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Basically, the group I play in is rather...... 'unstable'. Players come and go, and we kind of had a revolving GM thing for a while. Unfortunately, not only have we started to run low on players, but no one wants to GM. The group is losing confidence.
I need someone to be Game Master, but I cannot find someone to be a Game Master and stay Game Master. I'm conflicted, I don't want to GM, but I don't want to force the role on someone who doesn't want to either. I only know a few people who can, most of which who don't want to, and the majority of the group has neither the drive, time, will, nor the experience to GM.
I know there is probably no way strangers on the internet can help with this problem, but I'm at the end of my rope. I just want to be able to play, and everyone to be happy.
I guess highest on my list of recommendations is to look at your player group make up. It sometimes falls to lack of a leader rather than lack of interest (revolving gm means no one can get accustomed to one style of play, and grow as a character.) If you've got alot of 'meh' players, who show up once in a while, but never really get into it, then it becomes frustrating as half the group never shows up because they've got somewhere else to be. Player makeup is one of the most complex things you could ever try to balance.
Second is, expand your range. do a search for a pathfinder society event near you. start attending and talk to everyone. people sitting in on the game are just as interested as you to play, and most likely just as local. It's also a neutral environment to interact. There are other ways to look for players/gms, but you're drifting into more risky situations (a store manager explained to me that they had to take down their notice board because of a guy who wanted to run a home game.....only for 12 year olds.)
GM's are often from the most unlikely sources. Players who've always wanted to gm, those who started out players but came up with ideas that motivated them to gm, and sometimes those who knew the rules and the moment required them to act.
For your current group, sit them down at a good time and just talk it out outside the game. ask them what they want from the game, what they like and what they dont. The best groups I've been in developed in part because the players were able to say 'I would like to see this...'. Your group may just be too time invested in other things to make the get together, or a million other valid reasons that will not get solved unless you talk to them all.
Have you looked at Facebook for groups? I just met someone in a group called Old School Gamers. While we aren't going to game together regularly, we are going to meet up at a local con since he's actually about 1.5 hours away from me. I'm sure a search can find all kinds of gaming groups. If not, then make one. Consider using the town you live in as part of the group name.
Also, talk about gaming at work or school. There are probably more gamers available than you realize. I have met two of my current group from work.
NearbyGamers.com might help. Or go to your FLGS and ask around. Or, hey, just run rotating pickup games. Maybe you use different Paizo-published Pathfinder modules, maybe you try different game systems. (Blasphemy, I know. Sorry.) Eventually you'll probably settle on something you like. If not, you get to try a lot of new things until you find a consistent GM.
I need someone to be Game Master, but I cannot find someone to be a Game Master and stay Game Master. I'm conflicted, I don't want to GM, but I don't want to force the role on someone who doesn't want to either. I only know a few people who can, most of which who don't want to, and the majority of the group has neither the drive, time, will, nor the experience to GM.
You have ultimately two choices then: DM yourself, or find a new group. Because if you are not prepared to step into the breach, you can't expect anyone else to. Maybe after six months you will find things have stabilized and someone else is prepared to take over.
We had this exact problem, so we developed a campaign world that easily comaprtmentalized adventures and had firm rules about GM rotation. Now none of us goes more than 3 months, but the games been going 3 years. Works great.
Here's what we came up with btw:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/panakos-lab
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Maybe your group could branch into other games which don't require a lot of leadership. There are a HUGE amount of board games out there that are a lot of fun and lots of people who are dedicated just to that. You can even find board games that simulate a table top experience with or without a game master.
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you should also look into the problem as maybe they are just so new to the concept of being the GM that it can be overwhelming just starting out. Maybe try having people who show skill at it running a simple module or a pre-written adventure path. That is what i am doing with my current gaming group as we fell into the same problem so I grabbed Council of Theives and everyone loves me as a GM and I have found it very entertaining myself.
