DM Troubles

[TheWixster]

Hello, my friends have been running with the same DM for quite some time now, and he's developed a habit of cancelling scheduled DnD nights at the last moment. At one point, he had cancelled eight sessions (one session a week, so two months) in succession. How should we approach this problem without estranging anyone and yet have hope that the problem will stop in the future? any tips?

[Tokiko Mima]

Approach it like you would any situation where someone constantly cancels. In a non-confrontational or accusatory way ask him why he's cancelling, and if there is anything you can do to help. Politely suggest that if he knows he won't be DMing that night that he consider giving you a little more warning, because it would give everyone else a chance to make other plans.

If you're up to it, maybe suggest that you start DMing your own campaign just before or after his is scheduled. That way you could still get in your D&D time even if he has to cancel. This is all about communication skills, so you need to open a dialogue to fix this.

[tannish2]

or just have 2 people who can both DM in your group, who knows, you may find that the new one is better, enjoys it, adn the old DM enjoys there campaign, i play in a group of 5 people, every other week someone is missing and we dont like to pop characters in and out, so all but me are DMs, and thats only because im lazy, it works quite well

[Matthew]

Sounds like he is way too busy with Real Life to run the game. If the game is scheduled to take place at his house, change the venue. Then, make sure you have a backup game to play instead (any sort of game will do, even another RPG). Preface this with a "Hey Bob, we're noticing that you might be getting a bit too busy to run our regular game, so we were thinking..."

[Dausuul]

Hello, my friends have been running with the same DM for quite some time now, and he's developed a habit of cancelling scheduled DnD nights at the last moment. At one point, he had cancelled eight sessions (one session a week, so two months) in succession. How should we approach this problem without estranging anyone and yet have hope that the problem will stop in the future? any tips?

Sounds to me like your DM is burnt out but isn't ready to admit it. See if there's anyone else in the group who wants to run for a while, then suggest that you take a break from your current game and have the new person try his/her hand. With any luck, that will solve the problem--and even if it doesn't, it's a lot easier to play with one less player than it is to play without a DM.

[TheWixster]

thanks all for the advice :) my other problem that i forgot to mention is that he often burns out on a campaign within 2 sessions of starting it... one could say that i've spent more time making characters than actually playing the games. another sign of burnout?

[Dausuul]

thanks all for the advice :) my other problem that i forgot to mention is that he often burns out on a campaign within 2 sessions of starting it... one could say that i've spent more time making characters than actually playing the games. another sign of burnout?

Hoo yeah. Either he's burnt out or he just doesn't really like DMing. Either way, it's definitely time for someone else to take over.

[0oo0]

As another member of this group, I would agree with the burnt out assessment. Sadly, he is a great DM, while the rest of us have very little experience running games. The other person who is an exceptional DM is even more flaky, we didn't even have sessions to cancel at the last minute .

I think we just need to have someone else run a game or two, just so the main DM gets a break. Maybe we should draw straws or something

[TheWixster]

i suppose i'd be willing to run one... i'd be a bit rusty but hey... i wouldnt cancel last minute :P

[Swooper]

Man, that sounds a bit like my usual DM, sadly. He doesn't burn out on campaigns, he just makes worse and less interesting campaigns (the last example puts the PCs as sidekicks to the *real* protagonists, who are all DMPCs How interesting can that be to play?)

He won't be a problem though; I'm going away for university for the next three years and hopefully he'll have reclaimed his spark by then. Although I'm certain he'll have forgot what little he knew about the system...

[Kurald Galain]

(the last example puts the PCs as sidekicks to the *real* protagonists, who are all DMPCs How interesting can that be to play?)

Been there, done that, got bored to death before I wrote the book.

As to the OP, I'd suggest either playing some non-RPG game for some of those gaming nights (any variety of board or family games come to mind depending on what your group is into, ranging from Twilight Imperium to Guitar Hero) - or have one of the regular players do a bunch of one-shots in a none-too-serious RPG such as Toon or Paranoia. Do invite the original DM along. Perhaps it de-stresses him to know that there is an alternative if he has had no time to prepare for whatever, and you can still get together and have fun.