Dealing with Politics at your table

Politics is one of those weird things that seeps in to your games in both intentional and unintentional ways. Most TTRPG characters are caricatures, taking their chosen traits to wild extremes. This can also include the character’s political views, which will strike others at the table as disrespectful if done poorly. Even when you aren’t bringing political situations into your game intentionally, sometimes it pops up. You may make, or your tablemates may make snide remarks at each other for it. When you feel that happening, when you feel that tension building, take a step back and reassess.

Remember: You Choose What you bring to your table

We can and should take ownership of the topics, energy, and characters we bring our table. We are never forced to bring any subject matter to a table, regardless of in world “logic.” These are imaginary characters in an imaginary world. They are notable, unique heroes, and may not conform to any tropes that we don’t decide they conform to. That includes whether they are an asshole, whether they have strong religious or policial views, and whether they ever choose to speak about them.

Level 1: don’t Bring it there

This blog focuses on taking personal responsibility for your role in your game. Before you start looking at how others are playing their game and running their character, before you point any fingers accross the table, look at yourself. If you have conflicting political views with someone at your table, are you flaunting them in game? It is 100% possible to be fully mission-focused in TTRPGs, and politics can still seep in from all sides. Even the “good” politics that you believe in. Be aware of your party, and don’t bring it if it is going to cause trouble.

Level 2: Stop it in its tracks

Only do this if you’re sure that you’ve finished level 1. If you’re bringing politics to the table, don’t be mad when other people do too. But if you are certain that you aren’t bringing it yourself, then call it out as soon as you see it. Don’t start a fight. Don’t make it a discussion. Be respectful. Here is a phrase I recommend, regardless of your political aisle.

“Hey, we came here for the game, not the discourse. I’d rather focus on things more relevant to the quest at hand. Lets quit it with all that.”

Having a phrase like this ready to go keeps the tone and the subject matter neutral. You don’t fall into a trap of arguing about how their point was misinformed. You don’t call them names. You remind them that there is a reason you gathered. You express that you want to keep playing with them, and you directly ask them to stop.

The Trap: Double standards

Everyone wants to assume they don’t bring their own politics into a game, but only other people do. This is probably not true, and you should focus on yourself first. Most often what people see is that in a table of 5, 4 people share a political view and 1 stands out. This means by default that the “background noise” of the game world itself is infused with politics one way or the other. If there is just one player to contrast with this, it can seem like everyone else left politics at the door and the odd duck brought theirs. If you are confident enough to call them out, you better be ready for them to call you out too. Because you’re probably not keeping it as clean as you think.

Level 3: Acknowledge, Delay

Ultimately, the way you can grow in this life and bridge gaps between you and other players is not to simply leave disagreements silenced. It may not make your game better, but learning about how others at your table think and why they may hold beliefs that they do will help you grow closer to your tablemates as people. Don’t derail the session, but when you notice politics creep into the game, you can stop it in its tracks - and also offer to discuss it later. Don’t do this if you can’t handle political discussions. Not everyone needs to put themselves through it. But if you end your level 2 shut down with “Lets hang after session if you want to talk politics,” then you actually acknowledge what they brought, and offer to engage with it. Just not now when it might be causing distraction.

Sometimes, Politics happens

No table is perfect. You aren’t perfect. You’ll bring stuff to your game that others don’t like, and they will bring stuff you don’t like. Do your best not to bring it, and to stop it before it becomes a problem. If people slip up, accept it and move on. Good luck out there.