Yikes, I may get tarred and feathered for posting this. I will do it anyway. I had a great gaming group as well. I GM'ed for years. What I found was that as you approach 9th level or so in 3.x or Pathfinder, the NPC's get more cumbersome and time-consuming to create. To make them high quality, you have to put in the time on stats, feats, skills, etc. I also found that combat became slower and took much longer to resolve. I got tired of spending so much time, so I resigned as GM and handed if off. The next GM just quit too. He said it took too much time.
Anyway, long story, short; we tried a more "rules-lite" game and we have been very happy. That may not be the problem you are having, so it may not be worth much. If it were easier to run, maybe more folks would be willing to run it. Thats the problem we ran into, this system is a bit top-heavy as you increase in level so we aonly enjoyed low level games.
It was crazy. My group got all upset, but when I passed the torch they just got more upset. Seems they thought I had lots of time to prepare, but they did not.
Statting NPCs is a huge pain in the ass. Easiest way around it is make sure the plot carries the players away from civilization and towards monsters.
Yikes, I may get tarred and feathered for posting this. I will do it anyway. I had a great gaming group as well. I GM'ed for years. What I found was that as you approach 9th level or so in 3.x or Pathfinder, the NPC's get more cumbersome and time-consuming to create. To make them high quality, you have to put in the time on stats, feats, skills, etc. I also found that combat became slower and took much longer to resolve. I got tired of spending so much time, so I resigned as GM and handed if off. The next GM just quit too. He said it took too much time.
Anyway, long story, short; we tried a more "rules-lite" game and we have been very happy. That may not be the problem you are having, so it may not be worth much. If it were easier to run, maybe more folks would be willing to run it. Thats the problem we ran into, this system is a bit top-heavy as you increase in level so we aonly enjoyed low level games.
It was crazy. My group got all upset, but when I passed the torch they just got more upset. Seems they thought I had lots of time to prepare, but they did not.
What system did you convert to?
I found some of my current players on Meetup.com in a local group. - Gauss
Basically, the group I play in is rather...... 'unstable'. Players come and go, and we kind of had a revolving GM thing for a while. Unfortunately, not only have we started to run low on players, but no one wants to GM. The group is losing confidence.
I need someone to be Game Master, but I cannot find someone to be a Game Master and stay Game Master. I'm conflicted, I don't want to GM, but I don't want to force the role on someone who doesn't want to either. I only know a few people who can, most of which who don't want to, and the majority of the group has neither the drive, time, will, nor the experience to GM.
I know there is probably no way strangers on the internet can help with this problem, but I'm at the end of my rope. I just want to be able to play, and everyone to be happy.
Where do you live?
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Ditto on the meetup.com.
I highly recommend checking for local meetups. Even if you can't make the meetup, you can still contact likely players/GMs and pick up some great additions to your group. About half our current group came from there, and the player that I alternate GMing with also came from there.
Maybe use the E6 rules if you find high level adventures to time consuming. I just ran a 9th level adventure today, but our usual DM was kind of complaining about how hard it is to challenge 14th level PCs.
I'm actually capable of planning gaming stuff while watching TV, so I do have time to plan stuff, but I can understand how other people don't have the time. Maybe modules or adventure paths would be easier to run.
If you have a rotating GM situation, it might be less disruptive if they are all running the same campaign, doing the same adventure path. The GM's regular character just spends some time "off screen" for a while, then comes back (adjusted to the average party level) when the next GM in the cycle takes over.
The Pathfinder society model might be something to learn from. All characters are part of a large organization with similar but not identical goals. This explains away characters coming and going all the time.
Run a lot of one (or 2 or 3) session long adventures. Even if someone isn't up to DM for months on end, they might still enjoy DMing for an evening. When you DM your character is off doing something else, so they still get exp. maybe some cool bonus stuff as well, magic items, don't have to pay for the snacks, whatever works for your group.
My group is switching to this style and I'm really looking forward to it (I'm usually the DM)
Of course if there is actually a Pathfinder Society game in your area you can just do that!
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We had this exact problem, so we developed a campaign world that easily comaprtmentalized adventures and had firm rules about GM rotation. Now none of us goes more than 3 months, but the games been going 3 years. Works great.
