7 Reasons D&D Campaigns Fail
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
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Today we discuss the top seven reasons D&D and RPG campaigns fail. And we'll talk about what game masters can do to prevent their games from falling apart.
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But, what if the player that's gone is "The life of the party"? (Not and angry comment)
I've been blessed with a wonderful group. A total party group size of 7 (but usually 6.) We designated every Saturday from 3-9+ (some sessions go very late) with dinner halfway. We all pitch in for food/snacks/drinks. We have 3D printers and one of my players is an artist that builds terrain and paints minis.
Everyone is so passionate and consistent/reliable.
We're 50 sessions in to our weekly homebrew game, and DMing them is one of the most rewarding things I do.
This sounds like a dream!
I'm lucky enough to be in a group of 6 players and our DM. We meet every Wednesday and had some exception but that was ok. When someone was missing and we couldn't continue without that character we made one shots instead in which are DM was able to take part in because many of us are DM as well and we where switching around.
We have been doing this for a year now (so still pretty young campaigne) but it's still lots of fun.
We spend money for new materials for our campaigne and also share snacks.
I'm the main artist of the group. I drew every PC as a chibi (because they were faster to make than the bigger ones I'm still working on) and two versions of our DMs avatar (an orange pseudo dragon). I made the logo of our group (the capeless crusaders) and of our BBEG (Daurgothoth). Drew several npc (even so they don't get the same detailed treatment than the drawings of our PCs), some moments that happened in the campaigne and of course our pets (including our rogues unicorn bunny Mr. Hooper and my PCs homunculus Fluch (which looks like a fusion of a spider and a ladybug)).
It's lots of fun and heavily role play based. We just had a really "awful" session in which my PC decided to agree with murdering her brother instead of keeping running away from him. She now hopes to find a way to bring him back after we manage to seal away their father... but honestly everything points towards a negative character arc for her and she might split from the party because she felt betrayed by them. It will depend on the next session and depending on that I'll talk with my DM, so we can plan something that won't effect the other PCs too much. A character doesn't have to die for switching to a new character and while I love to play her this could be the end of her in my hands.
Outside of the game I'm reeeally excited but I hope to pull that off in a satisfying way and be able to play a character that takes a back seat so the other players will have more focus.
I've been afraid to take up too much spot light because of my backstory but I asked my players how they feel about it and I'm lucky that they are really excited, too.
They like the BBEG we have because of the backstory and the conflict it brings with itself. Additionally my DM is really good and changing things between our PCs and she modified details of my backstory that were purposefully up to interpetation. She was the one who gave me the green light when I was to afraid to play her. So yeah I'm a really lucky player, too.
6 hours every single week? Good lord
Good for you man!
@@Calebgoblin We make at least 8h each week and everyone works x)
😂
I run a game with a group of adults with jobs and families. We arrange the next game when we finish a session. We play roughly once every 4-5 weeks. The campaign has been running for over 4 years going on 5. Players are 13th level. In 2 more years we should be done and ready for the next campaign😇
WE HAVE FOUND THE ANOMALY! ALL WITNESS AND TREMBLE!
Literally at the session 0 of my current campaign for a group of adults, as a group we decided on a set day and time when we will play. If someone can't make it (and we can't play on the day after for some reason), then we just continue without that person. If more than one player can't make it, we typically move it to the next day or day after.
The group actually motivates and encourages one another to make it to every session, and we've been consistently playing ever since session 0
I should have said not every session has included all 4 of the players. If we can’t agree on a date within a reasonable time that all players can make it we go with one where only 1 is absent. Playing only once a month actually helps with arranging dates, as it provides more advance notice to not make arrangements for game day.
I'm a med student. DMed for my group but school overtook my time so I told thr group we had to put it on hiatus and theyre fine. :) we will prob pick back up in spring.
I got lucky to have been able to run a session every Friday for the last month now it'll be every other Friday but once summer starts and school is out we will be going back to every friday
Reason 8: The campaign never even started duo to the DM never being able to finish their preparations.
Don't call me out like that!
Wow I mean can you even call it a campaign if the DM never finishes getting ready for it and never actually launch is it?
Sounds like a game run by Patrick Rothfuss
how much prep time is typical for a prewritten module? My friend wants to DM one of the module books and is in prep for 4 months now
@@Neth91 Depends on a lot of factors. Not all modules are written with the same degree of ease to use. The DM may be trying to adjust it for a non-typical group. And maybe the DM's life is just really busy right now. But four months to prepare for something that was already written seems excessive.
I'm guilty of #6: caused a plot pivot on accident because I had a "cool" idea for a twist. Game lasted a month after that. Funnily enough, I'd left a campaign earlier that year for the same reason, and swore NOT to do that to my players because I hated it so much. The power of wild ideas is strong; I'd personally love a video on how to tell when a neat concept is a bad fit for a game. Do we have one of those already?
lmao a i had a "cool" twist that ended up terrifying my characters on to going down a stoey path that caused me to have to reboot the campaign so i could make less mistakes lol.
My last DM had loads of ideas that he thought were cool; he didn't think a single one of them through, and it showed.
100% on the scheduling. Once a group gets a consensus on we play this day at this time your life as a DM becomes so much easier. With 4 players we typically play if at least three can play.
RUclips you should know that Luke isn't completely terrible.
You beat me to it! RUclips, I agree!
Luke isn’t completely terrible.
@@ScatteredTerrain Someone would go as far as "okay" ? It's a stretch, but it could help him ?
