D&D General Why did you have to cancel/reschedule your most recent session?

[Clint_L]

The point of the "on call" players is you find the type of people who would like to play DnD, have the schedule availability that they generally could play most weeks, but they don't want to commit every Saturday (or whatever day) do playing DnD. So now they're able to be a full-time member of the social group while only showing up occasionally when needed.

That type of player is pretty rare, but I've seen people quit before because they loved playing DnD occasionally but didn't want "to get sucked in" to having to play every week. For the right type of person, being "On Call" would make a great option for both them and the rest of the party.

Sounds like your situation is more like everyone wants to play full-time but life gets in the way so they miss games - that's way more common and doesn't really lend itself well to having any of those players be On Call.

Actually, I have a few who might really fit the bill - my bestie who's a lawyer in Vancouver and can't commit to regular games, but is interested in coming over and making guest appearances. And a former player who just can't commit to a schedule but might be into being on call should the occasion arise.

I mean, it's tricky, because obviously you don't want the vibe to be, "hey, you're not quite good enough for the main group," but I think these two guys might appreciate the opportunity.

 

[aramis erak]

Wednesday last, I had post-migraine syndrome, another is down with a corona virus of some kind, (I tested negative). The new guy had a prior commitment in another city this week.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

The point of the "on call" players is you find the type of people who would like to play DnD, have the schedule availability that they generally could play most weeks, but they don't want to commit every Saturday (or whatever day) do playing DnD. So now they're able to be a full-time member of the social group while only showing up occasionally when needed.

I would LOVE to be an "on Call" player.

 

[the Jester]

Our most recent reschedule was an "Other"- the DM's kid had a school concert. Since the game defaults to every other Friday, I can't call this double booking, per se; this is just one of those things that comes up once in a while where another commitment takes priority, and the schedule needs to adjust.

 

[bedir than]

Our last cancellation was because a player passed away. He'd been sick and missing sessions. But when he passed we cancelled a session.
Then the next session we played with the group with his widow watching us.

And now tomorrow we're playing with something like 20 people because he asked us to throw a D&D party in remembrance of him.

we played today. the session wasn't cancelled
we had 5 people who had either never played or not played since the 80s
we had 10 other players
we had a dozen people watch us
It was the perfect tribute for John, who found his voice in this game that unites us

I'll probably have more thoughts on my blog later, but I wanted to be clear -- today wasn't sad. Myself and John's widow were filled with joy because people held back the dead with us

 

[Clint_L]

I would LOVE to be an "on Call" player.

Me too! I seldom get to play because I'm always the one running games.