Am I asking too much of my players? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Am I asking too much of my players? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ShadowDragon8685
09-15-05, 05:27 AM Okay, we started working on this game about two weeks ago. I've had flakes, I've had players who coulden't find their rear ends with both hands and their face shoved in.

But, I seem to be doing all the work. The game is on friday, set to start sometime around 5 PM Eastern, and I haven't seen a sheet from my players. (Since we use digital medium, it's a matter of a few minutes to transfer a copy.)

The most "together" player says he's about half-done, and he just hasen't gotten around to it. Most of them haven't made ANY posts on the web forum I registered for the group, and the rest don't seem to be very interested. A majority of the posts are mine. x.x

I don't think I'm asking too much. Check the forum once a day, reply to the few topics that are there...
astute1
09-15-05, 06:38 AM I have the same problem with my group - it seems like I have to fight with them to get them interested in anything about the campaign. They just want to show up and play. We tried to set up weekly online chats, and threads on a forum, but none of them ever came or checked it. I think they don't realize that it's hard for the DM to write stuff if they aren't taking an active role in fleshing out the setting, or even their characters. Then they complain because "the adventures don't tie in with their characters."
ShadowDragon8685
09-15-05, 07:36 AM Yeah. It's like they can't be assed to take much of an interest in the game, or the forum, except when it's time to play.

They also seem to expect (some of them,) that they can just show up at gametime with a character pregenerated, despite their character idea which was communcated as being unsuited for the setting (and thus, requiring a strict DM review to pass,) and expect to be allowed to play.

Aiiigh. :(

http://s13.invisionfree.com/DnD_Medine/

If you wanna look at the forums we've set up, go ahead. As you can see, most of the threads and posts are by me. :(
KJW
09-15-05, 07:51 AM Some groups are lazy and others have busy members. You may have to spend your first session helping then draw up their characters. I know this sucks, but this may be the best option to start the campaign out right. My group is pretty good about drawing up characters quickly, and they have full-time jobs and some families, but sometimes things just get out of whack and it takes a little longer to get things moving.

Now your players may surprise you and have their characters before Friday, now if a majority are ready then you should go ahead with the adventure. Do not penalize those who actually do what you asked them to do. The others may miss out or start late and that is a good lesson.

Now with my online group, I find the posting matches the interest level in the campaign. I know I am doing good when we have like a 100 posts in a month, and that I am doing so-so when we have 50 posts in a month. Looking back 3 years ago, the site never broke 10 posts in a month, and that lasted for a year. We switched campaign settings, added a few new members, and things eventually took off, so don't sweat it. It just takes time.
ShadowDragon8685
09-15-05, 07:54 AM Hoi... Time, the one thing I have too MUCH of. Maybe I oughta just go vege out in front of the History Channel for awhile.
Ut-Napishtim
09-15-05, 08:13 AM Well online games are a pretty rough area anyway. I'm playing in three ATM and I've noticed some interesting differences between them. The board I frequent actually has the option to give folks feedback and stuff, so you can kind of check on the players' histories and such. All the games I've joined have been where a DM posts a recruiting announcement, then like 15 people respond, and the DM selects around six players based on who's character concepts he likes, etc. I've noticed a couple players who are chronic dropouts. That is that they join a new game every week, and drop out of a game every week.

In a PBP game though a lot of it is on the DM's shoulders because the level of personal interaction just isn't there. In one game I'm playing the DM dropped out without so much as a word about three weeks ago and we're still waiting for him to come back and post something. The next one has been going well, although we're down to four people now with all the dropouts. Plus the DM is running like five games so usually only posts about once a week, and for some reason likes to award the experience from the last encounter in the middle of the current encounter (not really a big boost for a Wizard to level up in the middle of combat since you have to rest to regain spells). The last is the newest one I've joined, and despite being rather slow-moving (DM doesn't really post a lot on this one either but it's more than 1x/week) it's going alright so far. There was a part where he schooled some of the PC's with some uberNPC, but my character wasn't with them for that so I can't really make any judgements on it.

I don't know man, you don't seem to have much luck with D&D. Every month you have a thread where you get kicked out of group A, decide to leave group B, or have trouble with the players ruining your own game. I don't think it's asking too much for the players to have their character sheets ready for the start of the game, but maybe you're just too picky overall when it comes to people. How much time did they have from the notification that they were selected for the game to the start of the game to make up their characters? If it was a week then yeah, they should really have had them done. If it was like 48 hours then yeah, you're probably being a little unrealistic there. Online games are slower than tabletop, it's just the nature of the beast.
ShadowDragon8685
09-15-05, 08:16 AM Well, let's see. We started brainstorming on this beast about two weeks ago, and I've had the board up since last saturday...

