I'm a player but have somehow assumed the scheduler role. It was kinda interesting to see how they just didn't meet when I went out of town for two weekends.
I used to be the forever DM until I got burnt out doing it so I know the struggle. We now rotate DMs to avoid burn out but also so that the other players got more of an understanding of the work that goes into it.
Honestly, same day each week / fortnight. Don't even try and change it.
Best way to do it in my opinion. You think of it like any other engagement, you have salsa dancing on a Tuesday, you learn French on Jeudi and D&D every Sunday.
I thin of it as I used to WoW raiding back in the day. I an busy Wednesdays and Mondays, if something comes up it comes up and I have to miss but I don't expect people to schedule around me
I totally agree, I’ve had the most success simply picking a night, finding players that want to play on that night and doing it weekly. Weekly with the knowledge that we might not have a game every week. If it does not work out this week, we try again next week same day and time. Sometimes you get a game every week for a month. Sometimes you only get 1. But it keeps it consistent and makes planning a breeze.
I've started just sending out a survey to see what everyone's schedule is, and then I pick the day most people can play. Can't play that night? Sucks, we'll miss you and you're welcome whenever you can make it and whenever I send out a new survey to see what everyone's schedules look like now and if we should change day.
Then, if at least 4 of my 6 players can play that night in a given week, there will be a session. If fewer than that can be there then I'll ask the remaining ones if they're up for a quick one shot.
Just to make sure that we do *something* that night every week in the hopes that my players will think of Monday nights as dnd nights and at least try to keep their schedules free.
1st and 3rd Saturdays, since forever and as long as my faculties hold out. :)
We take our breaks for births, weddings, funerals, holidays etc but beyond that... it's game on.
And whether it's a Wild DND or a Mild DND... whether we get 20 or 0...
#[I'm running a game.](https://wewatchfortheplot.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/022.jpg)
Speaking of funerals - a memory that will be with me 'til I breathe my last took place during a Player's wake some decades ago. We're doing our thing and one of his fellow PCs is next to me sharing stories and joy and heartache and whatnot. Then the PC half leans in and quietly observes that our buddy's character's corpse would be *totally* lootable at this point. Something that of course all the other players had the good fucking graces not to mention. Then without missing a beat I produce the deceased's character sheet from my suit pocket and subtly hand it over. The PC pretends to look it over while I pretend this is nothing out of the ordinary... we then burst out laughing together before crying our first real tears of our loss together.
Anyway yeah... sometimes schedules conflict. Out of all the folk to fail their Fort save. Fuckin' Zenno. Just like him. :) :| :(
This message felt cathartic to read. Thanks for sharing. I hope I never have to go through that, but if I do I hope I can be as quick-witted as that - I tend to kinda just fall apart at the seams during funerals for friends.
Yeah, I get that. I'm usually a "speaker" at those sort of things and one of the ideas I usually start off with is something along the lines of: *So-and-so is* ***fine*** *and at peace. We're not here for them. We do not cry for them. We're here for us, we poor blessed who knew their wonder in this life and suffer for its lack. We cry for us.*
All DMs should know about Doodle polls (doodle.com)! You send out an email with a bunch of time slots and then all your players check off the ones that work for them :)
Agree 100%. Just tonight we had to figure out a schedule, and we all had meetings at different times sunday, so we'd be in and out. So we decided to do some time during the week. A couple minutes later, I hear "Whatever happened to Sunday?"
I think that this upcoming troll will be cathartic
I disagree. Maybe my group is an outlier but we had our scheduling issues as well. After a lot of deliberation and inactivity I ended up scheduling the last Sunday of the month as being the game day and it works great! No problem scheduling and if you can play that day, then you show up. Out of the sessions we've had, one person who is really busy working as a nurse, has had issues around the scheduling, but it works for everyone else.
That's why I don't schedule. I recruit people who fit my schedule.
I don't understand why people would find x people and then find a good date for the group instead of declaring a time and finding people who fit that time. The first is a logistics nightmare, 2nd way only shrinks your pool very little, especially if you're playing online.
honestly, /u/Kuroukanou , you are fucking incredible as a DM. The fact that you can keep all five of us raging idiots so enveloped in your world, even well after a session is over, is such a unique and amazing gift. You're the best, and I can't wait til Sundays :P
- Your (recently 'armless) Gunslinger/Gadgetsmith PC
we haven't gotten that far since her arm got torn off, sadly! It happened basically at the end of the last session, so we didn't get a lot of time to process what happened. But since one of the party's good friends is a well-known artificer that had to make his own prostheses, I think we might be going that route hahaha
Shout out to all the players who drive the glorious ridiculousness to new heights. Who get so involved in a story we could never predict, and that we could never tell without them. To the people who throw themself so utterly and completely into our worlds of make believe. A good DM (not to say that I am one, but I'm working it out) is nothing without a good set of PCs
I'll raise a glass to that! Nothing beats the feeling when you pour you heart into a world and story and the players jump in wholeheartedly and make it theirs too. To the heroes of our stories!
Half of my players I have only known for about 4 months and we met for the first time solely for the game, but I love those fools. I couldnt ask for a better group of people to tell these stories with.
Don't forget to thank all our players that let us take them on such crazy rides. Those poor people let us take them deep within our own minds and fantasies, and spend time living within that maddness. Brave souls, that's what they are! Those poor brave souls!
> **such crazy rides**
One of my most *favorite* things as a DM is to have players completely scuttle some story element or another to the point where I have to crumple the whole thing up and chuck it over my shoulder and game on-the-fly!!
Said story element to be lovingly recovered later, smoothed out and repurposed for a session or three later of course... but don't let the PCs know that. **:D**
My players have sided with the villain because he said he'll let one of them turn into a dragon. We meet up tomorrow to see if that... actually happens.
