Death Dealer Rex wrote:
...And leaving off at a very crucial part of the story when we last played I now get to miss how this part of our campaign turns out because I actually plan my life and cant play spur of the moment like some of the others. I love my friends to death but after having a blowout with the one who started all of this I feel its time to stop playing pnp with them. I am sure they will see this as childish but still feels its what I should do. The only thing is I don't want to stop playing but currently there aren't any groups going on at my local "nerd store". Should I try to find groups that use the internet? Or just wait it out to see if I can find something local. I'm open to all suggestions to see if anyone else has run into this situation before...
I'm in a similar situation. I won't bore you with the details of my life but I can tell you what I did. My gaming group for several years has grown flaky with age. We'd cancel because a single person couldn't make it and my schedule isn't flexible, nor do I like "spur of the moment" gaming. What did I do?
For months I dealt with the same situation as you and my long time group just wasn't getting better. In fact, it's still not. I told the gaming group I wasn't happy with the willy-nilly gaming and all but two shrugged. But I took some initiative and looked for new games. Nothing. Same situation. So approached the two that didn't shrug and suggested I run a game that doesn't require lots of players - Promethean. One of the other guys said he always wanted to play it and ran it instead. I'd say he ran the best campaign of any game in his life. We played for a year and loved every session. It was detailed, rich, frightening, deadly, romantic, and above all fun. We played the arc of his campaign for a year before we finished strong. In the mean time it made the folly of the other group bearable.
After Promethean my life changed and my Sundays were no longer free. I started running a Star Wars game on a different day with three good roleplayers that I cobbled together from different groups. In time we added two more players, one a first time player of RPGs but played Warhammer 40k and other Minis games. Granted, I don't get to "play" but I love it. The campaign has been going one year strong and we're just in the final months of wrapping up.
To sum up...
Over two years have past and the "old group" still hasn't gotten their act together. But I've been enjoying the games we do get to play (for the most part) because I have a steady game with dedicated players (or Storytellers).
My suggestion is don't be bitter or hurtful. These are your friends. But tell them the truth. Tell them how you feel. They probably won't change their behavior because you asked them to nicely. So keep looking for groups and if you really want to Roleplay then build one. If they're "spur of the moment" then they won't mind when you drop in. Keep your friends but build a new group of your liking. Trust me, you're not alone. This is SO common if we RPGers actually went to the doctor for the treatment of mental illnesses their'd be a name for it. I'd call it Grown Up Gygax Syndrome, or something to that effect.