Everyone in my group are friends. When someone can't make it, we still play. Nobody gets upset about the one person missing the game, in general they get concerned because its rare that anyone misses the game. It helps that we have a set regular time to play that we don't deviate from.
Edit: the not having fun almost killed my Friday game. It wasn't that the players weren't having fun - I wasn't. I was running a module because I wanted to give them a shot and I ended up not liking it. So, I asked the players if they would be okay with swapping to a homebrew campaign, and we did, and it honestly saved the campaign.
Do that same thing happened to me when I was running my very first module ever princes of the Apocalypse. I was having a rough time of it not really enjoying it. I did to go back to Homebrew about a third of the way through the module perhaps even less. And I immediately was having more fun. I will say however that now that I've run other modules I have a much better feel for it and they are far more enjoyable for me to run. I think a lot of my lack of enjoyment for the first module what did I had never run a module 4 and there was a lot of change involved and now I did things. So I was feeling some frustration with that.
I want to be in your group 😀
When I started my game (I'm a GM) I figured out the time and date that worked best for me and found players that fit that mold. I've had players no longer able to make the time and I find another play with them and find a new player. I've been on the receiving end of this as a player too. It sucks to have to leave a game due to scheduling conflicts but it's best for the game in the long run and everyone is understanding.
I feel more people just straight up needs this. A time every week they KNOW is always there to hang with friends and have a good time. People desire that stability. My game is never not on the same day.
The only time I will cancel a session for one person is if at that session their character is in the middle of an arc. Other than that sorry but see ya next session.
When I have those cases, I will try and make a phone call to that player to run their special character arc bit, with the caveat that it may change a little when it happens at the table with everyone else there.
i have a 6 person group, as long as 4 or more show i run the game.
In the years that I have been gaming, I have found through experience the following irony:
When playing tabletop games as a teen, you have a lot of time but generally do not have money to get all the good stuff.
As an adult, you have the money to buy all the cool things. But then find that you have no time.
This. Except I still don't have money to buy the cool stuff (= some of the others do though, and are pretty good about sharing.
Playing every other week helps with the planning issues for us
@@shadowheartart3898 In that case, the alcohol we now can buy helps immensely!
I have a backlog of one-shot ideas, so I sometimes run a one-shot if multiple people will need to miss the session. I have already done most of the work so it is sometimes easier than running the main campaign. I do stress to players that it is 100% optional so they hopefully feel welcome to take the night off, but I find that it helps keep our group rolling along when work/school/life makes it difficult to get the full group together at at times.
Every Monday, 8-12. Going on 3 years. If DM can't make it, play board or card games. Same if more than 2 can't attend.
Also have two DM's, so we can rotate to prevent burnout.
I only have 5 players, some in college, so scheduling isn't that big of a problem. But we never leave the session without programming the next one, otherwise it gets complicated. As for players expectations, it's important to adapt as well. When I started my ongoing campaign, I wanted to make it very mysterious, with an enemy controlling all their minions from the shadows. That backfired a lot, cuz they players couldn't care less about the mysterious villains. So I cut the thriller vibe and made it more action focused. It worked wonders
One of the blessings of being able to rotate GM'ing at our Table is that problem Players tend to notice how bad they've been as Player when they GM for a turn... The glimpse behind the GM screen is enough for them to understand that even taking a wild turn in an adventure or RP'ing like the PC doesn't want to be an adventurer can be a REAL pain in the GM's ass... The rest of us "seasoned" Players and GM's can forgive a LOT and we don't have to repeat the problem behaviors to get the point across most of the time.
Problem Players sitting behind the screen just sort of get this donning expression, and then ask something like, "How do you deal with an unpredictable Player behavior?"
"We just deal through it by improvising when a Player throws a monkey wrench into the adventure mid-campaign." Someone else shrugs, bluntly...
Problem Player looks around at the rest of us nodding our agreement, and realizes they've been a pain in the GM's butt their WHOLE time up to that point... AND they change the next time they Play... Nobody often gets called out for anything.
Now... This doesn't necessarily fix EVERY problem behavior. AND interpersonal social dynamics can crop up no matter how we try. Individuals are individuals and relationships (even non-romantic ones) are dynamic. Things change,. and sometimes it's not always "for the best"... BUT we tend to be a little nicer to the "Duty GM" because sooner or later, we kind of hope everyone is a little bit kinder to us when it's our turn.
Scheduling is a menace, though. Not going to lie there... BUT 100% with Luke on it. Set it and consider it sacred. D&D night is D&D NIGHT... every time. If someone can't make it, we Play ANYWAYS... If more than half the group can't make it, we cancel. That's okay... BUT next tme it's D&D night... It's D&D NIGHT.
There's ONLY one exception to the "never reschedule" it rule. That's when the Group gets together and we have THAT conversation about it. If the WHOLE Group agrees to a reschedule, equitably, then we have a NEW D&D night. Life happens and sometimes it changes our circumstances... Get together in College and Saturdays were good for EVERYONE? Then Half the Group graduates ... get jobs and freed up their Mondays but Saturdays are hard? Have the conversation... It might still work out. It might split the group for two different games... It can't "fix itself"... SO we have to have the conversation. ;o)
Last year a coworker DMed Rime of the Frostmaiden with EIGHT other coworkers. I had bought the book and asked to listen in as a fly on the wall to see how it would go -- it fell apart with the party doing their own thing and getting their asses kicked by Sephek. Long story short the DM quit due to "work reasons" a few sessions after that so one of the players volunteered to take over but she quit before getting to DM due to an anxiety attack. Another player volunteered to DM his homebrew campaign adventure but about five sessions in he put the adventure on hold due to personal and work issues. I volunteered to DM the Book of the Raven from Candlekeep Mysteries (short review: I had to rewrite about 40% of it to make it flow and have a proper conclusion (just because it's by Chris Perkins doesn't mean it's good... I think it was a rough draft for a Ravenloft adventure they tossed out but used it as filler)).
tl;dr Finding a good DM who can stay is VERY hard.
