Expectations
Expectations vary between the players and the GM. The GM is the "god of gods", but only with the mandate of the players. For all extents and purposes, the GM works for the players (quite literally in some cases) and that's fair enough. I am generally very understanding about all sorts of situations or preferences and I have a number of things I expect of myself and that I presume players expect of a GM, but this is ulitmately judged by what people think of the sessions and if they deem them fun enough to attend to.
It has not been a major issue, but I wanted to write about what I feel are some reasonable things we all as group members should be able to expect from one another. In short it comes down to these things:
- Communicate
- Engage
- Reading
Players
Communicate
What I expect of players vary depending on their level of experience with roleplaying, but at a minimum I'm expecting each player to stay in touch with the rest of the group. In practical terms, this means checking out our group intermittently at least.
Engage
The group may at times be large and the temptation to close down and check social media updates (or Pokemon) on your smartphone may be significant, but it can easily be seen as dismissal of what other players are doing with their characters or indeed what is happening in general in the game. I understand there can be a whole half hour at times where your character isn't personally involved and it can become boring to just be an onlooker, but being disengaged with the game can be a real turnoff. There are also many opportunities to talk with other non-active characters both to pass the time as well as finding out more about them or even develop your own character.
Engaging with the story can also mean to write down notes that your character would remember but you might forget if we play infrequently, or to take initiative to take action in order to push events forwards.
Reading
Each player should familiarise themselves with the class they have chosen and look at planning future purchases as well as feats and skills. It may seem daunting since there is SO MUCH material available, but it can be very beneficial to simply start by googling "good pathfinder class build" (where you replace the word "class" with your class). It's of course also a good idea to talk to the other players in the group, either at a session, before/after or in the group chat.
At the very least, you need to become the master of your own character, and know what s/he is good at and what sort of things s/he can DO. This may mean to check what sort of actions can be undertaken in combat in general and these insights can also be beneficial when looking at future feats or perhaps changing to a perstiege class.
For new players: Myself and other players will try to help as much as possible to fulfill any personal ideas you have about your character; to find the optimal rules, manoeuvres, feats or classes (and I have been known to allow some house rules as well) to get you started, but after a few levels you should be able to think of ideas and find the answers yourself, at least by taking initiative, even if you may still need help with the actual rules. In many cases there are so much cool stuff you didn't even think of.
Insane Wishes
Not officially on the list, but players are more than welcome to contribute to the world or just help out with some paperwork.
GM
From me you can expect that I will cater to your wishes. In fact it has been one of my weaknesses to cater too much so while I try to find a balance there, please keep it in mind as mine often sets into "troubleshooting mode" and even the craziest idea may be shoehorned in where it doesn't really really belong.
I will set up scenarios where it is sometimes advisable to avoid combat, and those may not be apparently obvious. I won't deliberately TPK the party, but I will follow the encounter calculations to their conclusion.
I will not cheat. The material and the dice rules. At times I may use GM intervention to do things out of rules, but then I will literally tell the players as I a do it. I don't plan on doing this to save the life of a PC.
If you die, it was either your fault or RNG. (The latter is new to me; I used to be waaay too kind. Seriously though, dice can kill ya unfairly.)