The mid-lifer schedule crunch

[Gundark]

has anyone come up with creative ways of avoiding huge gaps between sessions? Creative suggestions welcome.

I realise this is going to seem like a joke....but I say it in all seriousness. Stop playing WoW. Stop it now. Uninstall it from your comp. Cancel your subscription. And delete your character(s). I'm in the same place (age, family, job, etc) that you are and believe me once I stopped playing it was like I had all this spare time that WoW ate up before.

 

[Zhaleskra]

In addition to problems with one player's scheduling conflicts, the GM for the d20 Modern game I played had too many plot points that depended on that player's character. Why the GM didn't just NPC the character in the player's absence is beyond me.

 

[brcarl]

Thanks again, everyone, for the great suggestions.

FWIW, we already do a lot of things mentioned. I think the primary problem is that the DM has set the bar very high for himself in terms of plot and story, so it's hard to adjust when players are absent without making things contrived. I doubt he'd have much fun running small one-shots each session.

I really like the idea of getting together to play something other than D&D if "critical mass" can't be reached, but I need to check with the group to see what they'd be interested in. One of the guys already spends two nights a week at the FLGS playing M:tG and other forms of crack so I don't know if he's game for more or less. Others have mentioned other RPGs they've played in the past, but (as I think I said before) I'm pretty sure that none of them (myself included) are up for learning another system.

For now we're going to try to find a couple new players and I think the DM is scaling back his "grand story" to be more flexible. Though he's bummed, I think he's accepted the fact that something is better than nothing. :\

 

[Umbran]

I doubt he'd have much fun running small one-shots each session.

Well, it isn't like the only options are at the poles.

When you watch a TV show, even one with a long plot-arc, each individual epsidoe is a story in and of itself. It has a beginning, middle, and end. There may be threads that aren't fully tied up at the end, of course, but each episode is still a complete morsel, and you can general shift topics somewhat from one episode ot the next.

The same sort of structure may play well in the game - have your overall arc, but preak it down into episodes, between which you can more easily manage the issue of absentee players and the like. The grand story survives - only the structure of the chapters changes

 

[ColonelHardisson]

The last group I was in was also composed of people in their 30s and 40s, with a few mid-to-late 20 somethings. We met on Wednesdays from 6-9 PM. Most players came directly from work to the game. It worked out really well, with it being rare for there to be no-shows. Weekends are generally reserved for family. It also helps that where we gamed was close by for all of us.

 

[bytor4232]

I use Microlite20 for just such an occasion. Characters can be rolled up in a matter of minutes.

In fact, you can even download pre-made roll-playing adventures from my site and soon from the Microlite20 site. Best part about the adventures I'm putting together is they are pretty much Jamis Buck dungeon crawls, with a few things adjusted here and there, and made into PocketMod form. In fact, if you print the PocketMod version of Microlite20, the whole system, with dungeon crawl, fits in your back pocket.

 

[sniffles]

Well, it isn't like the only options are at the poles.

When you watch a TV show, even one with a long plot-arc, each individual epsidoe is a story in and of itself. It has a beginning, middle, and end. There may be threads that aren't fully tied up at the end, of course, but each episode is still a complete morsel, and you can general shift topics somewhat from one episode ot the next.

The same sort of structure may play well in the game - have your overall arc, but preak it down into episodes, between which you can more easily manage the issue of absentee players and the like. The grand story survives - only the structure of the chapters changes

As usual, Umbran gives a great suggestion. I think too many GMs try to plot their adventures like a novel, where everything can be more interconnected, when they ought to plot like a tv series. Think about it: often on tv you'll see an episode in which one character only has a few brief appearances or doesn't appear at all. Actors take breaks. There's no requirement that every character have the same amount of spotlight time in every episode. This can be a good model for a game session. It just requires some flexibility on the part of the GM, since you can't always plan in advance for these situations the way a tv program doesn.

It's interesting to me to see the scheduling problems other groups have. I feel pleased that the group I'm with doesn't generally experience those problems, because we've all committed to making gaming an important activity in our lives. But probably the most important factor for us is lack of children. My group is almost entirely made up of childless-by-choice couples.

I do find it curious that others feel weekday games are more schedule-friendly for them than weekends. I and several of my friends arrive at work between 6 and 7 a.m., and would find it difficult to play on weeknights. Don't childrens' after-school activities make weeknight games problematic?

 

[Aeolius]

...My group is almost entirely made up of childless-by-choice couples. ...

I have 4 kids and we're going back to China soon, for our second adoption (we brought our 3-year old daughter home from China last year). Add to that that I am married (to a non-gamer), work full-time, and have a few animals (dogs, cats, fish, a bird, squirrel, snake, lizard, alpaca, donkey, horses, sheep, goats, and chickens) to care for. I haven't DMed, offline, since 1994.

Granted, I started running Play-by-Post games in 1995. I started with "Into the Land of Black Ice" and now "Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor'alq". I've run one chat-based game in the interum ("Penance of the Damned", where PCs began as larvae) and I am working on an undersea entry-level chat-based mega-adventure.

