (so, we have to show our appreciation there). So depends. I tend to play with a younger crowd so at someone's home it would be normal for some craft beer to be there.

    ReplyDelete

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