DM tactics to keep players from losing interest?

RYPros53 · Mar 30, 2012

Help! I'm running an online 4E game and we are approaching our 4th session this Sunday. Three out of the 6 players have been at every session and seem interested, while the other two have missed at least one session and aren't as interested. :-S

What can I do to pull them back in? :hmm:

I've created a FB group where I post docs about NPCs with pictures, I'm very visual. The battles have been running slow though and I feel like we aren't getting to the juicy part of D&D. I want them to see how fun it can be as most of them are relatively new or entirely new players.

Any ideas would be appreciated. If you need more info just ask.

OnlineDM · Mar 30, 2012

Welcome to EN World! It's great to hear about other folks running online games. As you might guess from my name, this is something I'm passionate about. My blog might be handy for you.

Are the players in this game people you already know personally, or are they people you've met online specifically for this game?

In the end, you can't make someone care, but you can make the game more fun for them in which case they might be more likely to start caring. I've been lucky to have players who are generally quite enthusiastic about the game, but when I've had a player or two drift away, I've just accepted that and filled the open positions in the game.

I'd suggest you start by talking directly to the players who don't seem interested. Ask them what they think of the game. What do they like, and what don't they like? Is it about the game, or their own lives interfering? If they're just not that into D&D, well, that's okay. Not everyone is. If they like the game overall but have been bored by particular things that have come up so far, then you have something to work with!

You mention combat being slow and not the "juicy part", which raises a couple of thoughts for me. First, do you need so much combat? If that's not what you find to be the most interesting stuff in your game and it's also not running very smoothly, do less of it! Focus on exploration and interaction and not so much on combat if combat isn't fun for you and your group.

The other thought is, what are you using for combat? I personally use MapTool, and things go very smoothly in my games, but it's taken me some time to get as proficient with the program as I am today. Are you using a virtual tabletop of some sort? Or are you going with gridless combat that's done purely via narration?

Finally, are you doing this via typing or talking? My groups use Skype for audio, and I know that the game would be MUCH slower without it.

Good luck with your game, and feel free to contact me directly if you think I can help!

-Michael the OnlineDM

RYPros53 · Mar 30, 2012

Wow, great response. Thank you OnlineDM. I will definitely check out your blog.

I'm actually using the new Beta Virtual Tabletop created by Wizards of the Coast, and it's incredible! Very user friendly and the combat runs smoothly as far as keeping track of initiative, rolls, damage, conditions, etc... Also it has a voice chat feature which we make full use of.

As far as my players, I know all of them. Honestly there are only two players troubling me, and I would love to just replace them :devil:

but they haven't admitted to being uninterested yet, they've just blamed it on being too busy. I totally understand if they are too busy, but I'd rather replace them with other more experienced players because players with more experience might increase the overall fluidity of the game and make it more enjoyable for the other newbies who ARE showing up each Sunday.

I guess I would feel more comfortable approaching them about dropping the campaign if I had players ready to replace them. But then the question arises, how to make their PCs dissapear?

Also the best session so far was a skill challenge that I ran based in a Manor during a Masquerade Ball. I had each character post their mask that they bought from a curiosities shop to the FB and charged them GP based on how rare/fancy it looked. We had a blast that night. The combat is fun but I find myself trying to get everyone focused on keeping it moving and not joking around so much.

Anyway thanks OnlineDM that was a great response!

Uller · Mar 30, 2012

A couple of things: focus more on the players that are actively participating. My sons hockey coach had this problem with the team...he had a bunch of kids that were engaged and participating and two that were being difficult and didn't want to be there. He tried everything. Their attitudes became more and more negative and it started impacting the team. When he asked me for advice I told him to start focusing on the players that want to be there and tell the others they can leave. One player left and the rest of the season was a marked improvement for the rest of the team. Consider your group to be like the team. If you have a couple players who are less interested and 3 or 4 who are more interested focus on the interested ones more. They'll have more fun and so will you. Let everyone know that players who participate more will likely have more fun and more influence on the game.

My group is also experiencing some slow games. 4e combat is just too slow. So we are trying a few things

1 - when a typical monster is bloodied it must make a save at the start of its turn or flee. There are exceptions of course

2 if more than half the monsters are dead or fled the rest of the mnsters will flee

3 we are also considering cutting monster hp by 50% and increasing the damge they do by 50% this will make combat more deadly and faster

RYPros53 · Mar 30, 2012

I like the comparison to the group as a team.

I actually just posted into our secret facebook group asking those who aren't interested to let me know so I can "plan accordingly", because it "puts a damper on the play for the rest of us". Does that wording sound serious enough, but not too harsh?

Uller, I like your idea of the "when bloodied, save or flee".
I'm very hesitant to play around with the HP or Damage as I feel like it could unexpectedly throw off the balance of the game. (I'm a guy who hugs my rulebooks)

S'mon · Mar 30, 2012

RYPros53 said:
As far as my players, I know all of them. Honestly there are only two players troubling me, and I would love to just replace them

Honestly, if you feel that way you should drop them. As it's an online game I suspect your best bet would be to run with just 3 players for awhile and see how it goes.

RYPros53 · Mar 30, 2012

The problem is, they are my friends and so I'm not going to outright "boot" them. That may actually upset my interested players too, as we are all part of a group of friends. As you can see there is a conflict of interest.

My new goal is to hint, and continue hinting, that if they don't pick up their dice more often, that they should quietly leave.

S'mon · Mar 30, 2012

RYPros53 said:
The problem is, they are my friends and so I'm not going to outright "boot" them. That may actually upset my interested players too, as we are all part of a group of friends. As you can see there is a conflict of interest.

My new goal is to hint, and continue hinting, that if they don't pick up their dice more often, that they should quietly leave.

Fair enough.

"I noticed you didn't attend the last two games. This campaign really needs players who can make every session. Do you still want to play, or would it be better to drop it for now?"