Heya , Need advice on how to deal with players who constantly joke in the middle of the game about tropes / scenes / or the roleplay in general. The group seems ok with it but as a GM i finding it very distracting and disturbing as i try to convey information or role-play out NPC's.

DO i just pull the plug on the game and be done with it?

Have you asked everyone else if it's a problem to them, and/or talked to the joker? Ending the game seems a little premature. If you have an they all don't mind it, gotta be honest, probably not the jokers fault.

As friends, just talk about it.

I use to want no interferences on my games. If players just want to stop playing or want a break, we stop for a while, but no distractions.

Have you asked everyone else if it's a problem to them, and/or talked to the joker? Ending the game seems a little premature. If you have an they all don't mind it, gotta be honest, probably not the jokers fault.

Oh no,

I'm not hiding behind some one else.. its all me.. I cant stand the Joking during tense moments. Simply ruins the immersion.

The group for the most part all participates except me because i'm trying to run the game and and get **** done but i get the feeling that the effort i put into tht egame to convey the story and mood and all that is simply lost on them who want something else.

I'm not sure what it is.

My buddy and I co-gm so we've talked about different people sit down at the table with different intentions, but everyone wants to have fun. We just look to accomplishing less during sessions. My typical Star Wars sessions are not overly complex at all and they seem to have fun.

Turn the table on joker and ask him mid joke if he can sneak in a dice roll for you. Sarcasm and shame work well together...

I believe 2P51s question was mostly to see if you tried explaining to them that the joking and similar behavior is disrupting the game for you and that you are finding it difficult to enjoy the game with it going on. If you haven't explained to them that there even is a problem then they have no reason to stop their current behavior. If you have explained this to them and they still continue the behavior then it may be time to consider some alternate actions. However, the FIRST action should always be to talk about the problem with your group to ensure they understand and are aware that the problem exists in the first place.

Depending on the reason for the joking and the nature of it there's a few secondary steps that can be taken.

First, if they are doing this because that really is the style of the game they want to play in then you have to make some decisions.. can you instead play that style of game and still enjoy it if you plan your game sessions and stories to expect this style? If yes, then perhaps you should consider that as that is the route most likely to make everyone happy. If not, then you're going to be in for a rough time because, realistically, you and your group just aren't compatible.. if they want joking and silly antics but you really want gritty, immersive, and mood driven gaming then one of the two groups are always going to be unhappy with the game.

On the other hand, if they are doing this because they've been at the table for 2 or 3 hours and need a distraction then maybe some breaks are in order when this behavior starts up. Cut up the game play a bit, play for a bit then take a breather and let them discuss and joke and tell funny stories for 30 mins, then get back to the game at hand. Design your sessions with natural intermission points for this purpose.

Sometimes it can help a bit if you don't let them take back actions that they joke about doing. Telling them that they said they were doing it, it's too late to back out now. A couple of these that leave them the worse for wear and they may remember to take the scenes a bit more seriously. But this is more for if it's an occasional occurrence to get people back on track. If they are joking around more than they are serious it's better to really consider the style of game your players want and if that fits a style you can also enjoy playing.

This is funny to me because I encourage my group when they make the group laugh, as long as they are doing it in game. I love it when our group erupts in laughter over something they did in game. Out of game antics are okay as long as there aren't members of the group that seem annoyed by it.

So I guess each group is different. Sometimes we don't get very far in a session, but if everyone is having fun... mission accomplished I guess.

Tell them their characters don't know they are in a RPG and either politley ask they restrict out-of-character talk to a minimum or tell them everything that they say counts as what their character sais in game.

Gm: "Okay everybody made their stealth checks to sneak past the stormtrooper sentries."

Bruce: "Only imperial stormtroopers are that precise-"

Gm: "Alerted by Bruce's character's words, the storm troopers raise the alarm!"

Mike: "What? None of us said anything!"

Gm: "I warned you guys! Under house rules O' Bruce-Wan said out loud: "Only imperial stormtroopers are-"

John: "Yeah yeah ok! No more goofing of i get it!"

Bruce: "Wow meta! Hey guys! my char just said "Wow meta!" LoL!"

All: "Shut up, Bruce!"

If that fails tell them excessive joking attracts Sith ghosts. (No stats. No XP and one hit kills on PCs. )

Tell them their characters don't know they are in a RPG and either politley ask they restrict out-of-character talk to a minimum or tell them everything that they say counts as what their character sais in game.

Gm: "Okay everybody made their stealth checks to sneak past the stormtrooper sentries."

Bruce: "Only imperial stormtroopers are that precise-"

Gm: "Alerted by Bruce's character's words, the storm troopers raise the alarm!"

Mike: "What? None of us said anything!"

Gm: "I warned you guys! Under house rules O' Bruce-Wan said out loud: "Only imperial stormtroopers are-"

John: "Yeah yeah ok! No more goofing of i get it!"

Bruce: "Wow meta! Hey guys! my char just said "Wow meta!" LoL!"

All: "Shut up, Bruce!"

If that fails tell them excessive joking attracts Sith ghosts. (No stats. No XP and one hit kills on PCs. )

^^This..

