D&D 5E Campaigns losing steam

I'm a new DM, and I've now disbanded both of the campaigns I've tried to start (they ran one after the other, not at the same time). It seemed as though the players were enjoying it, it just seemed to be too awkward to organise times to play. There were quite a few times when people ended up cancelling at the very last minute, leaving us with too few players to actually run a session, which got really frustrating (not that I let it show!).
I ended up calling off the campaigns because it just got really disheartening to put so much work into preparing the sessions, carry all my D&D stuff into work, ready for our session after work, get excited about playing, and then get stuck unable to play at the last minute. We also weren't really playing with enough frequency to keep it going.
I guess one of the problems with both of the campaigns I tried to run was that most of the people I was playing with, apart from a couple of them, were brand new to RPGs, so they maybe weren't as enthusiastic about playing them as I am. They also had a lot of other things going on in their lives outside of D&D, like other hobbies, work that had awkward hours, etc. (not that I don't have other hobbies vying for my attention, most of mine just don't have specific times when they need to be done).
I don't really know what my point is, I guess I'm just venting to other DMs! Have any of you had similar problems?

It's hard to get people to commit to 4-6 hour long sessions. For one of my campaigns, I haven't been able to run a game more than about once every 4-8 weeks. My solution was to run a second game in 5e that I just lightly prepped, using the Starter set. I basically only needed 30-60 minutes preparation to run the game. I also ran the game with two players once, using one of the missing PC's run by one of the attending players in combat and an off-screen cleric NPC to help out with the healing (run by me, the DM). This way, I didn't have to cancel as long as I had 2+ players.

Getting new players is always tough, so either you need to have a larger pool of players, or just run campaigns where you can scale the adventure down to 2+ players/3+ characters when needed to.

I've had similar problems with the latest campaign I tried to run. Char gen was on the first Saturday of November. 1st Session was 2 weeks later due to 2 members of the group being unavailable last minute. 2nd Session was 4 months later for a variety of reasons (mostly the same 2 members making other plans last minute, and the rest of the group wouldn't play without those two for some reason). That 2nd session was so full of arguments and players questioning my decisions that I just decided to call off the game there and then, wasn't worth the stress or the effort.

What I feel is the best solution for me: pick a time and a place to play. Be there each time. Have a game ready. Run it for whoever is there, even if it is just one person. Be firm and move the game on despite the absences. If people say they won't play without so and so, tell them YOU will play and do it! The missers will get the message and drop out or start showing up.

My in-person sessions are few and far between anymore. It's hard for people my age (30s) to set aside a big block of time, including driving to and fro. When we do have these sessions, it's much more a social event than anything. Some D&D gets done, but also a lot of grilling, eating, and drinking, plus some board or card games. I generally just prepare badass one-shot scenarios for these ones like The Snow Job.

When I want to have a longer campaign and really get some D&D in, I play online via Roll20, sometimes with people I know in person and others that I've met online. It's a lot easier for people to just play from home without needing to go anywhere or get sitters or whatever. For D&D 5e, I get four "regular" players. These are our core characters. Then I recruit two players who don't mind being alternates who step in to play if and when a regular can't make it. It works great. I always have four people ready to go week after week and never have to skip a session (except during the holidays and such). This might be a good solution for you.

JWO said:

I don't really know what my point is, I guess I'm just venting to other DMs! Have any of you had similar problems?

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Yes. And it's difficult - there's no one good solution.

One thing I've found is that a lot of people treat a 'commitment' to an RPG campaign very differently to many other commitments - very often, it means, "yes, I'm interested, but it's my lowest priority and if something else crops up, I won't hesitate to drop out." That sucks, but what is worse is that often people will flatly deny this is the case - they'll just say that they're really busy.

My recommendation is twofold:

1) Forget about running a campaign for the time being, and instead focus on running some shorter adventures, ideally ones that can be run for a smaller number of players, and that can be completed in a single session or two. That way, you're asking for a much smaller commitment. Later, if you find you have a mostly stable group, you can go ahead with a campaign.

2) Consider running an "open table" game - a version of the above where players can come and go but where there is an ongoing story of sorts. Here you ideally want something mission-based or similar, and you might want each player to maintain several characters so that the group can adapt if Bob and Joe are both missing and both play Fighters - someone else can just bring their Fighter to the table.

Oh, and use as many venues as you can to seek out more players - we are out there, but sometimes it's hard to know that. If you have a network of 20 players to invite to games, it's a lot easier to get a table of 5 together than if you have a network of 5 to invite!

