Beyond finding the treasure, rescuing the princess, and saving the village / town / nation / world, every game of Dungeons and Dragons has a higher goal… that everyone playing has fun. In that sense D&D is very much a team sport, dependent on the co-operation of all gathered. As such it can quickly be ruined, or impaired, by someone that doesn't buy into the team mentality, usually because they want, consciously or subconsciously, for the game to revolve around them.

Just like a game of soccer can be spoiled by a Lionel Messi wannabe who attempts to take on the entire opposition and shoot every time he gets the ball, a game of D&D can quickly be compromised by a selfish player who monopolises the DM's attention and tries to take control of everything from the party's strategy and decision making, to NPC interactions and combat scenarios. Whether that Messi wannabe has the skills to back up their selfishness is besides the point (in soccer at least they invariably don't!); because by their singular approach, this one person excludes the other party members from playing a full role, reducing them to spectators for much of the session.

Partly for cathartic reasons, partly for educational ones (feel free to subtly share this with any friends who are guilty of one or two of the misdemeanours below!) and partly to remind myself to improve my own gaming behaviour (as I've ticked off most of the below in my time!) I've compiled this list of specific things that players do which the game could really do without.

So without further ado, let's take a look. Which of these bad gaming etiquette traits are you guilty of?

10+ Things Annoying Players Do in D&D

1. Control Familiars, Pets, Steeds, Henchmen

For many it's one of Dungeons & Dragons most loved spells, but my number one pet peeve in the game is the Find Familiar spell as it's a massive time sink, especially in the hands of someone who constantly abuses it. Much of D&D is waiting for your fellow party members to act, and that's fine, but when someone's turn consistently takes twice as long to act because they are commanding their pet hawk / bat / cat / guinea pig / woodlouse to perform some additional task I start to think how much better this adventure would be without the animal in question. Familiars also are also a massive cop out for most adventurers, allowing parties to scout way too easily, possibly infringing on the rogue's role (see point 3. below) and perform a host of minor tasks without character involvement or risk. Worse still than familiars however are creatures that PCs control that get an attack. Do I really want to spend my precious Sunday afternoons watching someone roll dice to see if their warhorse or henchman scores a crappy hit? Unless it's a solo campaign, I really think the game is much better when players control nothing other than their players…

2. Start A Fight At Every Opportunity

We get it. You're a real tough guy. Everyone should be quaking in their boots the minute your half orc barbarian walks into the tavern with his two handed axe. You've written "quick to anger" on your character sheet just to make sure that it's perfectly ok to start a fight at every single opportunity… except it isn't. It's really fucking dull, and it negates any opportunity for people with actual roleplaying skills to negotiate, charm, deceive, flirt, banter, or beguile with NPCs – which you may not realise it, is what some people actually most enjoy about D&D. Just because you've built a character for combat doesn't mean you should reduce every D&D encounter to a combat situation as soon as possible (nor does it make you real world tough by the way, just in case you're confused). For one thing it's plain ridiculous. Even in more lawless times very few people drew swords the moment an insult was exchanged… and if they did they wouldn't live very long. Nor would your character if I was DM. For another thing it is just plain downright selfish to those PCs with non combat skills. In every adventure I've ever played in 75% of encounters are combat anyway, so there's really no need to bring the remaining 25% down to your level.

3. Usurp Others' Jobs

Since the very beginning D&D was engineered to be a team game, with each player bringing something to the table, dictated to a large extent by which character class they choose to play. For sneaking around and disarming traps there's the rogue, for healing and turning undead the cleric, for mass damage and special effects there's the wizard, and for hand to hand combat and sucking up damage there's the fighter. It's part of what makes D&D so much fun, because – at least in a well-balanced adventure – every character gets their moment(s) in the spotlight. There are few things more frustrating then than the player who insists on performing multiple roles, especially if in doing so they tread on the feet of the other PCs. If you're the party's fighter don't try to be the guy that sneaks round the back to take out the guard, even if you have Stealth proficiency: let the rogue do his job. Similarly if you're a barbarian with Intelligence 8 don't take advantage of the game mechanics and declare "I roll Arcana" the moment magic happens… let the sorcerer or warlock have their moment in the sun. Bear this in mind especially if / when you start multiclassing. I for example currently play an assassin / wizard, and whilst I do have fireball in my spellbook, unless I'm predicting a particularly tough day in the office, I rarely prepare it, because doing mass damage to a rank of foes is the sorcerer's job in our party. Rather I use my spells to enhance my character's role as the Rogue.

4. Constantly Call For A Roll (Especially At The Wrong Time)

This one annoys me both as a player and as a DM… a player interrupts proceedings to loudly shout "I roll Insight / Arcana / History" and then clatters his dice over the table with the expectancy of being told something on a high roll. First of all a player should never declare he is rolling, they are not the games master… they should start by asking the DM if it's appropriate to roll a skills check. But first of all they should wait as long as possible to allow the roleplaying in question to pan out. If for example the DM, speaking as an NPC, is acting out a conversation with another PC in your party, then let them talk it out as much as possible and see if this NPC seems trustworthy by, you know, roleplaying. Rolling dice and demanding answers is the crudest way to play your characters, and certainly should never interrupt gameplay.

5. Don't Accept That Shit Can Happen To Them

This annoys me more when I'm the DM, but it can come into effect as a player too if refusal to accept a bad outcome ends up in a lengthy argument between PC and DM that wastes gameplay time. If bad shit happens to your character accept it without too much fuss. Speaking from my personal experience, it can be really irritating when it happens to you, especially if you feel the DM hasn't judged the situation well or enforced the rules properly, but ultimately a large part of the fun of D&D is the risk of your character dying, so certainly things like being injured, maimed or weakened should be water off your feathered back. If you want a narrative where your character succeeds every time at everything and is all powerful then stay at home and play with yourself. Certainly don't get in a sulk and a protracted argument with the DM that wastes everyone else's time.

