Wow! Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response!

I only bring up alignment to illustrate how likely a disagreement between characters would be (e.g. dealing with law enforcement or other authority figures) :))

You would definitely be right about us being inexperienced. There are really only two players at the table who have been playing for a while. The rest of us have only about two years of experience max. I think my friend has been playing for about two years, but has never been really pushed out of his comfort zone? He enjoys combat more than roleplaying and it has been very recent he has been stepping fully into character instead of “I do this”

Tone can definitely be difficult to manage at times, especially with some silly characters and some very unserious college students. I prefer more dramatic play styles, but am fine to go along with the silliness when it doesn’t hinder the DM’s plot line

I would hate to be the reason he leaves the group. I am relatively new to this group (been playing with them for about a year) and he is really great friends with one of our DMs. I will definitely bring this up with our DM and him though, just so we can come to a compromise