Wasted Days & Wasted Nights

[Edsel]

Our normal Dark Champions game was a bust last night. Of the 6 players only 2 showed-up, one less than the minimum I had set the game for. Two people canceled early (work and social obligations). One got sick (really sick, feaver, etc.). The fourth just never showed-up and we never heard why. Needless to say the two people who did show-up were a little miffed but we made out okay. We ate pizza, worked on characters and equipment and watched a little anime.

How often do your games go bust at the last minute like this? What happens when they do? What sort of a Plan-B do you fall back on?

[Blue]

Almost never.

In our case, we only play every couple weeks, and we take great care to pick out a time when we hit more than the minimum number of players. Last time we cancelled a game on game-day was two years ago, and due to the GM having a relative die. Can't blame him for that.

If I'm running, I'll run with as few people as possible. But invariably I wind up with 7-10, which isnt't easy in hero system to run a combat.

[Nevenall]

We are pretty much the opposite of Blue's group.
Even if there was no game we would show up and joke around.
If the GM feels prepared enough to play we play, if not, we play Magic.

[Spectrum]

Haven't expierenced anything like that for awhile. But when it did we just hung out, played some video games or something.

But on more than one occasion when something like that did happen to a game I was in it usually ended up the begining of the end. Several people don't show for one session then it happens again later and the next thing I know the game has, for the most part, fizzled out and it ceases to be.

[Koshka]

I think the most people I've had cancel out on a game is two -- they were on vacation, and they gave lots of advance notice. (Not just because they wanted me to house-sit, either.) There's been a few games called on account of the GM being sick, but that doesn't really count.

[RDU Neil]

Well, considering the last few games have been bust... family crises and other situations unavoidable... it does happen.

If I was GMing, I'm always able to come up with something. Most players have more than one PC in my world... and if the game I had planned doesn't work out, they can grab a couple of wild martial artists or crime fighters or whatever... and we have an off the cuff adventure. Right now, we are trying to get our newest/youngest player take the reins of GMing because she wanted to try. She isn't bad for brand new to the big chair... but when things don't work out... logistics wise... it has been a downer for her.

[Curufea]

Munchkin. Or Lunch Money, or some other short game - either card or board.

[Edsel]

The campaign I run is totally serial--meaning that I can't skip over things since campaign continuity is everything. For Saturday's game it was critical that a particular character be present. I had word 48 hours previous that the character in question would be present. Then he came down with plague or something similar.

Normally our group has four very reliable members. A fifth who makes it to about 75% of the games. A sixth whose job situation sounds like it will be firming up in a couple of weeks so he will become much more reliable. And finally a seventh, still fairly new, who vanished on Saturday.

It wasn't really a wasted night though we had pizza, talked, redesigned a character and cooked up some cool vodoo magics for the vodoo character. It was just kind of a let-down for me since I am really getting into my game and I think the players are as well. I think Saturday was just a fluke and things will be back to normal for next secession. Our group only games once per two weeks due to everyone's schedules, etc.

[shadowcat1313]

our current group is alternating an AD&D/Arduin campaign with a Pulpish Hero campaign, two different GM's, so one way or another somebody has something we can run, of our current 7, 4 of us GM, so we can always come up with something to play, and we normally play on tuesdays, with thursdays as a backup in case of problems, so we've managed to keep things steady for just about a year now

[Eosin]

Plague boy raises his shamed hands - It was me! I had to call in sick to work tonight on top of missing the game but at least I am no longer in the fever coma. :o

[Eosin]

But on more than one occasion when something like that did happen to a game I was in it usually ended up the begining of the end.

We have been a group for well over a decade (some maybe even 2 decades) so that ain't really an issue.

[TheQuestionMan]

Our normal Dark Champions game was a bust last night. Of the 6 players only 2 showed-up, one less than the minimum I had set the game for. Two people canceled early (work and social obligations). One got sick (really sick, feaver, etc.). The fourth just never showed-up and we never heard why. Needless to say the two people who did show-up were a little miffed but we made out okay. We ate pizza, worked on characters and equipment and watched a little anime.

How often do your games go bust at the last minute like this? What happens when they do? What sort of a Plan-B do you fall back on?

This happened to my Shadowrun Campaign constantly. I am afraid that's what happens when "Real Life" (ha!) intrudeds on Gaming. My favourite Superhero solution is Guest Starring, Altered Reality, & Flash Backs. I always give the Players more experience because they showed up and the others did not.

