A request to all GM's out there (warning a bit of rant)

Please for the love of god set a time for your game before you start bringing people into the game. I know you want to leave you options open but seriously all that ends up happening in the end is people have their time wasted (the GM's included). Also please make the time on your looking for group pages accurately reflect when the game will be held. I have too often put a lot work into characters only to be told by the GM that were not actually playing at the time listed. But the worst thing a GM can do is completely ignore players when they ask what the time will be. When I GM I set a clear date and a clear time (time zone included) and it makes thing a lot easier for everyone. Rant over! P.S. Sorry to any GM's who don't do this. My rant is not aimed at you.

Fair comment

Fair comment, As a DM with the appropriate times and days listed, what frustrates me is a lot of people on Roll20 are gung-ho to play but when it boils down to it, they are no shows. This seems to be a regular trend trying to find players. Not all players, but a good portion.

David said: Fair comment, As a DM with the appropriate times and days listed, what frustrates me is a lot of people on Roll20 are gung-ho to play but when it boils down to it, they are no shows. This seems to be a regular trend trying to find players. Not all players, but a good portion. Sadly also true. People need to be straight with each other and communicate. P

This does seem to happen a lot. one of my 3.5 players sent me a message the other day that i really enjoyed & in my mind receiving a message like this just makes me keep wanting to succeed as a DM "just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you run a well prepared and punctual game.... XD tonight is the first night of this vampires game and there's no maps and only 2/7 of the players are actually here on time.. the rest unaccounted for and the gm is apparently hunting for more players right now XD givin it about 30 minutes before I head off, unfortunately not really worth my time if it's all over the place like this.. anyway XD just gives me greater appreciation for your level of commitment XD so thank you!"

Funny story about this - my first time trying to join a game using the Looking For Group pages. I managed to score an invite, and I was all gung-ho and ready to play. The game was supposed to start at 10am. And we had a power outage that lasted from 9:30 until 11. By the time I got online and joined the game, the GM informed me that it was already full :( Okay, so it's not a funny story. Maybe it qualifies as interesting anecdote :p

I've been running games online since 2006 with Open RPG and via tabletop for decades. I always try to recruit weeks ahead of time, at least 1 preferably 2 if possible, and keep posting as much as I can daily to show my commitment. Clear times and zone like 4PM-8PM EST, Group 1 Fridays, Group 2 Sundays. System described, and named. synopsis of the campaign or scenario. all of that is just common sense, and it is a valid key to getting a group together. I'd flee that Vampire game for certain, because I like a more put together game, but I have been a bit scatterred in the past because I try to do too much in prep, and some of it gets missed. My own pet peeve when I was playing just chat based games, no voice (years ago) was players playing in 4 other games and cross posting something meant for game 3, and not ours, and saying oops sorry, multiple times. Mostly because i am putting in 100% effort here. Or mostly younger players no show no notice, for weeks, then we replace them, then they want back in. Or they want to recruit a friend. Then the group gets a bit larger, then they complain group is too large, fire some people so we are not so bored. Except they were the last two to join, and neither of them want to quit or be fired, because the game is good, we just need a smaller group. Lots of problems like that I've seen especially online. I like the campaign pages here, makes it nice to be able to link the pages and the game and it's all integrated. I'm lucky, I am getting "EXCELLENT" players here, very serious, very dedicated, good open communication.

David A. said: Funny story about this - my first time trying to join a game using the Looking For Group pages. I managed to score an invite, and I was all gung-ho and ready to play. The game was supposed to start at 10am. And we had a power outage that lasted from 9:30 until 11. By the time I got online and joined the game, the GM informed me that it was already full :( Okay, so it's not a funny story. Maybe it qualifies as interesting anecdote :p You cannot blame them for starting without you..... sh_t happens, sometimes nobody's to blame.

They didn't start with out him, they replaced him and he was kicked from the game. That is a huge difference.

David A. said: Funny story about this - my first time trying to join a game using the Looking For Group pages. I managed to score an invite, and I was all gung-ho and ready to play. The game was supposed to start at 10am. And we had a power outage that lasted from 9:30 until 11. By the time I got online and joined the game, the GM informed me that it was already full :( Okay, so it's not a funny story. Maybe it qualifies as interesting anecdote :p I had something similar to this happen only I was 5 minutes late to the games first session. I was the first one recruited for the game and had been talking to the GM daily and yet even though I was 5 minutes late my spot was gone. To me that seems a little harsh, 10-15 sure I could see that if you want to go that route but in my case it was literally 5 minutes. The game started at 10am I jumped into the call at 10:05am apologized for being tardy and then was told my spot had been filled.

LOL, was that me? I only permit a 5 minute window for unannounced lateness. If I have alternates, the late guy's spot is as good as gone.

I generally will not give away a spot after only one missed session. I generally want discuss the issue with the person first.

Power outages are bad luck, so are audio problems, but everyone was clearly communicating their intent and determined to be punctual. The System works! :-)

If the entire group can't be brought together on some common platform for group chatting outside of session times, then there's a problem. If you're not in a Skype group chat with me and the rest of the group so you can get information and arrange things with everyone else, you're not playing. Simple as that. And if say you have Skype and never sign in, and expect someone to go out of their way to hand-deliver information you as a player should be just as interested in staying current on, sorry, but I can't help you there. I make sure my sessions are set up as far in advance as I can, and even then I'm usually weeding out flakes and unreachable people up to the session start. The problem I encounter is that people assume "GM" means "The guy who does everything, and will go out of his way to make sure I'm accomodated even if I do nothing to keep myself in the loop." If you join a game, then ask about the details before the session. Just like the GM expects you to not wait til an hour before the game to say "By the way I can't play today." It's a group effort, and if you make no effort to be part of the group, you don't play.

I do generally to take part is skype groups when they exist for the game I'm in. Though those groups do make it more painful when you findout that the game is at a time you can't play and you have spend so much time getting to know the party.

If you got to know the party before discovering what time the sessions were going to be held, you missed the topic of your homework by some distance.

In truth in those cases it was more an issue of the GM posting a false time on the looking for group page.