6. Play Disruptive Characters (Then Justify It As "Roleplaying")

If your favourite alignment is Chaotic Neutral then no need to wonder who the dick on the table is… it's you. Chaotic Neutral is the alignment the worst type of players invariably choose because it allows them to do what the fuck they want whenever they want, without doing anything as difficult as roleplaying a realistic character. Instead they can just respond on a whim to situations in order to get the best advantage of themselves without abiding by any consistency of behaviour. In fact many Chaotic Neutral players will insist that their character's dick moves are in fact testament to their brilliant roleplaying because stealing the ally's magical weapons or starting a bar fight for no reason is exactly what a Chaotic Neutral person would do. What they fail to see is that manufacturing a character in order to give themselves carte blanche to be a dick is even worse than just being a dick. In general PCs that are disruptive to the the rest of the party's goals are incredibly frustrating for fellow players and DMs, usually selfishly choosing their own sense of what's entertaining at the expense of everyone else's.

(Castles and Cooks say it best: you don't have to pickpocket every NPC. The inn is perfectly fine without you setting it on fire. It doesn't matter how "cool it sounds"… Betraying your fellow adventurers for the fun of it does not make you awesome. The name for this behavior is Chaotic Stupid, and it sucks).

7. Powergame

Powergaming is of course the practice of min. / maxing all your attributes, and selecting your skills and feats to be as powerful as possible, especially in combat. Whilst a little powergaming is rarely too damaging in itself, it's often symptomatic of someone who is going to try to steal the limelight and do everything themselves. Someone who is trying "to win D&D" as if it were a board game. The real danger here is if someone, whilst sharing the same level as other PCs in the group, has managed to make their character grossly overpowered, then it may leave other players with less to do or feeling redundant. If you catch yourself powergaming either in the character creation process, or as you level up, then start to focus instead on who your character is instead, and determine your attributes and skills based on their personality and life story, not what is going to give you the best possible damage modifier in combat.

8. Cheat (By Actively Metagaming)

Metagaming, as I'm sure you know (if you read any roleplaying blogs), is when you act on your personal knowledge of the game's rules and mechanics, above and beyond what your character knows. It's almost inevitable to some extent, and it can actually be tedious not to metagame at times (for example it's usually much easier to assume that something an NPC tells one PC in private gets relayed to the rest of the party than have to act out the charade every time it happens), but it can also be abused. What I would call "active Metagaming" should be strongly discouraged. This could be doing something illogical or outrageously out of character because it confers an advantage, when you know something your character doesn't, or for example deliberately checking the Monster Manual in between sessions to find out a foe's prepared spells or weaknesses. It is basically cheating and can take a lot of fun out of the game for everyone – including the person that does it.

9. Get Drunk / Wasted

(I have a feeling this one just applies only to my specific group of hedonists in Barcelona! Take note guys!). Just like playing football with someone who is struggling to control the ball quickly becomes really tedious, so is roleplaying with someone who's crossed the line of being tipsy into drunk. Communication slows down, situations have to be explained again and again, there's a lot of shouting over one another, and arguing with the DM, as well as a lot of reckless decisions that don't make any sense in the context of the game and break the illusion of reality you have tried to create as a group. Tea on the other hand is awesome.

10. Mistake Themselves For The Dungeon Master

This often happens when one or more players know the rules better than the Dungeon Master in session, and therefore they constantly intervene to contradict and overrule said DM's decisions. It's perfectly ok to point out the rules from time to time, but often a DM makes a decision based on his judgement of the scenario that effect A causes effect B to happen, and trying to argue it doesn't because you haven't used your Bonus Action yet is all a bit petty and trite. A sense of logic and realism is always more important that the wording of the rules and, even if you don't agree with the DM, it's definitely not your job to arbitrate what happens, rulebook in hand. Furthermore players who constantly badger and petition the DM for breaks or situational advantages are almost certainly doing so to the detriment of the rest of the party, who are operating under the same circumstances but are polite enough not to spend the whole session whining / arguing about it.

No, no, and thrice no…

11. Take Forever On Their Turn

You know the scenario. Goblin arrows are raining from the sky, orcs are piling over the parapet, and a monstrous ettin is bearing down on the party, spiked club in hand. The heat of battle is furnace-like in its intensity, the time for action is now – there's no time to think. Only one player is leafing through the Player's Handbook for the best possible spell to utilise. No not this one. Maybe this one. What's the range again? Then he suddenly remembers his new feat could come in handy. Or is it a 5th level character ability? I'll just look it up. Cue eyerolls. You know what instead of a normal attack action I'm going to use Acrobatics to [insert outrageously improbable trick] and appear behind the ettin so I get advantage on my roll. Just to get it over with the DM consents and the player's turn is finally over… surely? Wait, I still have half of my movement left and my bonus action! Please God, make it stop! Ok and now it's my warhorse's turn. He breaks free of his reins in the stables and bursts into the courtyard and tramples on the nearest orcs as he makes his way towards me…. If you recognise yourself reading this, please change yourself! Whilst considering your options in combat is one of the fun dilemmas of any D&D session, there needs to be some respect for time both in terms of realism (snap decisions!) and basic respect for your fellow gamers. Meanwhile memorising your commonly used spells and abilities can save a lot of faffing around during the time-limited Sunday sessions you and your friends have to play D&D.

Agree with this list? What other annoying things do characters on your table do? What is the best way to discourage them from doing them in future?

Apart from avoiding the above, I'll be back with a list of awesome things you should do to make yourself a better gamer very soon! Update… it's live.