Hope that helps

QM

[JohnTaber]

This RARELY happens now that everyone has cell phones and such but last month in my Star Hero game this DID happen. Only 2 people showed up out of 6. I decided that the loyal ones and I deserved to play so I ran something. I actually ran a scene that I had come up with in my head then ditched as my players took a tangent. It was tons of fun and players seemed to have a great time.

[Doc Democracy]

Our group tries to meet regularly and real life isn't a regular thing. When we don't have three players or the GM has to cancel a night (an no-one wants to run a one-off) we turn to boardgames.

We've had some of our best nights playing boardgames like Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico and Al-hambra.

They are nice short games (about an hour on average) and so we get three or four games in and are able to be more foolish than is possible during an RPG.


Doc

[tkdguy]

There are a few alternative games you can play if the rpg isn't working. The Pirate game Wizkids produces is easy to set up. You build your ships from cardstock, place the islands and treasure randomly, and play.

[tkdguy]

The link: http://www.wizkidsgames.com/pirates/

[Lord Mhoram]

We don't usually have a problem with that. Now every now and again something real life gets in the way - family emergencies, bithdays, anniversaries*.. but that is usually with some sort of warning. My wife's schedule only allows her to be there every other week.

Our way to deal with it. - on the days when the wifey is there, we game in one Champs campaign, even if other's don't show up - the little oneshots are flashbacks or flashforwards.
If she doesn't show up either I or one other player GMs. I have my game set to be fairly episodic and try and keep major things down to one session, so I can do the fill in thing. The other GM runs a regular game when all of us show up (and I sometimes run in that situation as well).

If no one feels prepared, we chat, listen to whatever funky music I got in the last few weeks, the computer geeks show off new things on their computers or stuff like that. Even if we don't game we get together every Thursday (the only day all/most of us have off). :)


* We have one guy who flies out to Jersey twice a year to do security for the Chiller Horror cons. He's been doing that forever.

[atlascott]

Out of a total of 7 players that started this campaign 3 years ago, only 4 reliably show up now. Two have explicitly said they dont want to play. One just never responds and shows about once every 6 months, and more recently, a key player and former stalwart has missed 3 of 5 sessions, and showed late at another. I just ruled that no show players dont get to raise their characters if/when they die, and so far, it has gotten rid of 2 PC's.

I am considering starting a new game with only the stalwarts, but we shall see...

We watch a movie, go get food, something like that. Sometimes, we just call it and do nothing. I hate cancelled sessions, esp since we only get together like 1x per month or less!

[AliceTheOwl]

We have The Crew That ADD Built (no offense to anyone with ADD intended) for our gaming group. Sometimes everyone shows up; sometimes no one does. Sometimes people call; sometimes they don't. Sometimes they collaborate a time to skip and never tell the rest of us.

Hopefully soon we'll be picking up the game again with a much smaller group, but I'm not too hopeful about that. Things are really chaotic right now, and the new apartment doesn't have the Ideal Gaming Basement perk going for it.

But when we do have only a couple of players show up, sometimes we'll run a small one-shot, and others we'll watch a movie or something. Totally depends on everyone's moods.

[buzz]

FYI, these are all biweekly groups that have been together going on 2+ years or so.

The Friday Crew (HERO): I can only think of a single session where someone cancelled right before gametime. The group as a whole isn't interested in mini or card games (though one guy is a Dawn Patrol maniac), and no one was perpared to pinch-hit, so we just took the night off. I guess HERO just inspires loyalty. :)

The Saturday Crew (D&D, some d20): When I first joined, games seemed to get cancelled last-minute quite a bit. Some players left, some new ones joined, and now we're pretty regular. There are a couple guys who are notorious for being MIA w/o notice, but they're outnumbered by the ones who always show up, so we're able to play regardless. There are a lot of CMG fans in this group, so if there's no way to make an RPG happen, they can usually just whip together some MechWarrior or SW minis. I have no interest in that, though, so I just stay home if I know that's what we'll be doing.

(Not that I don't like hanging out with this group socially, but it's time away from my wife. If there's no RPGing to be had, I prefer to give her my time instead. Most board/card/mini games just hold no interest for me.)

The Tuesday Crew (D&D): Somewhere in between the first two. Falling in the middle of the week, I think there tend to be fewer excuses for people to skip sessions. Still, we have the occasional no-show, but we usually get some notice.

[Scifi_Toughguy]

You have three bi weekly groups AND a wife!?!?!?! Mine games with me and I wouldn't dream of getting involved in that many. Please, tell me how you do it.