6 players is a big group. Smaller groups are better in my opinion.
It is easier to keep a small group engaged. There are fewer player styles to prepare for. You can better incorporate back stories (which players love).
Less potential for toxic behaviours and personality clashes at the table.
Generally less scheduling issues.
I prefer it when we are able to have sessions nearly every week.
Love that everyone has the same phone except the old guy who has a physical planner.
I instigated on one of those "not having fun" conversations in a group a couple of years ago.
I liked the story we were in/making, and I liked the group, but I was having bigger and bigger issues with the system.
My intention with the talk was to get help in figuring it out - should I just leave the group, or could someone help me get better into the system, or was there some solution I just wasn't seeing.
30 minutes later 3 out of 4 players had declared that they just didn't like the system and had considered leaving the group over it(me included), 1 was super happy as things were.
After a long talk it was decided that we would start a different campaign in a different system. I felt super guilty at that point, like it was all my fault.
Two days after the GM called and said that one of the others (The one who was super happy with game+system) had dropped out, and if we couldn't find another player we wouldn't be playing...
It all turned out fine in the end, but I felt guilty for quite a while until I realized that it probably wouldn't have, if I hadn't said something when I did.
The GM sometimes still refer to back when *I* killed the campaign though
Did you manage to find a new system that addressed your gripes with the old one while still preserving the same level of fun? Switching can be pretty intimidating, especially when you're really used to doing things a particular way.
@@n.l.g.6401 we never did, no. After that player dropped out we ended up switching back to D&D 3.5.
I/we have tried out new systems after, with mixed success.
The one that I had problems with was Seven Seas (I think it was called). The whole narration and token flipping thing made me really uncomfortable. I had trouble grasping the concept, and the whole thing seemed way too... hmm. Fluid.
It probably didn't help that the one who ended up dropping from the group was a HUGE fan, and had experience both as player and GM with it. The rest of us players had no idea what we were doing
@@shadowheartart3898 Did the superfan player try to help you learn at all?
@@n.l.g.6401 He tried somewhat, yes. He tried giving me ideas for the narration bits, and gave me some good examples for the trickier parts of it (Say something like this, when you want to base your action on that stat). There were limits to how much help he could give though, since it's all pretty improv-based. Apparently I'm just not very good at that, even though I do fine when I GM.
I also didn't really understand the explanations about the tokens
@@shadowheartart3898 I've never played Seven Seas or 3.5, so I wouldn't know. But yeah, I guess I understand why he didn't want to go back; he was probably hurt that he couldn't even get one person to stay in the game with him. But still, cool of you to speak up--the fact that you weren't alone in feeling lost is proof that actually saying something about it is hard--and I'm glad you've got a personal favorite system of your own as a fallback.
My gaming group has long had an arrangement wherein players who can't attend leave their character sheets for a different player to run their toon in their absence.
I've done that. One of the players couldn't make it so the DM asked me to run their character in addition to my own. It was a lot of fun actually as they played a very loud, bombastic character (unlike my own) and I was experienced enough to switch gears between them, both in terms of roleplay and mechanics.
Luke you don't suck, I've never been apart of any of your D&D group but just letting you know that you don"t suck.
A mate of mine got so frustrated with scheduling games he created an Excel spreadsheet for everyone to put in their free days XD
Scheduling was always a nightmare... making the decision to play on a regular schedule is going great now. Life does creep up and we have had a few players drop out, but some were replaced. There is always room for more D&D. Cheers and congrats on continuing to not completely suck Luke. When you do... I look forward to seeing a lot more of that thumbs down button pushed.
A good DM will always be able to find players. It's a player finding a good DM that is hard.
Hey algorithm, this Luke guy does NOT completely suck.
The scheduling thing never ceases to amaze me. Mostly because the group I’ve been playing with since picking up table top games has just decided on a day that on average works for everyone and just sticks to that. And when someone can’t make it we do try to reschedule if it works for people but if it doesn’t we just play without that player unleeeees we feel like taking a break. Guess our dm has been watching dm lair for a bit hehe
Also, I'm really thankful because I DM for two groups and they never fail me. I gave them my schedule and asked them if they could play weekly, they said yes. Problem solved forever.
The thing about kicking out problem players is one of the best advices ever. I wish every group would do that.
I started DMing because my first experience as a players was with a really bad DM, so everyone ended up becoming a DM for their own games (both of them are players in my own games too). We played once every two months, the DM and one player had couple issues, he also had players vs DM mentality, etc. Basically, everything Luke said lol
Scheduling is a consistent issue, if one of my 3, now 4, players isn't going to make it nobody turns up. Stung a bit when it was so they could play in another game.
It’s nice to know that group at the beginning can finally play their next session :3
A long time ago, in a decade far away, I actually laid down an ultimatum on my landscaping boss that I needed one weekend day off every week, and the same day every week.