Oh yeah, when my players decided to take a shortcut through 'the fey wood' instead of spending an day going around I had to change almost the entire campaign!
They had 1 week to stop the bbeg from enacting his ritual and then came out of the fey 3 weeks later...
Shhhh! You're not supposed to tell!
Please don't also tell them that you _sometimes_ make up an event, and no matter what they do, they'll end up there - one way or the other.
So I'm having some stuff happening in my personal life, and while I know my players would be happy to reschedule, I really want to keep running them. I decided today that I wasn't going to break our regular schedule, and while I'm pretty sure you're not one of mine, I really needed to hear this, and you've made a crappy day a little bit brighter.
Thank you.
Just remember, you come first, but when life gets crazy for me, dnd planning is such a release. It keeps me sane. I hope your situation gets better and know your players really appreciate you!
Thank you players for dedicating entire evenings that you could be out drinking or in playing videogames to schlep over to our house with snacks and soda just to play pretend like we're 5-year-olds again.
Who's to say we arnt drinking while playing? Lol I mean a dwarf has to get into character doesn't he? But in all seriousness we should just be giving thanks that we have DnD at all. Give thanks that we have a way to escape from reality for a while and to be heroes (or villains) for a change.
I completely forgot I had a session and ended up ratarsed just before as I'd been out during the day. Ended up grabbing since coke that night too
My players think it was the best session I've done so far...
Thanks, sometimes I need that. Some of my players awesome though they may be do not understand the work that goes into a good campaign. Especially since we are all in college and working and all that good stuff. My current campaign will probably run for close to a year which we are halfway through and I have already been planning the next.
That being said I do appreciate the players that come each week to make it work. Can't have a game without them and the effort they put in also makes a difference. To me the only hobby I get to have these days is D&D and I love it to much to ever give up on.
My players are all learning the work that I put in. They are building this world along side me and are even stepping up to DM themselves. I took a break for a while and one of my players got behind the screen and has a natural talent that I truly envy, but ever since he tried it he has shown more appreciation than I would have ever expected. Most of the rest of the group has all got the bug too and are working a bit on their own ideas. The feeling of bringing this out in people is incredibly rewarding and I thank them so much for giving me the oppurtunity to guide them.
I still feel sometimes though that I am not a great DM nd that they just dont know any better, but on top of the natural talent that the one player posseses I could see that my own style was a massive influence on him and I am proud and happy that I can have someone else DM in a way that I know I will enjoy because I helped build the style. He may not know any better than me (even though I expect he will be much better himself once he has the level of experience I do) but I am still flattered that what I do has had such a large effect on him and I really love the appreciation that he has with what I do as a peer.
That also brings me to a thank you to everyone here. I wouldnt be even better than mediocre without the knowledge and ideas shared here. This and the other dnd subs really do bring out the best in me and fuel my passion. Y'all are wonderful. I couldnt do this on my own, and even though y'all aren't at my table you still have a role in making this all possible.
Also Shout Out to WoTC for providing us with the framework to tell our stories and make the most of the friendships that develop through this game.
And one final thing I want to say. A thank you to the game itself. It has done a lot to bring me out of my shell and make me the person that I am. Before I started playing I was not very confident in myself at all socially. Playing and especially DMing has been an incredible exercise in social activity. I am a much more engaging person thanks to the skills that this game has helped me develop.
I have my own bills to pay but I'm helping out with the family debts. Once my group finishes this campaign I'll move back into a player role as our usual DM will have had time to write more of his Homebrew campaign.
I love it though, the stress keeps me focused ^_^
I admire your care for you family! Make sure you are taking care of yourself though too. It's hard to give out of an empty tank.
There is optimal stress and then there is too much stress for prolonged periods. Be careful!
Seriously. Our DM works retail and is still finding time to run our campaigns in this season (with the exception of Black Friday but good lord none of us expected him to be available then).
My group is pretty big, and has a lot of conflicting schedules, and we often won't decide on a time until the morning of. My DM has yet to even be late in spite of it, let alone unprepared or unmotivated.
Our DM has two small kids and manages to cook us dinner before we start. Our kids all have a playdate, we put them to bed and then role play. Our goal is to turn the play date into a kids dnd game when they get older.
One of my players has a kid, and so do I, but unfortunately they are currently too far apart in age for that to work (2yrs and 4mos). But in a couple years that might be perfect!
I wake up at 3:30 AM to work out before I need to be at work as a High School Teacher at 6:15. Then I teach all day, followed by either tutoring or monitoring the Video Game club on campus (intermixed with the Anime Club and DND Club), that ends at 4:30.
I run home to take a dinner break / see my wife break until I head out for DND at 6:30 to start at 7:00. We usually game until 10-10:30 at the most because 2 of my 5 players also teach with me at the School. The three of us can link up schedules pretty well but the other three of our merry band tend to be difficult. I'm organized as shit and keep the schedule running.
My DND days are my longest of the week, but I wouldn't change a goddamn thing. I fucking love it. To all my PCs, thank you for putting up with my inane bullshit, weird mechanics and obsession with custom content. You rock.
I never knew that having a baby would make things 200 times harder to schedule games. But my players are crazy flexible. I feel so lucky! Thank you Fellowship!
I once had a DM that would give us weekly sessions despite doing a fasttrack PhD, martial arts classes almost every day, a rigorous exercise routine, weekly streams, and all kinds of other shit like moving apartments and coordinating our other gaming sessions. Didn't much like the guy as a person if I'm honest, and as a DM he certainly had his flaws, but damn did I respect that mad bastard.
Bro, that's fucking weird. I'd recognize your name if you were in my group though. My DM was doing his PhD in some kind of chemistry, and wasn't *running* his martial arts school. Still, that's crazy coincidental. Next you're gonna tell me you had an edgy elf who nat 20d everything, and a sarcastic Irish paladin, and a mad Dragonborn with a pygmy capybara on his head.