[buzz]

You have three bi weekly groups AND a wife!?!?!?! Mine games with me and I wouldn't dream of getting involved in that many. Please, tell me how you do it.
Well, we don't have any kids, which makes things easier. That, and my wife has extra-curricular* activities of her own: dance classes, dog training (our pup is getting certified as a therapy dog), coaching track, etc. She also has her own friends and family she spends time with when I'm gaming. Basically, we make time for each other's interests.

Joining these groups also helped me make a bunch of new friends in our area. We had just moved, switched jobs, and seen some of my oldest friends move out to opposite coats. "Putting myself out there" to game with total strangers was a new thing for me; she was happy to encourage it. Now I have lots of new friends, go to GenCon regularly with them (my wife, too, sometimes), organize ENWorld Chicago Gamedays... and she's become good friends with some of the other wives in my groups.

To paraphrase Garret Morris, gaming has been "berry, berry good to me." As long as I keep my hobby at the approrpiate priority level, she's happy to encourage it.

Really, my wife is just determined to claim the crown of "Best Non-Gaming Gamer Wife Ever". And, afaic, she's won hands-down. :)



*We're not in school, but it sounded better than "extra-marital". :)

[Cybertooth]

The campaign I run is totally serial--meaning that I can't skip over things since campaign continuity is everything. For Saturday's game it was critical that a particular character be present. I had word 48 hours previous that the character in question would be present. Then he came down with plague or something similar.

Normally our group has four very reliable members. A fifth who makes it to about 75% of the games. A sixth whose job situation sounds like it will be firming up in a couple of weeks so he will become much more reliable. And finally a seventh, still fairly new, who vanished on Saturday.

It wasn't really a wasted night though we had pizza, talked, redesigned a character and cooked up some cool vodoo magics for the vodoo character. It was just kind of a let-down for me since I am really getting into my game and I think the players are as well. I think Saturday was just a fluke and things will be back to normal for next secession. Our group only games once per two weeks due to everyone's schedules, etc.

Sorry to hear.

I rarely put as much work into the campaign, as it seems you did. Usually, there would be some sub-plot for the players who did show up to participate in. However, if I ever had a session that absolutely needed certain players to show up, who didn't, I would then run the "Great Supervillain Contest."

Whoever did show up would be pitted in a giant ring, either singly or as a group against a supervillain/group of my chosing. It was great fun and nothing to like a good ol' knock down drag out to make everyone forget that they weren't playing the usual campaign.

[tkdguy]

An even worse scenario is when the game dies because people lose the energy to play halfway through. That happened a couple of times in an old AD&D group I had. People just started dozing off after dinner (we were gaming at someone's house; we usually crashed at the host's place). It particularly sucked for me because I had to go across the bay by train, and it was too late to go home.

[input.jack]

Our group consists of, basically, three different but interconnected game groups, based on who is available when. I am in 3 game days (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) because, as a freelance artist and general slacker, I...um...dont really have a work schedule. The rest of the groups are built around who can show up regularly, and the players have all arranged their work schedules to allow for game days.

We also have a large whiteboard with a calendar marked out on it, and we write in dry-in pen what will be running when. That way, when people have conflict, they can check the schedule, tell people, leave notes, etc.

Our group is also weird in that each of the three game days has two Refs, who alternate weeks they run on. For example, I run my HERO game on Tuesdays, alternating with one of my roomatyes who runs his game in the same campaign world, but in a different city. So Im in 6 active games, one of which I run.

Overall, we have alot of consistency, as we are ALL hard-core gamers, and consider showing up for the game to be our social obligation, as well as our hobby. When someone cant show up, we either figure out a way to switch who is reffing, figure out a way to write that character out of the scenario temporarily (as in "Okay, a couple of days have gone by since you defeated the VIPER nest. In that time, Goldenstar got a message that her father was injured, and has gone back home to be with him in the hospital. Meanwhile...)

If we cant work something like that out...we hang out, watch DVDs, or play Heroscape.

I really like Heroscape. I like actual gaming MORE :D

[Lamrok]

That's just life for our group. Most of us are over 40 and have heavy committments to jobs and family. Lots of these issues pop up with little or no warning. Putting together a date on which everyone can be present is sometimes simply impossible.

In general, I think that if less than three players are confirmed by the game day, GMs will try to reschedule. If two players actually do show up, GMs will run (I don't think we've ever had a situation in which only one player showed). We usually get four or five players, but 100% attendance is fairly rare. GMs tend to work this into game plots - I, for example, work really hard to make my game very episodic, allowing players to cycle in and cycle out without a lot of need to explain why.