Would a few drinks relax the players more and allow for greater immersion?

[Ajacks]

I DMed a single campaign that lasted about 2 years and it was common practice amongst all the players to bring a bottle of booze or a 12 pack. And more importantly a bag of herb. No one would bat an eye if someone walked in with a bottle of Jim Beam. Business as usual.

Granted we all partied together and were able to hold our own pretty well. I always partook the least I would say in order to maintain focus and cohesion. On the other end of the spectrum though, when that game was over and it was someone else's turn to DM, I got pretty sloshed on the first night and had to walk home (as opposed to driving).

It was generally agreed upon as funny though. I was playing a bard and apparently did some role-playing singing (none of which I remember lol). I suppose it's all about your group, what you guys prefer, what you consider a good time, so on and so fourth.

[Kafana]

And more importantly a bag of herb.

I only once played D&D on weed and it was absolutely incredible. A friend was DMing in his homebrew world which was pretty dangerous (think Dark Souls). There was a dead PC every other session, and we pretty much avoided or fled from most combats. Anyway, it was my birthday and we were going to play a long session (about 8 hours) so I bought a bunch of snacks, drinks, cookies and brought some weed. The DM was toast, and a few of us got hit pretty hard but nothing we could handle. That session was mostly roleplay, and since the DM was in his own world it was incredibly random, fun and scary at the same time. Not something I would recommend on a regular basis, but definitelly something to try at least once and see how you manage :D

[CarpeGuitarrem]

This.

Also, there is a difference between drinking while gaming, and gaming while drinking. One of our group was an AA member and so we never drank at his house because he didn't want it around his kids, but if we played at my house he was perfectly fine with us having a few drinks. Now we have all moved across the States and we play on Roll20, and most of us drink while we play. Last session one of the guys had too much and it was obvious, we all called him on it, and he agreed he needed to tone it down from now on. When I was in my early 20s the dynamic would be much different for us I am sure.

Hear, hear.

[Winter_Wolf]

I know no one that I'd play with who can have "just a little" alcohol. I'd never play while drinking on account of our generally rambunctious natures and the tendency of certain people to become belligerent when alcohol is available. For us it would be a prelude to a real life brawl, so I'd elect to not be part of the game if people started bringing booze in.

I'm sure that people who can both handle their booze and are even keeled to start with would fare better, but that's not anyone I hang with. Not coincidentally I don't tend to participate in outings where booze willbe a factor anymore. I dislike becoming collateral damage.

[Mr Beer]

Doesn't come up, since most of the group drives to games and said games take place during the day. I sometimes have one beer with lunch when I host and that's the grand total amount of alcohol consumed by the entire group.

I would probably knock back a few if others were doing the same but various things would need to be different about the way things are set up at the moment; one of the bigger factors is I do a lot of the GM-ing and past experience tells me anything more than a mild buzz and my GM skill set is trashed. I could play a character half in the bag no problem, but not run a game.

[Gamgee]

My friend said with his group didn't mix because it derailed them and they couldn't focus. I don't think anyone at our group drinks other than on a rare occasion.

[Dorian Gray]

I'm friends with a guy who took a shot every time he took a hit to Wisdom or Intelligence. He knows his tolerance really well, so he had it "calibrated" so that when a mental stat hits 0, he can no longer play.

This one time, the DM had an enemy enchanter. The player doesn't drink like that anymore.

[LibraryOgre]

IME, some groups drink, some groups don't.

One group had a bad experience with a player who'd get a bit sloshed at the game and ruin the experience for everyone else. They instituted a strict no-alcohol policy.

Another group, it wasn't uncommon to have a couple of drinks over the course of the evening, especially if none of the kids were around.

If your group likes a bit of a drink, then go for it. Find what works for your group.

[Socksy]

I'm friends with a guy who took a shot every time he took a hit to Wisdom or Intelligence. He knows his tolerance really well, so he had it "calibrated" so that when a mental stat hits 0, he can no longer play.

This one time, the DM had an enemy enchanter. The player doesn't drink like that anymore.

That's amazing. :D

I'd say drinking while playing is fine as long as you're all over 14! (Or whatever the legal age is where you are, I only know the British laws for it)

[Thrawn4]

I'd say drinking while playing is fine as long as you're all over 14! (Or whatever the legal age is where you are, I only know the British laws for it)

Wait what? You are not allowed to drink at the age of 14 in the UK, are you?

