Summary
The time has finally arrived. You’ve spent hours preparing yourDungeons & Dragonssession for this week, and it might just be your best session yet. The game is stocked with creative monsters, intriguing secrets, fantastic locations, and PC (Player Character) backstory elements.
You are tingling with excitement for the players to see what lies in store. Then, just hours before the session starts, a player cancels. Your disappointment is immeasurable, and your day is ruined. You guess you’ll have to call the session off. Every veteran DM (Dungeon Master) has been here. However, with proper preparation, it’s a hurdle you’ll easily overcome.
10Carefully Select Your Players
You’ve Got Options, We Promise
It’s a well-known fact that there are many more people interested in playing D&D than there are people interested in running it. Consequently, DMs have a wide swathe of players to choose from. If you spend just a little bit of effort looking for people outside of your friend group who might be interested in playing, they’ll quickly start knocking down your door.
A common beginner DM mistake is forcing yourself to run a game for your friends and no one else. However, you may find that your friends aren’t the most considerate TTRPG (Tabletop Role-Playing Game) players. Don’t waste your time trying to run a campaign for people who aren’t all that interested. There are players out there who want to be in your game, so go find them.
9Set Expectations
Da Rules
People won’t take your game seriously unless you do. If you are about to start a campaign, this is exactly the kind of thinga session zerois good for. Tell the players from the start that cancellations are something to be avoided, and give them a reasonable time frame for canceling.
For example, it might be okay if a player says they can’t make it to a session a day in advance. However, canceling just hours before the session starts could be unacceptable. As long as your players understand what is expected of them, cancellations will happen less frequently and in a much more professional manner.
8Remove No Shows
This is one thing about being a DM that people rarely talk about. Sometimes, you’re going to have to pull the bad apples out of your games. Problem players take many forms, and poor attendance is one of them.
Do not waste your time preparing material for a player who can’t even do the bare minimum of showing up to play in your game. These are not people who deserve to enjoy the fruits of the TTRPG hobby, and letting them know that their behavior is unacceptable makes the community a better place.
7Choose A Consistent Time And Date
This Week On Dungeons & Dragons . . .
There’s no easier way to set a schedule than simply choosing the same time for your group to meet. For example, 6:00 pm on Wednesdays. It’s easy to remember, habitual, and subconsciously makes players feel like they should be playing D&D at that time. Of course, the hard part about this is making certain that the time works for everyone’s schedules.
Whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, there’s a time and date when all of your players will consistently be available. If there’s not, then it’s probably better to find some players with more open schedules. This goes without saying, but you as the DM need to make sure to keep your schedule consistent as well.
6Send A Reminder
Make It Personal
No matter how much work you put toward making scheduling easy, people are forgetful. Overcome their forgetfulness by sending a single reminder before every game session, preferably the day before or the morning of the game.
You can even flavor your reminder to generate excitement for the game. Foreshadow events likely to occur in the game session, introduce a new NPC via text message, or include other game elements to get your players' imaginations in gear.
5Bring Backup Sessions
One-shots, My Beloved
A small portfolio of one-shots is an incredibly useful thing for any DM to create. If too many players cancel for you to run your planned campaign session, you can always runan impromptu one-shotwith the players who do show up.
This gives your players confidence that no matter what happens, there’s a session waiting for them as long as they show up. It might not be the session they wanted to play, but some good D&D is better than no D&D at all.
4Ask For Feedback
Always Be Improving
Usually, session cancellations are a player issue. However, it’s also possible that the players have lost interest in your game for a variety of reasons. In a game among friends, it can be especially hard for the players to give you proper feedback so that this issue can be fixed.
Asking the players for feedback at the end of every game session can help immensely with this problem. Especially if you honestly and sincerely tell the players that you want to get better as a DM so that they can enjoy a better game. Becoming a great DM is a long journey, but it’s one that you’re able to accomplish in a game with open communication.
3Give The Players What They Want
If They Don’t Know What They Want, Why Are They Playing?
In the same vein of asking for feedback, use that feedback to deliver a game experience that the players desire. When the players ask for more combat, give them more combat. If they feel the exploration or roleplay has been lacking lately, fill your next session with these activities.
As long as the players are having fun, they’re going to continue showing up. One easy way to ensure they have a good time is to do more of what they enjoy. Take notes on what delights your players and give them more of it, except even bigger and better as the game goes on.
2Run For Who Shows Up
Don’t Punish Your Best Players
Another pitfall of new DMs is canceling a session because one or two players can’t make it. All you need to run a session is three players. In fact, some DMs believe that three to four-player games and campaigns are ideal.
Don’t worry about explaining why the other PCs aren’t around, either. You don’t want to spend game time on the players who aren’t there. It just doesn’t make sense. You have people who showed up to play right in front of you. Play with them instead. The easiest explanation is that the other PCs remain with the party, but their actions aren’t remarked upon in this session.
1Maintain A Schedule
Flexibility Can Be Huge
It’s one thing to set a schedule and another to properly maintain it. A tip for proper schedule maintenance is to ensure you ask your players before every session what their upcoming schedules look like and if there might be any conflicts on the horizon. This allows your group an opportunity to cancel ahead of time, opening everyone’s schedules for other activities.
Alternatively, you may find that the players' schedules are amenable to running a makeup game on another time and date if an upcoming regularly scheduled session isn’t happening. Consistency is key if you ever want a chance at a long-term campaign reaching its natural conclusion. After all, if the DM can’t make time for their players, why should they make time for you?