My first thought is laughing is good at a table, unless it is directed at you. Find a way to channel it in game. "Good one That goes in the script!"

I think the answer is easy, if he starts making Jokes consider them in-character. So he will insult the npc's or he blows the stealth mission etcetc. Everything said at the table is ingame. If his character dies and the entire party goes with him, that wil teach him.

I think the answer is easy, if he starts making Jokes consider them in-character. So he will insult the npc's or he blows the stealth mission etcetc. Everything said at the table is ingame. If his character dies and the entire party goes with him, that wil teach him.

I think that is a poor way to go about solving a potentially easy problem. It screams "my way or the highway" - and why is one person's preference more important than anyone else's? You're all at the same table, presumably for the same reason. The conversation is simple: "Are you guys enjoying the campaign? I'm not, and here's why...can we do anything about it?"

I'd use that old saying about if things was getting boring have some goons kick in the door shooting!

Some humour is fine but can they keep their attention on the game if something happens as they goof around?

As an example not everyone understands basic as well as people would think imagine someone overhearing what they're saying and takes offence at something they thought they said just because we understand what they meant in game having the group laughing can be assumed to be about something entirely different in the Star Wars Universe!

I think the answer is easy, if he starts making Jokes consider them in-character. So he will insult the npc's or he blows the stealth mission etcetc. Everything said at the table is ingame. If his character dies and the entire party goes with him, that wil teach him.

I think that is a poor way to go about solving a potentially easy problem. It screams "my way or the highway" - and why is one person's preference more important than anyone else's? You're all at the same table, presumably for the same reason. The conversation is simple: "Are you guys enjoying the campaign? I'm not, and here's why...can we do anything about it?"

Fun > immersion

Immersion isn't a requirement, per the rules, or some unwritten code. Then again, neither is fun, but I think that's a safer assumption. You could say you find immersion fun, and that's fair. That doesn't change the fact that you are playing with real people around a (maybe virtual) table, and your solution would most likely lead to people-conflict, not pc-conflict.

If you're saying you'd rather have conflict between players* than break immersion...then...wow

*I consider DM/GM a player, always, though with a different role (in the meta sense) than the rest of the table

I cant stand the Joking during tense moments. Simply ruins the immersion.

The group for the most part all participates except me because i'm trying to run the game and and get **** done but i get the feeling that the effort i put into tht egame to convey the story and mood and all that is simply lost on them who want something else.

I hear you, I've had this myself...and had to reassess how I was approaching the narrative, the pacing and the delivery.

I'm not saying this is your case, but it's never a bad idea to self-analyze. So the below is not an assumption or an attack, just sharing my own process.

For me the issue has always been too much complexity and TMI. I like Byzantine plots. One thing I learned from AngryDM...nobody wants to listen to the equivalent of the Council of Elrond just to start a game. My players can barely remember the key NPCs from one session to the next, because at least half the session is catching up and socializing.

So the solution was a kind of "think globally, act locally" and structure the plot accordingly. Give the players something small but important to do to start with, and weave in one or two small hooks to give a sense of a bigger picture. Don't introduce more than a couple NPCs at a time, and try to make only a couple of NPCs relevant to a single particular session. This allows the players to focus...my players at least tend to lose interest when they have to keep track of too much.

The other thing for me was less descriptive talking, and more images. If a picture is worth 1000 words, that's 1000 words less to say and you can move on with the game. They used to ask for maps, which I still provide when necessary, but the map can be pretty crude if you also provide a picture to help them imagine the scene.

Lastly, any tension between characters should derive from the interaction between the PCs and NPCs. I sometimes found myself trying to describe all the nuanced reactions of people in a room, but that's deadly boring. The tension shouldn't be described, it should be evident from how people react.

None of that may be relevant to your situation, but it's helped me quite a bit. That said, if the players just can't refrain, maybe they don't want to play the type of game you want to host. That's frustrating, but there's not much you can do about it.

I cant stand the Joking during tense moments. Simply ruins the immersion.

The group for the most part all participates except me because i'm trying to run the game and and get **** done but i get the feeling that the effort i put into tht egame to convey the story and mood and all that is simply lost on them who want something else.

I hear you, I've had this myself...and had to reassess how I was approaching the narrative, the pacing and the delivery.

I'm not saying this is your case, but it's never a bad idea to self-analyze. So the below is not an assumption or an attack, just sharing my own process.

For me the issue has always been too much complexity and TMI. I like Byzantine plots. One thing I learned from AngryDM...nobody wants to listen to the equivalent of the Council of Elrond just to start a game. My players can barely remember the key NPCs from one session to the next, because at least half the session is catching up and socializing.

So the solution was a kind of "think globally, act locally" and structure the plot accordingly. Give the players something small but important to do to start with, and weave in one or two small hooks to give a sense of a bigger picture. Don't introduce more than a couple NPCs at a time, and try to make only a couple of NPCs relevant to a single particular session. This allows the players to focus...my players at least tend to lose interest when they have to keep track of too much.

