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Message: <blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 6554069" data-attributes="member: 6777696">I totally feel your pain and you're definitely not alone!I got back into D&D after many, many years of not playing, and was very eager to get games together. I taught my girlfriend and ran her through a series of one-shots. I tried to get groups of friends together for games. Ultimately, the problem was that, for me, this was something that I really, really wanted to be doing, and, for them, it was just another way of hanging out.Roll20 was definitely a godsend for me. It's not the same as playing in person and, personally, I also find it to be more work to prepare, but the nature of the internet is that there are tons of other players out there who really, really want to play role-playing games, and GMs are in short supply. So, instead of feeling like you're dragging all your friends to some stupid ballet (or crummy dive bar, or whatever), you are running a game for people who are truly grateful. And even then, not all people have the same interest level as you do. We lost a player or two to changing schedules, and I kicked out a player because he would miss sessions or show up 2 hours late without any advance warning, but now we have a core group of 4 players who keep showing up every week.All the advices here are good, of course. Being ready to run something, even if only one other player shows up, is important. Make the game something that always happens, and people who miss the game are missing out, instead of just "re-scheduling." Decide how much commitment you want from people, and hold them to it. Want a game that's friendly to parents and people with busy schedules? Expect 24-hour notice for missed sessions, but allow them to come in and out of sessions as their schedules are allowed. Just recruit more players and be prepared for all of them to show up at once! If you regularly have less than 4 people showing up, put the word out and recruit 2 new people. Once you find one player who is committed to your game, that player might start recruiting for you. Having a couple of those people at your table helps to anchor the more casual players who are more interested in having an enjoyable afternoon than they are invested in a particular game. At the same time, those casual players help to bring some reality into play when the people who are way too invested in the game find themselves butting heads.But jeez, in the meantime, gripe away about your flaky players. They're the worst!</blockquote>

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