How Often Do You Cancel Sessions?

[Lanefan]

I'm currently running 2 weekly groups - one Fridays, one Sundays - and I'd guess each gets sunk about once a month on average; sometimes due to lack of players for whatever reason, sometimes due to lack of a DM for whatever reason, sometimes because there's something else going on e.g. a significant birthday, Yule, etc.

The corollary is I'd like to sometimes run an extra session on a long weekend now and then but can't ever seem to get those together.

Lanefan

 

[MinistryOfGame]

Lucky SOB! I have questions:

How old are you?

Is your Significant Other a gamer? If not, are you willing to sleep with one eye open just in case game night conflicts with an important date, like an anniversary, just to make sure all of your body parts remain attached?

Do you have kids?

Do you have a job that sometimes involves travel or overtime?

Have you ever required surgery?

31.

Yes, and important dates are factored into gaming (8 year wedding anniversary is in April, on the same long weekend as a gaming convention. Guess what we'll be doing?)

No kids. Gaming > kids.

Work in the city and almost always work past normal hours. Which is why I take the day off on the day I run my game (yes, every Tuesday off. Gaming > work).

Does stitches count? I had to go under general to get my impacted wisdom teeth out. That was many years back. Still ran two games that week, from memory - with cotton balls in my mouth and all.

 

[JustKim]

Another evening with yet another game cancellation has got me wondering: do others cancel the game as often as my group does?

I had it figured out at one time that I take less time off from the game than I do off work. I'm pretty sure that's still true. I try to be reliable and punctual.

If I were you I'd be dropping that game. Even if the group has the best intentions I couldn't stomach having my time wasted that often. Three cancelations in a row is where I start to think seriously about investing my time elsewhere.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Most impressive!

As for the surgery part- no, that doesn't count. You have to have been given a post-op script for the GOOD stuff. Y'know the kind of painkillers that turn your day into a slideshow.

 

[DumbPaladin]

Another evening with yet another game cancellation has got me wondering: do others cancel the game as often as my group does?

We strive for a weekly game. This month, 3 out of 4 sessions have been cancelled. Most of them without so much as eight hours notice. (One of them was cancelled without anyone telling me at all.)

Since I joined the group in December, we've had 13 scheduled sessions. All except maybe 4 have been cancelled.

As I'm not the host or DM of the group, I have no control over how regularly we play. I know only that I make plans to attend repeatedly and more than 70% of the time we don't actually game.

Retreater

It sounds like you do not actually HAVE a weekly group. You have a once-a-month group. Maybe it's time to recommend the other people act like that.

Our group has been going for 2 years now. We meet twice a month, because we cannot commit to once-a-week gaming.

We have never cancelled a session. ONCE, we rescheduled till the week after due to a DM conflict with family business he was being forced to deal with.

We've never had a complete lack of gaming on a day when we were scheduled to game.

But then again, we don't pretend we're a weekly group.

Reading the earlier posts, I will add: I'm an adult, as is everyone in our group; we are not all unemployed; three have children; and we still make an effort to make it, because not doing so is rude and disrespectful towards the other players. The suggestions that being "an adult" or having a 'busy life' mean it's acceptable for you to blow off an obligation you've willingly made are laughable, and they show a disregard for the feelings of other people.

JustKim has the best advice so far: might be time to leave that group.

 

[wedgeski]

We have five players all in their 30's, some with kids. Since we play on Sundays, the game has to make room for family and other weekend commitments, and often does, but I will DM if three people can make it. We go through highs and lows, but I would say on average about 30% of sessions get canceled for one reason or another.

This is quite a high rate of attrition IMO but groups can survive serial cancelations as long as the DM pushes to *always get the next session organised*. Don't let the momentum drop for even a second. As more and more games are aborted, the cancelation threshold for everyone starts to drop, and the game is doomed!

 

[Starfox]

We have a rule; if one person cant come, we still play. If 2 people cant come, we cancel. This works well for 4 or more players (+GM). Currently I'd say the cancel rate is about 1/5, half of which is caused by my (the GM) bad health. This is a weekly game. Other GMs in the area have less cancellations than I do.

A group with only three players has to cancel as soon an anyone is not there, and for some key sessions I want everyone around, leading to a higher cancellation rate. If cancellations reach 1/3, its way too much for my taste.

I am "lucky" to play mostly with a group of bachelors with few commitments; this definitely makes gaming easier, but you do miss out on other things.

 

[DumbPaladin]

"You must give more experience points before you give them to Wedgeski again" yadda yadda ... perhaps some kind EN Worlder can cover me?


Entropy. It's not just for thermodynamics anymore ...

 

[S'mon]

As DM, I never cancel. As a player, if I'm sick enough (swine flu) I may cancel.

Edit: I don't like players (or GMs!) who say they'll play then cancel just because they decide they have something better to do. Acceptable reasons would include family emergencies, not Warhammer.

 

[S'mon]

The suggestions that being "an adult" or having a 'busy life' mean it's acceptable for you to blow off an obligation you've willingly made are laughable, and they show a disregard for the feelings of other people.

I agree. My gaming schedule fits around my work and family life (wife + 3 year old son). I don't get to play or GM very often, but when I SAY I'll be there, then I will be there. If I'm a player and I can't make a scheduled session I will let the DM know well in advance (2 weeks+), unless there is a real emergency.