Quitting a group tonight (rant about banter)
I have had enough. I'm not having fun. It's just a waste of 4 and a half hours.
After much indecision, I've decided to leave my group. It was made up of 4 players plus DM, all 19-20, long time friends. We've always had a lot of banter and joking amongst us. But as you can imagine, it would occasionally go too far. In this instance, through entire campaign. To start with, during session zero, one player made a character, Ned who's a distant relative of one of my previous PC's called Gunrin from another campaign (not with my permission). Ned is trying to prove that Gunrin has committed crimes (relating to explicit material, islands, likening my old character to D&D Epstein). I thought this was a throw away joke in session zero but each session he leaned into it more and the DM soon was in on it too making it official lore. I should have left immediately after this but the sessions we're still focused on the main campaign story (TOA), other players we're hadn't got in on it (yet) and I was happy to push it aside and play the main story. Though I made it clear that this and other bullying behaviour I would not be okay with and I don't see it as banter. Then last session we came across a religious group who would only let us past them if we offered a sacrifice. My group decided the plan was to tie me up and give me up (against my will), laughing thinking it was hilarious. Long story short I managed to find a way for us through without a sacrifice but nonetheless that was the final straw. They sensed I was ticked off.
Why did I last so long with these fools? There were so many pros more than cons (initially), I am a forever DM and this was finally a chance to be a player and experience the 2024 phb. the DM lives 50m from me whereas other players need to drive 20mins. Sessions were scheduled perfectly for me and everyone to be available ( which was extremely rare in D&D groups). Tomb of annihilation was exactly the campaign I've been eager to play.
Ultimately, it's always good to have humour in your groups, but when someone says loud and clear in a session that they're not okay with something, listen to them. And in my opinion "banter" is only okay if you are really close with someone.
Posted Dec 4, 2025, 2:49 AM UTC