Comments on: What’s Your Excuse?

By: Katana_Geldar

Katana_Geldar — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:52:40 +0000

I'm trying to psych myself up to recuit players again as all of them but one left me mid-campaign. Including one who told me he wasn't coming 30 minutes before I began. There's an online game I am running, but it's not the same.

By: The Homework Never Ends

The Homework Never Ends — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:56:47 +0000

I Have No Excuse (Not to Start a GURPS Game)... Over at Gnome Stew, there's an entire page of drill sergeant screaming in my face: This is the perfect time to start a new campaign. The holidays are over. School will be back in session soon. The midseason replacements are on. And it’s time for New Y...

By: Eric Wilde

Eric Wilde — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:45:03 +0000

@Matthew J. Neagley - Oh, believe me, she'd love some kind of reward. We trade off duties, so I should actually be in good shape. Like I said, two weeks (and boy am I jonesing for a good encounter.)

By: Martin Ralya

Martin Ralya — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:23:17 +0000

1. She’s not a newborn, but Lark is now just about 11 months old. That still totally counts.

2. We have four GMs in my five-person group, and two of them are running games right now. Three is too many games!

3. I’m editing.

By: Tyson J. Hayes

Tyson J. Hayes — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:22:05 +0000

@Foolster41 – I’d say just keep trying to play. My suggestions to new GM’s is to take a prebuilt adventure and run it, and just focus on making sure your players are having fun and developing your NPC skills. Good GMing takes time and practice.

You read Gnome Stew so you can’t be that bad.

By: Foolster41

Foolster41 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:05:49 +0000

I'd like to GM, but I guess my excuse is lack of confidence. I've tried to GM twice now (once in D&D 3.5 and another with Mouse guard) and I don't think my players had such a great time. The worst part, is I'm not quite sure how to improve, and I'm having a hard time getting exact feedback from the players.

By: Matthew J. Neagley

Matthew J. Neagley — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:14:10 +0000

@Eric Wilde - There's no way to repay someone for that kind of thing. Your best bet is to spend a couple hours before your game tuckering them out so when she "on duty" they're liable to sleep (and maybe she can too!)

By: Eric Wilde

Eric Wilde — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:27:19 +0000

How about parenting twin babies? I'm exhausted and have no imagination left; but, I have rolled up a handful of player characters and will be introducing my nephews (8 & 4) to D&D 3.5 in two weeks. Now if I can just find a way to repay my wife for taking care of both babies for a couple of hours every other week....

By: Razjah

Razjah — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:16:14 +0000

My girlfriend's excuse is that she's scared that she will panic and the others we game with will judge her. I'm pretty sure she's aware of the irrational logic here. Having someone else GMing is a pretty good excuse, or at least avoiding GM burnout is a good excuse.

By: fizzatbeyond

fizzatbeyond — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:50:41 +0000

I haven't ever been the DM, that's my excuse. That being said I will use this as an excuse (yes you twisted my arm) to try and convince friends to give DnD a try and so I'll DM that.

By: umbral.fury

umbral.fury — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:45:53 +0000

I am in the military and I am currently in the middle of 2 moves (one short term, one long term), however I have several plot-lines prepped (I'm one of THOSE GMs) which I will be running as soon as I am fully settled.

By: Tyson J. Hayes

Tyson J. Hayes — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:45:36 +0000

I do have to agree on "the GM must be into it." If the GM doesn't want to run and is more interested in playing then they shouldn't be running. But I do have to agree that a lack of players is not a good excuse for not running a game, though I love having people over at my place to run a game I am moving it online as most of my players are dispersing across the country (and one to another country entirely). So not having players at the table isn't an excuse, go to some meet up boards or find a board specific to the game and ask for some players. Odds are you will find enough people to play your game.

By: peter

peter — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:06:06 +0000

I need no excuse because I'm dming 2 games at the moment, and playing in 3 more. but I'm still thinking of starting a new campaign for some friends who complain that they are not playing enough

By: Airk

Airk — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:02:24 +0000

This post overlooks the best reason ever for not running a game: Because I don't -want- to run a game. ironregime and to some extent, Walt, have it right. The most important thing to have when running a game is DESIRE. A GM who doesn't want to be there and is only running the game because no one else is doesn't make a very good GM, a very good game, or very much fun. Note: As I say this, I -am- running a game, or will be once scheduling congeals again after the holidays.

By: Patrick Benson

Patrick Benson — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:00:12 +0000

I think that prep for a lot of people is more about psyching themselves up to run a game, and not actually preparing materials. I'm not saying that prep is bad, it is just that a lot of GMs I know over do it. My notes tend to be something like this: "Encounter #3 - Wherever the PCs are, throw a 5th level encounter at them. Add an interesting terrain problem that inhibits the PCs but not the enemy. Throw in some kind of "Instant Winner!" gimmick for the PCs to take advantage of." That turns into something like goblins throwing rocks and lit gourds of gunpowder at the PCs from a hilltop during a storm. The rain makes the terrain difficult for the PCs to charge the hill, but a PC might be able to shoot a flaming arrow into the goblin's stockpile of explosives to end the encounter quickly. So don't let prep time be an excuse to keep from GMing. How can you know what to prep for unless you are actually running a game anyhow? Buy a module and dive in with no prep other than reading the module. You'll probably still run a great game!