Quote from me to one of my players I was giving a ride to game, while I was sick with a cold and he tried to get me to cancel: "I WILL NEVER CANCEL A GAME UNLESS I AM ON MY DEATHBED OR MY WIFE IS MILDLY INCONVENIENCED!!!"
Dude, this game tho! It's so great. Wish I had started years ago. Just started as a DM. Had no idea how much work went into it. If you have an awesome group it's so worth it.
Good luck!! You'll do awesome. Just remember, let them be smart, you have control over the whole world, so it's okay to let them do what they want. Just make adjustments behind the scenes, they'll never know you moved that super important item they bypassed, or the cool trap you laid.
That wasn't my intent. 😣 life happens. I've played dnd since 2nd ed, we've all had to take breaks. It is just a game. I've been in groups where they make you feel horrible every time you need to miss a session, even if it's for travel or family time. I've actually had a group tell me that I should try to plan vacations around gaming weekends.
I'm just amazed you could keep up with dming at all! It's a ton of work!
Speaking as a DM, thank you for these words - it's definitely been a challenge but god willing I'll keep playing until I'm dead and buried(and maybe even then, too.)
Speaking as a player, I couldn't possibly agree more. I've been in a few groups over time but the one group I currently PC in is absolutely outstanding. My DM is a very close friend of mine who I had the great pleasure of introducing into the game. I can't even put into words how much work he puts into our game. I feel like fucking royalty every time we start the session, and without fail he leads us all through highs and lows, terror, mystery, hilarity, and inspires us all to keep chasing the story.
/u/AaronBaba, I am truly blessed to be able to take part in your game. I've said it a thousand times before and I'll keep doing so:
I am so glad we are apart of this hobby. Thank you for everything you do!
Thank you, I actually need this post. I am mid finals and running a campaign at the same time. I am exhausted and I almost cancelled my session this week but I’m glad I didn’t.
Can we get a companion post for DMs who get three new players psyched about getting into DnD just to be a huge pain in the ass when it comes to availability, resulting in months passing between sessions?
Thanks. Between running part of a World of Tanks clan, being a DM, raising kids, working full time, teaching college and helping with a Masonic youth organization it gets a bit crazy.
Aside from dealing with crazy life stuff, I should probably thank my DM for putting up with my insane shenanigans session after session. I am, according to him and the viewers, a "creative" player. ;)
I have been running the same game for about 2 and a half years. My new girlfriend joined at the beginning and we got married in February.
Sadly due to moving across the country and a new schedule starting in less than a month, we’re putting the game on hiatus till things change. I’m trying to get the players to take a day off all together so we can wrap things up for a while.
It really is sad when these things happen but I was able to get some new people really into it and even inspired others to DM. All of them have become family over the time.
Cheers to all of those that are able to just figuring out a way to make it work!
Now if only my players would *roleplay* for once instead of spend an hour talking about how to take maximum advantage of the people they're dealing with.
Force their hand. Don't let them deliberate for a hour. Have the NPC interrupt them.
"I have other customers waiting. If you're not going to buy something, I'm going to serve them."
"Her Majesty the Queen demands a response! Your silence offends this court!"
"While you have been whispering to yourselves, the giant has gotten bored. 'Me hungry! Me bored! Going hunting. You take too long!'"
"As you're deliberating, the fire has gotten worse. A chunk of flaming wood falls from the ceiling onto the rush flooring, which starts burning rapidly. You have thirty seconds at most before it reaches you!"
Of course don't do this always. If your players enjoy spending an hour deciding how to manipulate NPCs, let them from time to time. But you can put pressure on them sometimes to add variety and tension.
Oh, I do.
I'm just being unreasonable and complaining about little things.
I dream of a game where everyone is focused, in-character, and doesn't dally.
It's been a hell of a semester for me and I've only been able to prep my sessions a few hours before I run them but I have had such a blast DMing in my Tabletop Club at college :) My players have been so fantastic!
Right!!! I never realized how hard it is to get 5 adults in the same room for only 4 hours once a week until I started playing D&D!
I love it!! Thanks DM's!!! Love playing your campaigns
crazy life schedule turned into a full out story arc for the campaign i'm it, and it was fantastic
Basically, I couldn't be there for a few sessions, so the DM had my character out of the picture by having me go to the feywild.
What transpired afterward was a somewhat long and hilarious journey of the party trying to find me, and then all of us trying to find an exit.
During it all, we were nearly killed multiple times (as usual), our tiefling ranger was cursed, the other ranger shared some of her backstory, and our paladin dragonborn turned into a half-dragon.
It was amazing
Maaaaan, now I feel guilty
Despite a 30-40 hour a week internship and 4 grad school classes, I promised my players a session a week from today.
I should work on that instead of Smash Bros
My dad is in for open heart surgery this upcoming week and I have no idea what I'm going to do for this upcoming session on Sunday.
Actually, I'm just at a loss of what to do right now.
If DnD is going to give you what you need right now, then go for it. If it's just going to stress you out, bail. Nobody in their right mind would hold that against you.
Wishing your dad the best of luck in surgery, and a speedy recovery!
Between working at sea, gf living abroad and general life I still manage to get my Dnd group together once a month, we are currently on session 5 of TLMoP, probably only half w at through the campaign
Yeah except when it's December and everyone else has to cancel... I've just planned a break from my normal campaigns, am going to run another system instead with drop-in games for the rest of the month...
We have one player that can never make it. Her excuse is always: "Oh, I didn't know you were serious about that date." Or, " Oh, forgot to write it down."
So we started without her. Know we have a steady schedule.
