So my issue is I like to keep busy and I get excited about shit but if it takes too long the hype burns out and I stop caring.
So this was supposed to be my first time as DM mainly because everyone talked about playing but nobody wanted to be DM so I stepped up. Well it's been like a month as I created the world, the story main plots, gathered maps, made tokens myself, designed a good amount of unique npc's with notes on characteristics and lives, made 3 characters for another game because two are controversial topics for some dms which put them on back burner, ect.
So far one player got his stuff set up in a day or two then talked with me for a day about his backstory to get him deep into the world which he wanted, I gifted him a kobold arcane rogue companion I will control in combat that works for him for being punctual and doing a good job. The wood elf ranger got his character sheet made up with me (his first time I helped him with understanding the character sheet and let him have free reign) within a day, then took him almost half a month for a backstory which cool I get it he is new and backstories are bigger than making numbers on a paper no issues there and he gave me his scheduled fast even telling me when it would change and how. This one guy playing a warlock has "experience" he claims but I still don't have a character sheet from him and his backstory I had to pry teeth for... yet he is online in discord every damn day! Then we have the other two really good friends but OMG THEY ARE THE MAIN ISSUE! Okay so no character sheets, no background ideas, took 3 days just to get a strait answer one when they will be available for sessions which were the only two left i needed that info from... we are a month in and all I got from them is "tiefling female warlock" from one and the other "Sexy wood elf rogue pirate who had her ship stolen"... I don't even know their appearance so I had to stumble with the tokens btw.
Also special note my friend who is playing the female tiefling warlock we got together with his friends about doing a D&D campaign where his friends boyfriend would DM... it's been 2-3 months and I still can't talk to said DM while the friend I mentioned doesn't even know him yet went to school with the GF!!!!!
Pls I need some advice from people experienced with a DM situation like this. Okay so how should I handle this? Should I just empty their spots in the part and try to find 2 replacements? give up? or what? Like this is a really bad experience for a first time DM I am guessing.... as player you can just walk away but I have an obligation to the other 2-3 players. Should I turn it into a 3 man campaign until someone wants to jump in and give the other two the option to jump in if they ever get their shit done? Just panicky atm sorry for the rambling but could really use advice! pls and thank you i love this community and it hasn't disappointed me yet ^_^
There's nothing wrong with a 3 man campaign. Just make sure your combat is balanced and you're fine. If your party is lacking a healer, also take that into account, or give them potions on the regular. Regardless, I would do a 3 man campaign and then if someone wants to join then great, if not, then that's fine too. I don't think you and the 3 players who are ready to play should have to wait and suffer because of the others that are lackadaisical. Tell them X is the start date, so if you want to join us, have your stuff ready and meet up here at this time. Then that way, if they don't come then that's their decision, then you can move on either way.
Having players come and go happens so don't fret over it. Just keep playing with those who are sticking around. Eventually you or they might come across others who will join up. My first campaign (in progress) started with 3 and next Sunday there will be 6. Will they all stay? No clue.
It's something to think about but if people leave then have that in the story where they are going off to do something and if they return pick it up from there. If they don't come back then oh well. If other people join think up a way for them to jump in with the current players and go from there.
DMing is fun but as I've always heard it's the hardest part of the game.
Thanks I made a notification that if ya join ya join if not then you won't or you can join later on lol it's a campaign for me as first time dm and for players of all experiances including brand new never touched dnd players.
As the DM, you have the obligation and responsibility to set the play time. After all, if you're not there, no game happens. So, I would say that you should have already set a start date and just started regardless of whether or not they were ready.
Who knows, maybe with a tangible start date, the other two might kick their butts in gear. ;)
A 3 person group is totally doable - that's what I'm working with right now (and before that, it was a 1 player thing, which was great in its own way!). Of course, we have a Life Cleric in the group, so that helps, but it's easily able to be worked around if you don't have one. Not only can you make healing potions cheaper and more easily accessible, you can just make monsters do less damage and/or have lower AC and/or health.
I love you guys in this community, thanks so much for helping out with solving the situation I went over it with some of the group with what you guys said and the plans thanks!
I second, relax. You might feel better knowing, it‘s not an uncommon habit I experienced as well. Some players are overly excited doing lots of stuff, others are plainly doing what you ask to prep, but I‘ve experienced most not taking care much about it. You could remind them to participate, but it will be stressful. Better just announce it once when you want to play on regular schedule and see who will pop up for your session. Those taking less interest could be exchanged with others having more fun to play. I‘ve seen the nice approach of a ‚Guest Player‘, who can join the session on demand being a good idea, if you have enough volunteers.
The issue of prep and out-of-session work is something I'm working on. Each of my three players do varying amounts of out-of-session work towards the game. I have 1 that is immediate and does all kinds of work, 1 that responds in a couple days but with good stuff, and a third that I can't seem to get to communicate with me outside of the session.
