Thursday, May 29, 2014

Too many Cooks, Not enough Diners

One big change I've noticed in recent gaming is the fact that there are a lot more GM's and a lot fewer Players than in the past.

if I may grog a bit, in the past most gaming groups had 1 or two person who wanted to GM or DM. This was an unwanted chore basically.

Over time, we did get a few more GM's but the usual problem was too many different games and a good chunk of the group didn't want to play someone else's favorite.  A personal example, I've loved GURPS since Man to Man but it was nearly impossible where I lived to bring non GURPS specific groups into playing.

We had the same issue with Rolemaster (though I could often find RM specific groups) Harn, Traveller and many other  games. In the end we compromised on something no one loved but no  one hated either. AD&D 2e. Fine. This rarely lead to long term games but sometimes it did and in general we had a decent enough time.

Als as I had a huge gaming circle to choose from (20+ players) it was easier to find players.

Now we have a different problem, everyone (me included) wants to DM each a  different system no less) and no one wants to play very much. Me excluded if we do D&D long term.

We ended up with a highly unsatisfactory compromise, 4 sessions one game , 1 boardgame night (I do like this) and than onto another game. This basically means nothing but extended one shots  and very little in the way of getting into a game.

This sucks but short of getting a new group (and we had a good player leave to do just that just prior to our compromise)  I don't have a solution.  The gaming is good its just not great.

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