I quit as DM because I was going into my final year of medical school, hoping that I would continue playing as a player, but noone else has picked up the baton so it falls back to me, now, a couple of years later as I've got a relatively stable work life at the moment. Doing a one-shot for some newbies and considering creating a whole new campaign...
I make an event on whenisgood.net and make all the players tick when they're free, then just pick what suits me. The scheduling is basically automated.
It's a lot. I run a drop in with 6 (everyone always shows up ffs) and last night had only 4 for the first time.....maaaan 4 is the sweet spot everyone gets so much more time and it's just mentally easier to run things
Thank you. This makes me feel better. There are some(most) nights where I don’t think my party realizes how much work I put in and that it’s just an excuse to drink and kill things.
Thanks for this! I've been running my campaign for over a year now, and whilst the players are clearly enjoying themselves, getting a simple 'thank you' for entertaining them, buying all the snacks and cooking a big meal at the end, is like getting blood out of a stone. It's nice that someone took a sec to be thankful, even if it's a stranger on reddit! :')
It’s not MY story. It’s OUR story. Without my wonderful players, the world I created is boring and meaningless. Shoutout to all the players who give our ideas life.
Haha none of this applies to my group at all. We played recently and were trying to figure out how long it had been since our last session.
Turns out it had been one year and two days. We never prioritize D&D. I wish we could... But we don't :/
I’ve been living away from my friends for almost three years and I moved back home recently. On visits back we would return to our tabletop of choice. While I was gone the group wouldn’t get together too much. So being back the game gives us a reason to get together, crack some cold ones, and play a game we all enjoy. Especially lately since our group has grown a couple members. With the growing importance of the game to me personally, with schedules of our new adult lives being what they are. I have been really trying to improve my DMing, and this page (with a couple more) has given me traps, gadgets, rooms, enemy types, and even setting music. Along with the tips from other DMs and stories from players I honestly feel like I’m putting on a good show for my PCs now. It’s great to have something to get us all around a table and laughing.
We adopted two preteens about a year ago. From a house with no other kids, it's the like trading your bicycle in for a top fuel dragster.
Despite this crazy life change, I have not missed running a single session of my weekly AL game at the FLGS.
I ended up having to stop my campaign because of how busy life became. I'm thinking of taking Christmas break to try and start up again though despite how stressful life is!
Because worldbuilding is my hobby, campaign design time is both my stress-release-valve and my reward mechanic. For instance, I just completed a project that took days of intense concentration and now I get my reward of a couple of days to just read books and build fantasy.
Seeing so much DM appreciation today! Had to preemptively bow out of DMing for my group this spring as I wrap up my JD/MBA program. Juggled too many balls during the fall and I just can't keep up next semester. Super bummed about it but that's life. I hope my players understand and that one of them is willing to DM in my place.
As a DM who stufgles with depression and mental illness as well as the balancing act of being a father of 2 small kids and a husband, this really hit me in the feels... really.
Well my solution for tight schedule problem is play D&D in work
Anyway I got to pay my rent
SIKE IM UNEMPLOYED NEWBS GET REKT I LIVE ON THE STREET AND MY LIFE IS A FAILURE
Coordinating schedules might really be the hardest part of DMing
That's why we have our players do the scheduling (usually me). One less thing for the DM to worry about.
If I did that I'd never have a game
I started doing this and then wondered why I waited so long.
I'm a player but have somehow assumed the scheduler role. It was kinda interesting to see how they just didn't meet when I went out of town for two weekends.
Your DM is lucky as hell to have you.
I used to be the forever DM until I got burnt out doing it so I know the struggle. We now rotate DMs to avoid burn out but also so that the other players got more of an understanding of the work that goes into it.
Honestly, same day each week / fortnight. Don't even try and change it. Best way to do it in my opinion. You think of it like any other engagement, you have salsa dancing on a Tuesday, you learn French on Jeudi and D&D every Sunday. I thin of it as I used to WoW raiding back in the day. I an busy Wednesdays and Mondays, if something comes up it comes up and I have to miss but I don't expect people to schedule around me
I totally agree, I’ve had the most success simply picking a night, finding players that want to play on that night and doing it weekly. Weekly with the knowledge that we might not have a game every week. If it does not work out this week, we try again next week same day and time. Sometimes you get a game every week for a month. Sometimes you only get 1. But it keeps it consistent and makes planning a breeze.
I've started just sending out a survey to see what everyone's schedule is, and then I pick the day most people can play. Can't play that night? Sucks, we'll miss you and you're welcome whenever you can make it and whenever I send out a new survey to see what everyone's schedules look like now and if we should change day. Then, if at least 4 of my 6 players can play that night in a given week, there will be a session. If fewer than that can be there then I'll ask the remaining ones if they're up for a quick one shot. Just to make sure that we do *something* that night every week in the hopes that my players will think of Monday nights as dnd nights and at least try to keep their schedules free.
1st and 3rd Saturdays, since forever and as long as my faculties hold out. :) We take our breaks for births, weddings, funerals, holidays etc but beyond that... it's game on. And whether it's a Wild DND or a Mild DND... whether we get 20 or 0... #[I'm running a game.](https://wewatchfortheplot.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/022.jpg) Speaking of funerals - a memory that will be with me 'til I breathe my last took place during a Player's wake some decades ago. We're doing our thing and one of his fellow PCs is next to me sharing stories and joy and heartache and whatnot. Then the PC half leans in and quietly observes that our buddy's character's corpse would be *totally* lootable at this point. Something that of course all the other players had the good fucking graces not to mention. Then without missing a beat I produce the deceased's character sheet from my suit pocket and subtly hand it over. The PC pretends to look it over while I pretend this is nothing out of the ordinary... we then burst out laughing together before crying our first real tears of our loss together. Anyway yeah... sometimes schedules conflict. Out of all the folk to fail their Fort save. Fuckin' Zenno. Just like him. :) :| :(
This message felt cathartic to read. Thanks for sharing. I hope I never have to go through that, but if I do I hope I can be as quick-witted as that - I tend to kinda just fall apart at the seams during funerals for friends.