If I ever organized an offline game at my home, it would have to be on weekends (kids = school = no noise at night) with non-smoking gamers. Considering I live in a town of 7,000, I don't see this happening. Granted, there ought to be a comprimise. Perhaps combining a IRL game with videoconferencing and possibly adding an aid like klooge.werks.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

So I have a great group of 30-something married-with-kids guys (like myself) that I game with, and I enjoy the group immensely when we get together. The only problem is -- getting together is often VERY painful to organize. We're each so busy with our jobs, families and other activities (WoW, anyone? ) that we often go a full month between sessions.

has anyone come up with creative ways of avoiding huge gaps between sessions? ...at least when dealing with groups made up like mine.

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The simple fact is that D&D is just not a game that easily works out for poeple who actually want / need to be able to do other stuff. Students of any sort have few difficulties. They are broke, have minimal outside responsibilities, and schedules that are largely synchronized.

The primary problem is that while its not difficult for your or any one of the members of your game to free up 4 to 7 hours for a game, its very difficult to guarantee that all of you can free up the same block of time. There are a few viable work arounds though.

1) Find and use Dead Time:
If you try to run your games any time between 6:00 pm Friday and 6:00 am Sunday, you will invariably run into at least one of you needing to do something else. In general people like to 'go out and do sh*t on a Friday and Saturday night. And if someone plans on doing something that will take all day, you will be doing it probably on a Saturday.

The most reliable block of dead time is usually from about 12:00pm to 6:00 pm on Sunday. Many places are closed, and most adults don't make plans of any sort that use that time block very often. Failing that, consider running shorter sessions on weeknights.

2) Make the story independent of the characters:
Avoid running a game where you absolutely need certain players to be present, and do not be afraid to let the absent player either be controlled by those present, or just magically be 'around but in the background'. It can strain continuity, but I for one would rather deal with figuring out how to explain a character being useless for about a month in game time then not play at all.

3) Make parallel plans for your family:
If you can find any way to keep your family busy while your doing your game, do so. If they have a regular plan for the block of time that you game, there is much less chance of having something family related disrupt the game.

4) Make sure all players are unreachable once the game begins:
Make it known to your family that you intend to be unreachable for the duration of the game. Turn off the cellphones, and unplug the landlines, and generally make it inconvenient for anyone to reach you. This will cut down on otherwise minor things from cropping up. Take it as far as you reasonably can. If your wife suddenly wants you to pick up or drop something off, or join some other friends for lunch, she ought to be on her own. But if a family member is on their way to the hospital due to being hit by a bus or something, its probably best to be somewhat reachable.

5) The 4 of 5 rule:
Assuming the Sunday Afternoon game schedule, pick at least one weekend a month where you will not game. Make every effort to have plans that require both days of the weekend fall on that weekend if possible.

Anyway, the one thing you have to keep in mind is that while D&D is great, it is ultimately a means of entertainment. And all things being equal, it is a time consuming and often inconvenient means of entertainment. When your trying to set up a game schedule, keep that in mind. Older gamers with families who are also casual gamers are not the sort of players you can rely on to show up regularly. Invariably, something else more interesting will come up and they will ditch the game. If you mean to run a game under your circumstances, be sure you have 4 dedicated players at a minimum (Dm + 3).

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Dragonhelm]

I've been running into similar roadblocks with my own gaming. I'm 34 years old, married, and have two kids. Both kids are in school, and one is in Cub Scouts (the other joins next year). So we're busy as can be with school/scout events.

I've been involved with two games, both of which seem to be imploding in their own ways. One is my friend's game, the first campaign I ever played in with my original character. He's great and his games aren't bad - if his wife isn't there. His wife tends to cause games to be cancelled. She complains if things don't go her way and she'll derail the game if they don't. This has gone on ever since I started playing with them 15 years ago. Honestly, I'm too old for the drama.

My own game is a great group, but we have the worst scheduling issues. We can't game in the week because we live so far away from each other (hour drive for one, the other is half an hour). One player is single, but busy enough. He's usually available. The other one (who brings her sister to game) is severely busy. I had one other player, but he went through four different characters in my game. He decided to drop out when I changed from D&D to a C&C/D&D cross.

We shoot for a monthly game, but it turns out to be once every month to three months. Most recently, it'll be a four-month lag.

I've tried several of the techniques mentioned in this thread already, but to no avail. My guy player really resists any sort of online gaming. I can't just set a date as we all have other events in our lives. Geographically, we can't get together during the week. I don't get home until nearly 7pm anyway. I've tried e-mailing in between sessions as a reminder, but don't always get a response.

Part of it may be my own fault too. I've always dreamed of running a campaign that went from level 1 to level 20. I'm currently running the Age of Mortals trilogy of adventures. Considering our schedules, I just don't think this is going to work any more.

What I'm considering is running the AoM adventures in a play-by-e-mail game. From there, start my current group out brand new on some old-fashioned dungeon crawls, like the DCC line. I'm not sure what to do about my friend's game, though. I think I just need to have a long talk with him and let him know that there are issues. *sigh*

Any advice?