The other thing for me was less descriptive talking, and more images. If a picture is worth 1000 words, that's 1000 words less to say and you can move on with the game. They used to ask for maps, which I still provide when necessary, but the map can be pretty crude if you also provide a picture to help them imagine the scene.

Lastly, any tension between characters should derive from the interaction between the PCs and NPCs. I sometimes found myself trying to describe all the nuanced reactions of people in a room, but that's deadly boring. The tension shouldn't be described, it should be evident from how people react.

None of that may be relevant to your situation, but it's helped me quite a bit. That said, if the players just can't refrain, maybe they don't want to play the type of game you want to host. That's frustrating, but there's not much you can do about it.

^^ This.

Not really, it is called roleplaying. Everything that comes out of the mouth of the Players should be considered ingame. This makes it more immersive. Nog saying jokes can't happen, just saying: consider everything in game. Than you can say, are you sure that is what you say in front of the ambassador with 5 guards around him?

This is dependent on the group however. Myself and my wife don't really prefer to play by speaking as our characters directly but instead describing things from a player perspective. Like: I want to do X or I'd like to ask them about Y, instead of actually speaking out what my character would say exactly. It's a matter of preference. I know my wife and I wouldn't really care for the idea of everything we say is what we say as our characters. But then, we're also pretty good about keeping focused on the game and enjoying being a part of it. A little joking is fun but there are definitely people that get drawn way off course with their little jokes and side fun then the game itself gets lost.

Yeah, a change in culture is needed, and enforcing in-character speech is the way to do it.

However, completely disallowing out of character speech can be a bummer, so just make sure you aren't being a jerk about it and that you aren't taking yourself too seriously. Fun first, rules second, even house rules

One technique I've recently read about but haven't tried is to make a table rule that you must raise your hand to speak out of character. If you present it in a manner that portrays it as necessary for the story rather than a reprimand then it could hopefully avoid hurt feelings. Eventually, people will realize how disruptive it is. Being the clown of my group, I really need to keep myself in check sometimes or it can ruin the mood for everyone.

Another technique I've used is that the GM lights a candle, places a bauble on the table or plays the intro music and reads an opening crawl as a means to delineate chitchat time from storytime. A little tomfoolery is usually a good thing but the rule of fun is the highest law of the land.

I think the answer is easy, if he starts making Jokes consider them in-character. So he will insult the npc's or he blows the stealth mission etcetc. Everything said at the table is ingame. If his character dies and the entire party goes with him, that wil teach him.

I think that is a poor way to go about solving a potentially easy problem. It screams "my way or the highway" - and why is one person's preference more important than anyone else's? You're all at the same table, presumably for the same reason. The conversation is simple: "Are you guys enjoying the campaign? I'm not, and here's why...can we do anything about it?"

Not really, it is called roleplaying. Everything that comes out of the mouth of the Players should be considered ingame. This makes it more immersive. Nog saying jokes can't happen, just saying: consider everything in game. Than you can say, are you sure that is what you say in front of the ambassador with 5 guards around him?

Everything said can't be in game. That's simply not practical for me as a GM and trying to illicit out of character verbal exchanges for mechanical interactions with PCs. As a PC I would find that annoying as hell.

Unavoidable. After many years of GMing I wound that a jokes around the table and other "out of character" notes, are means to relief stress from the game or personal life. However, like many have said, just talk to the group about the appropriate amount and timing.

I think it mostly depends on your group situation ...
If you guys get to see each other every day at school or work and have tons of ways to share and tell your daily adventures, then it might be inappropriate to joke at the gaming table... but...

When I was in high school, my friends and I used to play Star Wars WEG almost weekly during the weekend... the Roleplaying was really good, people got in-character and the focus was on the story. But 15 years later, we still play Star Wars FFG about once every 2 months, we keep tabs on Facebook and on Ventrilo from time to time... when we game, it's really an excuse to see each other and share time together. So now, the out-of-character chat is very present, jokes are made often and people start out-of-game topics during game often. It's not the perfect situation, it's not the perfect roleplay group, it's not the perfect immersion... but it is the way we play now... At first, I was irritated by all that chatter and wanted to enforce more strict roleplaying rules, but then I understood that it would be useless... you can't ask old friends not to want to share stories between themselves or even tell tales from old SW games from the younger years...

So before committing to any harsh measures suggested before, maybe you should ask yourself why do you guys play, how often to you play, and how often do you see each other....

Remember that you guys are friends.... friends first, gamers second... are you guys playing SW RPG to be among friends or gamers ?

Also, my comment might be useless if it's a gaming group from your local store and you don't know each other except from SW RPG.

Anyway... hope it helps...

Another technique I've used to great effect is to specify a start time that's 30 minutes prior to actual game start time so that everyone can chitchat and get caught up prior to gametime.

A couple comments in this thread concern me, but rather than nitpick them one by one, I'll just stress that the Rule Of Fun is paramount , and a quick, tactful and frank discussion with all involved is absolutely necessary before imposing any rules. It could be as simple as "Hey gang, I want to try something new tonight to set a mood, let's do X. You in?" I do not intend to propose any draconian measures that aren't built with consensus.