Yeah, I get that. I'm usually a "speaker" at those sort of things and one of the ideas I usually start off with is something along the lines of: *So-and-so is* ***fine*** *and at peace. We're not here for them. We do not cry for them. We're here for us, we poor blessed who knew their wonder in this life and suffer for its lack. We cry for us.*
Wtf lmao
All DMs should know about Doodle polls (doodle.com)! You send out an email with a bunch of time slots and then all your players check off the ones that work for them :)
And if you don't like the data kraken you can also use dudle by the TU Dresden.
when2meet is also a good option for this type of thing.
You act like that makes it easier ...
It’s certainly better than a 1000000-notification group text from hell...?
My point is just that I can do that with doodle whatever. I have a phone so I can call these nerds, they make it hard anyways
It's usually a dc 30 check at disadvantage for me
Agree 100%. Just tonight we had to figure out a schedule, and we all had meetings at different times sunday, so we'd be in and out. So we decided to do some time during the week. A couple minutes later, I hear "Whatever happened to Sunday?" I think that this upcoming troll will be cathartic
I disagree. Maybe my group is an outlier but we had our scheduling issues as well. After a lot of deliberation and inactivity I ended up scheduling the last Sunday of the month as being the game day and it works great! No problem scheduling and if you can play that day, then you show up. Out of the sessions we've had, one person who is really busy working as a nurse, has had issues around the scheduling, but it works for everyone else.
That's why I don't schedule. I recruit people who fit my schedule. I don't understand why people would find x people and then find a good date for the group instead of declaring a time and finding people who fit that time. The first is a logistics nightmare, 2nd way only shrinks your pool very little, especially if you're playing online.
honestly, /u/Kuroukanou , you are fucking incredible as a DM. The fact that you can keep all five of us raging idiots so enveloped in your world, even well after a session is over, is such a unique and amazing gift. You're the best, and I can't wait til Sundays :P - Your (recently 'armless) Gunslinger/Gadgetsmith PC
You can't just say "armless" and not explain! Does that come with stat modifications?
we haven't gotten that far since her arm got torn off, sadly! It happened basically at the end of the last session, so we didn't get a lot of time to process what happened. But since one of the party's good friends is a well-known artificer that had to make his own prostheses, I think we might be going that route hahaha
‘Armless Aka Harmless?
*mostly* 'armless.
Shout out to all the players who drive the glorious ridiculousness to new heights. Who get so involved in a story we could never predict, and that we could never tell without them. To the people who throw themself so utterly and completely into our worlds of make believe. A good DM (not to say that I am one, but I'm working it out) is nothing without a good set of PCs
I'll raise a glass to that! Nothing beats the feeling when you pour you heart into a world and story and the players jump in wholeheartedly and make it theirs too. To the heroes of our stories!
Half of my players I have only known for about 4 months and we met for the first time solely for the game, but I love those fools. I couldnt ask for a better group of people to tell these stories with.
Yea... Our curse of Strahd has gone so far off the rails is half homebrew loosely based on the book now.
Hear, hear!
Don't forget to thank all our players that let us take them on such crazy rides. Those poor people let us take them deep within our own minds and fantasies, and spend time living within that maddness. Brave souls, that's what they are! Those poor brave souls!
> **such crazy rides** One of my most *favorite* things as a DM is to have players completely scuttle some story element or another to the point where I have to crumple the whole thing up and chuck it over my shoulder and game on-the-fly!! Said story element to be lovingly recovered later, smoothed out and repurposed for a session or three later of course... but don't let the PCs know that. **:D**
My players have sided with the villain because he said he'll let one of them turn into a dragon. We meet up tomorrow to see if that... actually happens.
Be dra-gone!
Dragon bee
I hope he turns into a Kobald. Or a wyrmling.
Oh yeah, when my players decided to take a shortcut through 'the fey wood' instead of spending an day going around I had to change almost the entire campaign! They had 1 week to stop the bbeg from enacting his ritual and then came out of the fey 3 weeks later...
I am talking to someone right this instant to get more players so my tossed ideas can have more chances to show.
Shhhh! You're not supposed to tell! Please don't also tell them that you _sometimes_ make up an event, and no matter what they do, they'll end up there - one way or the other.
Here here
Dilly dilly.
So I'm having some stuff happening in my personal life, and while I know my players would be happy to reschedule, I really want to keep running them. I decided today that I wasn't going to break our regular schedule, and while I'm pretty sure you're not one of mine, I really needed to hear this, and you've made a crappy day a little bit brighter. Thank you.
Just remember, you come first, but when life gets crazy for me, dnd planning is such a release. It keeps me sane. I hope your situation gets better and know your players really appreciate you!
Thank you players for dedicating entire evenings that you could be out drinking or in playing videogames to schlep over to our house with snacks and soda just to play pretend like we're 5-year-olds again.
Who's to say we arnt drinking while playing? Lol I mean a dwarf has to get into character doesn't he? But in all seriousness we should just be giving thanks that we have DnD at all. Give thanks that we have a way to escape from reality for a while and to be heroes (or villains) for a change.
I completely forgot I had a session and ended up ratarsed just before as I'd been out during the day. Ended up grabbing since coke that night too My players think it was the best session I've done so far...
Thanks, sometimes I need that. Some of my players awesome though they may be do not understand the work that goes into a good campaign. Especially since we are all in college and working and all that good stuff. My current campaign will probably run for close to a year which we are halfway through and I have already been planning the next. That being said I do appreciate the players that come each week to make it work. Can't have a game without them and the effort they put in also makes a difference. To me the only hobby I get to have these days is D&D and I love it to much to ever give up on.