When I started, that was normal, but as his business grew, I would be asked to work every day possible, with one stretch lasting over 25 days straight.
I was unable to plan ANYTHING in my life, because if the sun was out I was working, and if it was raining, I might STILL have work. And working that many days without a break in a physical job was ruining my brain and my back.
Once I got Sundays off, my mental and physical health improved, and I was able to play D&D again.
-
Now, decades later, our group has five people, and we have a specific day set aside every week. Not everyone can play every week, but with three of us running campaigns and side groups in those campaigns, we will play even if there are only three of us.
We also understand that when a player is missing, the DM might have to roleplay their character, with another player making the dice rolls.
We set a regular day of the week and time -- every Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm. People either have to plan around it or not play. We just need a quorum of three players (out of five) to play the session.
One of the guys I play with has MCS. We have tried talking to him out of character about it and he would change for a couple sessions, then go back to his old ways. He finally changed his ways after we played VtM. My character was the reluctant Prince of the city and MCS stepped on my character’s toes in game. I told the story teller to stop for a second, explained to MCS what he did and explained what would now happen in character and why (my character, the Prince, would have to punish his character publicly or it would cause him problems and, by extension, everyone else.). We unpaused, my character punished him in character as would be appropriate and we continued. We haven’t had a problem with him since. He gets his chance to shine and doesn’t step on anyone’s toes when it’s their chance.
I am a DM since march 2021. My two players play D&D since march 2021. We had 6 sessions yet, each between 7 and 15 hours long, plus three short extra sessions. They are only 16 days into the story, but I made them cry, I made them laugh, I prepared tons of stuff weeks before we started and now that we wait for a next session date due to the health of one player, I use my free time to prepare even more for the sessions coming in the next months. Probably we will arrive summer or fall 2022 before they will merely scratch on the surface of the last arc. D&D man, one has to love it! 💖
You sound like a powerhouse of a 1st year DM! Keep it up!
The true Big Bad End Game of Tabletop games is real life
This opening skit is spot on. Have a group I’ve played with on and off for over 10 years. Every year our last session will be mid October and other activities will prevent everyone being available again until…June. Campaign death every year. This year we have chosen to play with whomever is available. Will see what happens in just over a month.
Wow that's crazy. It like a half your break. Do you run the same campaign or just start a new one when you guys come back?
Good luck!
@@theDMLair we have a group of 6 adults (4 of which rotate DM’ing) and some of our children (current ages 14-21, the 21yo started with us when she was 12). Every year someone else DMs so we have literally never finished any campaign.
In Oct b-days, holidays, and school events completely derailed us getting together, however, we have come to the realization that most of that is on one of the three families. This year we have played even when someone wasn’t available.
The one time the current DM was out of town I ran a one-shot.
Tips for dealing with missing players!
1. Have something happen to that character:
- This worked way more amazing than I thought it would, and I use it often now.
- - Example: One player couldn't make it, I had the floor under them collapse. The other players spent most of the session rescuing the character, who was unconscious when they got to 'em, and for the whole session. It was a great session, and one I'll remember for a long time.
- This is a decent time to use those mind control, hold person, and other freeze spells!
- Are they in combat with a wizard? Even if the wizard is too low level, have 'em whip out a magic item, a wand or something! (And adjust the encounter somehow to compensate for the missing PC).
- I ran a game at my local game store were we had to allow anyone who wanted to join, to join. The table ended up with 16 or 17 players or something... Making characters was a pain, so something I did, was I created a character who had multiple personalities. When there was no one to play it, I played the character as an NPC. When someone showed up to play, I gave them the multiple personality character, and often didn't tell them the character had multiple personalities. My regulars of course knew, and we had some very amazing game sessions as a result of it.
Sometimes it comes down to how serious the people are about scheduling. My buddy that also DMs were told by our normal group that they wanted to play again except every once a week it is every once a month (which is still more than we were playing anyways) but here we are 3 months later and no one besides the two of us put forth the effort to try and schedule. So we found a third new person and just started a new group and just have an open mind to bring in others.
If you want to play, put in the effort to play.
Have been really lucky to fall in with a great group since starting last year. Was nervous I’d encounter a lot of the issues I’d heard about but so far so good.
Every time I start a new campaign I like going through youtube and watching DM tips to see if new perspectives come around. This guy definitely gives a level headed scope of advice.
Thank you! Glad I could help!
As DM, I offer an assortment of plot hooks. Most link to the main campaign.
If the players decide to "run off" in some unplanned direction, I link it to the main plot by some clues found in that session.
Be flexible.
The story is about the PCs and how they deal with the situations presented.
We have 2 set days each week to play on in my group and will try to adjust between those 2 to keep as many people playing as possible each week.
If you are watching, RUclips. This guy doesn't totally suck. Haha
Love your content Luke!
Great video, thank you!
I'm starting a new campaign this weekend and I'm kinda stressed out. This is giving me good perspective.
