Bored on gaming day

[Chimera]

If that doesn't work, and this is a semi-regular occurance, I'm probably inclined to have a chat about why I continue to show up for games...

Spot on. Time to start asking why everyone is present for a session clearly designed for less than the full party. Or time to MAKE it be about the rest of the party.

In the last session of one of my games, the GM had a serious failing in bringing in a new character (replacing one that had died) in a timely manner. Bad enough that it was the second time that he'd had this problem (in two character deaths), but even worse when the player was his 8 month pregnant wife. Four and a half hours into a six hour session and she still hadn't been introduced. At that point, ALL OF US started wandering away from the plot saying that we were looking for an NPC that wanted to be a PC, a woman who looked like she wanted to sign up/get away/see some adventure, etc, etc.

She was eventually introduced as part of the final encounter of the night, but by that point I think everyone in the room was seriously annoyed at his failure to introduce her character in a timely manner.

The point of that in regards to the OP is that ALL OF THE PLAYERS are there to have fun and it isn't fair or fun to make people sit around for hours while the GM ignores their characters.

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Chimera
In the last session of one of my games, the GM had a serious failing in bringing in a new character (replacing one that had died) in a timely manner. Bad enough that it was the second time that he'd had this problem (in two character deaths), but even worse when the player was his 8 month pregnant wife. Four and a half hours into a six hour session and she still hadn't been introduced. At that point, ALL OF US started wandering away from the plot saying that we were looking for an NPC that wanted to be a PC, a woman who looked like she wanted to sign up/get away/see some adventure, etc, etc.

She was eventually introduced as part of the final encounter of the night, but by that point I think everyone in the room was seriously annoyed at his failure to introduce her character in a timely manner.

Heh. This happened to me one time. The DM failed to introduce me into the campaign after I had died and made a new character. The group was doing stuff with the occasional 'Do we see a person standing in a room waiting to join our group?' I was feeling a little tired, so while everyone else played, I just took a nap.

Hmmm, as much as I like playing with this group, this happens a lot...

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Chimera
Time to start asking why everyone is present for a session clearly designed for less than the full party

Technically, it was kind of our decision, just that none of us believed that it would go on for so long, or else we probably would have found a different way. The problem is that we needed to be sneaky, but only one character was, so only he did stuff while the rest of us waited.

 

[Viashimo]

I also had the same problem with neverwinter nights.... on a game day.

 

[Aeric]

There are eight players in my current campaign, so it's inevitable that some of us will be left out of the action now and again. So we chat in-character about stuff. A lot of the travel time is glossed over, so it's a good way to make up for all of those missed chats by the fireside on the road.

 

[Mista Collins]

Okay, so we started gaming at about 1-2 pm today. Normally we start at about that time and play until like 12-3am early Monday morning.

You still there bored? Or did you get back into the action? I hope so.

When I DM I always bring in a character in a very timely manner.

 

[SprigganTWG]

I get something similar in my RPG group but not due to the GM making something that excludes a part of the group, no my problem is combat in my group and D20 rules that makes them take 20-30 minutes to go through one combat round despite only having 5 people. It takes me about 2 minutes do use my action, my brother takes about 10 minutes not because he's indecisive but he plans out every possible action with others (who's attacks usually take 10 minutes as well). I bought myself a Nintendo DS as a means to entertain myself during combat and have learned to deal with it.

 

[Romnipotent]

I get something similar in my RPG group but not due to the GM making something that excludes a part of the group, no my problem is combat in my group and D20 rules that makes them take 20-30 minutes to go through one combat round despite only having 5 people. It takes me about 2 minutes do use my action, my brother takes about 10 minutes not because he's indecisive but he plans out every possible action with others (who's attacks usually take 10 minutes as well). I bought myself a Nintendo DS as a means to entertain myself during combat and have learned to deal with it.

Slap them all for meta gaming and tell them to do what they think is best, the next person can decide what to do... make it like speed chess!

 

[Numion]

We never split up the group. Game time (and our time in general) is too precious to waste. In case of character death, we usually make new ones on the spot while the game goes on, and get introduced at first opportunity.

 

[Numion]

I get something similar in my RPG group but not due to the GM making something that excludes a part of the group, no my problem is combat in my group and D20 rules that makes them take 20-30 minutes to go through one combat round despite only having 5 people. It takes me about 2 minutes do use my action, my brother takes about 10 minutes not because he's indecisive but he plans out every possible action with others (who's attacks usually take 10 minutes as well). I bought myself a Nintendo DS as a means to entertain myself during combat and have learned to deal with it.

Our table rule is that you cant coach other players on their actions. You can say one sentence in-character during your round, of course, but telling others what to do isn't allowed. There are two reasons for this:

1) In-game it isn't really possible if the PCs don't have some kind of telepathic link

2) It makes the game a lot less fun for those less proficient in D&D tactics, because in essence their characters would be controlled by the louder and more tactically inclined players