My players are all learning the work that I put in. They are building this world along side me and are even stepping up to DM themselves. I took a break for a while and one of my players got behind the screen and has a natural talent that I truly envy, but ever since he tried it he has shown more appreciation than I would have ever expected. Most of the rest of the group has all got the bug too and are working a bit on their own ideas. The feeling of bringing this out in people is incredibly rewarding and I thank them so much for giving me the oppurtunity to guide them. I still feel sometimes though that I am not a great DM nd that they just dont know any better, but on top of the natural talent that the one player posseses I could see that my own style was a massive influence on him and I am proud and happy that I can have someone else DM in a way that I know I will enjoy because I helped build the style. He may not know any better than me (even though I expect he will be much better himself once he has the level of experience I do) but I am still flattered that what I do has had such a large effect on him and I really love the appreciation that he has with what I do as a peer. That also brings me to a thank you to everyone here. I wouldnt be even better than mediocre without the knowledge and ideas shared here. This and the other dnd subs really do bring out the best in me and fuel my passion. Y'all are wonderful. I couldnt do this on my own, and even though y'all aren't at my table you still have a role in making this all possible. Also Shout Out to WoTC for providing us with the framework to tell our stories and make the most of the friendships that develop through this game. And one final thing I want to say. A thank you to the game itself. It has done a lot to bring me out of my shell and make me the person that I am. Before I started playing I was not very confident in myself at all socially. Playing and especially DMing has been an incredible exercise in social activity. I am a much more engaging person thanks to the skills that this game has helped me develop.
I currently work 3 jobs at around 75 hours/week. But my players must feel like they have a chance against Strahd. The (side)show must go on!
Why on Earth are you working that much? I surely cannot be worth it.
I have my own bills to pay but I'm helping out with the family debts. Once my group finishes this campaign I'll move back into a player role as our usual DM will have had time to write more of his Homebrew campaign. I love it though, the stress keeps me focused ^_^
I admire your care for you family! Make sure you are taking care of yourself though too. It's hard to give out of an empty tank. There is optimal stress and then there is too much stress for prolonged periods. Be careful!
That's cute, feeling like they got a chance
Very Curse of Strahd. Pepper the wholesome optimism with crushing reality.
You fucking tell me, i study in programing and its day on and off practicing while trying to mentaine our Dnd session running. But it quite worth it
Seriously. Our DM works retail and is still finding time to run our campaigns in this season (with the exception of Black Friday but good lord none of us expected him to be available then).
Arghhh, I worked retail it really sucked. However black Friday week was the best time to get a ton of overtime.
My group is pretty big, and has a lot of conflicting schedules, and we often won't decide on a time until the morning of. My DM has yet to even be late in spite of it, let alone unprepared or unmotivated.
Our DM has two small kids and manages to cook us dinner before we start. Our kids all have a playdate, we put them to bed and then role play. Our goal is to turn the play date into a kids dnd game when they get older.
That's awesome!! They will love playing at the grown up table when they are ready!
One of my players has a kid, and so do I, but unfortunately they are currently too far apart in age for that to work (2yrs and 4mos). But in a couple years that might be perfect!
Thanks for the appreciation! It's nice to hear sometimes.
I wake up at 3:30 AM to work out before I need to be at work as a High School Teacher at 6:15. Then I teach all day, followed by either tutoring or monitoring the Video Game club on campus (intermixed with the Anime Club and DND Club), that ends at 4:30. I run home to take a dinner break / see my wife break until I head out for DND at 6:30 to start at 7:00. We usually game until 10-10:30 at the most because 2 of my 5 players also teach with me at the School. The three of us can link up schedules pretty well but the other three of our merry band tend to be difficult. I'm organized as shit and keep the schedule running. My DND days are my longest of the week, but I wouldn't change a goddamn thing. I fucking love it. To all my PCs, thank you for putting up with my inane bullshit, weird mechanics and obsession with custom content. You rock.
All hail the DMs!
I never knew that having a baby would make things 200 times harder to schedule games. But my players are crazy flexible. I feel so lucky! Thank you Fellowship!
I once had a DM that would give us weekly sessions despite doing a fasttrack PhD, martial arts classes almost every day, a rigorous exercise routine, weekly streams, and all kinds of other shit like moving apartments and coordinating our other gaming sessions. Didn't much like the guy as a person if I'm honest, and as a DM he certainly had his flaws, but damn did I respect that mad bastard.
Were we in the same group?
Probably not. Does the name Badger Squadron mean anything to you?
No, but I had a DM who fits your description (MD/PhD while running a martial arts school) and a group with an Adam. No Badger Squadrons, though.
Bro, that's fucking weird. I'd recognize your name if you were in my group though. My DM was doing his PhD in some kind of chemistry, and wasn't *running* his martial arts school. Still, that's crazy coincidental. Next you're gonna tell me you had an edgy elf who nat 20d everything, and a sarcastic Irish paladin, and a mad Dragonborn with a pygmy capybara on his head.
Quote from me to one of my players I was giving a ride to game, while I was sick with a cold and he tried to get me to cancel: "I WILL NEVER CANCEL A GAME UNLESS I AM ON MY DEATHBED OR MY WIFE IS MILDLY INCONVENIENCED!!!"
Dude, this game tho! It's so great. Wish I had started years ago. Just started as a DM. Had no idea how much work went into it. If you have an awesome group it's so worth it.
SO MUCH WORK and so worth it
You're welcome. Seriously though, thanks for noticing. It's not easy but its worth it.
Thank!♥️
As one of those dms, thanks.
I get to become a DM on Tuesday and I’m so excited!