The group I'm in right now meets every other Thursday evening. We have a pretty large group (like 7 or 8 people). So we've got a rule that as long as at least half of the player characters can play, we play. If more than half of the players and/or the DM can't, then the game is cancelled. That's worked really well for us. A couple days before each session starts the DM sends out a message reminding people about the game and asking to confirm that it will work. This gives players time in case they forgot the game was happening (i.e. they're new, they just broke up with their gf/bf, etc.), and makes sure everyone's on the same page. We also have a rule that if you miss without providing advanced notice, you one warning and then you're out. Exceptions can be made for emergencies, such as getting in a car crash, breaking your leg, your house burning down, or other similar situation, so long as this doesn't become a regular excuse for missing (you only have so many times you can lose a parent before it becomes physically impossible to lose any more of them. Don't try and deny it. You know who you are.). That way we don't have a thing where a couple of people show up ready to play the game only to have it cancelled last minute because 5 of the players don't show up. It encourages everyone to make the game a priority, and to schedule their life around it so long as it's within their control to do so. This system has worked great so far.
I really love the fact there are subtitles on this channel
Obligatory comment: Luke doesn't suck!
Currently playing in a campaign with a spiraling schedule of death.
Was previously playing in a campaign with virtually no agency.
Had to kick a player (the DM from the no agency campaign) because he was toxic and cheating.
All of Luke's advice was spot on.
(Also, checks for Scrying sensor)
My group is only 3 players right now with a DMPC that I mostly just use to round out the numbers (but I try to avoid it when I can). If one person can't show up, it usually just a one time thing since we've been playing on our designated day for years and we rarely skip. And, since it the player count will go from 3 (which is already low) we usually skip for the week since it also gives me more time to prep. However, if we're missing one person for more that 1 week, then we usually play without them.
Yes the schedule is killer
We only play once a month
Love your videos, they are informative and insightful. But I'll be honest, I ffwd through the table skits. Not my thing. But you are one of the clearest communicators out there, getting to the point without the in-jokes and loredumps that make some GM advice a slog to get through. Thanks!
Another reason to run a scheduled session anyway, even if a player can't make it, is that FOMO will encourage them to *make* time for D&D.
Yes! This.
A big one which has ended half of my campaigns before I learned to shut it down:
A player invites a new person into the group without discussion and that one person destroys the mood at the table.
Just found your channel (greenhorn DM of 4 months, experienced player of 5 years) and I absolutely love your videos so far. They are extremely well-rounded and informative and I really appreciate the effort. I hope that the things I learned from your Combat Scaling video will help make combat a little more challenging and fun for my players. THANK YOU!!
For working adults, I have found having one day and time played twice a month works best. The only time we don't play is if the DM can't make it.
We play once every three weeks as we also have families, kids and other issues, but that is what you get for a game where everyone is between their 30s and 40s
I agree. Sticking to a schedule is the best option. We have a minimum of 3 players (out of 5) in order to run a game.
So true. My group decided to play in June. We had a Session 0 and have played just two game sessions since, and no confirmed session scheduled yet
I set a time/day for myself to run the game and set that as part of the criteria for finding players.
Every one of my groups that I run has a set recurring monthly schedule. We always poll to see who is available as this helps me balance encounters. Nearly every player has the attitude of “you guys still play if I can’t make”. We goi forward unless we only have half the players. However, those session often turn into alternate one-shots using other characters. That way we still get a game.
However, the two games I play in are random dates based on availability. The GM puts up a poll for the dates when he is available and we vote. The days with the most votes go forward. It means we can sometimes play 3 time in a month, others it might be two months before we get another set.
For #5, Interpersonal Issues, I'd add a sub-point of Personal Issues. I have DM burnout, and not from anything a player in my game does. Years of working a soul-crushing job have sucked my creativity dry. It's hard to work on a creative project and make a game when I have no inspiration. Trying to work past this and not make excuses, just pointing out the pitfall I've fallen into and still need to overcome.
#4/6 go together. I organized a group effort to speak to our DM (in another game) to help her be more organized / provide useful feedback as to what is fun for us to help guide her planning.
I'm a brand new DM. My friends and I have wanted to start a game for awhile, but we could never figure out how to start. This went on for over a year. Finally, I just bought the essentials pack and said "we're doing this!" I figure the best way to start is just to jump in and see how it goes 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks for the video Luke, one problem I had was over ambition with one game. Note to self, running a galaxy is harder than a planer lol
I admit, Scheduling Spiral of Death was definitely a campaign killer for our group until someone in the group put forward the "we play with whoever shows up on the day." I (mistakenly) used to run games with the mindset of not leaving anyone out, which resulted in the previous campaign dying slowly over a period of months with 9 of 14 sessions cancelled due to a missing player; the one we've been playing since we changed gears is going strong after a year and a half, playing every second week without a single missed session. The closest we came to changing the schedule was shifting from Saturdays to Sundays (by unanimous group agreement) when a change in one player's work schedule would have meant they'd basically have had to drop out of the game.
Sometimes schedules shift. One thing we've done on occasion, is take a long running game that has lots of breaks between, and when we realize that our stars are allying for say a couple of months, we will run a finite run of intensive (for us) schedule games. My "monthly" group got back to back sessions when I went on FMLA for surgery And suddenly had my weekends back
Thanks, Luke!
While giving players agency to go off script and complete tasks or quests in any order, there should be a progressive result for ignoring the main quest milestones.
Bad guys move elsewhere.
Enemies grow stronger.
The BBEG is more powerful.
They waited too long, and that task failed.
The players can choose what they want, but there are consequences for their choices.
Just my opinion, thanks!
Please make a video explaining how to integrate the PC background story into the campaign.
There is nothing in the Dungeon Master Guide.
But otherwise, as always, great video.
