Dimension 20’s Brennan and Ally have expert advice on keeping a gaming group together

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Yeah, flakiness death spiral is real real. When I ran a campaign for over a year, we actually had a 3 month break in there because, well, that.

It was a miracle we got it going again, and then finished it (to universal acclaim).

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Yeah. Fact of the matter is, if you want to run an ongoing campaign it is a semi-permanent time commitment and life gets in the way of commitments all the time. My wonky work schedule due to frequent boat trips and other life shit has definitely been a contributing factor to campaign decay because it’s made it difficult for me to keep that commitment. You only keep the commitment if it feels like there’s a reason to keep setting that time aside, and getting too busy or missing too many sessions repeatedly starts eroding the reason. If everyone else can still hang even if one person is missing, it keeps the reason stronger.

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it’s funny because I have absolutely had this experience - but I also had a group recently take a break from our campaign of over a YEAR (as in the break lasted more than a year), just because we all got super busy, and I weirdly never felt like we were never going to return to it. sure enough, we did, once everyone’s schedules cleared up a bit. I think previously I would’ve seen missing a few weeks in a row as a surefire death sign, but I guess it doesn’t seem as damning now, as long as everybody stays in contact and is genuinely still interested in returning to the campaign.

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When I started the Auldnoir Lancer campaign, I got really worried because we took a 3-week break right at the beginning, I think between Session 2 and 3? And I was already like “Yup, its done, there’s no way we’re coming back from this, not this soon” but luckily enough all players were interested enough that not only they came back, but with more enthusiasm. And I feel that’s a key point that not a lot of people bring up when talking about games: Its not just about GMing, but getting people who are genuinely interested in spending time with the group.

I have this one friend that got me into TTRPGs, and I got into this ritual were every time we finish running a game, we get into a call and talk about how it went, exchanging details, tips, advice or just generally vibing. Recently she closed a campaign of Perfect Draw where she got 6 sessions done over the course of 4 months or so, because a couple of players simply didn’t like the game (she had her suspicions, but no one spoke out). In her last session, someone straight up dropped mid-call because they just didn’t want to be in it anymore, and she finally had confirmation. I mentioned that this was probably a person she wants to avoid playing with in the future, not because of their lack of interest but due to not voicing out any concerns, complaints or suggestions, just delaying and making the experience worse for others.

I’ve also long decided that my ideal numbers of players is 4. Not only that’s a pretty even way of distributing classes/playbooks/specialties, but it also makes it easier for me to explain that if one person isn’t able to join, I’ll still run the game for the other 3, save in case of critical plot developments. I’m also the kind of person that shares my own notes with others, and encourages players to do the same, so even someone who can’t make to the session will not miss a lot. And it keeps the game fresh for everyone else, as well as more stable.

Personally, I feel one of the major flaws in getting people into the hobby is the obsession with introducing new systems, house rules, or tools, when there should really be a focus on making the campaign attractive on a social level, making players feel like they belong and are safe to voice their preferences or distastes to each other, and to the GM. Hell, I’ve ran games where I flat out bribed players with Exp to give me any type of criticism, because I really need them to point out what is missing or what I’m not showing enough or what they want to see, or else the games just won’t take off.

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a ttrpg group is like sex: everyone should be having a good time, it falls apart if there’s no communication, when you’re unsure of the outcome of an action you roll some dice,

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Yeah, a group can definitely survive breaks if they care enough about the group to want to return. Truly so much of this hobby relies on the social dimensions. Gestures at every GM advice video that has to go “that is a table problem, not something you can rules or structure your way out of”

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From what I can tell, a very common and bad genre of DMs is ones who do try to rule or structure their way out of everything

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I will say, though, it helps that you are easily the most invested and engaged GM I’ve ever had for any TT game and I get excited every week that I know we have a session both to spend a few hours with our other players and also to see what you’ve cooked up for us this time.

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thank u :melting_face:

I need to remember to still do something if plans get canceled. With one group, I don’t mind doing nothing because i’m lowkey tired of one of the players, but i do think it’s important to keep that ritual going. We did it a bunch with one of my old groups when someone couldnt make it.

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I had a GM who had a bunch of silly one-shots we’d play in character for that he’d pull out of his pocket when brains were not braining and they would be canonized ICly as “dreams” :smile_cat:
I’m used to just playing anyway if one player can’t make it, but that’s because most of my context is through gaming in IRC where the logs of everything can be saved and sent to everyone, so less fear of missing something. Usually the character is just assumed to be there but quiet, although I did play some games where the GMs would come up with creative ways to explain why someone was out of the picture for the session (I remember a friend’s character canonized as “being the nemesis of awnings” bc of how often they would “accidentally” drop on him and knock him out :joy:).

Really a lot of this boils down to my general opinion that most Sessions Zero should have a really strong focus on gathering everyone’s expectations (not just about scheduling but also content red lines, tone, rules, conflict mediation, etc) and agreeing on a common standard to follow.

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