D&D 5E DM Quits The Game

[Azurewraith]

Cant say i have a time issue but then im playing with like my sons 2godparents the godmothers bf and my brother game starts at 7 they turn up at halfpast 4 lol i dont finish work till 6 when me and my bro walk up and get the show started.

On the subject of prepping a game to be poo pooed all over yes it sucks it really really sucks but just role with it wing some content and re-use what you had planned at a later date.

 

[sleypy]

I don't mean to come off as draconian or snoopy. Most irritability I have comes from the lack of communication or from lack of consistency. Stuff happens and it's just a game. Be that as it may, it's also five other people (in my group) who have arranged their schedule to get together for a particular purpose. It may not be hugely important, but consideration is still appropriate.

Same here. I come from a situation where I would have five people show up one week, two people the next, and eight the following. It became a huge nightmare since I couldn't be sure if we were playing until start time.

I'll also say that, when we were all high-school and college-aged single man-geeks, the standing rule was that if you ever turned down a date because it was game night, we were going to kick you out for the night, anyway. Sadly, rules like that exist for a reason. *sigh* Priorities, people!

My friends did the opposite. When I was in college, my friends had a nerd intervention because I avoid my nerdy interests after I started dating. Turned out that my girlfriend, now wife was as big a geek as I am.

Sounds a lot like mine. Everyone has email accounts that actually link to their calendars, so I just send out an actual calendar invite. Since my wife and I communicate our schedule by sharing our online calendars, it fits perfectly with my workflow.

We have a family calendar. My wife runs a tighter ship than my job does.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

One of my players is of the mind that it’s not fair that the player shows up late, because they game less but still get the same amount of treasure and XP as everyone else, since we generally divide it up at the end of the session. I’m not sure it’s worth individually tracking, though. That's got a whole bunch of headaches as it is.

I think that is a case of being confused about what is actually fair. The player that has complaint that a player unable to participate as much (i.e. one that has less opportunity to have fun gaming) is being rewarded as much as they are, and is completely missing that it is actually the complaining player that has the benefit because they get to be there having fun gaming the whole time.

Also, it would be unfair to all of the players to have the character of the player that can't show up as early as the others receive less treasure and experience because that player has the disadvantage of being less potent than their peers, and all the rest of the players have the disadvantage of having to rely upon a less potent companion which makes them more likely to have trouble overcoming challenges.

 

[Imaculata]

I think that is a case of being confused about what is actually fair. The player that has complaint that a player unable to participate as much (i.e. one that has less opportunity to have fun gaming) is being rewarded as much as they are, and is completely missing that it is actually the complaining player that has the benefit because they get to be there having fun gaming the whole time.

This is a really good point. The fun that you have playing the game is the real reward, or at least, it should be. So the person who can't make it, or is delayed, misses out on that reward. The exp and treasure is mostly irrelevant. What matters, is that you enjoy an exciting adventure together.

Should the player that is already missing out on some of that fun, be punished even more, by denying him treasure and exp? Absurd when you think about it.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Should the player that is already missing out on some of that fun, be punished even more, by denying him treasure and exp? Absurd when you think about it.

Yeah, and what I have seen happen in groups that were adherents of not getting XP or treasure unless you were there to play your character is that players don't show up late to or miss a session on occasion - they outright quit the campaign because their schedule might have a couple hiccups over the next few weeks, and they are preempting the "suck spiral" of being behind the group, which often leads to character death, and since groups that don't keep XP and treasure equal also tend to make/keep the rules regarding character death very punishing (i.e. enforce negative levels to keep the same character or enforce a "start at 1" type rule for abandoning a dead character for a new one), each death leads to even more likeliness of future deaths.

 

[Imaculata]

Exactly. This is also the reason that I hand out party exp. I don't want to encourage players to fight over who kills the monster and earns the exp. I don't want them to be upset when one player is rewarded for role playing, while they felt their role playing was really good too.

Instead, what I do is tell my players which awesome actions earned their whole party bonus experience. This makes it a triumph for the whole party. My players are always at the exact same experience amount, and at the exact same level. No one ever gets left behind, even if they miss a session, or are not involved with a certain fight.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, awarding XP individually gets really mercenary, really quickly. And I agree, the player suffers enough by not getting as much time spent gaming.

 

[ccs]

This is a really good point. The fun that you have playing the game is the real reward, or at least, it should be. So the person who can't make it, or is delayed, misses out on that reward. The exp and treasure is mostly irrelevant. What matters, is that you enjoy an exciting adventure together.

Should the player that is already missing out on some of that fun, be punished even more, by denying him treasure and exp? Absurd when you think about it.

The treasure? Not my problem. I've done my job by including it in the adventure. Assuming it's found, how it gets divided is up to the players, not me.

The XP? You earn XP in my games by DOING things. By contributing to the game. If your not there? Then you're not contributing.... So no, you won't earn the same XP as the others.

 

[Lanefan]

The treasure? Not my problem. I've done my job by including it in the adventure. Assuming it's found, how it gets divided is up to the players, not me.

Nitpick: it's up to the players as their characters...but otherwise, absolutely agree.

The XP? You earn XP in my games by DOING things.

As a character, quite rightly yes. And if you don't do things then no xp for you.

By contributing to the game. If your not there? Then you're not contributing.... So no, you won't earn the same XP as the others.

Exce-ept...xp are - or very much should be - a character reward, not a player reward. So if the player's not there but the character's still in the party doing stuff, the character gets xp for it; and in our crew if you aren't there for a game then you're leaving your character to be played by whoever is there and is willing to take it over. The converse is if a player is present but his character does nothing of use then it gets no xp.

And it's individual xp all the way; this to discourage "passengers" or characters who fade into the background and let others always take the risk (which happens all too often).

Lan-"sometimes our bigger problem is players who either leave early or fall asleep when the rest of us want to keep going deep into the night"-efan

 

[Demonspell]

As a character, quite rightly yes. And if you don't do things then no xp for you.Exce-ept...xp are - or very much should be - a character reward, not a player reward. So if the player's not there but the character's still in the party doing stuff, the character gets xp for it; and in our crew if you aren't there for a game then you're leaving your character to be played by whoever is there and is willing to take it over. The converse is if a player is present but his character does nothing of use then it gets no xp.

And it's individual xp all the way; this to discourage "passengers" or characters who fade into the background and let others always take the risk (which happens all too often).

Lan-"sometimes our bigger problem is players who either leave early or fall asleep when the rest of us want to keep going deep into the night"-efan

I had experience out on to the character not the player. It can make things more difficult, but I personally track character actions, kills, and roleplaying. The more involved the character the more xp. If a character does something unexpected that adds to the story more xp for them. If a Player does some exceptional roleplaying with their character, more xp. Avoid involvement in the action, less xp. Don't do much roleplaying, less xp.

I award it on a character basis and I inform the players of their character's xp after the fact. Usually a few days afterward via email.