Is your group perfect for you (as a DM)?

[Dyson Logos]

The groups I game with may not be perfect, but I can't imagine getting anything better. I've got people willing to play just about any game under the sun. That's a pretty rare and wonderful thing.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Perfect.

Our group has 7 total (which may be on the largish side, but it works).

The group is a one system group (HERO).

I met the woman who would become my wife because she was GMing a Champions game when I moved in the area. We have been gaming together for 23 years (20 of that married).

We have one guy who has been in the group for 17 years.

Another has been in for 10, a fourth for 8.

The next to last guy we gamed with back when the wife and I first met, lost track of, and he joined our group about 4 years ago.

Last year, the oldest child of one of my best friends (the kid is 18, we are 42) was interested. His dad (and family, aside from the mom, my friend) plays D&D and has for forever. He heard about Hero and wanted to try it. He enjoys being a weekly game.

Aside from the kid, everyone in the group has been playing Hero/Champions for 20 years, and two of them have been playing since it first came out.

So we know the system in and out, have similar preferences on what makes a good game, and have similar playstyles.

Been great so far.

 

[Greg K]

My perfect group was my prior group which lasted twelve years. Four of the members were constant with two of the other foundinding members leaving after five years to be replaced with two other other long term members. The gaming with these people was the best that I ever had.


My currrent group of players is almost perfect. As with my other group, they are really into trying to create a collaborative story which I enjoy. However the group is just slightly larger than I prefer at 7 players. Also, one player does get a bit rules lawyery on occassion which can annoy some of the players whiile another, occassionally, slips into powergaming (he gives his two other DMs fits). However, both of them are great guys and attempt to keep those issues in check.

 

[kitsune9]

Perfect.

Our group has 7 total (which may be on the largish side, but it works).

The group is a one system group (HERO).

I met the woman who would become my wife because she was GMing a Champions game when I moved in the area. We have been gaming together for 23 years (20 of that married).

We have one guy who has been in the group for 17 years.

Another has been in for 10, a fourth for 8.

The next to last guy we gamed with back when the wife and I first met, lost track of, and he joined our group about 4 years ago.

Last year, the oldest child of one of my best friends (the kid is 18, we are 42) was interested. His dad (and family, aside from the mom, my friend) plays D&D and has for forever. He heard about Hero and wanted to try it. He enjoys being a weekly game.

Aside from the kid, everyone in the group has been playing Hero/Champions for 20 years, and two of them have been playing since it first came out.

So we know the system in and out, have similar preferences on what makes a good game, and have similar playstyles.

Been great so far.

That sounds cool, and you guys play Herosystem to boot too. Great system. You guys play any genre in Herosystem or stick with one like Fantasy Hero or Champions?

 

[Pour]

I was also tempted to put the no group is perfect, but ultimately opted for perfect and you can't have them! I forget sometimes how luck I am to have 2 groups, a live group in the summers and a year-round online group. Unfortunately, summer is almost up and a lot of online group problems forced some to leave...

But my remaining six online players are ready, willing and eager. In fact, I think the group may be stronger than ever. Definitely some good times ahead. I love this game.

 

[Mercule]

I love the people in my group and really enjoy gaming with them.

That said, they aren't a great match for me. I like deep characters and settings, even if all you end up doing is hacking your way through it. At least half the group doesn't even want to come up with an answer to "are you from the town in which the campaign starts?" let alone choose a deity, etc.

I also love to rotate systems every 8-12 months. There are just too bloody many games out there to try. Meanwhile, one person has outright stated, and a couple others given a nod to, the desire to find a single system that worked well enough and never have to switch again.

I love complexity in play (not prep, just play) and copious options. I have one player whose dream character has only one mode of attack and can use it every round.

I like absorbing rules. The best illustration of the gulf is that the second best rules-mechanic in the group owns a 4e book I've held once outside an actual session. I've been able to better referrence some rules from it more accurately and more quickly than he can. (I wonder why I'm always the DM.)

The match between me and my group is seriously flawed in a lot of ways. On the other hand, they're a great group for me because they're family, friends close enough to be family, and I trust them all in my house and just enjoy hanging with them. Ultimately, it's more important to me to be gaming with friends than to have the perfect game/group.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

That sounds cool, and you guys play Herosystem to boot too. Great system. You guys play any genre in Herosystem or stick with one like Fantasy Hero or Champions?

Right now we have (rotating between) Champions, Fantasy Hero (the one I run) and are getting ready to start up a Star Hero game.

We've done some other stuff - I ran a really wierd SF./Western/Dinosaur/Music thing (about 15 years ago) - when I saw Brocosaurus Rex from Goodman it was really familiar . My last Fantasy Game was a "transworld fantasy" where the main charcters came from another world (like Covenant, Narnia, Time of the Dark ect).

 

[weem]

My first poll here iirc.

So, to the point...

I have a group now (4e) I have been running since 4e was released. Good people for sure. The campaign is coming to a close, and we all know that I will of course be running another campaign when this one is done.

Now, I run for 4 people. In this campaign, they were fine - but my next campaign will be much more RP focused and as such, it will not be one that 2 of the 4 players will... excel in... but they would still want to play.

Counting those 4 players, there are about 12 people in our circle that play - aka, that I could choose from for the next campaign. If I put together the "perfect" group for the next campaign (as in, people who really love the RP aspect) it would not include these two players.

Anyway, I'm still not sure how it will play out, but no matter how I describe the next game as heavily RP focused, neither will want to miss out on it so I will have to make a decision. This lead me to the question posed above - given the same circumstances (imagine your current game is coming to an end) would you want to switch players up, or would you be sticking with the same group... are they perfect for you or not?

UPDATE

So, about two months have passed since I posted this poll and I thought I would give it an update.

Basically, that year+ long campaign I ran was coming to a close and I was working on my new setting the Last Lands as well as the first campaign I would be running in it. I decided that, you know what, I want to have the most fun I can and hand picking players for this campaign was what I wanted to do.

So I chose my four players, all of whom could play - so I did indeed leave the 2 players out from the previous campaign (essentially the new campaign has 2 players from the old campaign, and two new players). It was not the most pleasant conversation I have had as they both (one more than the other) expressed that they wanted to join - was there a way they could, etc. One of them (as far as I know) is still a little miffed about it.

But with that said, we had our first game of the new campaign (I am calling "Dark Water") last week and we had a blast. I'm looking forward to the next one as are they!

Thanks for the responses