[Elvenoutrider]

As a gm you are openly displaying your creative work, publicly speaking, and sometimes need to change personalities at a moments notice. I find a few drinks before and during a session help calm my nerves and make it easier for me to show off my work (come on I can't be the only one who gets to a description, encounter, or NPc they spent hours on only to think "oh my god this is stupid.") I also find I'm able to deal with standard PC nonsense And go with the flow a bit easier after a few drinks. Figuring how to get back on the tracks is for after the session. Might not work for everyone but hey it works for me.

As a player I'll drink heavier or less depending on my character. It's become a rule for me to never drink while dpsing ;)

[lytokk]

I added the recovering alcoholic bit because it did come up in one of our games. It was me and two other guys gaming and then a third joined us. When I grabbed one of the beers I kept in the host's fridge, the third let me know he was in AA, and I promptly put the drink back and made no more mention of it. All about being respectful to the group.

[Nagash]

I find most of my players and myself have better games when we all have a few drinks. RP is more immersive, people get more emotionally involved in the fights and if at the logical ending point some people want to hang out and have a few more and chit chat., well good. We're doing friend stuff at that point and thats good for the game if we can be friends outside of it.

And yes we do this with new players too. They are encouraged to have a few, including us offering some freebees and just be part of the atmosphere of people who want to chill and have fun a few hours.

[Garimeth]

I added the recovering alcoholic bit because it did come up in one of our games. It was me and two other guys gaming and then a third joined us. When I grabbed one of the beers I kept in the host's fridge, the third let me know he was in AA, and I promptly put the drink back and made no more mention of it. All about being respectful to the group.

Yeah one of our guys was an AA member also, in fact he ran AA meetings while we were in Afghanistan. He had been recovered for a long time though, so his thing was just not at his house around his kids, but he was fine with it at somebody else's house. We pretty much always played at his house though - biggest kitchen table and all that.

[Garimeth]

I find most of my players and myself have better games when we all have a few drinks. RP is more immersive, people get more emotionally involved in the fights and if at the logical ending point some people want to hang out and have a few more and chit chat., well good. We're doing friend stuff at that point and thats good for the game if we can be friends outside of it.

And yes we do this with new players too. They are encouraged to have a few, including us offering some freebees and just be part of the atmosphere of people who want to chill and have fun a few hours.

Totally agree! When we played at our AA guy's house we would make it about a meal. So everybody would bring some cash to chip in or sodas and stuff, and then someone would go pick up chinese for the group, or curry, or grab a pizza, or etc. We'd spend the first 15-30 minutes shooting the **** while we split up food and ate a bit, and then we'd get down to business. Same thing afterwards, in addition to helping to clean up.

Sometimes if we were playing on a Saturday, or a shared day off, we would do a big cook-out in addition to gaming. So we'd all be standing around the grill gaming while we cooked, and then move it inside to eat when we got done. I miss those guys, Roll20 is great - but its just not the same.

[Iruka]

Drinking while gaming is like drinking during other social activities. With the right people and circumstances it can work and even increase the fun, with others it is a bad idea.

Wait what? You are not allowed to drink at the age of 14 in the UK, are you?

Oh, you are, legal drinking age on private premises is 5.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Oh, you are, legal drinking age on private premises is 5.

As I recall, the "drink in public" age is generally 18 in Europe, too.

[Iruka]

As I recall, the "drink in public" age is generally 18 in Europe, too.

Yes, drinking age without restrictions concerning the location or type of beverage is usually 18.

[Socksy]

Wait what? You are not allowed to drink at the age of 14 in the UK, are you?

Oh, you are, legal drinking age on private premises is 5.

I think they changed drinking age to 14 a few years ago. Isn't 5 for smoking?
/goes off to research

EDIT: Drinkaware says 5. Where was I getting 14 from...

[Phoenixguard09]

I have run a few solo Warhammer campaigns for many years now for a mate and I've run them hammered a few times. I also remember one night where we were both pretty done in, but don't remember any details regarding what happened. The notes are practically illegible.

In my personal experience, it's a bit of fun and probably good for a one-shot, but if I need to be able to keep a coherent story together, alcohol gets in the way.

As far as the 3 Coins group goes, we've got a strict no alcohol policy while playing, which is upheld in that two potential players were turned away at the beginning because they intended to bring alcohol into the game room during play. At the time, only myself, Dev and these two individuals were of legal age, with 3 other people in the room underage.

Even now, when only LD is underage, I have kept that rule in place. I have no problem with alcohol afterwards, or even perhaps beforehand, but not during the game or in the game room.

[Mr Beer]

As far as the 3 Coins group goes, we've got a strict no alcohol policy while playing, which is upheld in that two potential players were turned away at the beginning because they intended to bring alcohol into the game room during play. At the time, only myself, Dev and these two individuals were of legal age, with 3 other people in the room underage.