Here's what we came up with btw:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/panakos-lab
While I don't agree with everything that you folks espouse (I am that rare ,stable GM who runs campaign, after campaign, without having my games fall apart, etc...) I must say, Wow.
This is truly an awesome endeavor, and a concept that I have toyed with for a while (Where do old Gods go, when people stop worshiping them?)
In my HARP campaign, I have included a group of Angels (Uriel and the other 6) who were removed from the official Christian Canon by Pope Zachary at the Council of Rome in 745. I have for years, found it fascinating that an earthly man (Pope though he may be... ) could just write out the supposed Heavenly servants of their God.
Likewise, I have Deities from many real world mythologies in a vein similar to you folks' project.
back to Panakos, however. I have been looking for a setting/toying with throwing together one for a Super Genious Games Godlings campaign.
I think that Panakos will work quite nicely.
-Uriel
What system did you convert to?
We went to Castles & Crusades (Troll Lord Games). It is rules lite and ytou can add back in feats, skills, or whatever you like. It is what Gary may have designed had he based it all on d20. You should check it out.
We had this exact problem, so we developed a campaign world that easily comaprtmentalized adventures and had firm rules about GM rotation. Now none of us goes more than 3 months, but the games been going 3 years. Works great.
Here's what we came up with btw:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/panakos-lab
While I don't agree with everything that you folks espouse (I am that rare ,stable GM who runs campaign, after campaign, without having my games fall apart, etc...) I must say, Wow.
This is truly an awesome endeavor, and a concept that I have toyed with for a while (Where do old Gods go, when people stop worshiping them?)
In my HARP campaign, I have included a group of Angels (Uriel and the other 6) who were removed from the official Christian Canon by Pope Zachary at the Council of Rome in 745. I have for years, found it fascinating that an earthly man (Pope though he may be... ) could just write out the supposed Heavenly servants of their God.
Likewise, I have Deities from many real world mythologies in a vein similar to you folks' project.back to Panakos, however. I have been looking for a setting/toying with throwing together one for a Super Genious Games Godlings campaign.
I think that Panakos will work quite nicely.-Uriel
Thanks! Feel free to use it. If you write anything for it and want us to stick it up on d20pfsrd, email it over.
We have had a couple of single GM games run in it so far, but they petered out.
It's not quite done, as you'll see as you drill into the details. Currently The Kelevala (Finnish Region) is about 90% written right now and about to go live, and the Outer Planes aren't done for all Regions. Kente Twins (Africa) is in concept development. Some of the best ones are left, mostly because I wanted to leave the juicier ones open for players to grab. Kell is druids, witches, fey, Stonehenge, and Camelot. Isles of the Pharoh is Egypt, obviously. Incarna Isles (Hindu) is a real daunting one, I think everyone's scared to tackle it.
The biggest peice of advice I would give to the OP is that gaming breeds gaming. If you want your group to stay cohesive, involved, and fun, there needs to be consistent gaming. I realize you prefer to play, but I have found that the best way to help your friends find the 'will' to run a game of their own is to give them an example. A successful campaign can drive all sorts of inspiration for their own games. So it might be worth the effort to run a game of your own (even working from an AP to reduce the workload) and try to 'bring the magic back', as it were.
I'm a Forever GM, been running a steady game every week for 4 years going, with only 3 days off the entire time. During part of this I was also running 2 other games, one of them a side old school d&d game, and the other dark heresy.
In my experience if you don't have a guy who is willing to run the game on a regular basis, the group is doomed. I've GMed for mostly this reason, and I've come to prefer running the game to just playing it. I've also decided I would rather GM than play in a poorly run or poorly conceived campaign, which is honestly what most of my players would come up with unfortunately. Not criticizing them, its just that not everybody is willing or able to put the work into GMing well.
When I've gotten that itch to play I've found other groups to play in that isn't my normal group. Played a 3.5 game for about a year for instance, even though it was a small playgroup it was at least a game. I've also taken up playing PFS games on a monthly basis. Doesn't have the same feel as an ongoing game, but it's not something requires a dedicated GM and people have been relatively good at taking turns GMing (though mostly there is 2 guys who always run, and rarely play).