i should be gripping rat

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 16th, 2023

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  • I am new to running a group but generally i’ve picked up a couple things:

    • One is having a loose schedule, and just scheduling games for days when everyone agrees that they can make it. Don’t try to force a weekly schedule or whatever. I’m sure that works for some groups of dedicated nerds, but for most of us this is just one hobby in an array of other hobbies and interests. Better to treat it like a rolling game night, than to treat it like weekly band practice.
    • The other is dividing your crew into “core cast” and “guest roles”. Some players are just more flaky or less dedicated than others. Your “guest roles” need to have a good narrative reason why they are in-and-out. I think i’m having an easier time with this because my game is Blades in the Dark, where the party is a gang of scoundrels. Scores usually start and end within a single session, so it is easy to write around a scoundrel or two that is only available for some missions. When they are gone, they are off on other solo missions, or they are indulging their vice or whatever. I understand that this is more challenging if you are playing an RPG with multi-session dungeon crawls. Maybe the character chose to take an alternate route through the dungeon, or they were knocked out or something?

    Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

    I think a key part of this is not giving key items to guest role characters.