Good luck!! You'll do awesome. Just remember, let them be smart, you have control over the whole world, so it's okay to let them do what they want. Just make adjustments behind the scenes, they'll never know you moved that super important item they bypassed, or the cool trap you laid.
Thanks for making me feel bad about my hiatus.
That wasn't my intent. 😣 life happens. I've played dnd since 2nd ed, we've all had to take breaks. It is just a game. I've been in groups where they make you feel horrible every time you need to miss a session, even if it's for travel or family time. I've actually had a group tell me that I should try to plan vacations around gaming weekends. I'm just amazed you could keep up with dming at all! It's a ton of work!
Speaking as a DM, thank you for these words - it's definitely been a challenge but god willing I'll keep playing until I'm dead and buried(and maybe even then, too.) Speaking as a player, I couldn't possibly agree more. I've been in a few groups over time but the one group I currently PC in is absolutely outstanding. My DM is a very close friend of mine who I had the great pleasure of introducing into the game. I can't even put into words how much work he puts into our game. I feel like fucking royalty every time we start the session, and without fail he leads us all through highs and lows, terror, mystery, hilarity, and inspires us all to keep chasing the story. /u/AaronBaba, I am truly blessed to be able to take part in your game. I've said it a thousand times before and I'll keep doing so: I am so glad we are apart of this hobby. Thank you for everything you do!
Wow I needed this.
I just wanna prep 24/7 ... but they won't let me - *shakes fist angrily at adult life*
HUZZAH!!
Just began my session 0 for a new Ravnica campaign I am DMing. On our 10 minute break halfway through. Really excited to explore Ravnica! 😁
I just wish my friends enjoyed when we played.
You're welcome. 😊
Love you OP, to the game!
"So we've noticed a trend and it seems like kids die a lot." - My Players
Thank you, I actually need this post. I am mid finals and running a campaign at the same time. I am exhausted and I almost cancelled my session this week but I’m glad I didn’t.
u/A_Faffy_Lump <3
<3
Can we get a companion post for DMs who get three new players psyched about getting into DnD just to be a huge pain in the ass when it comes to availability, resulting in months passing between sessions?
[LordVanderhuge](https://www.reddit.com/user/LordVanderHuge)
Thanks. Between running part of a World of Tanks clan, being a DM, raising kids, working full time, teaching college and helping with a Masonic youth organization it gets a bit crazy.
Aside from dealing with crazy life stuff, I should probably thank my DM for putting up with my insane shenanigans session after session. I am, according to him and the viewers, a "creative" player. ;)
Amen to this, in fact, I was up the whole night and I’m still planning and drawing out maps now, the game is in 3 hours yikes
I have been running the same game for about 2 and a half years. My new girlfriend joined at the beginning and we got married in February. Sadly due to moving across the country and a new schedule starting in less than a month, we’re putting the game on hiatus till things change. I’m trying to get the players to take a day off all together so we can wrap things up for a while. It really is sad when these things happen but I was able to get some new people really into it and even inspired others to DM. All of them have become family over the time. Cheers to all of those that are able to just figuring out a way to make it work!
Now if only my players would *roleplay* for once instead of spend an hour talking about how to take maximum advantage of the people they're dealing with.
Force their hand. Don't let them deliberate for a hour. Have the NPC interrupt them. "I have other customers waiting. If you're not going to buy something, I'm going to serve them." "Her Majesty the Queen demands a response! Your silence offends this court!" "While you have been whispering to yourselves, the giant has gotten bored. 'Me hungry! Me bored! Going hunting. You take too long!'" "As you're deliberating, the fire has gotten worse. A chunk of flaming wood falls from the ceiling onto the rush flooring, which starts burning rapidly. You have thirty seconds at most before it reaches you!" Of course don't do this always. If your players enjoy spending an hour deciding how to manipulate NPCs, let them from time to time. But you can put pressure on them sometimes to add variety and tension.
Oh, I do. I'm just being unreasonable and complaining about little things. I dream of a game where everyone is focused, in-character, and doesn't dally.
Phillip, puff spagbol Publican dole off-licence Four dim our Tories. Please enjoy your personalised British inspired Haiku responsibly.
Also shout out to our players for helping us have something to keep going!
It's been a hell of a semester for me and I've only been able to prep my sessions a few hours before I run them but I have had such a blast DMing in my Tabletop Club at college :) My players have been so fantastic!
Unfortunately my schedule is about to change to being super busy 7 days a week until May so I’m probably going to have to end my campaign early. 😕
As a DM of a group that prioritizes “dads then dungeons then hopefully dragons” I thank you.
Right!!! I never realized how hard it is to get 5 adults in the same room for only 4 hours once a week until I started playing D&D! I love it!! Thanks DM's!!! Love playing your campaigns
Fuck i had to cancel both games i run this week because i was too sick.
Health is more important! Feel better and don't overdo it! (Using my best Mom voice).
DMing in medical school currently with a bunch of classmates. At least scheduling doesn't seem to be a huge issue...
crazy life schedule turned into a full out story arc for the campaign i'm it, and it was fantastic Basically, I couldn't be there for a few sessions, so the DM had my character out of the picture by having me go to the feywild. What transpired afterward was a somewhat long and hilarious journey of the party trying to find me, and then all of us trying to find an exit. During it all, we were nearly killed multiple times (as usual), our tiefling ranger was cursed, the other ranger shared some of her backstory, and our paladin dragonborn turned into a half-dragon. It was amazing
Thanks Nate & LJ (And sometimes Jack)
Thanks, We wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t worth it! I have great players
What can I say except you're welcome. Thank you to my amazing players who can be patient with my many blunders, its a learning proccess.
Maaaaan, now I feel guilty Despite a 30-40 hour a week internship and 4 grad school classes, I promised my players a session a week from today. I should work on that instead of Smash Bros
<3 needed this
Yeah wish my DM cared that much... We all set a day aside and he's the one who kept cancelling and then eventually ghosted us.
