Drinking and Dragons, everyone's experiences?

[hencook]

It's totally fine to not want your players to drink. What's not cool is saying people are doing it wrong because they enjoy it differently than you do.

It's fine for people to spend their time however they want. I'm not dogging on anyone for that here. I'm just saying it's not welcome in my house.

[JNAProductions]

It's fine for people to spend their time however they want. I'm not dogging on anyone for that here. I'm just saying it's not welcome in my house.

I didn't really get that impression from your post, but I guess I misread your tone.

[Evil DM Mark3]

I suppose what is a bit disappointing from my PoV as the OP is that no one seems to have addressed the question that really mattered, although to be fair I didn't explicitly point it out.

What do you do when drinking causes problems at the table?

[JNAProductions]

I suppose what is a bit disappointing from my PoV as the OP is that no one seems to have addressed the question that really mattered, although to be fair I didn't explicitly point it out.

What do you do when drinking causes problems at the table?

Can't provide experience personally, but I'd recommend this:

Talk it out. Obviously wait for them to sober up, but just talk to them. Explain "Hey, I know you like a cold one while gaming, but when you get drunk, you get disruptive. Could we ask you to save the beer for another time?"

[AdmiralCheez]

What do you do when drinking causes problems at the table?

We haven't run into that problem at the table thankfully, but I imagine we would deal with it the same as any other drunken problem. Just tell them they're being a problem and to cut back. Focus on other people until they sober up a bit and can handle playing again.

[NRSASD]

I suppose what is a bit disappointing from my PoV as the OP is that no one seems to have addressed the question that really mattered, although to be fair I didn't explicitly point it out.

What do you do when drinking causes problems at the table?

Politely ask them to tone it down, and give a good reason. Not "Don't drink" but more "Hey man, it bogs everything down when you do".

[Psyren]

Can't provide experience personally, but I'd recommend this:

Talk it out. Obviously wait for them to sober up, but just talk to them. Explain "Hey, I know you like a cold one while gaming, but when you get drunk, you get disruptive. Could we ask you to save the beer for another time?"

This, but for us it was less "you can't drink at all" and more "please moderate yourself a bit more."

The one guy this was an issue with had an alternate work schedule - that particular campaign met during the week (usually Monday or Tuesday) and he had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off so it was his weekend. He would thus have some drinks to unwind. It only became a problem if he got completely hammered and disengaged; other folks drank too but since they had work in the morning they naturally kept it under control. It was simply a matter of getting him more in tune with everyone else's wavelength and not making a big deal out of it.

[redwizard007]

I suppose what is a bit disappointing from my PoV as the OP is that no one seems to have addressed the question that really mattered, although to be fair I didn't explicitly point it out.

What do you do when drinking causes problems at the table?

Ah. Ok. So, i probably hit the drunk with an ax.



Really, the same way you deal with anything else. Talk it out. If you are too far apart for a compromise then it's time to move on.

[Maelynn]

I suppose what is a bit disappointing from my PoV as the OP is that no one seems to have addressed the question that really mattered, although to be fair I didn't explicitly point it out.

What do you do when drinking causes problems at the table?

Well, thank you for not reading my post. :(

[Vykryl]

It's not been a problem in my group, they stay within their limits. The one incident to the contrary that I mentioned earlier was a friend just hanging out and watching. We have not had a problem with a player being inebriated to the point of not being able to follow the game or make timely decisions for their character.

[RNightstalker]

The only people I've played with that drink either can't handle it or shouldn't for...many reasons. I haven't had the best experience but if someone wanted to I'd give them a shot and if they could handle it there wouldn't be any problems. But if someone gets so drunk we need to spend significant time next session recapping, or the DM gives an artifact grade weapon for less than the price of a +2 weapon (true story), there will need to be a discussion.

[JeenLeen]

Less so now than a few years ago, but alcohol is pretty accepted, and (if I'm drinking) I usually have 3-4 drinks pretty early in the game to get slightly tipsy but sobered up by the time it ends (as I tend to have to drive home.) I don't think it usually causes any problems in our group.

There was one time one of the players bought a 24-case of cheap beer, and decided to make a drinking game of any time we cast a spell. We advised against it, as it was oWoD Mage and spellcasting was pretty common, but said he could do his thing. About an hour or two in he said he was going to bed, as he was pretty drunk. Which basically killed the game early. The next day, we told him "Not Cool, Dude", but left it at that. No repeat issues. He's a pretty chill dude.

