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My RP group has a bad habit of breaking off into un-related jokes, conversations, etc etc. How might we avoid this?

Tell them a few times that the jokes are fine and dandy before the game, after the game, break, etc... but while we're actually playing the attention needs to be on the game.

If that doesn't work, sit there silently until they're finished, and if it looks like it might never finish, quietly begin to pack up your things.

Depends on the group really. If the games are more of a social event, then people are more likely to go OT almost regardless of what you try and do.

Otherwise the best bet is probably to forge a strong narrative and draw the players in so they themselves don't want to put up with OT stuff but want to get on with the game.

That is the curse of all GMs, I try to keep things exciting or focused on what's going on. It can take awhile, but find out what they like to do and run a game around that. But that's just GM 101.

If you're a younger crew it sometimes helps to just plan breaks, like pizza or mine used to hold improptu matches of Soul Calibur or Street Fighter. Then people burn off steam and can try and focus back in.

Also, extreme caffeine never helps, when I stopped bringing liters of Mountain Dew to game my focus went throught he roof.

Last ditch, start penalizing or letting things they don't hear go by. If they suddenly start talking over what you said and you're telling them the password to the dungeon don't repeat it. Let them know beforehand you're shifting so they don't just insta-hate you. But it can be fun when they ask well what did that one guy say not 10 minutes ago in a session and you just go iunno, you were listening! What DID he say!?!?!?/

If everyone isn't involved, people start to get bored. Are some people's turns taking a lot longer than others? Are only one or two characters really involved in the storyline?

I had a mix of min/maxers and roleplayers a few years ago. I just let the roleplayers drive the story, and the min/maxers take over combat. I just let them be until they were needed to do their job. Worked pretty well for me.

 heresy.happens wrote:
My RP group has a bad habit of breaking off into un-related jokes, conversations, etc etc. How might we avoid this?

How many players? Once you hit 6 players, the off-topic time goes up exponentially.

Booze involved? Is talking better/worse/same when alcohol is involved?

People using their laptops, iphones, or other devices for some of the distractions? "Hey, look at this!"

 kronk wrote:

 heresy.happens wrote:
My RP group has a bad habit of breaking off into un-related jokes, conversations, etc etc. How might we avoid this?

How many players? Once you hit 6 players, the off-topic time goes up exponentially.

Booze involved? Is talking better/worse/same when alcohol is involved?

People using their laptops, iphones, or other devices for some of the distractions? "Hey, look at this!"

A million times this, all phones are off or on silent with no vibrate and we turn off the Wi-Fi.

 kronk wrote:

People using their laptops, iphones, or other devices for some of the distractions? "Hey, look at this!"

I'm a total gadget-geek, but during gaming time I try to keep my phone off the table. No one in the group I game with has really gotten into digital character sheets or anything, and keeping notes to a low-tech notebook and pencil really works best in my experience.

My policy is just that if it's your turn to do something and you don't show some response of that fact within 5 seconds of the previous action being completed then you skip your turn/action. It's never happened, although I have started counting off 5 seconds out loud a couple of times.

I guess I'm pretty casual because I don't care what people are doing when its not their turn as long as the game keeps moving.

After a half hour of off topic time, I typically disrupt all conversation by slamming a book (or fist) down on the table as hard as I can.

No one really appreciates it, but that's what they get for ignoring the last 25 minutes worth of gentile reminders to people who talk to each other god damn near every day that they can get by without talking in family guy references for a couple hours. At that point, you're officially wasting one of my two precious days off, and being nice goes out the window.

Tell them to focus on the game if they want to keep playing. I am lucky as my group really are good at focusing on the game when game time is happening.

I feel a bit like I'm being gaslighted here. Am I the only one who doesn't think it's a huge problem if your group gets off topic?

If it's a matter of the players getting off topic while the GM wants to keep things flowing, my advice to the GM is to loosen up and go off topic yourself. I'm a high school teacher. I could tell you all sorts of stuff about what works and what doesn't to keep people interested and engaged in a task. But the fact is, when I'm done teaching, I'm pretty much done telling people how to live their lives. If my friends want to get off topic, I feel like it's rude to force them to stay focused. You're playing a game and you need to treat it as such. Your goal for the night shouldn't be to reach a certain part of the story. It should be to have had fun with your friends. If people are going off topic, that tells me they're talking about something they're interested in and they are likely enjoying themselves. And isn't that the point? Why would you want to tell your friends how to have fun?

Now, if it's a couple of people getting off topic and most of the group is sharing your frustrations then sure, you have a problem. But otherwise, my advice to the GM is to be happy that, at least temporarily, the burden of entertaining your friends has been lifted and they're entertaining themselves.

Throat punches always get the point across.

Cell phones and tablets have been a boon and a curse for tabletop gaming.

Sway wrote:
Now, if it's a couple of people getting off topic and most of the group is sharing your frustrations then sure, you have a problem. But otherwise, my advice to the GM is to be happy that, at least temporarily, the burden of entertaining your friends has been lifted and they're entertaining themselves.

Yeah, it really depends on what the group is trying to get out of 'gaming night'. If they just want to hang out, shoot the gak and roll dice then getting on them for being off-topic seems incorrect.

Keeping things moving helps. Outside of combat it's easy to get off topic, but in combat, if they aren't paying attention they can lose their turn.