Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jaith 06-01-07, 05:23 PM	So... I'm having some problems with our dm. He runs a great game. It's a lot of fun. Challenge levels are great. Story lines are great. He never railroads us, but he still manages to get his game going the way he wants. He works with us on character concepts to make them work. He's great as a dm. But the problem is this. We are supposed to play every thursday night from 7 to 12. IT works for everyone, supposedly including the DM. But due to him, out of the 4 months we've been playing, we've played 8-9 times. Out of 16 scheduled games we've played 8-9. Two games he's showed up very late to, and 2 games that we missed all the players showed up but he never did. And most of the time he has a good excuse, last week he moved. Next week he's going to Wakarusa(a festival, kind of a big deal for his gf). ONe time he had a family get together to go to. Most of the time he has a good excuse. And last night we played from 9-11, and half the group didn't get to play till 10:40. So we played 20 minutes. It's just that the other players and I feel like we are getting put on the backburner. And I know D&D is no the most important thing in your life. But seriously, it is kind of a committment. We don't know how to bring it up to him, as we fear he will just say screw it and quit. THis is compounded by the fact that the guy has been my best friend for 15 years. Gah! I just wish I knew how to impress upon the guy that we really want to play in his game, but he keeps making it hard fopr us to game. I mean if a player can only make it 50% of the time, that's cool, you can work with that... but the DM is a wee bit important. What should I do, I'm kind of the ring leader of the group, and everyone expects me to make a stand. Help
SillyRobot 06-01-07, 05:39 PM	Point out the spotty attendance and ask if a different night/weekend day might be better for him.
Zaver 06-01-07, 06:16 PM	Point out the spotty attendance and ask if a different night/weekend day might be better for him. Yeah, he's been your best friend for almost as long as I've been alive. I think he should be able to handle a guy that close to him saying 'what's up you need to pick a new game night or something?'
Witch 06-01-07, 06:19 PM	As an alternative, keep your DM, but fill in the moments he can't come with another campaign! Keep two campaigns running at the same time, and you won't have a problem :)
OleOneEye 06-01-07, 10:38 PM	Gaming every single week is a hard commitment to make - what with life and all. If you want to game more, buck up and start DMing.
Optimized_Commoner 06-01-07, 10:49 PM	Yeah, running a backup game is probably a good idea. Then again, any excuse to DM is great for me. (I like DMing).
Max Octavious Xavier 06-01-07, 10:51 PM	As an alternative, keep your DM, but fill in the moments he can't come with another campaign! Keep two campaigns running at the same time, and you won't have a problem :) Yeah, thats what my group does, so I vote for a backup game.
Phrennzy 06-01-07, 11:39 PM	Point out the spotty attendance and ask if a different night/weekend day might be better for him. Its always nice when the best advice is the first post after the OP. Talk to him. He's your best friend and you have nothing but good things to say about the campaign.
MHolland 06-01-07, 11:46 PM	I say go with both ideas. Ask him if there is a better time. If not, go ahead and set up a second campaign.
celtredleg 06-02-07, 12:41 AM	Sometimes life just does that to you. Meet him away from the group , have a couple of beers, and ask him what is up. If he is doing a great job, then he is likely still commited to the game. You dont do a great job on something you no longer care about. I know I had to quite a great game some time ago due to a work schedual change.:weep:
Thunder Dragonbane 06-02-07, 12:10 PM	I have had experiance running games during the week and find friday nights and weekends better. Most of the time no one involved has to get up early to go to work the next day.
mercutio531 06-02-07, 01:00 PM	Basically all I got to say is the same as everyone else.. We HAD a main DM.. Whenever he couldnt game someone else would start/do a game, including myself. Now our old DM can hardly game at all on Saturday (our main game day) as he has a new job. Now one of the backup games has come to the foreground as a sort of new main game. There are a TON of awesome games out there. Personally I ran PARANOIA for the few sessions that I was in charge. It's a ton of fun and works great for one shots. Can't reccomend it enough. Also if you have a rules lawyer in your group.. Heh... Also Star Wars is great, and the new system book comes out next week. Always a good time. If you wanna stick with DnD perhaps do something different than what the usual game is like. OUr old main game was kinda low level and had kinda a gritty-low-fantasy feel. Not bad, mind, but also not always for everyone. New campaign started us at lvl 14 with a go on just about anything we could come up with. Just to try and mix it up as much as we could. Also there is EXALTED, if you enjoy the White Wolf system.. Very high fantasy, very very epic in scope.. Mix it up man... But seriously... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/mercutio531/paranoia.jpg
Crash169 06-02-07, 04:19 PM	Bust his balls about it and he'll start showing up more often. Make sure you say your just busting balls, you don't want him to take it all seriously. lol.
Ack 06-03-07, 05:45 PM	If everyone turns up on time and he doesn't, pull out a set of rulebooks and start making characters for a different game. If he's not there by the time you've finished, introduce the characters and then start play. Plan to play every gaming night; if your regular GM turns up, then you play his game, otherwise you play yours. It's a win-win situation. And if he turns up and you're deep in another game, that's a reality check for him right there. "Sorry, but you weren't here so we started without you."