Thank you for your hard work, so that it will be easier for us budding / future DM.
thank
a video on that topic would be amazing indeed. A few suggestions I can give you is to only write the plot after you received some of your PCs background stories, and mix some of these stories together (like giving a few players the same enemy), so in case one of them dies, your plot won't become trash
Just creste side quests for every player
A bit off topic, but I just downloaded the pdf of Into the Fey last night and I've been enjoying the read so far. This was the first Kickstarter I ever backed, I appreciated all the updates you sent out to keep backers in the loop and the finished product looks great!
I saw "campaign" and "ending" + Zariel and I inmediately got flashbacks of the worst ending for a module (Avernus). Our DM tried her best back then, but that thing is a trainwreck
I actually thought it was about how not to do the final game of a campaign too xD
Oh, I’m at the last 2-3 sessions of an Avernus campaign now.
@@lukeberghaus272 hope you have a great time :D
We did too, but it had big flaws
Thanks Luke, we have a player in our campaign that exhibits MCS. LOL I am glad I have a name now, the issue was pretty obvious and someone called him out last week. Also, I have been in games where a couple of players hog up the spotlight etc. Thanks for the advice
Luke is a pretty cool guy (albeit a bit abrasive at times, and admittedly so), and this community would not be the same without him!
Hey RUclips - this guy doesn't suck and in fact is insanely smart!
Abrasive? That's just Showmanship. :-) and thank you!
Can you do a video about dm tips for higher levels/teirs of play? Or is there one that you've already done that I've missed?
As a very long time gamer, I enjoy your entertaining and very informative material. Thank you for what you do.
My group still gets together on game night, even if more than half the party can't make it. We just spend the time either playing another RPG game (usually a one-shot) or a group video game. Or even watch a movie together.
Thanks for your video's as a not new dm but not a veteran yet.
I ended my last campaign because most of my players were walking nightmares.
First guy, an aloof player who barely payed attention and was really hard to get engaged in the story. He complained whenever he took damage from an attack (squishy ranger). It felt like he wanted to be there to shine in combat, and just hang out with friends. That's fine with me, I can cater to that with some nice encounters where he can really let loose. Then he came to me asking for some more attention in the storyline. Alright, cool, maybe he just wasn't interested in the story when it didn't have to deal with him. A little rough, but maybe he'll be more invested, and if I can tie his goals in with the overarching plot he'll have more fun. I had a nice scene planned out where he confronts a big bad tied directly to his storyline. He paid no attention. The entire scene was dedicated to him. Players asked him in character questions about very basic information related to the scene moments later, he couldn't remember. Should also be noted this guy vetoed another player joining because the other player hogged the spotlight in their last campaign.
Second player, poor guy really likes playing D&D, but takes five minutes to move 5 spaces, roll a d20, and add his attack modifier. On top of that he is the type to try and hit me with the "My character has amnesia" as a backstory every campaign. Did I mention another player had to stat his character because he didn't want to learn how? Finally got him to give me something to work with story wise this campaign. He wanted to get laid. That was his entire story. Fine, I throw some attractive women in every couple sessions. He never bites. That's on me, I can never get this guy to even participate in a scene unless I specifically ask his opinion, and even then it's mostly yes/no answers. I grit my teeth, roll up my sleeves, and hit on this guy in an attempt to get anything going with his plot. He's visibly uncomfortable even pretending to talk to an imaginary woman. I can feel the collective cringe of the entire table, I can see his eyes screaming "HELP ME" so I narrative through the scene. Eventually he also hits me with the screen time request. Alright, we'll try a new approach, I pull up an NPC from his backstory, a relative. No strange dynamic, just meeting up with his uncle to pull some info and catch up on old times. He doesn't recognize the uncle. I mentioned him by name, I called him nephew. The guy forgot he had an uncle in his backstory. Oh well, we'll talk over some drinks. Turns out it wasn't the strange dynamic of a man pretending to be a woman hitting on him, he is just really uncomfortable with roleplaying. Another awkward scene transpires. Soon after the guy begins complaining that he doesn't feel involved with the story. Meanwhile guy from the first example and guy from the third example are complaining that he takes up too much time from the group. Don't worry buddy, this campaign is not long for this world.
Third guy. Notorious for complaining about every GM he's ever been in a game with. At least he does it to their faces in the middle of the game with rude comments and snide remarks. // No, you can't leap thirty feet straight into the air to grab the flying guy from there. Maybe you could jump from that tree, or throw a javelin, or attack any of the other guys who are standing on the ground. // That isn't a cliff, that's the edge of the board. I don't care if you want to push the boss off a cliff to finish combat in one round. You got to do that last week, and more importantly that's not a cliff. // I'm sorry, the rules clearly state you don't get to coup de grace someone just because they're prone. That would break the balance of the game, especially since you built a character around knocking people prone // I told you these guys were hostile to your nation, and you identified yourself as such anyway? These guys really don't look like they're here to negotiate, are you sure you don't want to take that back? Okay, roll initiative... // Clearly the other two GMs in our group and I have all conspired to ruin this guy's day whenever we run a session. We just like it when he calls us un-fun and throws a tantrum any time things don't go his way.
Fourth guy is an extreme meta gamer. He creates characters in such a way that I need to design encounters with him in mind, or fall immediately to his shenanigans. His roleplaying is on point, he never complains, I'll gladly invest an extra couple hours to make sure you can function in this world without breaking it.
Fifth guy is a little passive, but doesn't require much coaxing to get involved. Wish I had a dozen more like him.
