Ever had that week or month where all the games seem to fall through at the last minute, and you're in what seems like a constant state of gearing up for games that just never materialize?
I am. Right now. And to make matters worse, I could use an escape from reality. A little more than usual, this week.
Go on, vent.
Not to rub salt in the wound, but I usually have the exact opposite problem. Too many games and too little time to prepare. I know that's not helping, but to me it seems like a problem of equal magnitude, just of a polar opposite kind. Sorry to hear your gaming time is being squashed by real life.
We tend to get some element to this effect in my group from November through early January every year and again at some point in the summer. In both cases its usually a run on vacations or events that many of the players simply have to attend.
That said for me and mine its not to bad. We still get together most weeks with whoever is around and play a board game or do a Magic Draft. I look at it as a bit of a break from D&D and find that everyone is actually recharged and raring to go when this period ends and its back to the main game.
Ever had that week or month where all the games seem to fall through at the last minute, and you're in what seems like a constant state of gearing up for games that just never materialize?
Hell yeah,
December is always like that as a matter of fact. There's the before-Christmas rush at work and home, games get cancelled/postponed/finished prematurely as things get hectic. Then everyone is like "wow, I've got so much banked days from overtime at work, we'll have plenty of time to play!", and then we all re-emerge somewhere in January, we get back at work, kids get back at school, and no games were played.
:(
January is the super-rush work time for my company. Thankfully I have players who are up for taking a jump into the GM chair and one-shotting for a few weeks while I'm swamped.
Yeah, the holiday season always seems like a great time to play... people back from out of town, days off, etc. Never works. Family usually monopolizes people's time.
This is why we made a holiday in midsummer, "Nerdfest" for the expressed purpose of getting together to game as far from the holiday season as possible.
Ever had that week or month where all the games seem to fall through at the last minute, and you're in what seems like a constant state of gearing up for games that just never materialize?
I am. Right now. And to make matters worse, I could use an escape from reality. A little more than usual, this week.
Go on, vent.
Had those a few times: two or three sessions planned for a week with each session being canceled at last time.
Now I am at long dry season because of a (as of yet unfruitful) work trip planned to last three months... Might get longer because of lack of successes.
Times like that are one of the reasons I've started a small skull and shackles game with my girlfriend and her brother (who lives with us). Its easy to get a game together on one of those weeks (or months) where everything else seems to fall through.
I have had many of these. I generally try to run 1/month games. I've had to re-start campaigns due to implosion several times over the last decade. Not to mention holidays getting in the way, kids and family time, last minute needs etc. For these reasons my actual average is more like 1 session every 5 weeks.
I go into hyper mode.
For five weeks I have no input from my players (I GM btw) and the game is essentially on hold. During all that downtime my brain says "wouldn't it be cool if..." and then data dumps EVERY possible scenario. This becomes an issue because where I left off w/the action and the direction it goes in when next we meet are often leagues apart.
During the last implosion I went 6 months w/out an RPG. I played a couple board game nights but it just wasnt the same. I was doubly in a funk because my confidence as a GM was terribly broken from the death of my last campaign. When I casually mentioned to an old gaming buddy how much I missed RPGing he was like "Well fire it up man! Me and a couple other folks are dying for you to get back to the table." It was the best gift I've gotten for a long time.
You hang in there Mr Mythic President. I've read your houserules and interacted w/you a bit on these boards. If you have a game ready and put that out into the universe, I guarantee they'll come running!
Dry spells are common in Autumn and early Winter with my crew. The yearly Renaissance festival dominates October and November, and many of my players work retail so December is pretty much a loss too.
Topping it all off this year was the fact that my prior employer laid off the whole team. While we all had plenty of forewarning and a generous severance, the stress of resume-building, job-hunting, etc. pretty much curb-stomped ye olde muse for my PbP.
Thankfully I'm now 2-months into a great new position, but between moving and getting acclimated to a normal (i.e. non-telecommuter) schedule, it's just as well that the gang is still tied-up by the holiday crush. Still, I am yearning to run an adventure, so it'll be good once RealLife™ settles into a nice predictable routine again.
Mid-November to early January our gaming grinds to a complete stop. It also slows down a lot in the summer, too, as people take vacations and such. As it is, we rarely get to play more than once a month. We have more dry spells than rainy ones. I don't like it.