TOPIC: Discussion about the Rotation sign up process

I thought it might be worthwhile raising this conversation myself and Andrek had up from the Shoutbox.

The key question is can we improve upon the sign up process for games and if so, how?

On the whole I think it works out fairly well subject to a couple of niggles.

Niggle 1: People sign up for a game, then another game is posted then they switch games leaving the original GM in the lurch.

Example: I recruited players for a One Ring game. A few weeks before it's due to start I get a message telling me players are leaving to join another game. I could've tried recruiting from scratch, but felt unwilling to continue doing some fairly hefty prep for a game that might no longer happen.

Niggle 2: (Courtesy of Andrek, but I concur) A large proportion of games are posted which aren't open to new players.

Example: for Rotation 3, until the 11th hour when MikeAW stepped in ( thumbs up for Mike) not a single game was open to new players, with all 3 previously posted games continuations of previous games.


I'm not sure I've got an idea of how things could be improved, but not exactly sure how it'd work.

Anyway I think it'd be useful for GMs thinking of running a game to have a quick chat before hand. Maybe there could be a Rotation 5 GMs discussion thread for instance where potential GMs for the rotation could discuss what they want to run to help ensure there's no stepping on peoples toes or if there's too many games close to new players, postpone them to the next rotation. It'd also highlight at an early stage if there's not enough games being run for a rotation, and perhaps give someone encouragement to give it a go.

Any thoughts?

Hi, I can understand & empathise with the niggles but generally I think it works ok; just every once in a while theres a "hiccup".
In response to your niggle 1, Ive adopted Banes idea of a "no bailers" policy. thereby your not allowed in my game if youre already signed up for another.
Niggle 2 is alittle more problematic & I think is caused by the one thing thats makes our club so great: the 8 week rotation. Many of the published adventures are designed for players who can get together with no time requirement so sometimes these fail to be concluded within the 8 week period. On top of that especially in chaosium/pathfinder systems there a number of excellent campaigns that really do take A LONG time to finish.
My only suggestion to this niggle echoes yours & that we try to encourage more people to step up to the GMing plate & give it a bash.

I'm not knocking continuation games, just that if you get to a situation where there aren't any games for new players it sends a bit of f you to more recent members of the club.

your solution to niggle 1 depends on the timing , if you advertise the continuation game nice and early it works well as potential players won't sign up for other games first.

Still think potential GMs having a quick chat up front would work best.

Ooh my favourite topic and for once I didn't start it.

No one is a fan of the current system, however if I must concede it works for the most part.

I as Eomak kindly pointed out have a no bailers policy, if you signed up for another game you can't join mine. If we employed that across all the games it would stop the signing up to something and jumping if something better comes along.

The continuation of games is a little more problematic as, let's face we're all role players and like nothing more than a good campaign. But we used to have a rule of only 2 continuing games per rotation, and that has always seemed to work.

I'm sure Sarge will be on shortly saying it ain't bust so why try and fix it and it is a valid point and 98% of the time I agree. However I agree with Andy here that for new members it is hard and frustrating.

The only other method that I think is fair would be to post games then have sign up at 8:00pm on Thursday night at the club on week 6 of the preceding rotation.

So preference is given to players who are actually there and not who can sit on the internet all day.

I'm going to put my head back in my flack jacket and wait for a good flaming, I haven't had one of those since I last suggested the above game sign up method.

I'm largely in agreement with your comments Bane, my big concern with that sign up method is that 2 weeks is not enough time to prep for a campaign, and prepping before hand for something that might not run is a bit risky. Also if there's not enough games its too short a time for another GM to step up.

The other issue is that those who miss out on a rotation, it'd be harder for them to get back in. Ditto those who are on holiday or working on the 6th week. Not opposed to the principle though.

And that brings us to the crux of the situation, there is no perfect method. No matter what we decide to do it will always come under some flack every now and then. What we have now works most of the time, and every now and then we get these "blips". However if someone comes up with something we can all agree on we will switch.

The club is on the whole progressive and nearly died until the 8 week rotation saved it, along with the website. We have lost players along the way and the door is always open for them to comeback. There is no perfect sign up at the moment so it will remain the same for the time being.

If only we could all agree on the no bailers policy.

The two continuations per rotation is still in place, or so I believe.