As of late, my group, which has a mix of former roll players, newbies, and one newbie who managed to get into character so easily you would think hes been rollplaying for years; has had a major problem getting and staying "in game". We either get caught up in side coversation, looking up rules, or just asking the GM questions about the area.

Now what are some ways that we could stay "in the 40k mood"? Iv been trying to keep my fellow acolytes into the mood of the adventure, but latley its becoming harder and harder as the group has slowly been expanding (now numbering nine acolytes and the GM). I don't have it in me to kick out any of the later arrivals, but I see this as a bit of a problem.

Another problem I am having trouble tackleing is that our psyker has gotten into a relationship, and has started to bring his new girlfriend, not to play, but to watch and better understand so she can decide if she wants to play. In reality, all this has acceived is her asking alot of questions about the 40k universe which break the flow of gameplay, and the psyker manages to slip out of character whenever shes around. Therefor insted of having our usual smart-ass psyker, we have two non-playing people in the room, and a zombie psyker in game who just goes through the motions. It is quite unnerving. I have tried talking to the player (as hes a close personal friend of mine), and tried explaining the points I just mentioned, plus the fact that the poor girl must be bored out of her mind watching, and has shown no interest in playing. He keeps defending the fact that "shes getting into it", which is straight BS. But, theres no talking sense into him.

As of now I am at a major loss of what to do to keep this group in character. I have thought about the addition of classical music (the likes of which are in movies and whatnot), but I'm still slightly skeptical about this plan of action. Any thoughts?

Split the group. Have one group meet one one weekend. Cell one. Then have the other on the other weekend. Cell two. Still working together to achieve the Emperor's goals. Same story and plot. But half the problems at any one time. And I would confront your freind's girlfreind. Ask her point blank if she wants in. Then go from there.

You could also try music, props, lighting to try and get them into "the mood". Also it never hurts to just take a few minutes at the start of a session to discuss your concerns with everyone as a whole. As for the girlfriend I would just have her make a character and throw her in headfirst. If she's even remotely interested in the game at all you she would be a reading type so you could loan some novels if you have them, or direct her to the nearest Barnes & Noble to pick one up. Another possible route would be exp rewards for exceptional roleplay, I had a few past GM's that this worked great for.

Jhaeyde- The problem with that is that I'm hosting the game, and organising the group, but not GMing for a change. I have stepped down and another of my friends is running it so I can actually enjoy playing. But the group still meets at my apartment once a week. Although asking her point blank isnt a bad idea, I think I'll do that.

Shocktruppen- What kind of music/props/lighting? What do you use? And the GM has already done the exp rewards for good rollplaying, but, as its a 25 exp boost, some of the players dont really care that much? If it was like 50+ then maby it would catch some attention. But this isnt my game, its his... Just my apartment thats being used, which comfortably hosted a group of seven, but not a group of eleven... And the idea of forcing her to roll up a character just puts more pressure on the already stressed GM, which I dont think would be wise unless shes genuinely interested in playing...

I'd advise in a similar fashion to those before me.

Split the group if it's too large. Either play every even week with one group, and every odd with the other, or (better yet - so you don't have to break your brain on two similar campaigns) get someone else to GM the second group. It's not fair that only one person buys all the books and prepares for the games.

Edit: Just read your reply. Ninja'd! Okay, so you're not the GM. Still, that's a lot of people in guy's apartment. Can you ask if the GM if the group can be split anyway? I'm sure it'd be a relief for him!

As for the girlfriend - ask if the GM can give her a throwaway character so she can join in. The fine line is making her character wary of the psyker so she doesn't latch onto her boyfriend in-game, but don't make it a hostile act like you're trying to break up the new couple.

If you want to make a snack run and your psyker player isn't contributing, ask if he and his girlfriend would mind going to the shops down the road. If he's just leaving his character un-narrated then you're not really losing an acolyte while he's out.

I have similar situations happening in my group. Good suggestions so far. Personally I'd just express my disappointment that the game is getting overlooked in favor of random chat and see what they say. When people are so easily distracted it's often one of two things a) the game isn't fun and isn't keeping their attention, or b) some of them just aren't that into playing the game no matter what they tell themselves. Talking about it is the only way to nail down why people are more interested in other subjects. You might not want to break up the group but you might be doing a friend a favor if they realize they just aren't as in to the game as they think they are.

I'm going through the same thing at my current tabletop group. The combats are fun enough, and I enjoy rolling dice but the RP elements of our game are rather dull and uninspired lately. Off-topic conversation tends to crop up pretty regularly from all of us including myself. In the end these are my friends and I enjoy getting out of the house all the same but the actual RPG activity is sorely lacking at this point. At our next session I aim to take my own advice and see what we can do to improve the RP.

