Attendence Problems.

[Ulrick]

I just ended my year and a half long campaign because of attendence problems. For the last few sessions or so, only 3 out the 7 players would show up on time. Usually one or two would come late...if at all.

We played weekly and usually at the same time that was a agreed upon by the majority of the players. I've also tried different times to accomodate players such as when certain days just won't work out.

While I understand that life does get in the way (we're all in college), I thought I made it clear that I expect people to show up 75% of the time. I write my adventures for at least 4 players. When only three show up (and there's no cleric and/or wizard) we just can't play w/o downgrading the adventure which IMO takes a lot away from the original vision of the adventure.

And there was a session where none of the original players showed up...leaving the newbies wondering what to do. That really put a kink in the plot line.

I prefer to play weekly or biweekly, any greater length of time between sessions IMO makes the plot suffer.

Now, I am thinking of starting another campaign. Before I start this one, I would like to get some advice on how to deal with attendence problems.

Any advice would appreciated. In this case, I have talked to the players, but it just didn't seem to help. So I folded the campaign.

Thanks.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Maybe you should charge them 20 bucks at the beginning of the semester? They might treat you with more respect.

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31981&pagenumber=1

I charge my players $20 each for every semester (I'm at college), and I've found that paying for the privilege to game really helps us have a better time. Since I'm getting paid for my time (really, it's only about $3 an hour, but still), I put up a better effort, devote time in advance to preparing full characterizations for NPCs, making props, and working harder to set the mood. Since the players are paying for the game, they don't waste time nearly as much, especially since I pointed out that I don't tolerate arguing during the game, since it's a waste of everyone's time and money. They get into character better, keep on track readily, and really seem to enjoy the game more. They also go to greater lengths in creating their characters, to make sure I have more ways to base the game around them.

Since they're paying, they get more of a say in what type of game they'd want. I'm more of a storyteller myself, so if I was left to my own devices, I'd tell a good story that I'd enjoy, rather than running a good adventure that they'd enjoy. This way, I make sure everyone gets a moment in the spotlight at least once every few adventures.

I really do suggest you try it once or twice. The first few times, tell everyone you are taking money for pizza, or to buy the group a new book, but eventually, they'll become used to paying for the game, and everyone will be happier. Even casual gamers. Really, what's better, $8 for 2 hours of fun at a movie, or $3 for 4 hours of fun every week?

 

[NoOneofConsequence]

I don't know if this will help, but I've just had a series of sessions where at least one player didn't show up for every session. What was worse, it was always a different player. I'm not critical of my players in this - they informed me ahead of time mostly, and it was business or family related so there was nothing that could be done.

Anyway, each session I developed ideas to adapt the story to the absence of characters. Frex - I had a part of the party seperate from the rest and then fall into a non-lethal ambush. It shifted the way the details played out, but kept the overall plotline intact. To see how it worked out, check out my story hour (link in my sig...pimp! pimp!).

 

[Kilmore]

Well, at the very least, I would NOT have any major plot developments hang on any one character who's player is habitually absent. If the player wants to whine about that, point out his attendance record.

And on the subject of attendance records, feel free to keep a chart of player attendance in your campaigns, and let your players see it every game session. You don't have to put little colored stars on it each week, but it may be an attention getter. And it will make a more dramatic statement that regular attendance is expected. And make the player know that if too many sessions are missed, his character will become your NPC and the player booted!

Yes, you should be aware of a player's real-life committments. But if they interfere regularly with the gaming schedule, make it clear that the player cannot be considered a regular of the gaming group. With that in mind, there's nothing wrong with letting the player run an "irregular" character.

It may be possible that the college environment is too chaotic to allow for regular campaigns among the gaming crowd on campus. If you wanna try to work around that, go for short one night adventures rather than sprawling epics. Keep them in one good sized city so you don't have to tell the guy playing the mage that his character was left back on the other continent two weeks ago, and for him to show up now would be really wierd.

And it is also entirely possible that their idea of an enjoyable night gaming is different than your idea, and they may be playing hooky simply for lack of interest. Touch base with them on this, and ask for suggestions to keep them motivated.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, I've seen this come up almost every game I've run or played in post-high school.