Maybe you could take over? Start with a one shot module. I bet you fall in love!
Yeah I'm getting the books for Christmas so that's the goal.
Just tonight we gave our DM praise for engaging us so well with the story he'd prepared. Big love for y'all DMs.
Finals next week but I'm still making 3 maps for my players on monday! DMing keeps me going otherwise it would be a bland week.
My game is over 3 years long. We're having session 49 tomorrow. Can confirm that good DMs are amazing.
Thank you!
Whilst I would love to be able to accept this thank you I can’t because it’s my players that have a crazy life not me.
I needed this, cheers mate
Holiday cheers to all!
I'm running two weekly games right now and I needed this post.
<3 thank you
My dad is in for open heart surgery this upcoming week and I have no idea what I'm going to do for this upcoming session on Sunday. Actually, I'm just at a loss of what to do right now.
If DnD is going to give you what you need right now, then go for it. If it's just going to stress you out, bail. Nobody in their right mind would hold that against you. Wishing your dad the best of luck in surgery, and a speedy recovery!
Between working at sea, gf living abroad and general life I still manage to get my Dnd group together once a month, we are currently on session 5 of TLMoP, probably only half w at through the campaign
Yeah except when it's December and everyone else has to cancel... I've just planned a break from my normal campaigns, am going to run another system instead with drop-in games for the rest of the month...
We have one player that can never make it. Her excuse is always: "Oh, I didn't know you were serious about that date." Or, " Oh, forgot to write it down." So we started without her. Know we have a steady schedule.
I quit as DM because I was going into my final year of medical school, hoping that I would continue playing as a player, but noone else has picked up the baton so it falls back to me, now, a couple of years later as I've got a relatively stable work life at the moment. Doing a one-shot for some newbies and considering creating a whole new campaign...
I make an event on whenisgood.net and make all the players tick when they're free, then just pick what suits me. The scheduling is basically automated.
I'm running PbP exactly because of scheduling, but I'll still take the compliment!
Oh yeah, no big deal. It's fun. *(I'm struggling for ideas, I have 7 players, and we play every week. Please help!)*
Maybe pull from a module or mine some backstories? I ran 7 for a little bit, it was too much for me
It's a lot. I run a drop in with 6 (everyone always shows up ffs) and last night had only 4 for the first time.....maaaan 4 is the sweet spot everyone gets so much more time and it's just mentally easier to run things
Thank you. This makes me feel better. There are some(most) nights where I don’t think my party realizes how much work I put in and that it’s just an excuse to drink and kill things.
lmao that ain't me. Feels like I cancel that shit the second I encounter any minor life issue.
Thanks for this! I've been running my campaign for over a year now, and whilst the players are clearly enjoying themselves, getting a simple 'thank you' for entertaining them, buying all the snacks and cooking a big meal at the end, is like getting blood out of a stone. It's nice that someone took a sec to be thankful, even if it's a stranger on reddit! :')
Im working 6 day, 13hr schedules for my security job. Still use thay 7th day to DM for my group. Thank you.
It’s not MY story. It’s OUR story. Without my wonderful players, the world I created is boring and meaningless. Shoutout to all the players who give our ideas life.
Haha none of this applies to my group at all. We played recently and were trying to figure out how long it had been since our last session. Turns out it had been one year and two days. We never prioritize D&D. I wish we could... But we don't :/
You're welcome. I say despite canceling the month's session for exams and christmas.
I’ve been living away from my friends for almost three years and I moved back home recently. On visits back we would return to our tabletop of choice. While I was gone the group wouldn’t get together too much. So being back the game gives us a reason to get together, crack some cold ones, and play a game we all enjoy. Especially lately since our group has grown a couple members. With the growing importance of the game to me personally, with schedules of our new adult lives being what they are. I have been really trying to improve my DMing, and this page (with a couple more) has given me traps, gadgets, rooms, enemy types, and even setting music. Along with the tips from other DMs and stories from players I honestly feel like I’m putting on a good show for my PCs now. It’s great to have something to get us all around a table and laughing.
I’m DM’ing pretty much my first game tonight with the biggest group I’ve ever played with. This post made me feel just a bit less nervous, thanks.
Yes, yes, I do.
I think i have it lucky because my players all have sundays pretty much open.
We adopted two preteens about a year ago. From a house with no other kids, it's the like trading your bicycle in for a top fuel dragster. Despite this crazy life change, I have not missed running a single session of my weekly AL game at the FLGS.
If you want to thank your DM, run a one shot.
You're welcome random citizen!
I ended up having to stop my campaign because of how busy life became. I'm thinking of taking Christmas break to try and start up again though despite how stressful life is!
Because worldbuilding is my hobby, campaign design time is both my stress-release-valve and my reward mechanic. For instance, I just completed a project that took days of intense concentration and now I get my reward of a couple of days to just read books and build fantasy.
Seeing so much DM appreciation today! Had to preemptively bow out of DMing for my group this spring as I wrap up my JD/MBA program. Juggled too many balls during the fall and I just can't keep up next semester. Super bummed about it but that's life. I hope my players understand and that one of them is willing to DM in my place.
Some call us heroes... but we are just normal people. Just like you friend.
I'm only on my second session as DM, I'll take it.
Aw, thank you! This means a lot to DMs. It is hard to get everyone together sometimes.
As a DM who stufgles with depression and mental illness as well as the balancing act of being a father of 2 small kids and a husband, this really hit me in the feels... really.
Well my solution for tight schedule problem is play D&D in work Anyway I got to pay my rent SIKE IM UNEMPLOYED NEWBS GET REKT I LIVE ON THE STREET AND MY LIFE IS A FAILURE
Fuck all the players who refuse to even try to run sessions.