The campaign ended when I decided I didn't enjoy devoting a dozen hours of prep each week (I go hard on tabletop simulator) just to get complained at and ignored. Fourth guy and I had a discussion and realized the entire friend group is just toxic. He started a new campaign with a new group, and it's been a blast. I plan to run a new campaign including Fourth and Fifth guy soon.
Once a player canceled my session for everyone despite it taking place in my home, with me as DM. Only because he forgot he had things to do one day before.
Still salty.
On a positive note, still playing the same campaign after 10 years and only meeting once every few months.
i simple way to handle scheduling conflicts.
when making a game set up a recurring time like he said. that way everyone knows what day sessions are and can prepare around it. i honestly dont understand how so many groups fall apart because of bad scheduling. i personally think this way of handling it is natural. and when a player cant make it then dont skip unless its something requiring them(like a character arc) and only cancel if you as the dm cant make it or if more then half the group isnt going to make it that week.
Recently had a problem player leave the game, (they wouldn't mesh), and my gosh, it's felt so much better to run.
Yep. That's the best feeling in the world to the game session when they're not there and you realize how much better things are.
Most of my games have fallen apart because my friends spring playing DND on me like the morning of the day they want to play.. and sometimes (a lot of the time really) some of the players didn't even have characters yet so we'd have to make them characters on top of me trying to plan a game in 10 or less hours then are surprised when I'm fumbly and don't have much ready... 🤔
The DM Lair has upped my DM ability 10 fold! Thank you!
You are very welcome!!! :D
Great videos man, just starting to DM and your videos have help me a lot, thanks man! greetings from Mexico.
One thing I learned in the military; Ask for what did we / I did good (have fun and keep doing), & what can we/I do to improve? It can help as a player, DM, or as a group in general. As things come out, people can see things as they are, or from someone else's perspective.
Plan for a game in 2023... 3 hours before session get a text from half the party saying the cant make it and a few ghosting.
Scheduling isn’t easy, but I find if before you even have a session zero pick a day of the week and a frequency for sessions and communicate that with your elevator pitch. A good reason to have a discord server to maintain a single place for communication and reference, build a simple excel sheet and post that in a dedicated schedule channel. If that frequency doesn’t work with a person then maybe a different table, no harm no foul.
During session zero be open to negotiations with the players and present them a full “tentative” schedule with a policy how rescheduling and absences work. If someone is ill or on vacation, or just doesn't feel up to it, they can send a message in the channel, and the rest of the players can see if and the whole group can decide whether or not to cancel the session. I don’t like to reschedule because I have an agreement with my wife so RPGs don’t consume every weekend, so we usually cancel and meet at the next scheduled day.
Also, at the end of the session I communicate the next three dates when we have a session planned and I ask if anyone has any conflicts.
As a DM I had to cancel a game, due to 3/5 players being power gamers. They were always trying to bend rules, give themselves abilities they were not supposed to have and tried gas lighting me saying that I approved of those abilities when they never brought it up to me. As you can imagine, they also argued with me at every turn. It came to a point I dreaded the DnD day, I never looked forward to it. One day I just said I wasn't having fun and it's a me problem, and left the group. But in reality I just couldn't deal with those players anymore. I couldn't remove them as they were most of the party, and didn't have any players for back up
Love you stuff dude, find it really helpful to try and avoid those pit falls
Crafting future encounters/situations based on the consequences of the players' actions is how I've always run my game. Some players/groups are easier to do it with than others, but I find it far easier than trying to pull plots out of nowhere (or too obviously pulled from some other media where the group would catch on to what is happening). Even when I run a module I have their actions come back to haunt them. I mean "have the campaign world respond to further their engagement." >.>
I got really bad at ending on cliffhangers, because with my group of friends, scheduling has been a problem in the past, so I always try to get them back to town or some reasonable exit point, and whoever can actually make it to the next session is who the center of the next story is. Running a solo game for another player, and I'm getting to where I can reintroduce cliff hangers, because the next time that storyline picks up, I know all relevant parties will be present. But it's hard to undo the habit that I built for my other campaign
Luke: “If you have six players and one of them can’t make it, and you don’t play at all how many people miss out on that game?”
Me: “7 😊”
Luke: “that’s right six”…
Me, the DM: “I…”
My group plays every other Sunday. If we don't have the full party, the main campaign is put on hold for a week and we do a one-shot. It gives the DM (me) a break for a session, and everyone gets to play with something different for a week.
We have been playing a campaign for 3 years now and just had our 50th session. We play about once a month Saturday evenings and use a doodle to figure out which Saturday. I think over the years, we've had around a dozen players and are still going strong with 9 active players. It's a lot when everyone is there, but the campaign is kind designed around the idea that not everyone can make it all the time. Metagaming vanishing and appearing PCs is just what we do and it works amazingly. We've had times when we played with all 9 and times when we only played with 4 (especially when it makes sense due to a split party). It all depends, but everyone puts an effort into trying to make it.
My group of 5 will play as long as atleast 2 players show up.
But if only 2-3 of them can make it, we run a one shot with characters at the same level.
Every time I hear him say, "I've been a dungeon master since high school." I think, who wasn't a DM in high school?
I also think, I've got him beat. I'm older than him, started in middle school, and my first game I ever roleplayed in or ran for was one I invented. I should have published, so many games use concepts I had in mine, and if I publish now I'll look like a copy cat to them.
Anyway, good stuff these videos. I'm green with envy on your success. Keep it up! :D
I just pinged my group to fill out the doodle for our october game.
