tyler
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 226
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Post by tyler on Feb 23, 2017 15:52:28 GMT -8
Recently, I've tried starting a couple games. One was simple, running the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign for a group of mostly new players. One player got super flaky and we never made it past the first session. After a few weeks of trying to schedule our second session, I found my interest in that game completely shot.
So I got the reliable players from that group together and offered to run Deadlands (Classic, not Reloaded) we got together and started working on characters, but again, one of the people added to the group got really flaky, a second session never got scheduled, and interest died once again.
I still really want to run a game. Problem is, at this point, I don't know what to run.
How do you guys give legs to new campaign ideas, and how do you stay focused on them when scheduling games gets difficult?
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Post by Kainguru on Feb 23, 2017 16:05:40 GMT -8
Real life some times gets in the way, we just roll with it and breakout 'cards against humanity' if we don't have a quorum of players that night. We had huge scheduling difficulties last year as I was GM FFG Star Wars but working away from home 3 to 4 days/nights a week. I kept between session stuff updated with a dedicated facebook page that'd I'd update with the likes of 'Holonet News' and 'Communications from Rebel High Command' that tied in with the game while I was away. Aaron
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Feb 24, 2017 6:54:04 GMT -8
I recently started running The Black Hack for some fantasy gaming. The right amount of simplified OSR rules while letting the players do what they want. Player doesn't show up or drops from the game? That's cool, the other players aren't hobbled.
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Feb 24, 2017 8:07:22 GMT -8
Deciding when you set the game up what the schedule would be ahead of time might help stave off those scheduling woes, too.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Feb 24, 2017 8:08:45 GMT -8
As I've got older, and life has got in the way more and more, our groups havecome to accept tha sometimes you get let down. So between three groups, here are three solutions. All have the the result of maintaining GM interest, but your mileage may vary:
1: Fix firm dates up to a year in advance, but so so sparingly. My original al group (now four of us) does this, meeting about six times a year. And get this, rotating GMs so each campaign only gets one or two sessions a year. One of those campaigns has been going on for over thirty years. 2: Accept that players are not going to turn up to every session and have a weekly game night. My current D&D group does this. Two players are in the military so may be away for months, if so we start a new campaign for their absence. Otherwise players' characters are just backgrounder in the main campaign, the GM narrates (ineffective) action in combats while the rest of us carry on as normal, and my Naked Elf Barbarian wins. 3: The flakey player bows out long term. My wife's job changed, making it more difficult for me to get to my Thursday group. I didn't choose to turn up occasionally, they miss me, which is nice, and I hope one day I'll get to return.
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on Feb 24, 2017 9:01:47 GMT -8
Last time I did a campaign it was with Dungeon World, and I went with a totally episodic style. The PCs are a crack team of adventurers "recruited" by the army in a campaign on the front-lines in a war. Each session was basically a unrelated one-shot (but in the background I was slowly working a story arc for the war itself).
This worked so well at first because I had a core group with lots of ad hoc flaking. Then we settled on a core group of consistently showing up players, so I actually started doing a few 2-4 session arcs, which didn't completely break down.
My more recent option is to get my fix in other ways: Forget about campaigns, and explore one-shot gaming systems of the indie variety. But if you've followed any of my posts, you know I'm a "peace and love and ganja" RPG hippie. Microscope, The Quiet Year, Forget-Me-Not, many PbtA games... these are all relatively easy (?) to pick up, but definitely easy to run as one-shots one you have the feel for them. And some are GM-less so you just need to facilitate, and don't need to "prep", so you can run them at the drop of a hat with whatever players show up.
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Post by kurtpotts on Feb 24, 2017 12:17:52 GMT -8
Something I've had success with is to start new campaigns with a Pilot episode. Do a oneshot with a cliff hanger and see if everyone is interested in moving forward. Then it is up to them to show interest. If they show interest decide on how many times per month everyone is comfortable with playing and schedule the games with a calendar or event planner. I use a facebook group and create events for the games. It sends reminders so you don't have to. I also like to get the players to commit to the first couple games close together. No more than two weeks apart. After 3 weeks everyone forgets who their character was and what they wanted. At least until they play them a couple times.
Something else you can try is start the game with one or two too many players. Then when the flaky players skip it's no big deal.
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mrcj
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 173
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Post by mrcj on Feb 24, 2017 16:18:50 GMT -8
Instead of starting with a campaign. Maybe start with a few one shots with pre-gens or partially made pre-gens and work your way toward a campaign. If your one-shots are flexible to the number of players, then if you are missing one or two you could still go.
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