Your "table chatter" tolerance

[RealMarkP]

Alcohol definitely promotes the Beer and Pretzels group type. People get quite chatty.

The last campaign I DMed, most of the guys were the B&P type and one guy was more into the game. I could see tension building. It's the DM's role to pick up on this and try to bring some balance to the group. Else you'll piss people off and your campaign might fall apart. Luckily, in my circumstance, I was able to bring some order to the table (reluctantly, since I'm a B&P type of person too).

I would caution against breaking the 4th wall and using the game a disciplinary measure. As an experiment to bring order to my games, I told the chattiest of players that they seemed a bit distracted in this fight and didn't notice the rogue sneak up behind them. A sneak attack later, he was less chatty and I was labeled a dick.

Also, picking up people's pizza-greasy dice is rather nasty.

[Azremodehar]

Definitely towards the "Beer and Pretzels" end of the spectrum. Chatter often stuck in one-liners, quotes, witty banter, etc. My group let's just about anything fly so long as it's built around 'rule of cool' or 'rule of fun'. We've had such highlights as:
-Orcish Bard has giant sea serpent choke to death on tiny summoned octopus.
-Powerful bathroom-dwelling sorcerer as alibi for murder of powerful duke, said duke appears to testify for his own murder.
-Familiar, as well as a party member, are officially imaginary constructs. Rogue realizes he took out contract on his own head, drags his unconscious body across town to collect on contract.
-True neutral cleric subtly undermines party to seek neutrality in all situations
-Paladin defeats mindflayer by sticking to his ideals. Paladin's head then explodes.
-a member of our group that always buys every piece of equipment and shoves it in a handy haversack Also takes the "inattentive" flaw for every character
-"As you sit down, the mug magically fills with ale.""Bad. Ass."
-Druid wildshapes into gorilla. Sits in town square. Casts silent still lightening bolts at anyone who stares at him
-"your knight can have a gorilla mount. IF you can be serious about it"
-campaign appropriately described as "Warforged Power Rangers"
-"we are all twins named John Smith"

 

Your group sounds like loads of fun! And at about the same balance a lot of the game I've run have ended up at. Though I try to maintain a certain level of decorum, it can get difficult with large groups. Though the last big group I had (11 people, including yours truly), I kept them under control by instituting a rule the mandated the holding of one's hand in the shape of an L over one's forehead if one wished to speak OOCly. It was simultaneously entertaining, and kept the shenanigans to a minimum, which I hadn't actually expected.

[sirpercival]

Definitely towards the "Beer and Pretzels" end of the spectrum. Chatter often stuck in one-liners, quotes, witty banter, etc. My group let's just about anything fly so long as it's built around 'rule of cool' or 'rule of fun'. We've had such highlights as:
-Orcish Bard has giant sea serpent choke to death on tiny summoned octopus.
-Powerful bathroom-dwelling sorcerer as alibi for murder of powerful duke, said duke appears to testify for his own murder.
-Familiar, as well as a party member, are officially imaginary constructs. Rogue realizes he took out contract on his own head, drags his unconscious body across town to collect on contract.
-True neutral cleric subtly undermines party to seek neutrality in all situations
-Paladin defeats mindflayer by sticking to his ideals. Paladin's head then explodes.
-a member of our group that always buys every piece of equipment and shoves it in a handy haversack Also takes the "inattentive" flaw for every character
-"As you sit down, the mug magically fills with ale.""Bad. Ass."
-Druid wildshapes into gorilla. Sits in town square. Casts silent still lightening bolts at anyone who stares at him
-"your knight can have a gorilla mount. IF you can be serious about it"
-campaign appropriately described as "Warforged Power Rangers"
-"we are all twins named John Smith"

These should go here.

[NiteCyper]

In my first group, things didn't fly well. I'm not talking about maneuverability, I mean game progress. We were high-schoolers. There had been a rule to raise one's hand and say "ding" to call order. Had been.

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>Group goes in to talk to mission-giving, good-aligned dragon while I stay outside since I played some Assassin. I think Shadowdancer was involved in my build too, because
>while waiting, my character performed (dance).
>"You get, I don't know, 3 gp."
>"Oh wait, the modifier's not +4, it's +14."
>"All right, 30 gp then." Or was it 13 -> 130?
>both of us too newbie to realize the significance of da gpz
The fact that I can't remember the plot goes to say something. I had/ve a short attention span.

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