People, keep in mind your type of game when leaving someone out at some sessions.
Like, with monster of the week type of stuff or with it is easy. Or with shorter adventures where someone just has something else to to in game.
It does not work with my chronicles at all.
My dungeons are to small to just vanish for some time and get back to the group.
My plots are to big for someone to sit out just one session.
Here are things I like to do:
I make it very clear when forming the group, that i want as early of a notice as possible. It is not always possible, but short noticemwithout a good reason gets you a strike.
We have a standing date, weekly.
At the beginning of each month I write down the dates for the month and when/if we are not playing, mostly with the reason attached. Everyone can see that in the group chat.
Whenever we did not play for more than a week, I send out a reminder a few days prior, that we are playing again. Even in between I regularly ask my players a few days before the session where they want to go next or if there is anything special they want to do. that reminds everyone of the session early enough to plan accordingly.
I regularly remind people, if the session does not work out for one, four others have their evening plans drop dead too.
Somethimes when a session gets cancelled, someone asks if we want to meet anyway.
Then we may play a game, do some trainings fights to get to know our characters or we may fluff a bit and do solo sessions, if it works out well. Mostly a mix of those.
If you have enough strikes, you get to talk to me about how we play your character out of the chronicle and believe me I always know how I would get rid of a player, that poves to be a problem, elegantly.
Communication is key. It is more important than the planning aspect.
I actually ran into #4 recently. So, gonna talk about it at our next scheduled game time.
Unfortunately the scheduling spiral has claimed a game that I run. My players haven’t even noticed, really, because they want to keep playing…… once every few months. I’ve tried to talk to them about how little enjoyment I get from that but nothing changed, and they still don’t listen about it - don’t know how - so I consider the campaign dead 😔 but it’s ok bc I have two other campaigns I run 🏃♂️
So I'm in an interesting situation. I DM for two cousins (they're brothers in law), two brothers, and my wife. We all have vastly different circumstances and 4 of us have children responsibilities, and 1 is in a challenging Masters program. As such, it fluctuates a lot when we have availability to play. I've thought about possibilities for missing one player, and aired a few to the group. I haven't really liked any of them, for two big reasons (someone missing out on the fun and inside jokes or something is a smaller reason). First, the headache of adjusting the balancing (I'm a first time DM, so I have to work more time in to balance encounters appropriately). But the bigger problem is that the main plot hooks and encounters are often based around character arcs, as this is a homebrew world, and their characters all have backstories deeply enmeshed in the world and with the other characters. Trying to find a way to play on without one of them makes it harder to avoid encounters or scenarios that would be meaningful to the one missing, and the party dynamics of how they would play off each other would be thrown off. (I know, *boohoo*). My brother fielded a suggestion that his other group does (his only other experience playing), which is that the other players trade off playing the missing player's PC. The big problem with that is that almost every character has secret backstory info and motivations that shape who they are and why they do what they do, most often waiting for their big reveal. Another issue I see with that would be taking forever learning another character's capabilities, massively slowing down encounters. If I do anything, I'll probably just handwave them out of a session and back in the next, but it is a tricky bit. In the meantime, I just remain vigilant to keep the game from dying in the future. We've played a month apart and a week apart so far, so we'll do what we can as high functioning adults who all like to do this together when we can.
Re: Scheduling.
My homebrew group plays 3-4 weeks a month, with the third week of the month off. (4 if we have a 5 weekend month). Consequently we have a flex day, that if someone has a scheduling conflict, we can bring it up to the group. If everyone is available, then we adjust to what would normally be the off week. If we can't, then the player who had the conflict misses the game. They also have to give at least two weeks notice in order for us to even consider this. It sounds like a lot of work, but because we play across time zones and all largely work from home these days it has worked really well forus. If someone calls out last minute we play without them. I like this method for a few reasons:
1. It allows people to have a Saturday afternoon to go to brunch, see friends, travel, or just relax.
2. It gives me a solid day to prep the next session and think multiple horizons out.
3. It combines the flexibility of rescheduling with hard and fast rules about conditions and the option for players (or myself, the DM) to veto.
This may not work for everyone, but has worked well for my group. :D
Top reasons why I have seen campaigns die:
1: While in the military we had too many people PCS (Permanent Change of Station, i.e. have to move)
2: Over time the thing I have seen destroy campaigns more than anything else has been "The Deck Of Many Things" - it gets introduced and obliterates the game in 10 minutes of table time.
3: In our current group we have 2 GM's. I run 2E D&D - something we are all familiar with and it goes great and campaigns last years. Our other GM tries out new settings that interest us at that particular moment in time. But sometimes we find out the setting is not as fun as we thought or seems better for one shots - and thus we move on.
As a DM for 32 years, I think I covered just about all of those at one point or another, but can relate most of all when he referred to a couple breaking up. Had two married couples +1 in a group that ran for roughly 15 years together. We were all great and fast friends, do everything together. One couple ended up getting a divorce. So I had the +1 slip the now ex couple when it was stated they broke on good terms. All was fine for roughly 6 months, but got rocky when she started hitting on me, even though I am married and was not reciprocating those advances. He got angry at her and in a round about way me as well. this made the +1 uncomfortable and the other couple. I called the "Time out" and we had a talk, but sadly it seemed the group's time ran out and we went our own ways.
Thanks so much for this video this is actually helping so much keep it up 👍
You are very welcome!