How to motivate players to play?

[Ruined]

I've found the the DM can galvanize a gaming group in most cases. When the person running the game is enthusiastic, I pick up on the vibe and am ready to play. When the game is just 'something to do', then I tend to lose heart.

 

[MarauderX]

I've found the the DM can galvanize a gaming group in most cases. When the person running the game is enthusiastic, I pick up on the vibe and am ready to play. When the game is just 'something to do', then I tend to lose heart.

Exactomundo. I have almost lost track of the number of 3.0 games I have either quit or have fallen apart because of a lack of an interested guide. Having a milktoast DM worried about what others will think leads to no one having that much fun after a while.
You could offer to DM instead, and try to do things that you thought were good and interesting to liven things up. You could also try a different setting or system (gasp!). Instead of the ol' Greyhawk meets Tolkien rehashed homebrew, try out a post-egyptian or pre-roman setting. Center it on feudal Japan or ancient China with a pantheon to match. Often times it adds instant interest with long-time players that are burned out on the same old same old.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Or you could just kidnap them, leave clues pointing to someone else and make darn sure to keep the bodies hidden.

You are having issues with your players, aren't you?

 

[Frost]

I currently DM a fairly large group. One thing that seems to help (for me at least) is to have a set, regular game date. For example, we play the first Saturday of every month. That allievates a lot of "I didn't know we were playing" stuff. Plus, we have a fairly strict policy... we are going to play something on that date, no matter who shows up. That tends to weed out the gamers that are found lacking. It also cuts down on all the "When can you play? I can play the 3rd, but not the 4th, etc."

 

[pogre]

Great suggestions here. I would agree it hinges on two things in my experience:

1. Enthusiastic GM; and

2. A regular time slot - you play with whoever shows up.

If you have these two things players will come and go, but a core of players will develop around the campaign.

Good luck - trying to keep a game going after a lull can be very frustrating!

 

[Altalazar]

Win the lottery - a minimum of $100 million - and then retire - and then find other lottery-winning, retired gamers and you should all have no problem finding free time to play.

 

[Marimmar]

I'm in Lavinia's group too. People currently have a lot of things on their mind:

1) Our bard is currently waiting for his first child being born.
2) Our druid is learning for her exams.
3) Our monk is working 700km away and cannot always be there on sundays.
4) Our DM will be on vacation for 2 weekends.
5) Our cleric has only carneval on her mind until the end of february.

Our dwarf is not giving an answer right now, that's true but otherwise everone seems to be preoccupied with something else right now. Some justly so, others not. We'll have to see what february brings before being able to say something about the general mood. I wouldn't mind reducing the party size to maybe four people and a DM anyway.

Having seen the death of more than one group, I'd say that the current state is the beginning of the end. At first you game every weekend, then you reduce it it to every second or third weekend. After that you're lucky to get a game running once a month. In the end it's only a game in 3-6 months time and then everyone starts saying things like, 'Hey we should game again' but have no intention of making it happen.

It's always a matter of priorities, either you make it happen or you don't. Certainly, sometimes it's not possible at all but if people were more honest, they'd say that about 50-75% of the time it's just them setting priorities of other things higher than RPG. As for me I hate planning weeks or months in advance to get a game together. Sometimes I think that all people just love being stressed and try to make as tight a schedule as possible to prevent them from having some spare time. I prefer having a day or two per week where I can do nothing but relax from the week's work stress and playing with my friends counts as relaxation for me.

Sorry if this turned out to be a bit rantish.

~Marimmar

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Lavinia, first I wish you luck but if it fails you might want to look for a new group via your local RPG store. If that doesn't work I know it's far from different but you might want to look in to PbP via “Talking the Talk”.

link

BTW your English is just fine.

 

[Shazman]

I'm in Lavinia's group too. People currently have a lot of things on their mind:

1) Our bard is currently waiting for his first child being born.
2) Our druid is learning for her exams.
3) Our monk is working 700km away and cannot always be there on sundays.
4) Our DM will be on vacation for 2 weekends.
5) Our cleric has only carneval on her mind until the end of february.

Our dwarf is not giving an answer right now, that's true but otherwise everone seems to be preoccupied with something else right now. Some justly so, others not. We'll have to see what february brings before being able to say something about the general mood. I wouldn't mind reducing the party size to maybe four people and a DM anyway.

Having seen the death of more than one group, I'd say that the current state is the beginning of the end. At first you game every weekend, then you reduce it it to every second or third weekend. After that you're lucky to get a game running once a month. In the end it's only a game in 3-6 months time and then everyone starts saying things like, 'Hey we should game again' but have no intention of making it happen.

It's always a matter of priorities, either you make it happen or you don't. Certainly, sometimes it's not possible at all but if people were more honest, they'd say that about 50-75% of the time it's just them setting priorities of other things higher than RPG. As for me I hate planning weeks or months in advance to get a game together. Sometimes I think that all people just love being stressed and try to make as tight a schedule as possible to prevent them from having some spare time. I prefer having a day or two per week where I can do nothing but relax from the week's work stress and playing with my friends counts as relaxation for me.

Sorry if this turned out to be a bit rantish.

I think you hit the nail on the head. It's definitely all about priorities. Sure, not everyone can make it all the time. But if lots of people skip out on sessions, don't reply to your inquiries about gaming, and always say they are too busy, the game is no longer a priority for them. The solution is to find people who love the game enough to make time to play.

 

[Lavinia Teeblatt]

First of all thanks for your thoughts and comments.

I think it´s really a matter of priority. I someone really likes playing he will always find the time to play.
If it´s only something you must to like work etc. it makes no fun and gives not a relaxing time to you.

Finding new players is of course a very good option but I think it´s not so easy to find new players here in germany. That´s why RPG is not very popular here und so not many people play it.
Most of the people even have never heard something about RPG.

We´ll see what happens but if it will not go better I´m thinking of emigrating to USA.

~Lavinia