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"Hey mate, now that you'll be playing with us, I should tell you about the 24 hour rule. Since people plan their time around us gathering and playing, and <DM> in particular, since DM'ing takes a bit of prep-work, we have the 24 hour rule. The rule is: If you can't join us for a game, you'll tell us 24 hours in advance, at least. This is simply a matter of respect for other people's time. Naturally we all understand that emergencies happen, or you can get caught in traffic or whatever, accidents uknow. But in general we play at <place> every <time>, and we it is expected that you show, and that you plan your time around it, just like everyone else. If you forget, no biggie, it's a new thing on your schedule, so no worries. But you'll prolly not want to forget twice, and certainly not three times, cuz then you're out, guaranteed. So just remember: 24 hour rule. And now, how about we roll up some characters?"
-Nearyn
"Hey mate, now that you'll be playing with us, I should tell you about the 24 hour rule. Since people plan their time around us gathering and playing, and <DM> in particular, since DM'ing takes a bit of prep-work, we have the 24 hour rule. The rule is: If you can't join us for a game, you'll tell us 24 hours in advance, at least. This is simply a matter of respect for other people's time. Naturally we all understand that emergencies happen, or you can get caught in traffic or whatever, accidents uknow. But in general we play at <place> every <time>, and we it is expected that you show, and that you plan your time around it, just like everyone else. If you forget, no biggie, it's a new thing on your schedule, so no worries. But you'll prolly not want to forget twice, and certainly not three times, cuz then you're out, guaranteed. So just remember: 24 hour rule. And now, how about we roll up some characters?"
-Nearyn
I have a similar mindset. If you keep not showing up, you won't even have to worry about it anymore, and by "keep not showing up" that is normally about 2 chances.
Sounds like a good way to explain things... though I'm sorely tempted to make it more than 24 hours for things that aren't emergencies, or serious work or family related commitments (I'm OK with being pretty lenient with those specific sorts of situations).
I think part of the problem is that I'm just getting really impatient about these sorts of things, and also that there's quite a few players in the area and not enough GMs. This means I'm having to sort through the folks like I described above when there's a multiple other people waiting for a chance to join a group.
Maybe I need to vet people better too? Has anyone tried to set up some sort of player questionnaire to help out with this?
"I'd make it known we expect to meet and gaming isn't plan B for whatever else is going on."
I like that Pan... I'm going to have to use it.
You should make a GM guide that has character creation rules, house rules and other things. In the document mention the 24 hour rule or your version of it. That way they have no excuse.
I game with a 30+ years crowd. We all have wives, jobs, kids, etc. Everyone at the table could be doing something else and in some cases should be doing something else. So we all understand how precious free time is. I think it's that understanding that has kept our group together for 4+ years.
Explain yourself to prospective new players and I think you'll have much better luck. That said you might want to use something like Doodle.com in order to keep track of everyone's availability.
This is something of a rant I guess but I also am really wondering how others deal with these situations.
so... DMing (and playing really as well), means setting aside your day to game, and especially if you DM then also some planning ahead of time as well. If players don't show up, it means that you could have made other plans, and have been doing something else instead, or that you could have given the spot to another player whom maybe would be more reliable. Because of that, I get frustrated when people don't show up.
I'm not talking about people whom can't make game due to an emergency, or have planned a vacation and give me notice ahead of time (though, depending on the specifics, either of those might mean you should drop out of gaming, at least for a while).
What I'm referring to are folks whom just have something else that they'd prefer to do come up on the same day they said they'd game, and possibly with little (or even no) prior notice, so they go and do that instead. Now, they may come back, and game again the next week, but as soon as something else comes up, they are gone again.I have group of what are very reliable players currently, but as we've tried to find an additional person to join the group... I'm finding a lot of folks whom fit the issue I described above.
I'm debating just how much of a chance I should give newbies to the group. Is it fair to tell someone to not come back if they flake out for just one game unless it's something work related or an emergency? Or is slightly more of a chance than that only fair?
Use these:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/metagame-artifacts/scar-of-de stinyIf player no show, character go bye-bye, come back later.