How Often Do You Cancel Sessions?

[Jan van Leyden]

The cancellation rate of our game is rather low (1 out of 8-10 sessions) since we switched to a regular schedule of one game every three weeks.

My DM rule is that I cancel the game when at least two players can't attend or when I fall sick. When two players cancel we try to shift the game to another week, although this isn't so easy with an agreed upon fixed schedule. If we have a surprise cancellation, the remaining players usually find something else to do at our house. It's kind of annoying when your sick in bed and the others are playing boardgames downstairs.

I disbanded a group a few years ago due to the players being undependable; the cancellation rate was above 50% and I wasn't keen on preparing a game only to 5 minutes before the scheduled start that a player rather went to the cinema or the disco. Two players out of five acted like that.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I disbanded a group a few years ago due to the players being undependable; the cancellation rate was above 50% and I wasn't keen on preparing a game only to 5 minutes before the scheduled start that a player rather went to the cinema or the disco. Two players out of five acted like that.

Yeah, that irks me to no end. There ARE other days in the week, guys!!!!

 

[billd91]

The weekly PF game probably averages 1 cancellation a month, but they're concentrated a bit more around winter holidays and late summer schedule changes. Most cancellations are planned at least a week in advance (like this week because my daughter is competing in the state swim meet) but illness will prompt cancellations on the day of the session. Fortunately, we don't have too many of those because I'm content to run as long as 3 of the 4 players can make it.

 

[Moogleproof]

100% agree with delericho in that it's really unacceptable not be informed if a game is cancelled (sans accidents etc, like he said). Happened to me once, and once the location changed. I was lucky enough to get a lift from the original meeting place, but not had I come 15 minutes later. It's really not cool when the explanation you get is always "We thought you knew". Well yes, I do read minds for kicks.

I told them that this can't go on, I might just leave altogether if I hear that sentence one more time. Hasn't happened since.


Cancellations are somewhat regular. We have run several games, the ones that are on Saturdays get cancelled about once every two or three months. The game I run has to be played on Fridays, and has happened only three times since November, even though I tried having it practically every week, except for December when I was away for two weeks. Has been pretty frustrating. They have vague reasons for not having this particular game on Saturdays, mostly because of tradition... they always do seem to be enjoying the game I run, so I guess the problem really might be that they are so set in their ways. To their credit, every time they've had to cancel, it has been for a good enough reason that I haven't disagreed with. Except for once when there were logistic reasons. One player said he would be delayed by a few hours, and suggested it might not be worth it playing so short a game, a problem which I then solved by arranging car pool, which didn't then happen because the players decided that it would be stupid to be driving back and forth and ended up coming later instead. Honestly....

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We thought you knew". Well yes, I do read minds for kicks.

In my case, it was that nearly everyone in the group has a job where they're connected to the internet all day, so sending emails about stuff was second nature.

Me? Sometimes I'm online, sometimes I'm getting home 15 minutes before I have to leave to get to the game on time, and I have 2 dogs to walk, my game gear to pack into the car, phone messages to check, stuff to take out of the car- and if I'm lucky, a snack to eat- so I don't have time to check my emails.

Despite repeated requests to have someone call me about changes in plans or cancellations- my cell phone number hasn't changed in years- I nevertheless wound up not getting calls of any kind.

...until I was walking into the host's house one game night as he was calling it an early night and getting ready for bed one evening- there had been a cancellation.

While sharing the bottle of wine I brought for the group, I explained that this kindnof thing couldn't keep happening. That was a few years ago, and so far, so good.

I worry, though, because I now have an iTouch, and they may forget that, while I can do email on this thing, I only have that ability when I'm covered by a WiFi network to which I have access.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Cancellations are not an option!

I DM and host for our group that plays weekly on Saturday evenings 8pm-midnight. We rarely cancel (1 out of 12) and on occasion we even take a holiday monday off to play as well when all are able. We're all in our 30's and half of the group have kids (myself included). The game time is remarkably conducive to getting everyone together as the kiddies have gone to bed by then (or nearly so) and the game time just about slips under the spousal radar so-to-speak it seems. The single guys in the group usually go out friday nights and leave sats for gaming.

As a DM I find players to be fine creatures of habit. There is a trust-bond that must be formed with a DM in order for the players to be willing to invest their time and interest into a game. One of the ways to build that is to make game night a near-certainty (weather and anniversaries permitting) that can be relied upon. Weekly games also help with continuity and propelling the narrative forward and I much prefer shorter (3-4hrs) weekly games to longer (6-8hr) bi-weekly scheduled games because of this.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I have found that, despite frequent scheduling conflicts, I rarely have to outright cancel a session in my game. We game fortnightly on a Thursday night. If 3 of the 5 players can make it (plus me as DM obviously) then we will still play.

I do encourage my players to let me know in advance if they can't make a session. Provided I get at least a few days notice I try and shift the session to another night of the week so that everyone can still attend. Sometimes it is just the case that isn't possible and that player has to miss the session. Most times though we can find another day that works for everyone in the group.

Considering my players are late 20's through to late 40's there are obviously a lot of other things going on in people's lives. Despite that though I've been able to maintain a very regular fortnightly game for the last 5 years. The only major breaks in that time have been when I have put the game on hold for a few months after the birth of my 2 children.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Than]

I only play PBP's now and those type of games don't have that problem as you don't have to all meet at the same time.

But when I used to play face to face games with six players we almost never had a cancellation as the DM and the house owner we played at were reliable. We did on occasion have to play with 1 or 2 less players.

I think our biggest problem though was players turning up late, so we would often start 1 or 2 hours after the first person arrived.

 

[Imperialus]

My Sunday group is terrible for cancellations. We probably end up avaraging 1 session a month, though we've only played once since the beginning of December. It's pretty frustrating, especially since its often our DM canceling, often with little notice.

My Wednesday group on the other hand has canceled maybe 4 or 5 sessions since it formed and that was a year and a half ago.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

The last game, which I left out of frustration, met every other week on a Sunday though that often switched to Saturday as needed.

Even with that infrequent schedule we had somewhere around 1/3 of our sessions cancelled, we also had half of November and all of December cancelled because "the holidays made people too busy".

On top of that half of the sessions we did have had one of two people miss the session for one reason or another.

I found this unacceptable and a waste of time so I left. I think if cancellation gets to 1/4 or higher of games then a campaign has become a failure. Even more so when the game is a Pathfinder Adventure Path and you know the DM is doing little to no prep work.