Stable campaigns

[Pteryx]

What's a girl got to do to find some stability?! :mad:

Oh, sure, I was quite happy to find when we moved to the area that there's an actual, established game store with actual people playing RPGs in it. However, after several months playing there, I'm pissed at the fact that everyone there switches characters every few weeks and any so-called campaign is scrapped every couple of months. How do you have time to develop cohesion as a team, let alone IC interpersonal relationships, when every week someone or another gets bored with their In-Game Abilities?

I'm thinking of trying to run a game myself with provisions enforcing people sticking with one character, but frankly I'm worried that even that won't work.

Any suggestions? -- Pteryx

[JohnTaber]

Hi P,

Maybe you should pitch your gripe to some of your favorite players and see what they would think about sticking with a given PC for a while? I've found that by maintaining a core group of characters often other players will gain the same mentality. In my situation I found 4 people who were willing to stick for a while. I convinced them to give it a try. After a couple of months the others caught on...maybe something like this would work for you too...

[starblaze]

Been there, wish is the very reason I don't do store games anymore.

[GenreFiend]

But what's even worse is the GM dropping the game just as you're really starting to get into your character. Then, of course, there are the campaigns that suddenly end because everyone's schedule has suddenly changed. Pain in the butt.

[Trebuchet]

Things like this are the reason my 11-year-old campaign is "By Invitation Only." We look for personality compatibility before anything else; in fact fully half of our players had no HERO or even role-playing experience. We've had minor changes as players have moved away (or left for other reasons), but most of our original players are still playing the characters they started with.

I think the only way you're going to get stable groupings is to run the campaign yourself. That's one of the main reasons I decided to start my own campaign as opposed to just being one of a group of GMs in a virtual pickup game.

[Strike13]

I will tell you from experience that it will be hard to get the players to change. When first learning the game some of the more experienced gamers we played with taught us to make up numerous characters and play whichever one we felt like. The only upside to that is that I got a chance to play every type of character so when I finally had to decide what type I wanted to play I knew which I liked the best. One thing I have found to help prevent this is to have the players who like to change a lot make two different characters and play the one they feel like for that particular sassion. It is a little bit more work on the GM when you are expecting one set of characters and the players want the other. On the other hand it is better than the sitation you described.

[RadeFox]

If I ever have to help start up a new game group, I can tell you, I will be all for Interviewing prospective players before a game, with them making up a character they would like to play and the two of us discussing it over in detail. This helps weed out the *ahem* less desireable gamers before you have to sit with them for 10 hours around a table. :P

I am also a proponent of the Probationary Player. Once you find a gamer you think will fit with your group, let them know that it will be up to the whole group, or majority, at the end of say 3 or 4 games to decide if they are chosen to become permanent seats.