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Keeping a Group Together
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<blockquote data-quote="Talmek" data-source="post: 6603918" data-attributes="member: 74486"><p>I just realized that this thread is (was?) about methods of keeping a group together and I wanted to share some things that I learned over the years of GM'ing that have kept my groups going, even in some of the worst circumstances.</p><p></p><p>First, living in a war zone tends to help keep the group playing together. Now, I know what you're thinking but I mean living in a real life, real bullets, real death war zone will do something to the group. One of the very first campaigns I ever GM'ed in was while stationed in one of the worst places in Iraq. Our group didn't consist of a "Band of Brothers" type scenario, but actually using downtime to play a game (because it's not like you were going to be able to sleep much after just coming off of a job outside the wire, anyway) was a way for us to decompress and try to forget about some of the horrible, awful, no-good things that occurred right outside. We were all living it and we all needed an escape.</p><p></p><p>Second, having a relationship with your gaming group outside of the game is especially helpful to cohesion. Granted, there may be some folks/groups that just don't want to spend another minute more than necessary with members of their gaming group and I can understand/relate. However, if you can find one that you can hang out with, perhaps you can turn it into two and so on...</p><p></p><p>Third, there's an element of trust that I feel almost must be established within the gaming group. It can start small (hey man, I'll cover the food tonight - no worries!) but over time it can (and in most non-sociopathic ways will) grow into more. For instance, when I first considered playing D&D once I came home from the service I had no idea how to find a group...so I just went to gaming stores and posted flyers on the bulletin board looking for other players. Rather than try to even start into a group I simply invited everyone to dinner at a local restaurant and had (kind of) a session zero - "what are you looking for in a campaign/what kind of TTRPGs do you like to play?" From there we further defined the group and now, 5 years later we are still gaming, helping one another move, celebrating births, mourning deaths and generally being friends with one another.</p><p></p><p>To summarize I think keeping a group together is very much like any other relationship one would have in life - slow to anger, quick to forgive and quicker to laugh alongside someone else. To some this may seem far too in-depth but if you apply those things in your gaming group how many arguments would you believe couldn't be resolved over a beer?</p><p></p><p>My thoughts - do with them what you will.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Talmek, post: 6603918, member: 74486"] I just realized that this thread is (was?) about methods of keeping a group together and I wanted to share some things that I learned over the years of GM'ing that have kept my groups going, even in some of the worst circumstances. First, living in a war zone tends to help keep the group playing together. Now, I know what you're thinking but I mean living in a real life, real bullets, real death war zone will do something to the group. One of the very first campaigns I ever GM'ed in was while stationed in one of the worst places in Iraq. Our group didn't consist of a "Band of Brothers" type scenario, but actually using downtime to play a game (because it's not like you were going to be able to sleep much after just coming off of a job outside the wire, anyway) was a way for us to decompress and try to forget about some of the horrible, awful, no-good things that occurred right outside. We were all living it and we all needed an escape. Second, having a relationship with your gaming group outside of the game is especially helpful to cohesion. Granted, there may be some folks/groups that just don't want to spend another minute more than necessary with members of their gaming group and I can understand/relate. However, if you can find one that you can hang out with, perhaps you can turn it into two and so on... Third, there's an element of trust that I feel almost must be established within the gaming group. It can start small (hey man, I'll cover the food tonight - no worries!) but over time it can (and in most non-sociopathic ways will) grow into more. For instance, when I first considered playing D&D once I came home from the service I had no idea how to find a group...so I just went to gaming stores and posted flyers on the bulletin board looking for other players. Rather than try to even start into a group I simply invited everyone to dinner at a local restaurant and had (kind of) a session zero - "what are you looking for in a campaign/what kind of TTRPGs do you like to play?" From there we further defined the group and now, 5 years later we are still gaming, helping one another move, celebrating births, mourning deaths and generally being friends with one another. To summarize I think keeping a group together is very much like any other relationship one would have in life - slow to anger, quick to forgive and quicker to laugh alongside someone else. To some this may seem far too in-depth but if you apply those things in your gaming group how many arguments would you believe couldn't be resolved over a beer? My thoughts - do with them what you will. [/QUOTE]
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