"Both campaigns?"

In any case, I remember when things where like that...

Gilladian said:

What I feel is the best solution for me: pick a time and a place to play. Be there each time. Have a game ready. Run it for whoever is there, even if it is just one person. Be firm and move the game on despite the absences. If people say they won't play without so and so, tell them YOU will play and do it! The missers will get the message and drop out or start showing up.

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Exact strategies very, but you have to sort of be a stubborn bastard about it. Especially when you are establishing things. If someone does not really want to play, drop them. Figure out who does, then start playing. You need to establish that if someone flakes, they are missing a session (which was super-awesome) not just nothing happening as other people also flake.

Hiya.

I feel your frustration, fellow GM. I'm blessed with a group of players who more or less treat RPG's as a hobby, and not just "a game". So, everyone knows that on Sundays, between two and three in the afternoon, they have somewhere to be. Their significant others "get" that these RPG sessions are the equivalent of someone who is part of a sports team, or a member of a club/group like Boy Scouts, Toastmasters, or some volunteer group like Lion's, Shriner's, Kawanis Club, etc. In short, it's not the equivalent of "going out for coffee with a friend". Everyone in the group is relying on everyone else to be there; just "not showing up" or calling at the last moment to say "Oh, sorry, I forgot. I won't be there" is a dick move and shows a HUGE disrespect to everyone else.

Anyway... rather than rant with you on this I'll offer a suggestion. Take a break from trying to get a game together and just do some planning for one. You know that cool new monster you thought about a few sessions ago? Go write it up in full. Have a few ideas about some necromancer spells for a future bad guy? Go do some writing. Hell, if you really want, start creating that campaign world you have sorta/kinda used once or twice for a single game...go draw some maps. Write down some history, or racial background, or political situations, or whatever you thought was "cool" about the world you had in mind. In short, go do the stuff you enjoy that doesn't actually require players to be there; all the creative stuff you do as a GM. Do that.

Controversial Suggestion Incoming!: ... the next time you attempt to gather a group together, tell them upfront, before they even join, that a requirement is that the game starts at 4pm sharp (or whatever time you choose)...and all electronic devices will be placed in a box, and that box put in a closet in a room upstairs, down the hall, through the dinning room, down another hall, and through the study. Breaks are every hour on the hour....they can check their phones/devices then. <-- I guarantee that this will instantly cut down the amount of people who see sitting around a table with others as the same level of sociability as being online watching Facebook updates. Be prepared for a short list of people. Make exceptions for people who are sole-providers of children (re: under 18) or who's profession relies on them always being available (re: doctor, government official, secret agent, etc....no, "my daughter is alone at college" doesn't qualify as needing to have your phone there).

From talking to some more unfortunate DM's out there, it's mostly a matter of distraction and hobby vs. game that determine the fate of a campaign.

Ok, now that all that is out of the way (and all the hate posts are being written... ), have you considered doing an online game? All the "always connected" addicts out there may be able to handle it better if they are actually on a computer; kinda like having a pacifier or favored blankie. There are quite a few studies out there indicating that the current generation or two of folks who grew up with the internet and cell phones are physically incapable of being disconnected for extended periods of time (and yeah, "extended periods of time" means more than about 20 minutes); anxiety, cold-sweats, nausea...the whole nine-yards. Maybe a shorter (say, two hour) session, after supper, once or twice a week, all done online would work better? I don't know. If you're desperate enough I guess. *shrug*

Until you get a good, solid, decent group together... [Red Green]Remember. I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together.[/Red Green]

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Gilladian said:

What I feel is the best solution for me: pick a time and a place to play. Be there each time. Have a game ready. Run it for whoever is there, even if it is just one person. Be firm and move the game on despite the absences. If people say they won't play without so and so, tell them YOU will play and do it! The missers will get the message and drop out or start showing up.

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That's the sort of way I'd like to do it, but it's pretty difficult to go forward with that mindset when you're playing at one of the players' apartments because your own abode is too small to host a game. Hoping in the future the situation will be better for me to enact this sort of game.

Playing in person is a privilege. It can be difficult to keep a campaign going if players have attendance problems, but it's well worth it in my opinion. I have run many sessions for only one player over the years, and they had no less importance.

You should never blame yourself for someone's absence, even if you never hear from the player again. Both of the last two new players I had dropped out with no explanation, despite telling me many times they were having a good time. You don't always get to know why people do the things they do.