Disciplined Gaming

Discipline breeds freedom. The philosophers among you can yap about where that phrase comes from and what it means, but in the context of gaming, it's pretty simple. If you're disciplined in how you approach the game, you'll afford yourself more freedom to act. That's applicable to DMs as well as players in every phase and style of the game. Let's examine what discipline looks like at the various levels of play.

The Disciplined Player

The disciplined player knows the rules. Not all the rules, you understand, but the rules that are relevant to his character. He knows what types of things he can do during a session because he has read the relevant rules. He knows how his spells work and how his attack rolls work. He knows the fighting capabilities of his forces and when called upon by the DM can deliver actions efficiently.

The disciplined player keeps sufficient records. He can answer questions regarding the logistics of his forces without bogging the session down by "uh um hang on, what page?" It is the bare minimum to know the logistical capabilities of your forces and that includes how long they can remain in the field, how much treasure they can carry, and their rate of travel over the terrain that they expect to encounter.

The disciplined player exercises a little forethought. His actions and orders are cohesive to his faction's goals, which he has considered within the broader context of the campaign. He collaborates with other players within the campaign, even as an antagonist, based on his faction's objectives. He considers the state of the campaign, the setting, the milieu, when issuing orders and avoids friction by communicating effectively with the DM. While he has a plan, he remains flexible to adjustments required by the nature of the campaign. He is responsible enough to consider the bigger picture while still pursuing his own faction's goals.

The disciplined player is freed from burdening his friends with his own failure and can make an impact on the game efficiently and memorably.

The Disciplined DM

The disciplined DM knows the rules. Not every rule on command, you understand, but the rules most likely to be relevant to his type of session. He has at least a passing familiarity with the rules of the chosen system and has enough book control to find edge cases and uncommonly encountered rules efficiently. For example, he knows that if his players have flying resources, he'll need to at least generally grok the flying movement rate and combat rules. #PegasusCorpsofMachodor #ThankYouMandalf

The disciplined DM maintains consistency. He is available and responsive to his campaign's participants based on a previously established schedule. He is consistent with rulings regarding his campaign's setting. He maintains a reliable schedule for sessions. He communicates his expectations for the campaign and remains consistent with them. He tracks the developing milieu, keeping the touchstones of the campaign constant and available.

The disciplined DM is efficient. Whether by prep or practice, book control or winging it well-established improvisational skills, the DM has a responsibility to respect the nature of Real D&D™ in that time is a resource. Players must come prepared to the table and so to must the DM. He avoids unnecessarily lengthy exposition or excessive chatter, brushes up on the monsters likely to be encountered by the players, and sets the example for his table to have a solid session for the allotted length of time.

The disciplined DM is free to arbitrate the game's action and act as custodian of the game's milieu without compromising the integrity of the campaign with knee jerk rulings and memed-in buffoonery because he wasn't ready.

So what do you do?

Take the game seriously and respect your friends' time. 

If you play a single PC of low to mid level you likely don't even have the resources to require any great amount of preparation. This is the perfect time to practice your organizational skills so you can scale them as you acquire henchmen, armies, and domains. 

Establish and use a method of organization. Paper, spreadsheets, fillable PDFs you bought from a peddler, it doesn't matter. 

Thumb through the rules and spells that matter for your PC. 

If the campaign doesn't already have deadlines for downtime or collaboration, then establish them yourself. Lead by example.

Do not pester your DM with unnecessary questions. You are one of many players. Use downtime responsibly.

If you're a DM, set a schedule. Procrastination is as detrimental as perfection to the "good" of the campaign. Set a deadline for downtime orders, a deadline for resolution, and a consistent time for sessions to be played.

This can all sound overwhelming, but it really isn't because you aren't scrambling to do any of this stuff right before session. You aren't doing it all at once. You're eating the elephant, one bite at a time. None of it takes so long as to be more than a lunch break activity unless you let it pile up. Then it's a mess.

Why does this matter?

When a group sits down to play a session of D&D, there is an expectation that something will happen. If it's an 8 hour dinner party Stein event for a birthday party or it's the resolution of a wargame scenario on the club's docket, everyone involved expects to make something happen. It's incumbent on the players of the game to play the game efficiently.

Listen, man. It's a game. It's supposed to be fun. Not every session is a SEAL Team Six tactical exercise. But if you put in a little effort to be disciplined about how you approach the game, you'll have the freedom to play D&D, and enable your friends to play D&D, instead of whack-a-mole come session.

Something to consider the next time you feel like wingin' it.