Here is the post tuned straight into your direct, down-to-earth voice, Captain—blunt, practical, and speaking directly from behind the GM screen:
6 Easy Ways to Ruin the Game Session
Meta Description: Want to kill a great game night faster than an apex predator? Captain Hedges breaks down 6 easy ways players and GMs ruin a tabletop RPG session—and how to avoid them.
I’ve talked plenty of times about what it takes to be a solid gamer and run a good table. But sometimes it’s worth flipping the coin over and looking at the ugly side. If you want to know how to keep a table running smooth, you have to recognize the exact garbage that ruins a session in the first place.
These six points apply just as much to the person sitting behind the GM screen as they do to the players rolling the dice.
1. Show Up Late and Act Like It Don't Matter
Look, life happens. Tires go flat, shifts run long, partners get held up, or kids get sick. Nobody with half a brain is going to give you grief over real-life emergencies.
What burns people up is the guy who rolls in forty minutes late because he was dicking around watching streaming shows or couldn't manage his schedule, and then strolls in without a single word of apology. That isn't bad luck—it’s just showing complete disrespect for everybody else who carved out time to sit at that table.
2. Don’t Be Ready When It’s Time to Roll
There is truly nothing quite like sitting around on game night watching someone level up their character for forty-five minutes while the rest of us stare at the walls. If you had a whole week between sessions to roll your hit points, pick your spells, and update your sheet, do it before you get to the table.
And if you’re the GM, don’t sit there winging basic room descriptions because you didn’t spend ten minutes looking at your maps. Have your gear squared away so when game time hits, the dice can actually roll.
3. Forget Your Critical Gear
Tabletop gaming isn’t rocket science. You don't need a truckload of equipment to play—you need your dice, your pencils, your rulebook, and your character sheet. If you're running the game, you need your module, your encounter notes, and your maps.
Leaving your character sheet on your kitchen counter or showing up as the referee without your adventure notes brings everything to a grinding halt before you even start.
4. Insult, Talk Over, or Belittle Other Folks at the Table
Roleplaying games are built on cooperation. It’s a group effort. If someone at the table spends the whole night snapping at people, insulting ideas, or treating other players like garbage, they aren't going to be sitting at that table for long.
Disagreements are going to happen during a tough dungeon crawl—that's part of the game. But a smart gamer treats the folks around them with respect, talks things out, and accepts that they aren't always going to get their way.
5. Bury Your Face in Your Phone
Nothing kills the momentum of a good session faster than a distracted table. If you’re checking sports scores, hunting on dating apps, or playing mobile games while the party is fighting for their lives, you're wrecking the pace.
Every time it gets to your turn and you have to ask, "Wait, what just happened? Where are we?"—you’re pulling the emergency brake on the whole room. Keep your head in the game, pay attention to the action, and know what you're doing before your turn comes up.
6. Sulk and Refuse to Participate
Not every character is built for every single encounter. The warrior might have to step aside during a tense social negotiation, and the thief might have to play it smart during a brawl with an armored brute.
That’s fine. What isn't fine is checking out completely and refusing to participate just because the party didn't take your exact route or vote for your preferred plan. Sitting in the corner with your arms crossed ruins the fun for everybody and usually gets someone else's character killed.
The Final Word
Your game time is precious. It’s a few hours carved out of a rough, busy week to sit down with friends, drink some coffee, escape the daily grind, slay monsters, and haul out some hard-earned treasure.
You can easily ruin that night for yourself and everyone else by pulling the six stunts listed above.
Or, you can show up ready, respect the people sharing the table with you, and have a hell of a good session.
The choice is yours.
What Did I Miss?
What’s your biggest pet peeve when you sit down at the table? Got any other classic habits that drive you nuts behind the GM screen? Sound off in the comments below!
Product Identity & Legal
The following items are designated Product Identity of Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. / The Adventures of Captain Hedges: The world of Zimrala, the Tygerian Isles, the Ether Dragons, the Tiger Force Shadow Saga, and the specific "Hedge Wizard of the Shreveport Cabin" persona. Monsters! Monsters! and Humans, Humans! (1st Edition) are trademarks of Ken St. Andre and Trollgodfather Press and are used with permission. © 2026 Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. All rights reserved.
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