My best advice is to come up with a series of "excuses" for where the other pcs are (taking a dump, in bed with the flu, spending time with the family, scouting ahead, whatever) and use them liberally. This also helps deal with situations where, for instance, everybody gets captured at the end of one session; the absent pcs (whoever shows up) can try to rescue them next week. If there's only one rescuer, well, blame the other players for the TPK!

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'll be interested in hearing this post as well.

Right now three people in my group are related and show up together so if one doesn't show, apparently none of them do. If one's late, they're all late. Bad thing about doing the car pooling thing I guess eh?

I'm thinking about cutting one of those players out but worry that the other two will go with 'em. I figure it's better if two are late than three.

 

[pogre]

I would start a new campaign and advertise for players in as many venues as possible. Rotate people through two different groups at once. Then, consolidate the two groups to play with the folks who show up consistently.

 

[mythago]

For me, it would depend on *why* people are skipping my games. (Lateness is just rude and sucky and you should slap them.)

It could be that the schedule of the game just isn't right for the group. Perhaps every Saturday night is fine for me (I, um, am social-life-challenged) but not for the guys who go out on dates regularly. Or half the group is in a demanding program and can really only show biweekly.

In that case, sit down and figure out what a more reasonable schedule would be, and then expect people to hew to it. If they tell you every other Friday is fine and then only show up half the time, kick them out.

It could be that your players are just twits, who don't really care about being late or finding something else to do. Some people really don't grok the concept of "making a commitment to a social event"--in which case, kick them out and/or do bad things to their PCs.

 

[Sanackranib]

I just ended my year and a half long campaign because of attendence problems. For the last few sessions or so, only 3 out the 7 players would show up on time. Usually one or two would come late...if at all.

We played weekly and usually at the same time that was a agreed upon by the majority of the players. I've also tried different times to accomodate players such as when certain days just won't work out.

While I understand that life does get in the way (we're all in college), I thought I made it clear that I expect people to show up 75% of the time. I write my adventures for at least 4 players. When only three show up (and there's no cleric and/or wizard) we just can't play w/o downgrading the adventure which IMO takes a lot away from the original vision of the adventure.

And there was a session where none of the original players showed up...leaving the newbies wondering what to do. That really put a kink in the plot line.

I prefer to play weekly or biweekly, any greater length of time between sessions IMO makes the plot suffer.

Now, I am thinking of starting another campaign. Before I start this one, I would like to get some advice on how to deal with attendence problems.

Any advice would appreciated. In this case, I have talked to the players, but it just didn't seem to help. So I folded the campaign.

Thanks.

Been there, done that.
I just had a player flake out of my bi-weekly Saturday game. he didn't call email or anything and when I emailed him to say hey if you did that to an employer then they would fire you. why would you show LESS respect to your friends.
and to say that like you I plan on having everyone there so the adventure is lacking when someone doesnt show I didn't even get a responce to my email for another 5 days. and then it was to say that he wasn't gonna come anymore. which was fine by me because I don't run games for flakes. its not fair to thhe other players and not worth the time and effort I put into planing my games. so far my other players have been late, missed games or have told me ahead of time that they will miss games. to me its not as big of a deal if I know the session before that you will miss the next game because I can plan for it but a no show/no call is unacceptable in my book and I voice my displeasure to everybody the FIRST time it happens.

 

[Ulrick]

Maybe you should charge them 20 bucks at the beginning of the semester? They might treat you with more respect.

Maybe I should. If they have a monetary investment they might want to put more into the game.

I know I'm a damn good DM. But all my DMing power is nil if the players don't show up.

One thing I have noticed is that the players who don't show up consistently are the ones who a bored when they do show up. Simply because they don't know what is going on.

I run games with multiple plot lines. If you miss one session, you miss out but you can easily catch up. If you miss two consecutive sessions in a row, you miss out and its harder to understand whats going on.

Maybe I should run a campaign w/o such multiple storylines. Such as adventures that can be completed in 2 or 3 sessions. And the adventures aren't that related to each other.

Any thoughts on this?