Magic 8-Ball, when will I game again?

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Cannot predict now"



I was looking over the character sheet for Magnus Skyhammer, the Dwarf Warlock/Psion I've been playing for a while now. It's on the Notes app of my iPad2 and iPod Touch. It updates with each change, so if he takes a hit and I mark off HP damage, the page updates.

It was last updated in December.

Since then, we've played some cool boardgames, and had the occasional poker night. We've also lost some nights due to scheduling conflicts: sick kids, spouse-time, travel, and crunch time at work rightfully take precedence.

But December?

I'm contemplating doing something I haven't done since...well...this century: find another group.

Some of the guys in my current group I've been gaming with since the 1980s. Others, just a few years. But its a good group. Or at least, it has been up until recently.

Just don't know what to do.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I assume there's legit reasons for all the cancellations: it happens.

You should get in on some playtest action (or any kind of action, really) on roll20. For serious. Lots of games from just about every system.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Most of it is legit, I'm sure. But there are times it seems as if certain guys simply aren't "holding the date" to prevent scheduling conflicts. There have also been a few times when it's 100% clear someone is just skipping.

Still, I'll look at that Roll20 thing- thanks!

 

[Quickleaf]

That is a long dry spell from gaming. But having stretches of scheduling hell is pretty normal, at least IME. Can you try jump starting things with a "here's the date, whoever comes gets to play"?

And if you happen to end up in Hawaii Danny, you can drop in on one of our games!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Its not the longest dry spell, but its the longest I've had while part of an active group.

And I can't really do too much about jump-starting. I'm currently a player only.

I'm a bit burned out on running high-fantasy RPGs, and my last few campaigns (of all kinds) fared poorly, for a variety of reasons

I started designing a M:tG game using HERO 6th, but there was no interest in it due to the system. So I shelved it.




Maybe I'll dust off that HERO/M:tG campaign. At least I'll be doing something gamer-y.

 

[delericho]

Tricky one.

I would recommend having a quiet word with each of the other players (preferably one at a time), and sounding them out about how interested they really are in getting back together. Chances are you're not alone in wanting to get back to it, but there are probably one or two for whom gaming is no longer a priority.

From there, you really have three options:

- If there simply aren't enough people who really want to get back together, it's probably best to call time on the group and find another. There comes a point where it's just not worth the hassle.

- If there are enough people who want to get back together, but that omits some of the 'key' people from the old group, I would suggest starting up a new campaign for the remainder, and going from there.

- Alternately, if most of the old group want to get back together, I would suggest finding a way to write out the characters of the players who aren't really interested, and just pressing on with the campaign with the majority.

One other thing: if you find that lots of people are interested, but that life keeps getting in the way, you might want to consider an open tabletop arrangement. That way, you should be able to game with whatever combination of people turn up, rather than being tied to a specific group of 5 people.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Ye could always try this thingy.

ENWorld is likely full of people who would like to be gaming with you. I'm a little pressed for time presently, or I would!

 

[Stormonu]

Funny, I *just* went through the same thing myself. For me, getting a new game group together seems to have helped, as has going with a system I haven't played ages.

Playing with a new group isn't a slur against the old one, it just means your gaming needs have changed. If you get lucky, you might even be able to encourage some of the old group to play in the new group - some of them probably haven't played since December either.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Historically speaking, we have run a fairly open table. The problem hasn't been a couple people missing out or being tied to particular guys being present- except at certain crucial junctures- the problem has been a mix of legit no-shows and guys flaking out so that our group- numbering 10 in total (not all of whom play in every campaign) may be down to 3-5 guys (again, who might not all have PCs for the scheduled game) when game night rolls around. Time to break out the boardgames or poker cards.

Back in the early 1990s, I was in a group in Austin that had a similar size & issue, but we solved it by having everyone in the group be responsible for a campaign and everyone have a PC made for each campaign. (My idea.) Every week, 2 guys would be prepared to run (just in case one of the GMs had a conflict and couldn't run), and whoever showed up, played. It worked great. I've suggested that for this group, but it didn't fly.

Anywho, just found out that the DM let his DDI subscription lapse, which likely means that the 4Ed campaign is over, and that no mo 4Ed will be played by this group ever. I may have been the only one who bought books. *sigh*

 

[Ahnehnois]

I'm in the same boat. My players and I have all moved recently, our work schedules have conflicted, and now I'm losing another playable week to an MCAT. Life happens. Not much to be done about it.