There's a part of me that feels like I'm doing something wrong, that this person isn't enjoying themselves, or that they aren't interested in the story that I'm running. However, they keep coming back every week and they're (mostly) engaged at the table and asking to bring other people into the group!
I have to accept that some people don't have the same priorities that I do and that's ok. We're all here to have fun, and that means different things to different people, and I need to just worry about running a game that the others and I enjoy.
Also, keep in mind that when you ask for "backstory", that may be all some players create at the beginning of a campaign. Especially if you're starting at level one, I would probably only come up with a vague description like "wood elf rogue pirate whose ship was stolen" and then work with the DM as we get into the campaign to flesh out the details. OR I'd leave it open specifically so you could run wild with the basic idea and integrate it into your campaign.
And for character sheets, personally, I think half the fun is getting together and rolling stats in person to find out what your characters are like. I probably wouldn't even create a sheet until Session Zero.
So, short answer, just talk to your players. Have a Session Zero so everyone's on the same page. If you don't know what a Session Zero is, check out Matt Colville's "Running The Game" series on YouTube, or look up The Angry GM.
I think this can be one of the big advantages to having a session zero and setting expectations. I know myself am much like the OP, very much into, very prepared ahead of time, punctual and generally just ready to go. My players are not always and that can be very frustrating, talking about what YOUR expectations are the the DM during the initial session is just as important as what the players expectations are. You want it to be a good fit and have that open communication from the start. After that point if folks don't keep to what they've committed to then just keep rolling with who you have.
The only really big caution I have is that you will occasionally have those players who don't prep then show up to the session unprepared which can then waste everyone else's time. Nothing is worse then getting folks hyped for a session and when you start one of your players still hasn't finished his character, picked his spells etc.
OMG THEY ARE THE MAIN ISSUE! Okay so no character sheets, no background ideas, took 3 days just to get a strait answer one when they will be available for sessions which were the only two left i needed that info from... we are a month in and all I got from them is "tiefling female warlock" from one and the other "Sexy wood elf rogue pirate who had her ship stolen"... I don't even know their appearance so I had to stumble with the tokens btw.
Give them pregens. Later they can: use higher level versions of the pregens, learn character generation, or let an experienced player handle leveling up for them. It's ok if some players are less passionate about the game than others. And eventually some will become flaky, miss sessions and drop off... so it's good to always keep an eye out for new players (and keep a low barrier to entry).
So my issue is I like to keep busy and I get excited about shit but if it takes too long the hype burns out and I stop caring.
So this was supposed to be my first time as DM mainly because everyone talked about playing but nobody wanted to be DM so I stepped up. Well it's been like a month as I created the world, the story main plots, gathered maps, made tokens myself, designed a good amount of unique npc's with notes on characteristics and lives, made 3 characters for another game because two are controversial topics for some dms which put them on back burner, ect.
So far one player got his stuff set up in a day or two then talked with me for a day about his backstory to get him deep into the world which he wanted, I gifted him a kobold arcane rogue companion I will control in combat that works for him for being punctual and doing a good job. The wood elf ranger got his character sheet made up with me (his first time I helped him with understanding the character sheet and let him have free reign) within a day, then took him almost half a month for a backstory which cool I get it he is new and backstories are bigger than making numbers on a paper no issues there and he gave me his scheduled fast even telling me when it would change and how. This one guy playing a warlock has "experience" he claims but I still don't have a character sheet from him and his backstory I had to pry teeth for... yet he is online in discord every damn day! Then we have the other two really good friends but OMG THEY ARE THE MAIN ISSUE! Okay so no character sheets, no background ideas, took 3 days just to get a strait answer one when they will be available for sessions which were the only two left i needed that info from... we are a month in and all I got from them is "tiefling female warlock" from one and the other "Sexy wood elf rogue pirate who had her ship stolen"... I don't even know their appearance so I had to stumble with the tokens btw.
Also special note my friend who is playing the female tiefling warlock we got together with his friends about doing a D&D campaign where his friends boyfriend would DM... it's been 2-3 months and I still can't talk to said DM while the friend I mentioned doesn't even know him yet went to school with the GF!!!!!
Pls I need some advice from people experienced with a DM situation like this. Okay so how should I handle this? Should I just empty their spots in the part and try to find 2 replacements? give up? or what? Like this is a really bad experience for a first time DM I am guessing.... as player you can just walk away but I have an obligation to the other 2-3 players. Should I turn it into a 3 man campaign until someone wants to jump in and give the other two the option to jump in if they ever get their shit done? Just panicky atm sorry for the rambling but could really use advice! pls and thank you i love this community and it hasn't disappointed me yet ^_^
There's nothing wrong with a 3 man campaign. Just make sure your combat is balanced and you're fine. If your party is lacking a healer, also take that into account, or give them potions on the regular. Regardless, I would do a 3 man campaign and then if someone wants to join then great, if not, then that's fine too. I don't think you and the 3 players who are ready to play should have to wait and suffer because of the others that are lackadaisical. Tell them X is the start date, so if you want to join us, have your stuff ready and meet up here at this time. Then that way, if they don't come then that's their decision, then you can move on either way.