---

Early in our gaming career, me and my friends finished off a bottle of wine when our tolerances were pretty low. We wound up fighting some weird impromptu battles that the DM winged. But he was new to DMing at the time and we were all being pretty silly. Crazy albino Yoda-clones that wanted to destroy all non-albinos. Taught us to look through the archwizard's storage chests for hidden treasure

[Bohandas]

I am still unsure about the group just due to how badly things fell appart in that last half an hour, but it was the first session too (and VERY exposition heavy and front-loaded with exposition, which isn't how I like my games anyway) and a lot of the rest of it had been fun. It got me thinking, do you allow drinking (or, indeed, other substances) at your tables? Does it go well? How do you deal with it going badly?

Does the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame count? I played that with my cousin and we were drinking and it went fine except that a bunch of stuff got done out of order because we didn't notice that some of the treasure and monsters weren;t supposed to be introduced until the late game

[Quarian Rex]

As with all things, it depends on the individuals. I tend to avoid drinking personally (during gaming) because my attention tends to wander too much and I miss too much of what is happening. Recent gaming had some of the group drinking regularly (online game, we would be chatting on Discord) and some issues were noted. One player fell asleep on multiple occasions with his mike on and snored like a chainsaw in a windtunnel. The response to that was vicious mockery (as the gods demand) and seems to have mostly sorted itself out (he switched to push-to-talk so we stopped having to listen to the snoring, the mockery continues).

The more difficult problem was when the DM has a habit of it as well and starts getting sloppy in his responses/descriptions. This compounds things when the DM has a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a tendency to dig his heels in when questioned about things. This has resulted in some fun oddities like a walled town that takes a full two days to get from one side to the other, with the closest Inn a two day journey from the entrance to said town (he meant two hours, said two days, and became canon when questioned. This happening on multiple occasions has resulted in the local map bearing a strong resemblance to an Escher painting), innumerable questionable interactions with NPCs, abrupt encounter ends that left the entire party blue-balled, etc.

Overall, I'm not a huge fan of the practice.

[comicshorse]

My groups vary. The 5th Ed. DnD group doesn't drink at all as one of the players is severely allergic to alcohol and can't even stand the smell.
The 'Serenity' group usually top off at a couple of beers each which has pretty much no effect on anyone
The 'Vampire' group have a bottle or more of red wine (naturally) this gets some of the players very slightly tipsy and seems to help one of the players get more in the proper Brujah spirit of her character and the Toreador seems to get more flowery in his speech as the evening goes on and the drink goes down (though that could just be warming up to the role)

Problems with alcohol have been pretty much non-existent. Once a player turned up already smashed for the session and we had to quickly wind it down, but not before he foiled the GM's plot through sheer drunken aggression (of his PC I should point out) . But he'd never done it before, so we said nothing and he never did it again

[BWR]

Everyone in my groups enjoys a drink though not everyone drinks every session. We have one guy who has a couple of beers and two-three glasses of wine every session (to no discernible effect), and those who usually don't drink because they don't feel like it/have to drive. The closest we get to drunk is on the nigh-yearly weekend trip, when we drink steadily and loosen up a bit extra but not to the point of getting in the way of the game.
Can't give any advice on how to deal with problems with drinking too much because alcohol has never been a problem for us.

[Faily]

I was originally going into post about reasons *why* people might be getting drunk at the gaming table, but realised that is neither here nor there.

Anyhoo...

If the drinking makes you uncomfortable, speak to someone about it. Doesn't have to be the entire table, but maybe the friend that got you into the group or the GM. You could alternatively at one point bring along a snack or refreshement that doesn't involve alcohol (lemonade when it's hot, or a cake that doesn't exactly go well with beer) maybe?

Though I think that chances for actually making them drink less are slim. For many people, game-night is the night to unwind, and sadly alcohol is often seen as a requirement for just that.

In my experience and playgroups, alcohol is not a problem at the table since I don't think anyone's ever gotten drunk. Or at least not in a disruptive way or a way that makes them hung over the next day.

[16bearswutIdo]

I've never played in a group without drinking. Any other drug is a no-go at my games, but drinking within reason is fine. We've had a session or two where people got out of hand, and I told them in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't keep running games if those became habit. Usual drink of choice is beer, but I'll bust out some good scotch for important sessions. No one has more than 3-4 drinks per session.

[Leon]

Not really been a thing with the groups ive played with. Im sure there have been light alcohol over time at some of them but its never been a case of something alcohol fueled happening to disturb it.