Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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I have a situation today and wanted to make sure I dealt with it correctly.
The PFS lodge I'm visiting today uses Warhorn so people can book the limited amount of space around the table in advance. When I logged in to double check the address today, I noticed a player on there that used to be a part of my home campaigns for a while but that I had to kick due to him being a no-show at least half of the sessions and never giving any advance warning or responding to texts and messages when I asked him about it.
So obviously I figured I'd at least warn the GM of today and sent him a message warning him of this player's behaviour but now I'm worried that maybe I spoke out of turn, after all this player hasn't misbehaved in PFS yet as far as I know. I think this is even his very first planned PFS session (and to be honest I'm 99% sure he'll be a no-show).
This is a tough one. I understand you’re being worried that you might have hurt the reputation of another player when he was just starting out. Still, I think the information that you provided was both useful and necessary.
I know that as an Organizer, what I would do with that information is thank you for it, but let the player establish his own history with me. I might also plan for a 7 player table so that if he didn’t show it didn’t disrupt anything.
Hmm
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I think it is also important to note that often PFS is the opportunity to play for people who cannot consistently make a home game. Also, people have to drop last minute from PFS all of the time. I woukd, at a minimum expect someone to drop from Warhorn if they weren’t going to make it. If they have contact info for the organizer, then giving a heads up is good. But unlike a home game, PFS is by its nature designed to compensate for something like this. Obviously if someone is taking a spot on Warhorn, not showing up, and not canceling that, that can turn into a problem. But I would at least consider the possibility this player has chosen to try PFS in part because of their difficulty committing to attend a home game.
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I had a horrible interaction with a couple of players in the local lodge as a player.
When they signed up for my table for a different local convention about a year later, I had a concern and I notified the VO in charge of the Pathfinder side of the events of the horrible interaction, my concerns, and that I wasn't trying to be an ass about it.
The VO actually knew the players in question, and let me know that he had my back if they turned out to be disruptive (they weren't) or less than respectful to either other players or me as a GM (they weren't).
We had a ton of fun, and we all learned some things in play.
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I as a GM would prefer the heads-up to prep the 4 player adjustments of the scenario as well as the normal version. I mean, if I'm looking at a full table of sign-ups, I normally won't even look at the adjustments, and some of them are a bit more complicated than "remove 2 of mook A". Same thing goes for tier, if it might change because of someone not showing up.
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Just as an update...
I try to mentor all event organizers to track trending. If a single player complains about a GM once, there's no need to ban the GM. However, if you've received a number of complaints from different players over the course of some time, there is likely some validity to their claims. Probably time to have a talk with said GM.
If a player misses a session, life happens. Don't make too much of it. But, if a player is building a history of signing up then no showing, time for a conversation. If it continues, you may have to ban them from registering early. Or maybe they have to give you a personal guarantee they will show up when they register.
Some people do not stop to think how their actions affect the GM and/or the other players at the event and need someone to make them aware and worst case, ban them from the event.
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It's 2018, everyone's connected to the internet pretty much 24/7, it's never been easier than it is now to send out a quick message to notify people. Heck, the original post in this thread + the message I sent the DM I both typed on a cellphone while I was roaming internationally on 4G... that might be a bit more than I expect from everyone, but still. It's possible.
Nope. That is just a bad assumption. I use the internet and Warhorn to sign up for game, but I don't have a smart phone and I'm not connected 24/7. Just a couple of day's ago I had couldn't sign up for Origins because I didn't have any internet access that day. Don't make the assumption that people have internet all the time. Maybe in five to ten years, but not yet.
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Maybe in five to ten years, but not yet.
True, but if a player is not going to attend an event they commited to, its not too much to ask for them to unregister, email the organizer, call the GM, call the game store, etc. Generally spealing, unless you experience a last-minute emergency, simply not showing up is disrespectful to the organizer, GM, and perhaps the other players who have invested time, gas, child care, etc to attend the event. Not to mention the player who missed out that night because the table was full so they just stayed home and could have played had anyone known there would be an open seat.
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Sometimes life interferes with game, and it is not always possible to give advance notice.
Of course, and if its a one-time thing, no worries, but if its a regular trend, don't be surprised when the organizer takes some disciplinary action. Its a balance between acceptable allowances and personal responsibility.
Let's not try to make this out to be "there's no excuse for missing, period" or "I can do whatever I want regardless of how it affects other people." There is an acceptable median.
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While I was VOing, I would have a yearly post if put up on our meet up group expressing to folks how rude it is to sign up and either no show or cancel last minute. I expressed the understanding that it's summer and you may want to be outside. So please don't sign up early just to hold your place because it might rain that day in two weeks.
I also started putting people on the wait list who would consistently no show or cancel last second.
I started doing both these things when I had enough no shows and cancellations to collapse a 5 table game day into two, sending a GM home.