Published Subclasses
Relax. Everything will be fine going forward.
Having players come and go happens so don't fret over it. Just keep playing with those who are sticking around. Eventually you or they might come across others who will join up. My first campaign (in progress) started with 3 and next Sunday there will be 6. Will they all stay? No clue.
It's something to think about but if people leave then have that in the story where they are going off to do something and if they return pick it up from there. If they don't come back then oh well. If other people join think up a way for them to jump in with the current players and go from there.
DMing is fun but as I've always heard it's the hardest part of the game.
Thanks I made a notification that if ya join ya join if not then you won't or you can join later on lol it's a campaign for me as first time dm and for players of all experiances including brand new never touched dnd players.
As the DM, you have the obligation and responsibility to set the play time. After all, if you're not there, no game happens. So, I would say that you should have already set a start date and just started regardless of whether or not they were ready.
Who knows, maybe with a tangible start date, the other two might kick their butts in gear. ;)
A 3 person group is totally doable - that's what I'm working with right now (and before that, it was a 1 player thing, which was great in its own way!). Of course, we have a Life Cleric in the group, so that helps, but it's easily able to be worked around if you don't have one. Not only can you make healing potions cheaper and more easily accessible, you can just make monsters do less damage and/or have lower AC and/or health.
A 3 person group is totally fine. Don’t worry about that part.
I love you guys in this community, thanks so much for helping out with solving the situation I went over it with some of the group with what you guys said and the plans thanks!
I second, relax. You might feel better knowing, it‘s not an uncommon habit I experienced as well. Some players are overly excited doing lots of stuff, others are plainly doing what you ask to prep, but I‘ve experienced most not taking care much about it. You could remind them to participate, but it will be stressful. Better just announce it once when you want to play on regular schedule and see who will pop up for your session. Those taking less interest could be exchanged with others having more fun to play. I‘ve seen the nice approach of a ‚Guest Player‘, who can join the session on demand being a good idea, if you have enough volunteers.
I would like to add something else to this.
The issue of prep and out-of-session work is something I'm working on. Each of my three players do varying amounts of out-of-session work towards the game. I have 1 that is immediate and does all kinds of work, 1 that responds in a couple days but with good stuff, and a third that I can't seem to get to communicate with me outside of the session.
There's a part of me that feels like I'm doing something wrong, that this person isn't enjoying themselves, or that they aren't interested in the story that I'm running. However, they keep coming back every week and they're (mostly) engaged at the table and asking to bring other people into the group!
I have to accept that some people don't have the same priorities that I do and that's ok. We're all here to have fun, and that means different things to different people, and I need to just worry about running a game that the others and I enjoy.
Also, keep in mind that when you ask for "backstory", that may be all some players create at the beginning of a campaign. Especially if you're starting at level one, I would probably only come up with a vague description like "wood elf rogue pirate whose ship was stolen" and then work with the DM as we get into the campaign to flesh out the details. OR I'd leave it open specifically so you could run wild with the basic idea and integrate it into your campaign.
And for character sheets, personally, I think half the fun is getting together and rolling stats in person to find out what your characters are like. I probably wouldn't even create a sheet until Session Zero.
So, short answer, just talk to your players. Have a Session Zero so everyone's on the same page. If you don't know what a Session Zero is, check out Matt Colville's "Running The Game" series on YouTube, or look up The Angry GM.
I think this can be one of the big advantages to having a session zero and setting expectations. I know myself am much like the OP, very much into, very prepared ahead of time, punctual and generally just ready to go. My players are not always and that can be very frustrating, talking about what YOUR expectations are the the DM during the initial session is just as important as what the players expectations are. You want it to be a good fit and have that open communication from the start. After that point if folks don't keep to what they've committed to then just keep rolling with who you have.
The only really big caution I have is that you will occasionally have those players who don't prep then show up to the session unprepared which can then waste everyone else's time. Nothing is worse then getting folks hyped for a session and when you start one of your players still hasn't finished his character, picked his spells etc.
Give them pregens. Later they can: use higher level versions of the pregens, learn character generation, or let an experienced player handle leveling up for them. It's ok if some players are less passionate about the game than others. And eventually some will become flaky, miss sessions and drop off... so it's good to always keep an eye out for new players (and keep a low barrier to entry).