What to do after a not-so-good session???

[DarrenGMiller]

I second guess myself for days after a bad session and am VERY hard on myself. Then I go right bakc to it the next week after intense self-examination and discussion with my players.

DM

 

[maggot]

After a bad session, I usually write an email to my best friend who is in the group. Something along the lines of "did that game suck as much as I thought." We discuss it, and I narrow down how things went bad. For things like too slow or not getting into the flow or bad descriptions, I vow to do better next time. For things like plot holes or parts of the campaign that aren't working, I rewrite future adventures to address the concerns.

I've had a fair number of clunkers (out of two hundred or so total games), and the next session is often very good because of extra planning and dedication. I usually don't email everyone unless something really bad happens or I have a great idea. I've found that emailing everyone becomes a gripe-session that isn't as productive as one on ones. When I'm really sneaky, I contact multiple players independently. Luckily many of my players are old friends that I can confide in.

But once, I nearly killed the whole party with a seemingly random encounter. The players were clearly upset that I tried to off them, while I just greatly miscalculated. In this case, I emailed everyone after the game to state my original intent and own up to my error.

 

[Nareau]

Talk about it with your players. Last week's session was pretty tedious at times, and we spent a good portion of this session discussion what went wrong. It was very useful.

Spider

 

[Terwox]

I tend to take a break or nix the campaign or change something significantly after having an off session.

 

[StupidSmurf]

One bad session does not a campaign's life decide. Or something like that.

Remember: When the horse throws you off, feed it to a griffon and ride THAT instead!

In other words, plow on ahead. Not every session is going to be great. Heck, not every session is going to be good. Or average. I'd say, just soldier on. Talk about it with your group, so at the very least you show them that you're concerned about the quality of your game.

Do you have game post-mortem sessions? You know, after the game, some folks hang around and chat about the game and how it went?

 

[Hor Kai Lan]

Do you have game post-mortem sessions? You know, after the game, some folks hang around and chat about the game and how it went?

Yeah most of us do that... some people tend to leave a few minutes after the session but in their defense they have the longest drives home... we usually do take some time to talk about what happen and plan for the logistics of the next session.

And now that 24 hrs have past, I do feel a 'lil better but still realize that the session was overall a poor one. But like I said in my initial post I plan to just chalk it up and plan for the next one to be solid. It does help to hear that others have bad sessions from time to time (which I knew happens - but still nice to hear). I've done the DM thing for awhile and knew the answer to my question. Just needed to hear from others as well

I know for me... the few times this happens I'm forced to fight the urge to hit the "reset" button and begin a new game or at least place the current one on the backburner. I'm doing my best to fight that urge and complete what we've started. And I've been successful in the past, but still have that voice in the back saying, "go ahead - people like rolling new characters - and you have a ton of ideas you'll likely never get to - here's your chance."

 

[Mark CMG]

Just needed to hear from others as well

You can find even more horror stories, and some other advice, linked from this thread (bookmark it) -


http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47525


Have fun at the next session!

 

[Ant]

Relax and take a deep breath. Sometimes, no matter how much you prepared or how well behaved your players were, things just don't work.

We're not big fans of over-analysing sessions with post mortems. I have been known to ask a question now and then regarding campaign direction etc but usually it's a case of sucking it up, getting back on that partially-griffin-devoured horse and giving it another crack.

Tonight we played our last session of the year and, as DM, I applied the "it's better to finish up too early rather than too late" rule. A few players were tired, we were at a cliffhanger, some of the guys wanted more ... see you all next year!

 

[darthkilmor]

after the last two times I dm'd and the players didnt really seem to be having any fun, I realized that I suck as a DM and should just stick to playing. But if you've been doing it for awhile then you probably are decent enough at it.

What went wrong out of curiousity? adventure that you thought would be fun but nobody liked? obscure rules get in the way?

 

[francisca]

I'm sure this subject has been around... but I guess I'm curious what others do plus maybe venting will help a little. Earlier today, we had a not-so-good gaming session. Probably the worst session, I've personally DMed in 3 years or so. And now I'm left with the "yuck" feeling.

I know that no matter what anyone does, there always a chance a session will tank and not live up to standards but this was a particular downer. We never got into the flow, there were a couple of rule arguements... and this was all surprising given the fact we had somewhat of a layoff between sessions. Everyone seemed excited leading up to today. Could have been we were rusty. But nevertheless, that doesn't take away the sucktastic feeling I have.

I just plan to cowboy up and chalk it up to one of "those things that tend to happen now and again". But I wish I could get a reroll on today's session

Yeah, it happens. Just get over it. It's just a game.