I'm not trying to pop things onto them, but I would just like some evidence that they actually give a damn about the game. They all liked the idea, but they don't seem to want to get in gear.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ShadowDragon8685 09-15-05, 05:27 AM	Okay, we started working on this game about two weeks ago. I've had flakes, I've had players who coulden't find their rear ends with both hands and their face shoved in. But, I seem to be doing all the work. The game is on friday, set to start sometime around 5 PM Eastern, and I haven't seen a sheet from my players. (Since we use digital medium, it's a matter of a few minutes to transfer a copy.) The most "together" player says he's about half-done, and he just hasen't gotten around to it. Most of them haven't made ANY posts on the web forum I registered for the group, and the rest don't seem to be very interested. A majority of the posts are mine. x.x I don't think I'm asking too much. Check the forum once a day, reply to the few topics that are there...
astute1 09-15-05, 06:38 AM	I have the same problem with my group - it seems like I have to fight with them to get them interested in anything about the campaign. They just want to show up and play. We tried to set up weekly online chats, and threads on a forum, but none of them ever came or checked it. I think they don't realize that it's hard for the DM to write stuff if they aren't taking an active role in fleshing out the setting, or even their characters. Then they complain because "the adventures don't tie in with their characters."
ShadowDragon8685 09-15-05, 07:36 AM	Yeah. It's like they can't be assed to take much of an interest in the game, or the forum, except when it's time to play. They also seem to expect (some of them,) that they can just show up at gametime with a character pregenerated, despite their character idea which was communcated as being unsuited for the setting (and thus, requiring a strict DM review to pass,) and expect to be allowed to play. Aiiigh. :( http://s13.invisionfree.com/DnD_Medine/ If you wanna look at the forums we've set up, go ahead. As you can see, most of the threads and posts are by me. :(
KJW 09-15-05, 07:51 AM	Some groups are lazy and others have busy members. You may have to spend your first session helping then draw up their characters. I know this sucks, but this may be the best option to start the campaign out right. My group is pretty good about drawing up characters quickly, and they have full-time jobs and some families, but sometimes things just get out of whack and it takes a little longer to get things moving. Now your players may surprise you and have their characters before Friday, now if a majority are ready then you should go ahead with the adventure. Do not penalize those who actually do what you asked them to do. The others may miss out or start late and that is a good lesson. Now with my online group, I find the posting matches the interest level in the campaign. I know I am doing good when we have like a 100 posts in a month, and that I am doing so-so when we have 50 posts in a month. Looking back 3 years ago, the site never broke 10 posts in a month, and that lasted for a year. We switched campaign settings, added a few new members, and things eventually took off, so don't sweat it. It just takes time.
ShadowDragon8685 09-15-05, 07:54 AM	Hoi... Time, the one thing I have too MUCH of. Maybe I oughta just go vege out in front of the History Channel for awhile.
Ut-Napishtim 09-15-05, 08:13 AM	Well online games are a pretty rough area anyway. I'm playing in three ATM and I've noticed some interesting differences between them. The board I frequent actually has the option to give folks feedback and stuff, so you can kind of check on the players' histories and such. All the games I've joined have been where a DM posts a recruiting announcement, then like 15 people respond, and the DM selects around six players based on who's character concepts he likes, etc. I've noticed a couple players who are chronic dropouts. That is that they join a new game every week, and drop out of a game every week. In a PBP game though a lot of it is on the DM's shoulders because the level of personal interaction just isn't there. In one game I'm playing the DM dropped out without so much as a word about three weeks ago and we're still waiting for him to come back and post something. The next one has been going well, although we're down to four people now with all the dropouts. Plus the DM is running like five games so usually only posts about once a week, and for some reason likes to award the experience from the last encounter in the middle of the current encounter (not really a big boost for a Wizard to level up in the middle of combat since you have to rest to regain spells). The last is the newest one I've joined, and despite being rather slow-moving (DM doesn't really post a lot on this one either but it's more than 1x/week) it's going alright so far. There was a part where he schooled some of the PC's with some uberNPC, but my character wasn't with them for that so I can't really make any judgements on it. I don't know man, you don't seem to have much luck with D&D. Every month you have a thread where you get kicked out of group A, decide to leave group B, or have trouble with the players ruining your own game. I don't think it's asking too much for the players to have their character sheets ready for the start of the game, but maybe you're just too picky overall when it comes to people. How much time did they have from the notification that they were selected for the game to the start of the game to make up their characters? If it was a week then yeah, they should really have had them done. If it was like 48 hours then yeah, you're probably being a little unrealistic there. Online games are slower than tabletop, it's just the nature of the beast.
ShadowDragon8685 09-15-05, 08:16 AM	Well, let's see. We started brainstorming on this beast about two weeks ago, and I've had the board up since last saturday... I'm not trying to pop things onto them, but I would just like some evidence that they actually give a damn about the game. They all liked the idea, but they don't seem to want to get in gear.