This is going to be long, but bare with me please.
So I work at a small town library in Missouri. In the spring of 2018 I was asked to help with the Dungeons and Dragons night. Low and behold, my predictor had assigned a patron, someone I was fairly familiar with, run the game. Problems began occurring as for him, this was optional, whereas for me it was my job. One day he canceled on me the morning of. Every so often he would pull the same BS canceling on me without warning. In the spring of 2019 I noticed that there were nights where 10+players would come. When I went to propose we have a second campaign group start, on the same nights different rooms in the library, so we could take weight off our current DM I suggested I become the other DM, as I would always be there and wouldn't have to worry about another patron canceling. It was a close call, but it was decided that it would be best for my to become the other DM. We've gained more players since then, and we are maxing out at 9 players and one DM (yes its a lot, I know). I've also had to deal with the other DM canceling and having his party join mine for a night. I've talked to him about it directly, and so has his sister who is in my party. I usually post dates for when we do this 1-2 months in advanced and he knows its normally on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Its frustrating.
It happened again this week, as COVID has become more prevalent, and this a business of sorts, we would all have to wear masks this month to go back to playing (which we haven't played since March) (I did suggest in April that we could go online but not everyone had access). I sent a message to the group chat about this, saying if a majority wanted to post-pone, I would be fine with that. No one took issue and I got good feed back. And THAT is when the other DM spoke up saying that he wouldn't make it and his dad (who runs a backup game for him) won't make it either and that he wants to post-pone.
I've thought about attempting to replace him as DM, as to look for someone more responsible and reliable, but I know that we would lose the majority in his party. What I want to know is if there is a way I should do that? Or just if I'm being too controlling. I would prefer another librarian to take over the mantel so we don't have issues like this but I am sadly the only librarian nerd of this breed. I'm thinking about asking his party what they think about him canceling like he does and if they take any issues with it. If so I will either confront him again, letting him know this is his last warning or it could be up for discussion who to replace him with.
Any advise would be appreciated! Thank you!
NOTE: Even if he is replaced as DM he would be free to play as a player. A player can cancel and its not a big deal but a DM canceling cancels/changes the whole game.
-Would parking lot wifi solve the access issue, or do people not have the hardware? Or could the parking lot work anyway, for social distancing? You can rig up an adequate map with an old-school projector and transparencies -- have it project onto the side of the library, or a white van or a bedsheet.
-I'm assuming you've talked to your supervisor about 'we're running a program based on a flaky volunteer,' did they at least seem supportive, or just indifferent? I know you said you didn't have any other nerdy librarians, but are there any you can train up? Like, if they join, they might find they like it and agree to DM?
-I'd suggest looking into oneshots you can run for those nights where the other DM does drop out suddenly. Or set up something in the world your group is in that allows for a second group suddenly dropping in and out. LIke something with dimensional portals, which might run like a series of oneshots. But I wouldn't want to rely on this either. I think you need a stable second (or second and third) DM, and the oneshot type suggestions I just made should be your short term stopgap until you get the DM situation resolved. Yeah, D&D is supposed to be fun, but it doesn't preclude responsibility to schedule things like you would any other part of your life that effects multiple people. And your library doesn't want to be made to look bad by this guy -- he's making the library look unreliable, which is a good point to bring up to your supervisor if you need to. You might also want to talk to the players in his party, to get a sense of how frustrated they are vs just willing to go along with it. If only one or two are frustrated, it might be enough to just move them to a new party.
This is going to be long, but bare with me please.
So I work at a small town library in Missouri. In the spring of 2018 I was asked to help with the Dungeons and Dragons night. Low and behold, my predictor had assigned a patron, someone I was fairly familiar with, run the game. Problems began occurring as for him, this was optional, whereas for me it was my job. One day he canceled on me the morning of. Every so often he would pull the same BS canceling on me without warning. In the spring of 2019 I noticed that there were nights where 10+players would come. When I went to propose we have a second campaign group start, on the same nights different rooms in the library, so we could take weight off our current DM I suggested I become the other DM, as I would always be there and wouldn't have to worry about another patron canceling. It was a close call, but it was decided that it would be best for my to become the other DM. We've gained more players since then, and we are maxing out at 9 players and one DM (yes its a lot, I know). I've also had to deal with the other DM canceling and having his party join mine for a night. I've talked to him about it directly, and so has his sister who is in my party. I usually post dates for when we do this 1-2 months in advanced and he knows its normally on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Its frustrating.
It happened again this week, as COVID has become more prevalent, and this a business of sorts, we would all have to wear masks this month to go back to playing (which we haven't played since March) (I did suggest in April that we could go online but not everyone had access). I sent a message to the group chat about this, saying if a majority wanted to post-pone, I would be fine with that. No one took issue and I got good feed back. And THAT is when the other DM spoke up saying that he wouldn't make it and his dad (who runs a backup game for him) won't make it either and that he wants to post-pone.
I've thought about attempting to replace him as DM, as to look for someone more responsible and reliable, but I know that we would lose the majority in his party. What I want to know is if there is a way I should do that? Or just if I'm being too controlling. I would prefer another librarian to take over the mantel so we don't have issues like this but I am sadly the only librarian nerd of this breed. I'm thinking about asking his party what they think about him canceling like he does and if they take any issues with it. If so I will either confront him again, letting him know this is his last warning or it could be up for discussion who to replace him with.
Any advise would be appreciated! Thank you!
NOTE: Even if he is replaced as DM he would be free to play as a player. A player can cancel and its not a big deal but a DM canceling cancels/changes the whole game.
Couple questions:
-Would parking lot wifi solve the access issue, or do people not have the hardware? Or could the parking lot work anyway, for social distancing? You can rig up an adequate map with an old-school projector and transparencies -- have it project onto the side of the library, or a white van or a bedsheet.
-I'm assuming you've talked to your supervisor about 'we're running a program based on a flaky volunteer,' did they at least seem supportive, or just indifferent? I know you said you didn't have any other nerdy librarians, but are there any you can train up? Like, if they join, they might find they like it and agree to DM?
-I'd suggest looking into oneshots you can run for those nights where the other DM does drop out suddenly. Or set up something in the world your group is in that allows for a second group suddenly dropping in and out. LIke something with dimensional portals, which might run like a series of oneshots. But I wouldn't want to rely on this either. I think you need a stable second (or second and third) DM, and the oneshot type suggestions I just made should be your short term stopgap until you get the DM situation resolved. Yeah, D&D is supposed to be fun, but it doesn't preclude responsibility to schedule things like you would any other part of your life that effects multiple people. And your library doesn't want to be made to look bad by this guy -- he's making the library look unreliable, which is a good point to bring up to your supervisor if you need to. You might also want to talk to the players in his party, to get a sense of how frustrated they are vs just willing to go along with it. If only one or two are frustrated, it might be enough to just move them to a new party.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep