Group Dissolved

[Jeff Wilder]

No matter what, stick to your guns and insist that players genuinely commit to the game. It's better -- far better, IMO -- to take some time to put together a committed group than it is to deal with the constant cancellations and withdrawals that go with more casual gamers. This is one arena in which "casual gamer" is not a good thing.

I'm currently in three healthy groups (with substantial overlap), but we went through trials and tribulations. All of the current players have the game high on their list of priorities, if not number one, and cancellations are rare. Scheduling can still be difficult, but once scheduled, our mostly-weekly games run.

 

[Thurbane]

I feel your pain - my group (of 5) has just lost one member who has moved to China for an inderminate period of time (to be with his fiance). That leaves 4 of us, and of those 4, 2 have young children, making it sometimes hard for them to make full sessions. I'm trying to recruit another 2 of my friends (old school gamers who haven't tried 3.5 yet), but due to some personal conflict between one of them and one of the current group, it might be difficult...

Anyway, I wish you all the best with asembling a new group.

 

[Dei]

www.meetup.com can be quite good. It's how I found my current group. Put in your city/town/state and it'll come up with a list of various meetups in your area. Find one that relates to DnD or Roleplaying Games and get in contact with them. Hope you manage to find something.

 

[bento]

First - click on "My Account" and go to "Edit My Profile." In the section that says "Location" enter your general location. Keep this at all times because you'd be surprised that others on this board may be in your area, and may be looking for a game!

Second - always be on the look out for new players. Don't just limit yourself to your small group, because you've just noted that it only takes a couple of people leaving and suddenly your stranded. If your area has a local MeetUp group, sign up with them and perhaps attend a meeting or two. Find out if your local gaming store or public library has a board for posting notices. Visit the websites of local colleges to see if they have gaming groups and if they allow the public to join or visit. When you meet a potential player and you don't have room at the time or your schedules conflict, keep in touch with them anyway.

I'm right where you are now - I used to DM a very energetic college group that through various circumstances (me taking a non-academic job, them dropping out or graduating) has led me to strike out on my own. Building or finding a new group will take time, but with a little marketing and keeping myself open, I know will get back going in a few months.

In the meantime I'm enjoying exercising, painting metal minatures and reading novels.

 

[S'mon]

Midnight setting suits deep-immersion roleplayers far better than powergamers IME.

You have a problematic powergamer.

Your best bet seems to be to start a new group, explicitly role-focused, *minus* the powergamer. Just start over without him. Get a new group together. Let the players who dropped out know what you're doing, that you're restarting Midnight but minus the player they didn't like & with a strong roleplay focus. If they liked you ok, they may be happy to start over.

 

[Emirikol]

Banshee:

Sucks to be you, but trust to hope. Everyone else has been through it before too. Trouble is that it seems to cause some DM burnout when he puts a lot of work into a campaign only to have it fizzle and all those great ideas remain unused.

Been there, done that several times in 25 years. I just found it's really important to keep a perpetual PLAYERS WANTED advertisement up on all the regular forums. Trust me, there are people out there dying to get into ANY game, but it takes several months to gather them if you don't keep an ad up.

So, HERE'S YOUR NEW STRATEGY:
1. Start posting for new players wanted IMMEDIATELY EnWorld, Paizo and on WOTC.com

2. Put a perpetual D&D PLAYERS WANTED ad up at ALL the local comic, game and hobby stores. Print it up nicely on parchment paper and have tear-off tabs on the bottom with the following information: "D&D PLAYERS WANTED for new group; Contact Bob at bob.com phone (800) 555.1234"

3. To avoid burnout, have a regular world and use a resource like DUNGEON to start campaigns.

4. DO NOT INVITE MR. POWERGAMER BACK TO YOUR NEXT GAME. Trust me, I've cancelled entire campaigns only to RE-start a week later WITHOUT the offending player(s). Life is too short to put up with idiot players. Don't forget to use the "VOTE THE PLAYER OFF THE ISLAND" rule. It keeps you from looking like the bad guy. "SORRY, JERKY PLAYER, BUT THE GROUP HAS DECIDED NOT TO INVITE YOU BACK. I'll keep my eyes open for another game for you if I hear anything I'll let you know. Thanks." Make sure you get the other players on your side BEFORE you have to do this and let all future players know that you've kicked players out who didn't fit in.