Even now, when only LD is underage, I have kept that rule in place. I have no problem with alcohol afterwards, or even perhaps beforehand, but not during the game or in the game room.

Sounds like the game room is a semi-public area of some kind? In that case a no booze policy is a good idea, even aside from the 'don't drink around underage players' rule, which also makes sense.

[Phoenixguard09]

No, not a public area mate. We play in my house. ;) Still, we have issues enough with irritable people, people spilling the soft drink and computers and paper everywhere. :P

[Kaun]

I generally drink while running or playing games, as do some of my players. While we generally keep our selves tidy there has been exceptions on many occasions over the years.

Does it improve the game, in some ways yes in other ways no. But i love a beer and its a social activity so ...

[Knaight]

Having alcohol around isn't particularly common with any of the groups I play in - that said, it doesn't seem like it would be particularly relevant. Some of us don't drink at all, some of us just don't keep alcohol around, and those of us that do drink carefully avoid drunkenness. That just works out to a hypothetical alcoholic drink being no more than one more food-drink option around.

[KillianHawkeye]

One of our group was an AA member and so we never drank at his house because he didn't want it around his kids, but if we played at my house he was perfectly fine with us having a few drinks. Now we have all moved across the States and we play on Roll20, and most of us drink while we play. Last session one of the guys had too much and it was obvious, we all called him on it, and he agreed he needed to tone it down from now on. When I was in my early 20s the dynamic would be much different for us I am sure.

Interestingly enough, I discovered last year that one of the guys in my group doesn't drink because he is an alcoholic. Despite playing with this guy for the last 4 or 5 years, I didn't learn this until I invited him to my last birthday party where I was acting bartender, and I discovered that he didn't want any alcoholic drinks. Fortunately, he doesn't have any problems with other people drinking during game sessions.

[Garimeth]

Interestingly enough, I discovered last year that one of the guys in my group doesn't drink because he is an alcoholic. Despite playing with this guy for the last 4 or 5 years, I didn't learn this until I invited him to my last birthday party where I was acting bartender, and I discovered that he didn't want any alcoholic drinks. Fortunately, he doesn't have any problems with other people drinking during game sessions.

I actually knew that our guy was an AA member before we started gaming, because he ran an AA program for our unit in Afghanistan. Because of this I broached the issue with him before our first session back in the States, and then past on the info to the rest of the group. First session he's like "i don't want this to be wierd, I'm fine with other people drinking, I just don't want it at my house because of my kids." One of my best friends now.

[tomandtish]

Yeah, it's just something for the individuals to decide if they're drinking alcohol or not.

I once ran the Tomb of Horrors as a drinking game. All dwarf party, with an artifact of the dwarven god of alcohol. Fail a check/saving throw/attack; drink a bit. When someone dies evertbody needs to to finish their drink to resurrect the fallen. The party made it pretty far and was paying great attention to all the clues, especially considering the circumstances. That was fun and I need to do it some time soon again.

You know, if you were playing this under classic First edition rules with people who had never heard of it before, it might not be too long before players start dying as quickly as party members....

Remembering the first time I ever went through it, that seems like 10-11 drinks in about 2 hours...

[Raimun]

While I do like to have a good brew, I don't usually drink while gaming. However, it's not out ordinary if I or anyonelse does have a few during a game.

But does it affect gaming in a good or bad way? With the people I game with, it has either a good effect or no noticeable effect whatsoever. Generally, a couple of drinks doesn't alter anyone's behavior but a few more in and you might see more wacky but perfectly in-character ideas implemented during the game. Those are just priceless.

Most often it's just that instead of soda or two, people have a brew or two. You know, sometimes you want the former and sometimes the latter.

[Somebloke]

In all the years I played in Australia, no-one ever drank while gaming.

When I moved to London and joined a group, everyone drank while gaming. Eventually I joined a club in London that tended to congregate in the back rooms of pubs- still with them today (best gaming group I ever played with). We all tend to have 2-3 drinks per session- needless to say the pub is happy for the regular patronage.

[NowhereMan583]

I generally frown on having anything stronger than beer at the table -- when I ran a game in college, a couple players would occasionally bring liquor, and those sessions tended to fall apart. Memorably, one player had a glass of whiskey and began insisting that we couldn't possibly continue the game until we had nailed down the precise exchange rate between D&D "gold pieces" and Star Wars "credits". This issue was, of course, not remotely relevant to the plot, but it nevertheless provoked a loud, 30-minute argument, instigated and sustained entirely by the drunken player.

After that, I enacted a ban on drinking in games I was running, and only eased off on it when I moved, started grad school, and began gaming with a less volatile crowd.