The mid-lifer schedule crunch

[kenobi65]

It can get sticky if someone was crucial to the plot at the moment- the absent guy is the one having a discussion with the sentient sword of destiny or what have you- but most of us are willing to let someone else (usually the DM) run our PCs if that happens.

We used to do this...if you weren't going to be there, you needed to make sure someone had your character sheet, so your character could be there.

I stopped doing this for a couple of reasons:

1) Most of my players love to create custom character sheets for themselves...with the unfortunate result that no one else knows where anything is on their sheets.

2) Of the 8 players who were in the group during the days when we did this, there were 3 who simply weren't capable of running a second character in addition to their own (they're not as organized or as conversant with the rules), and so, the strain of running 2 PCs fell disproportionately on a few players. And, if I have to run a PC as an NPC myself, I feel that my DMing suffers.

3) We almost always are down at least one, often 2 or 3, players, for any particular session -- one of the players moved out of state several years ago, and is only able to join us every 2nd or 3rd session, and another (my brother-in-law) has a very hard time getting free, given he has 3 kids under 7.

 

[Umbran]

This may be a question without an answer, but has anyone come up with creative ways of avoiding huge gaps between sessions? ...at least when dealing with groups made up like mine.

I tried for a long time, and got really frustrated. The fact of the matter is that work, families, and other hobbies take up time, and if you're competing, you may lose. I eventually gave up. My game stopped running altogether, because I was sick and tired of herding cats.

Oddly enough, the player that lives the farthest away, and who has the new baby so that he has the least free time, came back and asked me to please, pretty please with sugar on top, try to set up something to run once a month. He'd decided he needed at least one getaway that he could count on to help keep him sane.

So I thought about it some, and figured a few changes I could make to how I designed adventures to make the campaign hold interest if run once a month. Everyone feels they can commit to one evening a month, and that'll have to do for now...

 

[rvalle]

Play on a weeknight. (Weekends are either too busy, or the spouses won't want you "wasting" the weekend on D&D.)

Play for no more than 3-4 hours.

Make it a regularly scheduled event that always occurs with the same frequency. That way people can mark it on their calendar months/years in advance.

Either people carve the time out of their schedule so they can play, or they don't.

This is what we do but we do it via a Virtual Desktop (Fantasy Grounds). We play once a week on Thurdsay nights for 3-4 hours.

Its NOT as good as being with friends around a table but it sure beats not playing at all.

rv

 

[Arnwyn]

It can get sticky if someone was crucial to the plot at the moment- the absent guy is the one having a discussion with the sentient sword of destiny or what have you- but most of us are willing to let someone else (usually the DM) run our PCs if that happens.

This is what we do as well, except the missing player's character (or players', but rarely) is run by other player(s). There are no exceptions.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Our group is mid-20's early 30's with me (the DM) being the only married one out of all of us. I found that with a new house and new wife as well as playing sport I could really only play on a weeknight. We currently play roughly once a fortnight from 6pm until 10-11pm (later if we're near the end of a particular point or are in the middle of a fight). I say roughly because, due to scheduling issues, we have very rarely had 3 sessions over 6 weeks.

2 of the players are studying so assignments and exams often cause session changes. One of the players also has a girlfriend who lives interstate so he is sometimes away visiting her. We generally make them missed session up. The once a fortnight scheldule does add in some flexibility for us in that regard. If someone can't make it to a session I just push it back a week and we play 2 weeks in a row instead. It has worked for us so far. Just as long as people let you know in advance so you can reorganise things. There is nothing worse than having players cancel on you at the last minute!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Graybeard]

Our group tries to play every other week. Sometimes that doesn't work out, of course. Depending on how many players are unable to make it, we play anyways. Other times we play an alternate game. Usually, it will be a premade adventure module or something like a Mark of Heroes adventure.

 

[edemaitre]

Schedule crunch

My current gaming group, whose members range in age from early 20s through late 30s, manages to meet most Tuesday nights from about 6:30 to 11:00 p.m. Take away the first hour for setup, the inevitable "Did you watch the latest episode of ... ?" and dinner, and that's still about four hours for three out of four weeks per month (with longer breaks and makeup weekend games around the winter holidays).

Yes, scheduling has gotten progressively more difficult as we all get older and busier with careers and families. I find that nongaming activities, such as board game nights, the occasional dinner out at a restaurant, or genre movies, are good opportunities to bond when not everyone is available. My group lately tends to prefer gaming even with three out of six players rather than lose story and character development time.

I agree that weeknights seem less odious to nongaming spouses and that a regular time (perhaps biweekly) is better than losing momentum between sessions. Another solution is to think of your party as having "main" and "supporting" casts. A few reliable role-players should have characters that most of the plots will involve, while those who come and go (because of school, work, children, or other commitments) should have characters that are able to do so when they do: "Bob is guarding the horses..."

However, you should be ready to accept that the guy who can only show up once in four games is a supporting or cameo character (let him develop powerful Non-Player Character allies or adversaries) and no longer a regular member.

I also use role-play by e-mail, a Yahoo message board, and telephone calls to bridge the gaps between sessions or to fill in remote players who can't attend every session. Note taking becomes more important, but not every player or character has the temperament for it. I try to have a few handouts or updates for each game. We're also in the midst of trying to set up a teleconference for a gamer in St. Louis (we're in the Boston area) that may enable more alumni to participate. While I enjoy videogames, they're still a poor substitute for good face-to-face role-playing!

 

[Endur]

getting together is often VERY painful to organize.

The solution for gatherings that are painful to organize is not to organize.

Just pick a day of the week, and hold the game every week on the same day and time.

Those that can make it, will make it. Those that can't, won't make it. For those it is important, they will rework their schedule to fit.

 

[Raph]

Start a secondary loose, light hearted (and combat/spells/powers-driven) D&D campaign where fresh 1st level characters are all spirited away from their own planes/worlds and put together into a team sent on missions to save prime material worlds (or something less grand like a person or object) which have gone wrong somewhere dowen the line.

Think of it being something like the marvel comic book known as Exiles but medeval fantasy. (or Sliders meets Quantum Leap meets Exlies meets Stargate SG1 meets D&D/Planescape. Make each 'jump' episodic with a clear 'save the day' motive or plot/arc and you even get to be a character as well because your DM/Avatar is the guy who sets the party on the path.

When a character dies/cant make it *BAM* a new one of the same avarage party level apears and your DM/Avatar apears with them and tells the party ''This is your new team mate, enjoy!''

This allows you to play whenever whereever with whoever turns up and have fun with different character concepts/combinations.

Best thing I ever did; I secretly look forward to this campaign more than our regular Cauldron region adventures now!

 

[Siobharek]

Other activities, such as family, can't be helped. But if a player consistently chose a friggin' computer game over face-to-face role-playing, I'd boot him.

We play every 3rd week, and when one of the other players was separated and could only see his kids every 2nd week, we adopted a 2 week/4 week schedule. And the 4 weeks between sessions suck. We can't remember a thing, and commitment is just harder.

Commitment - that's the rub. If you can't commit, and I mean really commit to role-playing, it's simply impossible to run a campaign with any regularity at all. You can still game, of course, but the experience just isn''t the same.

So what kind of commitment are we talking about? Well, it means (in my book at least), that if the missus suggests that you do something on a particular Sunday (we play Sundays), you ask if it can' t be moved. If friends invite you over for a particular night, you ask if it can be another night. You don't make other commitments that will interfere with gaming on that particular night.

If you won't do that, don't believe you'll get the deep, immersive role-plauing experience, because the consistency just won't be there.