How do you keep your group together?

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Our group started playing about 25-26 years ago, played through middle school/high school/college. After college, jobs/marriage got in the way and we stopped playing for several years. Once life settled down a bit we all started gaming again and have been together ever since. The key now that we are all in our 30s and 40s is to be flexible as far as scheduling. Having a fixed night never seemed to work. Now everyone sends me a list of open dates each month, and I pick the two that work for the most people and we go with that. We all know that each game there will likely be someone who cannot attend.

 

[bento]

You also have to remember that certain times of the year are really hard to schedule.

September is back to school, so for any of your players with kids, or who are teachers, it takes some time to get back in the groove.

June and December are always difficult for my wife and I to make schedules, as we have lots of birthday parties and holidays which take precidence over other matters.

So be a little forgiving on your players if they have a full plate right now. If they are really committed to playing, they'll be back in the fold shortly.

 

[KenSeg]

Your story is very common in our hobby. I have been blessed to be gaming with the same people for 20 years now. Of course our group consists of the DM, his wife and myself and my wife. We have had the occasional other player for a year or two but it has generally just been the two married couples. We have always played on Saturday afternoon and early evening, so it is a part of our weekly routine. Jupiter, Florida is about 20 miles south of where I live, so we have commuted weekly and will continue to do so until my eyesight falls and my mind is gone.

-KenSeg
gaming since 1978

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

Offer food... Hey it works in a town with a University. College kids are always hungry

And I'll echo Calico_Jack73's response and say that good communication and understanding helps immensely. Some of our group works and some attend school. Everybody has crazy schedules. Constant emails keep everybody informed.

Plus, we always seem to have a great time when we game and that keeps people coming back for more... or is it the food?

 

[Oryan77]

I find it easiest to just chain my players up in the basement.

That way you can game whenever you want to. Most adults have other priorities these days...what with WoW, cheating on their spouse via Myspace, & not watching their kids while the children have sex & use meth....there's just not a lot of time in our busy lives for D&D.

 

[Woas]

In no way am I trying to tell you how to play. But seven players? Thats a lot. The more players you have the more chances of a domino effect happen. One person cancels... then a second person who was on the fence sees the opportunity and follows suit... and eventually the whole group is lost cause "well, Bill couldn't play anyway so I didn't want to play either."
There have been plenty of polls here on ENWorld over the years on "How many players/Perfect group size" and so forth. And there are definetly people who apparently love to have large numbers of people at the table every game and can handle it. But for me, and thus for my suggestion to you: tell the ones that seem to cancel the most or are the most difficult to schedule with that you put effort into getting a game planned for a session and there is just too many people to deal with scheduling wise. So I guess what I'm saying is to keep a large group together is to not keep it together at all. Maybe split it up into two groups.

 

[Jubilee]

You could consider altering your game to be one that can easily ignore that there are people missing, or run missing people as NPCs or people who hang out in the background like cardboard cut-outs..

That way those who can play, still get to, and those you didn't can be jealous by all the fun you had and be inspired to come back as soon as possible!

/ali

 

[jdrakeh]

Sadly, it seems that getting a group together in real life (i.e., away from the internet) that will consistently make game dates is much, much, harder that it used to be. For a long time, I was convinced that it had to do with location (I thought that maybe the player population here was just unusually closed-minded). Lately, I've become convinced that it's just a huge inconvenince for most folks with full-time jobs and/or families. I'll be running my next game online, most likely.

 

[Silver Moon]

Go with a fixed game night and time. Our group originally met on Monday nights during the three months of the summer but once fall school schedules kicked in we switched to Sunday nights - and have kept that night for 25 years. We finish promptly on time in consideration of people's Monday work schedules (although have been known to run up to a half-hour over during exciting combat sessions).

Beyond that I'd follow some of the above advice and talk to them about what the other issues might be. As a general rule of thumb we may cancel if we know in advance that two or more players can't make a game - or alternately, we may start a second module with different characters for the players who can make it.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

I tend to keep the people playing by having as much crazy fun as possible. And if people don't want to come, they don't want to come. I don't sweat it, I don't stress it, and I'll usually play without them (as long as the other people there are ok). Last second cancellations suck, no doubt. Also, the dreaded "Dude where are you?" "Oh, I'm driving down to see a movie..." Other than those I do my best to accept any cancellation with grace. But I do see red when, 20 minutes wondering where someone is, I find out they don't plan to show.

And if it ever reaches the point where I'm having problems with it, I stop trying to hold it together, take a break, and do something else.

Games are for fun, not "I don't think you're really committed to this," relationship drama.

At least until I start playing with some folks with commitment anxiety.