Why can't you be prepared for a game session

[Desdichado]

Is stops being "just a game" when it detracts from the fun other folks have. At that point it moves to being a "discourteous pain in the ass".

Bingo again. In my group, it doesn't distract from anyone else's game if someone's looking for a new feat at the beginning of the session, so for us that's what makes it different.

Although they'd probably wait until we took a break to do that, honestly.

 

[Rel]

Bingo again. In my group, it doesn't distract from anyone else's game if someone's looking for a new feat at the beginning of the session, so for us that's what makes it different.

I certainly can't argue with that. The only further point I'll make is that clearly for the OP, the annoyance is rising to the point of detracting from his fun. If this has been communicated and if the behaviour continues then he'll have to weight whether he wishes to continue GMing for that person(s).

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Well that seems a bit of a shame considering how much time you put into making it.

Yeah....but it'd still be worth it.

 

[Morpheus]

I complained, she has the day off, guess who the bad guy is. I can't tell you how many times parents leave early from work. I asked once and was told no.

Yeah I'm bitter.

Boy, what a jerk!

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Some people are just plain lazy and inconsiderate. Sad but true.

 

[Agback]

First rank, obviously, is health and family; they must come first. Beyond that, though, friends should come next, even if it's nothing more than calling to explain an absence.

For me the issue is not that it is a social engagement, but that it is an agreement, a contract. It doesn't mmatter whom you made the contract with. What matters is teh price you have induced them to pay, and the requital you owe them for paying that price. You offer people, whether they be friends or strangers, a deal: "If you will give up other uses of you time, and be at Tony's as 7 on Saturday, I will do the same, and we will be able to play D&D" (or have a black tie dinner, or whatever). If they accept the deal and pay the asking price, they own your time. On the other hand, if they accept the deal and don't go through with the commitment, they are lying welshers who have vandalised your alternative uses of that time.

When you stand people up on any rendezvous, you not only make a choice for yourself, you also force a choice on them, willy-nilly. The rights and wrongs of that have nothing to do with where they stand in your children-employer-family-customers-friends-employees-strangers hierarchy. It is not about you.

I'm running a game on Thursday nights. To make time for it, I had to re-schedule my weekly family dinners to Wednesday nights, do my game prep, have my dinner early. Thursday before last all four of my players failed to show up. No notice, nothing. Just no shows. They stood me up. Now in effect they were all saying "You are not as important as X". To which my reply is "Maybe not to you, you high-handed, welshing liar. But I am more important than X to me. Imposing a waste of my time on me is not all about you, you self-centred, inconsiderate, mannerless pig."

 

[sniffles]

This thread really got me thinking. Just recently I had a request from my Champions GM to send him an updated copy of my character. I hadn't made any changes to her since the last time I gave him a copy. In addition, he usually wants them done in the Heromaker software application, which I don't know how to use - my fiancee usually does my character for me. Between busy schedules, we just didn't get an opportunity to send the GM a new copy. I emailed him a couple of days before the game and apologized.

But the GM's repeated requests for a new copy made me feel rather irritable. Gaming is my main social activity and source of fun. Having to worry about getting my character sheet updated for a game is a bit like having to have homework done before class. I don't really like the idea of having 'homework' for my entertainment.

Granted, you do have to make a certain commitment to having a character and a character sheet in order to participate in a roleplaying game, but it's my own fault if I don't keep that character up to date. It shouldn't really hurt anyone but me. OTOH, I do admit that if someone I played with regularly failed to do any prep work for a game, it would probably get on my nerves too, because it does seem to signify a lack of commitment to the game, and I'm pretty committed to my gaming experience (my Champions episode not withstanding).

 

[Agback]

Granted, you do have to make a certain commitment to having a character and a character sheet in order to participate in a roleplaying game, but it's my own fault if I don't keep that character up to date. It shouldn't really hurt anyone but me

Just so. If you dont get time to spend experience that affects only your character, and the loss nearly all falls on you (moreso in Champions than in D&D, because levelling is not so dramatic, and PCs tend no to depend on one another quite so much). That's a fair decision to take in how you allocate your time. It doesn't really become a imposition on a lot of other people until you say "Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated my charcter. Just wait a minute while I do it now." or "Sorry, I haven't been paying attention. What's happening in the game?"

 

[sniffles]

Just so. If you dont get time to spend experience that affects only your character, and the loss nearly all falls on you (moreso in Champions than in D&D, because levelling is not so dramatic, and PCs tend no to depend on one another quite so much). That's a fair decision to take in how you allocate your time. It doesn't really become a imposition on a lot of other people until you say "Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated my charcter. Just wait a minute while I do it now." or "Sorry, I haven't been paying attention. What's happening in the game?"

Yes indeed. I would never expect my fellow players to hold up the game while I leveled up my character, nor would I get upset if things went badly for me because I had failed to do so in advance.

 

[The_Universe]

I can't be prepared because I was abducted by aliens.

Really!