Am I a "Needy" DM? ;)

[tonym]

What does everyone think? What should I do?

I could be wrong, and probably am, but I tend to believe that low player-attendance is a indicator that something is wrong with the adventure.

Things that could cause a player to consider skipping a session every now and then:

* The DM makes a lot of errors.
* The game is too silly; there’s way too much joking around.
* The game is too quiet and focused; there’s not enough joking around.
* Things are not fair. For example, in one campaign my PC never got the primo magic item; it always went to some other PC--either the weak PC “who needs it more” or to one of the 2 powerful PCs “who could employ it with more spectacular results.” My middle-of-the-road PC would get the hand-me-down magic items. You know, as the Spectacular Hero takes the +3 cloak, he gives me his old +1 cloak. That sucks.
* One or two players do 90% of the talking. That also sucks.
* The game isn’t exciting for several sessions in a row.
* There are so many NPCs and factions that I get totally lost and stop caring about what the heck is going on.

These are my pet peeves. To each his own. If I’m in a campaign that doesn’t aggravate one of my pet peeves, my attendance is 100%.

To combat low attendance, you might reward GOOD attendance.

* Give a nice XP bonus to the PC of every player who shows up, every session.
* When somebody misses a session, their PC remains in-play and is “fair game,” having the same chance of getting killed as any other PC. Possibly moreso.
* If a player misses a session, their PC gets half-XP.

Hope that helps!

Tony M

 

[Von Ether]

Fortunately, I've not yet been in the situation you describe here, but this sounds like good advice to me!

To tell the truth, from the info you gave I'd have to particpate in your game to see if it either you or them. I do know that your players seem to have the typical passive/agressive confrontational avoidance behavior of most gamers. i.e., not enough spine to tell you what's really on their mind (like, "I'm just not that attached to rpgs anymore" or "Dude, you're GM skills suuuuuck.") So your priority should be you.

First, start a new game. If you have three regular players, great! Plan the game around their PCs and a night you will all commit to then just close the old game down and pretend DnD doesn't exist for the flaky players. I think other posters are right, the game for them is just a social gathering, not a commitment. (I personally think large groups tend to devolve into the most common demoninator.)

With your new smaller, more dedicated group, I think you'll find adventures will be easier to to customize for and there are more opportunites for personal "stories" depending on your style. If some of your old players discover the new game and ask to join, set down hard rules. Give them a "three strikes" your out on unannouced absenteeism. Players can call ahead and cancel 24-hours in advance as many times as they like.

True, you could do this with your old game, but it's easier to establish new rules when you start a new game.

 

[The_Gneech]

Three people besides yourself? Then what are you complaining about, man??? That's a perfect game right there!

I wish I had three dedicated players plus myself...

-The Gneech

 

[Kashell]

The way to do it is to have your players take and yourself call each other up on a designated day of the week.



Say for example, you play on Friday nights. Tell everyone, "Ok, Monday afternoon, we'll all call each other up and see what our schedules are like." It's what my group does to prevent 'oops I forgot' scenarios.


-Kash

 

[Breakdaddy]

I feel your pain man. I have a biweekly game with 5 dedicated players and yours truly as the DM. I would probably not be happy if random excuses started coming into play to get out of our preplanned games. Stuff happens, and we deal with it when it does, but when it becomes habitual its time to cut some fat from the group. I say find a cadre of the most dedicated players you have, even if it's only three plus you, and game on! You will find yourself much happier and probably find the group to be a happier lot as well. In my experience, the dedicated players tend to get rubbed the wrong way when the casual gamers have a "come as I please" attitude. It tends to break game continuity which lessens their enjoyment of the game. Cut the fat, youll be much happier! Good luck!

 

[Serps]

I organise a game every 2 weeks, for about 6 hours a session. However, if one of us can't make it, the session is cancelled. This makes for less lame excuses, IMO.

 

[Drakmar]

my main gaming group is made up of 6 people all 27+. of those 5 have full time work. of those 5, 1 studies part time as well. Of the other 4, 2 of them frequently have overtime.

Some of them also have wives.

The reason why we game is to get together with some mates and have a laugh. Last game session was canned when the DM couldn't show.. instead we still got together to place some Space Munchkin.

I enjoy the game. I enjoy the socialisation aspect more. You may find that you players will turn up more if they are coming along for the mateship rather than just the game. Plus.. not everybody can put the same kind of priority on roleplaying as others.

You just need to work out where you stand... where they stand.. and see if either group is able to or willing to meet somewhere in the middle.. or find a new group.

 

[Kilroy]

I had the same thing happen to a game I was running. I had a couple hardcore players, a hardcore player who got a job that kept him from playing much every other week, and a couple softcore players. I ended up cancelling the game after several missed sessions in a row. I'm still not sure it it was just peoples' busy schedules or my game sucking.

 

[robberbaron]

Playing weekdays could be the problem.
Try Friday nights (if your players aren't go out a lot types), or Saturday (ditto).

We play Sunday afternoon/evening. Generally "dead time" for most people and you can start early and finish early for the workers to get some sleep.

But, basically, you could have lots of different problems.
Best advice: talk to them. Find out what sort of game they would like to play and if it is the same as you want to run then great.

 

[Treebore]

If you have three hard cores this is what I would do. run the game for those three, when one of your unreliable players decides to show give him an NPC to play. When they ask where their old character is tell them it died. When they ask if they can roll up a new one tell them yes they can, when they show up for their third consecutive game session. Otherwise you are not going to put in the time and effort to design a game that includes their character. If they start no showing again their character will die again. getting a new character will require the same process.

If they decide to be serious they will show up, if not they will quit. Then at least you will know what to plan for.

It is hard to keep a large group together. the longest and largest I managed was 6 players for 2 years and 4 months. Then four of them quit. I recruited three more and that group lasted until I moved to CA. Which was almost two years.