Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: nichlas.hummelsberger@*****.com (Nichlas Hummelsberger)
Subject: Getting people to play (was Re: Why I Don't Play Shadowrun
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 15:39:52 +0200
On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 10:32:15 +0200, Gurth <gurth@******.nl> wrote:
> According to Joanna Hurley, on Thursday 16 September 2004 20:55 the word on
> the street was...
>
> > -who's real challenge is getting players to make time IRL
>
> The best way I've found to do this is to make sure the game is at the same
> day and time every week. My group plays on Sunday afternoon, starting at
> 13:00, and everyone knows that this is game time so they don't plan
> anything else there that can also be done on another day. Sure, it happens
> all the time that someone isn't there because of a birthday, a football
> match, or whatever, but none of the players plans another recurring event
> on Sunday afternoons.

I'm planning a campaign with some (for me and my gang) unusual guidelines.

* Scheduled play time (like Gurth suggested), this is not how we usually do.
* I make the starting characters (to set the standard for player
characters). All the players are allowed to make secondary/replacement
characters if they like, but i wan't them to be well thought out.
* It is possible to have more than one PC in the game (although not at
once), so if a game desperately needs a magician, even though the
player who usually plays the magician isn't there, someone can use
their secondary character for the run. (RUN, not session.. we need
some realism here :)
* I have a large number of playere, where some of them only rarely
participates.. this solves the problem of everyone wanting to play
(dont hate me because i'm popular :D) and not everyone have the time
(not counting the access to required logistics). I hate to let people
out :)
* I plan to prepare the sessions ;)

Some of these things are supposed to get the game going from the start.
* i can introduce the new players to the Shadowrun World instead of
using hours explaining the character generation.
* I know the history/personality of the characters, and more
importantly: the characters HAVE a history and a personality, so i
have great material to make introductory runs, and blow some life into
the campaign.
* I always have players, and it's not overly important *who* shows up
from run to run.
* The number of players, and structure of the game makes it possible
for the campaign to survive players leaving for various reasons (and
me kicking players who don't play well with the other kids)

The problems with this setup is obvious and to numberous to mention here :D
Message no. 2
From: failhelm@*****.com (failhelm)
Subject: Getting people to play (was Re: Why I Don't Play Shadowrun
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 09:37:08 -0700 (PDT)
--- Gurth <gurth@******.nl> wrote:

> According to Joanna Hurley, on Thursday 16 September
> 2004 20:55 the word on
> the street was...
>
> > -who's real challenge is getting players to make
> time IRL
>
> The best way I've found to do this is to make sure
> the game is at the same
> day and time every week. My group plays on Sunday
> afternoon, starting at
> 13:00, and everyone knows that this is game time so
> they don't plan
> anything else there that can also be done on another
> day. Sure, it happens
> all the time that someone isn't there because of a
> birthday, a football
> match, or whatever, but none of the players plans
> another recurring event
> on Sunday afternoons.
>
I've played on a schedule with a crew for over 8
years. Players come and go, we even organized the
GM/DMs to begin working together better. I started a
not for profit org (unofficial) crew called the
Sophisticated Role-Players League (originally the
Dungeon Masters Guild) - dorky perhaps but why else am
I here. :-)>

1. We play when everyone can make it (I'm married w/2
kids and 1 full time job and a side business so you
can imagine). All players are expected to commit to
the agreed upon time frame. No player can be penalized
for being late to a game that is played "off"
schedule. Further more all players must approve of an
"off" schedule game, even if they can't make it they
must approve of it. After all whats the point of
getting people to commit if you just end up playing
without them?
2. Every six months All GM/DMs offer up a campaign to
play - all systems are welcome - the GM/DM commits for
6 months. Our entire crew can vote, but you must
intend on playing if the vote goes your way (not all
of our crew plays 100% of the time)
3. A GM/DM cannot miss more than 2 games during that 6
months period or a new vote is cast - the same GM/DM
can remain if the crew keeps them.
4. Once a campaign has started the existing players
must unanimously approve all new players.
5. If you can't make it to a game then you must
contact the GM/DM in advance. If your character needs
to be there then the player whom can't make it must
ensure that their character sheet does, allowing the
crew to still game that day. If no character is
provided then the last copy provided to the GM/DM
becomes the players new character - everything else is
lost and the character sheet becomes the players new
character. If the GM/DM doesn't have a chacterer sheet
for that player then the character is eliminated from
the game. The player must make a new character.

We have more house rules, and they might sound harsh,
but I assure you they have kept my crew strong for
years. The players like them because we only attract
and keep serious gamers. Additionally our setup allows
for VERY busy people to still game and not have to
worry about being left behind.

- Failhelm
>
Message no. 3
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Getting people to play (was Re: Why I Don't Play Shadowrun
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 19:22:21 +0200
According to Nichlas Hummelsberger, on Friday 17 September 2004 15:39 the
word on the street was...

> * Scheduled play time (like Gurth suggested), this is not how we usually
> do.

Another way to try and make sure this works is to raise the subject at the
end of each session. Instead of trying to phone and/or mail back and forth
a day in advance trying to get everyone together, right after each session
say something like "Same time next week? At whose house do we play? Who
else can make it?" etc. Until eveyone is used to the standard game
day/time, this'll help give them a week's warning not to schedule anything
else at that time.

> * It is possible to have more than one PC in the game (although not at
> once), so if a game desperately needs a magician, even though the player
> who usually plays the magician isn't there, someone can use their
> secondary character for the run. (RUN, not session.. we need some realism
> here :)

This is kind of like Ars Magica; in that, the intention is that everyone
makes two or three characters: one mage, one sidekick, and one laborer (to
put it in east-to-grasp terms :) but only one or two players get to play
their mage characters every adventure. The others play the assistants, and
some will get to play their mages the next adventure.

> * I plan to prepare the sessions ;)

You were doing _so_ well up until this point :)

(My group harrasses me about preparing for the game, as I've let it be
known a few times that preparation is not my strong point. It usually
consists of thinking about what I want to happen in the next session(s)
during the week, and then working out everything except the broad lines
when and where they're needed. This doesn't always work 100% well, but so
far it's not given me any major headaches.)

> * I know the history/personality of the characters, and more
> importantly: the characters HAVE a history and a personality, so i
> have great material to make introductory runs, and blow some life into
> the campaign.

Don't trust too much in this. Each player will put his or her stamp onto
the character regardless of much of the background you put in. Frankly, if
any of your players are like me, they won't care much about the background
you designed for their PCs -- I've played in plenty of adventures at cons
where you get a character that has anything between a paragraph and a few
pages of background material that you're supposed to roleplay, and I can
live with the single-paragraph ones, but the rest just are too troublesome
to bother with :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
"Als ik efficiënt wilde zijn dan nam ik om te beginnen niet eens
de moeite om vandaag aanwezig te zijn" --G. de Vader
-> Possibly NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UL+ P(+) L++ E W--(++) N o? K w(--)
O V? PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D+ G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Getting people to play (was Re: Why I Don't Play Shadowrun, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!