Too much worry about the rules is also a sign that the fun level might need a boost. When you're having fun, you're less prone to worry so much about the rules as written. I frequently do things in our DnD game that I know are probably bending the rules but the GM rolls with the punches which has on more than one occassion created a fun RP outcome. This ability to freeform some things has actually helped a bit, which is why I haven't thrown in the towel completely.

As for the girlfriend, if she's being disruptive that is not cool. Perhaps offer to hang out somewhere after or even before the game where you can all relax and she can ask any questions the game session brought up. Hell have her write down things that intrigue or confuse her, she can probably use the time to really flesh out a good character. One of our players frequently brings his girlfriend along but she occupies herself with her DS or my XBox and only offers the occassional comment, usually laughing or encouraging our fun.

Headhanger said:

Splitting the group would have three major problems, the first being that the story would move rather slow as we are only getting half the time out of the month for the story itself. The second, is that many characters have developed rivalries and bonds with the others, to split it up would break those. And the third is that I am also a player, so I cannot move with both groups, but they would still occupy my place. So I dont think splitting the group is a good idea. I do think that if everyone gets their act together we can run this fine, but that would require less out of game chat and BS, my friends GF either playing or occupying herself with my computer or TV, and everyone chipping in some cash to buy a fold-out table and a few folt out chairs to connect to my kitchen table.

Everyone (except the GF) has flushed out really good characters, and when we can stay in-game we can get alot done. But its just the fact of staying in the rollplay mood.

Zero- Iv been encouraging my GM to stop following the rules so hard-line. But to use his better judgement on this. For instance, an acolyte carrying around a suit of power-armor he isnt wearing is out of the question, but the last session my character struck a guy in the head with his best quality mono-sword, dealt rightous fury, the second attack hit (also in the head), and I rolled a 9. When everything was calculated the guy took 27 damage to the head (13 from one attack and 14 from the other), and the guy managed to live and fight still. After everything was said and done and the session was over I asked him how the guy managed to survive, and he told me the man had one wound left. So a little unnerving that I would have had to get two rightious furies in order to kill him with one strike. But hes the GM, I'll respect the decision.

Ira said:

Sometimes this happens. Unfortunately you just have to roll with it and hope you or your GM can come up with a reasonable description of such an event.

If you had a Guardsman character and took Sound Constitution as many times as possible, you'd have fourteen extra wounds by the time you finished your career. Fourteen! Try explain surviving several bolter rounds to the head...

Headhanger said:

This happens a lot in many games, not just 40k. In another game of a different genre I knew a player who used to take a heavy caliber weapon, put it to his head, and discharge it just to unnerve the opposition. Due to game mechanics, he lived quite well even though common sense was that he should have been splattered.

There are times when GM common sense needs to over-ride game mechanics. Unfortunatly GMs a lot of times are loathe to bend the rules, because once they start bending them, its a slippery slope.

Fortunatly Hit Points don't always equal wounds taken, as much as "potential" for death either. I'm not sure how DH's creators see it, but in this case I could say that the person would have been massively wounded, and really had the option of running away or bleeding to death, not continuing to fight. Again, GM common sense, but again most GMs don't like doing that.

I guess in this case the question is, when does should a GM decide that a character dies against the rules. How many hit points must be dealt, or left, before the GM uses GM caveate and just erases the NPC due to common sense, and do the same rules apply to the players. Its up to every individual GM to decide where he or she wants to draw the line, and in this case the GM decided to go with a hard interpretation of the rules. As long as the GM is consistant and fair, well there isn't much that can be said except RPG rules aren't always (or even arguably usually) realistic.

Back to your original problem with the immersion, this again is up to the GM to how much he or she wants to enforce, and does the GM have enough courage to stand up to his or her players and simply say "enough" and run the risk of lossing the game entirely.

Another website that I lurk on has a poster that has a saying "No RP is better then bad RP" and I can't argue with it. Right now though its up to the GM to decide is he or she wants to enforce any kind of OOC rules for gametime, and if he or she doesn't, or if you don't agree with them, you need to decide if no RP is better then bad RP in this case.

"Sigh" well due to circumstances from our last session (last night). I will now be GMing the group.

Ira said:

The situation with the "observer which is also a fiancee of a gamer" is no so rare. But essentially it comes down to "does it harm the group?". I know of an instance where it was no problem. The GM told them that he would kill each character without any second thought to their friendship and from this point of (honestly) telling upfront everyone was cool with it. Its a game, so it shouldn´t construct conflicts between players/GM over dead characters.

If she is just there "watching" the game....thats a strict no-go. It´s not a football game. I´m not something to be "studied"....if someone wants to see what it is he/she needs to play a session or two. If its not like she imagined...fine, thanks, see you an other time. I guess he´s comfortable with her being around and trying to get her to participate....thats hopeless if she´s not interested.

I´ven given this advice too often to recount: If the game sucks beyond repair....politely tell everyone that they are great guys and you sincerely wish them a great time. Then leave. Really bad roleplaying sessions are worse than no roleplaying sessions.

If you are to GM this frontal crash between hurt feelings, romantic tangling, willing players and bad leadership you better grow some balls ;-)

Ira said:

Take it as an opportunity to promote the kind of RPing that you find missing in your group. What happened if you don't mind me asking? The *sigh* seems to indicate that the cause was less than ideal. Hopefully no bad blood between friends.

Ikkaan- I have addressed these problems with my mates women, and he has agreed they she will play. I have also set it up so they wont bring their romance in-game. If they go against that, I will be slightly merciless in how it will play out for them.

Zero- I thought the GM got a base understanding of the 40k universe. I was wrong. He has not, and I think its time for him to play a few more campaigns before stepping up to narrate. The players all basicly said that if myself (or another one of my friends) dont step up to GM they are leaving. So I took up the task (again). I have the players support, but I need to find a way to break it to the now unknowingly-retired GM.

Its a tad sad to be honest.

Ira said:

Ah, tough spot to be in. Perhaps you could suggest co-GMing but that would require you know more about the upcoming sessions than is normal for a player. I've done it before, a player was running their first DnD campaign so I helped them write the scenarios with an eye for setting detail, and played an un-obrusive "NPC" during the actual game days. Was actually quite fun playing dumb and joining the players in however they chose to react to what we created.

After a few sessions the other GM started throwing in a few twists of his own and I got to return to the player side of the table entirely.

Ira said:

Be very careful on this "no romance thing." Not saying your wrong, but if through good RP and storytelling it becomes best for the story that their characters have a romance, then you need to make sure its okay that it happens. Just don't let them force it, but if the story dictates they have a romance, don't let your bias stop good RP and good Storytelling over OOC issues either.

Had that happen once in another game system. It effected the story negatively because natural progression was that their characters have a romance (even the GM admitted it) but the two players were afraid to let it happen, so it became a bad serial tv show where the no romance thing jumped the shark and it began to threaten the story. A few of us other players needed to pull the GM aside, who then pulled the other two aside and let them know it was okay.

But I do agree they shouldn't start out that way, and also they need to be mature enough to understand that if IC their characters are attracted to different characters they need to allow that to happen IC, and keep IC and OOC seperate. Seen that happen way too many times as well.

To the retired GM, I'd just tell it to him straight. Make sure you don't speak for the group without the group being present, but you and only you do the talking, and explain the reason why. I don't think I'd tell him that the party would leave if he didn't give up GMing, but I'd say that the group was talking and felt it was in the best interest for the game that a more experienced 40k person take the reigns until the old GM got a better feel for the 40k universe.

Honesty is the best course here, but you don't need to tell the old GM everything.

Most GM´s i know are relieved when told they can actually play....i don´t think its such a bad thing.

Hope it plays well for everyone.

So do I. Iv kinda been putting off telling him.

Honesty and forthrightness are virtues. Any friend will respect you for that. Just tell him matter of factly. If he really wants to keep GMing then offer to help him until he has a better grasp of the setting.

Well I did talk to him, he seemed almost happy to break out a new character to better understand the universe. But without a few aqward moments..

.. Why do I feel like I just fired someone? Lol

There's a lot of drama that goes on with my home rpg group. So, I can sympathize with your dilema. We've had game after game implode because someone waits till things become intolerable to make a complaint. WE finally stopped gaming as a large group, even though we still hang out as friends. Four of us might cook up a game, but that's pretty much what we're limited to right now.

For those of you whom were curious about how it played out. Well, it worked out really well. We kept most of the core group, only losing one player indefinatly. I got my mates girlfriend into it (although she seems rather bored), and the old GM seemed pretty happy to pick up a new character. I ran Shattered Hope just to break the roll-playing cherry of the entirely new group, but I modified it extensivly. Next week we start Illumination.

Although I miss playing, I can see one of my mates picking it up in a few months. So untill then I just have to enjoy tormenting them, which shouldnt be too hard .