5. Have a set of idiot table rules. It's not enough to just tell new players to "be mature." It doesn't work. It's like teaching sex abstinence to teenagers. You have to have that qualifier, "If the group doesn't like you, you can be disinvited from the group. This can happen at any point."

jh




..

 

[Banshee16]

No matter what, stick to your guns and insist that players genuinely commit to the game. It's better -- far better, IMO -- to take some time to put together a committed group than it is to deal with the constant cancellations and withdrawals that go with more casual gamers. This is one arena in which "casual gamer" is not a good thing.

I'm currently in three healthy groups (with substantial overlap), but we went through trials and tribulations. All of the current players have the game high on their list of priorities, if not number one, and cancellations are rare. Scheduling can still be difficult, but once scheduled, our mostly-weekly games run.

It's difficult sometimes....I don't want hardcore gamers necessarily. I'm not really hardcore..as in, I have other interests, I take care of myself, and I run in many different social circles, unlike some hardcore guys who don't really do anything *except* for gaming. However, I do commit. If I say I'll be there, I'm there. And I expect nothing less. But it seems like lately, the game is always second runner up to everything else going on.....someone wanting to go drinking with buddies, go to the cottage, go to a party, whatever, so if anything else arises, the game loses. I don't think it's so difficult to say to friends "no, sorry, I can't do X, because I've already got plans that day. Let's do that the day after".

Maybe I'm a freak...I don't know. I tell the rest of my friends I can't get together with them most Fridays. They understand that I've got other plans, so we just plan everything for the Saturday and Sunday instead.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Midnight setting suits deep-immersion roleplayers far better than powergamers IME.

You have a problematic powergamer.

Your best bet seems to be to start a new group, explicitly role-focused, *minus* the powergamer. Just start over without him. Get a new group together. Let the players who dropped out know what you're doing, that you're restarting Midnight but minus the player they didn't like & with a strong roleplay focus. If they liked you ok, they may be happy to start over.

That's a little of what's going on now. I've been talking with two of the new guys, and they're more focused roleplayers. I like their style. They're willing to join back in, so long as the game is regular, and people commit, and we have a definitive time for the game to start etc. I think I'll try to salvage those players I can, who I still want in the group, and drop the powergamer. I'd been trying to figure out a way to do it anyways.

I've got an FLGS downtown that has good posting boards, but I'm going to try one closer to my suburb, and see if maybe they have postings as well. I haven't checked there before, and it would be significantly easier if I could find a few who are geographically closer to me. With the group that just dissolved, some of us have vehicles, and others don't. Even by car, it's still 40 minutes for us to get together, as we live at completely opposite ends of the city, like 50-60 km away from each other. Some of the poor guys by bus it takes them like 2 hours to get to the game. I didn't *aim* to have players so far apart from each other....we started much closer, but various of us moved, brought in other friends who lived further on the edges of the city etc....it was easier when we were all in University, and either living on campus, or near campus. Now we're kind of at all ends of the compass.

Banshee

 

[takasi]

Thanks to Meetup.com I have the opposite problem; too many players! Seriously, we have 23 people signed up, at least a dozen who show up on a regular basis, 7 different campaigns, 5 different DMs and three gatherings a week. On top of that, we've just started getting into online stuff using MapTool and Fantasy Grounds.

I highly suggest using Meetup, getting a memorable URL to point to it using GoDaddy or whatever, and putting up flyers of your URL around town and especially your FLGSs.

 

[Thad Enouf]

I'll second (or third) meetup.com. Within an hour after I posted that I was looking for a game, I got two responses. And you can option in for an email alert whenever new people sign up. I can't vouch for the quality of gamer found there (as I no longer have time for in-person gaming) but it's worked best so far.