Monthly Games

[JoeBlank]

I participate in 3 groups, one that meets every other week, and two that are on irregular schedules, meeting whenever we can.

Even though two of my groups don't even manage once per month, I am glad to have them and the schedule better than not playing at all. All the groups maintain yahoo group sites, so we can keep some of the action moving, to some degree, during down time.

Like Eric and others have mentioned, the players who find less-than-once-per-month or every-other-week schedules to be not enough are free to participate in other campaigns on the off weeks, and many of them do.

 

[EricNoah]

I have found that for my players, a message board as such is not helpful. Something more like a Yahoo Group -- which mails out all discussion as well as archiving it -- works better for me. My players generally won't seek out a message board to see if there are new posts, but will interact via e-mail much more readily.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I used to be on once a month. Heck, with scheduling, it was once every two months. So we'd go all day Saturday. The only good part of it was that the solution was at the house where we met. The couple who hosted had a daughter who would babysit my daughter. We took turns paying for the babysitting since it worked out to mutual benefit all around.

That group folded (probably also because there were seven players) and I worked out an alternate arrangement. I go to DM once or twice a month on a Friday night. My wife prefers this since the kids (we have two now) are in school most of the day. It's a tradeoff - slightly shorter game time but more frequently, which I really prefer.

I second the notion of an email list or message board. It really helps.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I've been running my campaign once month (supposedly) but it really is not enough. The worst thing is, I find it very difficult to keep adventure flow and maintain interest.

I've used an extensive campaign log to assist with the continuity issue and that's helped quite a bit.

The reality is, we've swtiched a couple of times in the campaign to an every-other-weekend approach.

I started running this in August. Playing again today as our tenth session in just over six months of real time. So not really once a month - but close to it.

 

[Chimera]

It was partly resolved when I found a new group playing every monday nights, but gaming sessions are too short for my taste, and half of it is spent in out-of-game discussions.

Well then pity me, because I'm playing in a once-a-month monday night game. We "start" at 6pm, but with arrivals, discussions and eating, we really don't get started playing until around 7pm. Then we have to end promptly at 10pm. That 3 hours, once a month is just not enough. It's very difficult to keep the flow and remember what is going on.

Ah, but it's my only game at present, so I have to live with it. When my RW scheduling problems work themselves out, I intend to run my own once a month (5-6 hours on Sunday) game, which should help immensely.

 

[Silver Moon]

We started our weekly group back in the early 80's when most of us were in college, so these "family" considerations weren't an issue then. For our first decade we alternated houses but after we bought a house simultaneous to our children entering into the picture our house became a permanent location. I say that we play weekly, but it actually works out to around three games every four weeks due to holidays, weather, the Patriots or Red Sox being in the playoff games, or other such considerations.

The key is to be consistent. At one point we started promptly at 7:00 PM and often didn't wind up until around 11:00. These days it's usually between 7:30 and 7:45 when everyone can arrive and we finally get rolling and the games end promptly at 10:00 PM because of family members of players expecting them home at specific times. So our games are shorter, but you make some sacrifices in order to keep things going without having to lose long-time members.

So do what you have to do to keep the ball rolling. If that means only playing once a month, so be it. The key is the quality not the quantity.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Chimera, that's almost like my gaming life! Except the chatter used to run until 8 PM and we always end at 11PM. Now that we've calmed down a bit, the chat ends by 7, and we still run until 11, so that's a bit better, but still.

I'm guessing that in 20 years, this all gets better. Boy, I hope so!

 

[The Shaman]

Our tabletop gaming group plans to meet twice-monthly, and for the most part we stick to it - things got a little crazy around the holidays, so we're actually scheduling a whole weekend in March to make up for lost time. Normally we just play for a Friday evening, but instead we've got an entire Saturday blocked out - should be interesting.

I've gone the play-by-post route as well - it's really a great opportunity to try out lots of different games and ideas without taking up a huge amount of time.

 

[IronWolf]

Every relationship is unique, so I can't give blanket advice for all married men, but the key for me was decalring game night my "guys night out". My wife has her girl's night and then its my turn to look after the baby.

This is what I do, I have a deal worked out with my wife that every other week I have a game night. This happens on a weeknight as weekends are just too busy around here to try to schedule a regular game. We have found that weeknight games are a little more manageable to keep a schedule.

My wife has a "mom's night out" that happens once a month. Outside of that I just try to be very accomadating if she wants a night off or just head into the city to shop or have dinner with her friends. So far it works out well for the two of us.

 

[Buttercup]

Once a month is what we do.

I feel your pain. We have tried many times to game twice a month, but we're all busy adults with lots of committments. None of us have children, but we all have careers and other hobbies, friends, family etc, etc. I DM one session a month, play in a game with most of the same players that also meets once a month, and to make sure I get my gaming fix I play at the FLGS in Steve Creech's game every other week. So I'm playing two Saturday evenings a month and one Sunday afternoon, and DMing on one Sunday afternoon.