D&D General Your D&D Party is too big! (Science says scheduling is hard)

MichaelSomething · Tuesday at 5:04 AM

Mini documentary Youtube channel Sci Show has an episode on why it's so hard to schedule a game of D&D.
Turns out it's not just us. Science proves scheduling is hard!!

jmartkdr2 · Tuesday at 5:40 AM

This does a great job explaining why getting a bunch of friends together and trying to schedule a game is so hard.

But it never addresses the inverse, which has always been my go-to solution: find a time and then get a group of people who can make that time work. You may need to go through a few iterations before you get a group together, but at that point you’ll have made some friends.

Bohandas · Tuesday at 6:52 AM

jmartkdr2 said:
But it never addresses the inverse, which has always been my go-to solution: find a time and then get a group of people who can make that time work.

That's been what's most successful for me so far

Lanefan · Tuesday at 8:19 AM

That how I do it: I set a night of the week and say "that's game night - who's in?".

That said, I've seen and run games where not everyone shows up every week; if we've got half or more we sail anyway, and the PCs of the missing players are played by the players present.

Zardnaar · Tuesday at 10:17 AM

Players don't get choice on time.

Sessions on xyz can you make that times slot.

cranberry · Tuesday at 10:50 AM

Yep, set a time, and play with those who can make it.

However, we do set a minimum of 3 out of 5 in order to hold a game.

Some players are OK with others running their character while they are away, some aren't. For those who aren't, we assume that their character is in the background. There, but not there.

Mannahnin · Tuesday at 1:05 PM

The GM setting a day and keeping and recruiting players who can make that day is one of the classic solutions.

Another is settling on one timeslot that does work for everyone and getting people to commit to it- so they avoid scheduling anything which would conflict with it.

Here's another good scheduling methodology:

The Firebird · Tuesday at 1:24 PM

Static timeslots help a lot, but it is hard to avoid that RPGs are a massive time commitment. Most commonly you want to play weekly for several hours, and adults with busy lives will always have conflicts there.

payn · Tuesday at 1:33 PM

I've actually had more success since Discord. Folks can stay in touch easier and talk about any up coming difficulties and work arounds.

billd91 · Tuesday at 2:00 PM

If a group of people can get together for a sports league night (bowling, volleyball, curling, soccer, whatever), they can get together for a D&D night. We make it as stable a schedule as we can for the weekly game. Easy to plan around. And of the 6 players I have, we play if at least 3-4 can make it. If 1 or 2 have to miss, we continue on with the quorum.

D&D General Your D&D Party is too big! (Science says scheduling is hard)

MichaelSomething

Legend

jmartkdr2

Hero

Bohandas

Hero

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

Zardnaar

Legend

cranberry

Hero

Mannahnin

Scion of Murgen (He/Him)

The Firebird

Explorer

payn

Glory to Marik

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️

Similar Threads

Trending content