With our group, we try to play weekly, so that everyone is immersed in the game, and we can look forward to kicking butt after a tough work/school week.
everyone in the group understands and agreed to make this a sort of committment, but we all understand that emergencies happen, and things come up, so its cool if people have to cancel from time to time. But this should not be often, we agreed on that.
i find the hardest part about being the DM is the logistical nightmare that comes with getting people to show up sometimes. Now, i must admit, my players do show up regularly and they enjoy the game, when we play. But sometimes, it just bugs me that players cancel their attendence at the last minute!! This literally ruins it for me and other players who could have planned to do something else instead of waiting around and planning to host this game. Other players feel the same way.
Now we have still went on with a player missing, no big deal. But sometimes, two players cancel at the last minute, and its horrendous for evryone else! Or, they tell me all week long that they are going to show up only to cancel the day before!
This is by far the suckiest part of D&D! Especially when that player is an integral part of the storyline, which i try to do using thier backgrounds and such as to make thier characters "come alive" as an important part of the game, instead of some murderous hobo.
When i have to tell the other players that the game is cancelled because a few people cant come at the last moment, i just know it bugs them. It hate it myself. This is because ive set aside time out of my busy week to host a great game at my place. when it gets cancelled (especially at the last moment), im often left with nothing to do and stuck at home because i could have joined other friends doing something cool or gone out with my family or just not be hyping all the other players up for something thats not going to happen.
how do you guys deal with flakes?
D&D is such a fun game, but i swear, i just hate it when players cancel at the last moment! it makes me want to stop playing sometimes!