How to help your Game Master (*): a few points

*: Or Referee, Judge, etc.

The internet has no shortage of advice for people running role-playing games.  However, it's far less common to see advice to the players on how to make life easier for the person behind the screen.  Here's some pointers.

Treat the game like a social occasion

A player should turn up on-time and ready to start the game.  Sometimes that's not going to be possible, so notify the GM as soon as possible if you're going to be late or can't make a session.  Also, if you're coming to the game after a rotten day at work or school, or if you just had a fight with your significant other - and you still want to play - let the group know that you're feeling lousy and ask for any time that you might need to pull yourself together.

Also, don't come along out of a sense of obligation.  It really doesn't help.  Just tell the GM what's going on and explain why you need to take a break or quit.  It is far better to leave early and be missed than to drag things out until nobody wants you around.

Take notes 

Parchment and quill is fine, too.

Taking notes at the table is a direct way to show that this game matters to you.  Don't worry too much if they're bad notes and you hardly use them, though most RPGs do reward attention to detail.  If you're confident in the strength of your notes, it might be worth offering to do recaps at the start of each session.  When you're finished tag on, "Was there anything important that I left out?"  Even if the GM only responds with, "Yes," and an evil laugh, you've learned something.

In my opinion, using an electronic device for your notes is not a good idea.  Even if you aren't getting distracted - you look like you're distracted.  Paper and pencil is ideal.

Don't tell the GM how to run the game

When you're playing the game, what the GM says goes.  Even if you know their ruling is incorrect, just make a note and carry on playing.  If you think there's something contradictory about how the GM is describing the situation, follow that up in character rather than out of character.  Let me give you an example of that:

In a modern-day game I ran a few years back, I was trying to hint to the players that the events of the last session were not entirely real.  When one of the players said his character was making a call, I mentioned that he was using his old phone (that he'd gotten rid of in the fake session).  The player told me that I was wrong and he didn't have that device, dismissing me when I said, "Nonetheless, you still have it."  I decided that if the player was that convinced, the character was truly taken in and dropped it.  The same player proceeded to rationalise away or deny my other hints, too - as a result of this belligerence, the party were left thoroughly misinformed for several sessions.  (Eventually, I took pity on them and had a NPC spill the beans.)

Even if you're not in that kind of situation, it's simply poor form to tell the GM that they are wrong.  My stubborn player could have followed up with, "Do I still remember getting rid of the phone?" - a good investigative question if I had something up my sleeve and a fair reminder if it was my memory that had gone awry.

You can relax this away from the table.  Between sessions, go back to your notes and politely raise rulings with the GM.  I recommend taking the position that you want to know if the session ruling is a house rule, so that you will know for next time.  Still, be careful about giving the GM advice on how to run the game.  If they're inexperienced, it's usually better to point them to a guide (as I said above, there are plenty of them online) than to spell things out yourself.

This is the reason we never went back to modern settings.

Keep order on your side of the screen

In most RPGs, the person running the game has vastly more information to handle.  Despite this, it's customary to also burden them with the duties of master of ceremonies and group secretary.  You can make the game more fun for the DM (and generally everyone else) by taking some of the load off their shoulders.  Start by helping to keep the other players focused.  It's a social occasion, so don't object if somebody breaks character to tell a joke, quote Monty Python, or remark on a movie they've seen.  Nor should you interrupt anyone (unless they're way out of line).  Just pick up in the pause and say something like, "That was really funny!  Now - where were we?"

You can also help out by sending a reminder to the other players ahead of the next game session.  This can also be a fine opportunity to instigate plans!

If you had fun, say so

Nothing wears a GM down like the impression that the group is not enjoying the game.  If the session's subject matter is quite serious, you might go the whole time without smiling, let alone laughing - but if the experience was enjoyable, the person who prepared it deserves to know.  If you make a point of saying when you had a good time, the fact that you didn't say anything will let the GM know when a session fell flat.  Only criticise the GM if you found the session seriously objectionable, and even then it's best to do so one to one.

Just let it go this time.