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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 5454971" data-attributes="member: 16069">I have much the same problem (although nowhere near as bad) with both the campaigns I DM, the thing I have to keep telling myself is that because I enjoy modding scenarios, prep et al then I do more of it- that's my choice, I shouldn't blame my players when they don't put in as much work.However I am also of the opinion (based on my last 12 or so years of gaming (I've been gaming for 30 years in total please note)) that the obsessive players are all gone, I used to DM for guys who would turn up to session 2 having bought a new mini, rewritten their characters sheets over, drawn a portrait of their character and made up a six page character bio. Rose tinted spectacles I thought, then I went through my boxes in storage and files of players character sheets, annotated, with stories and strange equipment they had made in town for their characters- love poems they wrote the female dwarf in the party, their battle song et al.For me the nutters (I mean obsessive) players are gone, perhaps its my age, or the age (2011), but back then when there was three good things on TV and all the computer games were down the arcade then my players would invest a whole lot more in their fantasy adventures, and my players weren't nerds either, they didn't read fantasy fiction (or many books at all), they did however seem to live at time vicariously through their PCs.My suggestion then is to do enough to make the game work (if you want or enjoy doing more then that is its own reward).Try to get the PCs to arrive 10-20 minutes early by making a snack, coffee etc. go through character sheets and any pre-game Q&A then.Ask at the end of every session if there's anything need doing before the next game and chivvy between times.Of my five face-to-face players then only one has the PH (the first one), they don't have any other books, any of them- or a DDI subscription... Admittedly my guys are between 35 and 52 years old, Iain (the oldest) is Grey Morlock, War Wizard for approx. 5 hours every other Sunday, and at no other time inbetween. The same pretty much goes for the other players, there's only one of them outside of game time I can actually have a conversation with (via any medium), they play because they enjoy the game- not to do maths or be available at other times etc.I've learned to live with this, although I have at times wanted to kill at least one of them...Good luckGoonalan</blockquote>

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