How to deal with flakey players?

[Noon]

Cease inviting him?

I mean really, when they do this and you invite them again, your saying "Hey, I'll invite you even if you flake out at the last second, so flaking out is okay!". If you stop inviting them, you stop saying that.

But if your in one of those "We don't do anything together except gaming and to stop inviting someone is to stop being their friend and doing anything with them" then I dunno what you can do...except start doing activities with them outside of gaming.

[Damian Magecraft]

As implied with the title. I have a group of players that are pretty good. However every weekend there is always a player that either does or attempts to cancel out at the last minute. Its usually the same few players. They are good players when they are there, but they simply cancel out every so often, usually shortly before the game. I am okay with being able to plan it out, but when they usually tell me they are good to play until the last moment where they usually have horribly lame excuses. I try to avoid playing to many games where key players are constantly missing in my campaign. Anyway, does anyone else have this dilemma and if so how do they deal with it?

you say the excuses are lame. how so?
are they using work as an excuse?
this one i can sympathize with as in my line of work we often will not know we have to work overtime until the last minute. (IE its the last day of work and the day before game day and they often come up and say we need you work tomorrow.)
are they using money as the excuse? IE: "I do not have enough money to get out to your place this week so I am gonna have to skip this week" this too i can sympathize with. i have to travel 50+ miles to the place where my games are held and another 50+ miles a day to my place of work so sometimes i miss out due to a lack of gas money.
or is it more like "i forgot about the game" or "well this was the season finale of (insert favorite show here) and my recorder is busted."
if it is then i suspect they do not place same priority to the game that you do.
if you wish for them to remain a part of the game then you will just have to accept this "flakeyness" and not center games around their chars. if on the other hand you do not care if they never rejoin the game then i would suggest you stop inviting them to game with you.
in any event regardless of what reason they use there is no excuse for bailing out at the last minute by this i mean waiting until game time to call and bail or not even calling at all. if they are not calling you early enough to cancel then tell them so. let them know you would appreciate a little more advance notice that they are not going to be there.

[dark brandon]

As implied with the title. I have a group of players that are pretty good. However every weekend there is always a player that either does or attempts to cancel out at the last minute. Its usually the same few players. They are good players when they are there, but they simply cancel out every so often, usually shortly before the game. I am okay with being able to plan it out, but when they usually tell me they are good to play until the last moment where they usually have horribly lame excuses. I try to avoid playing to many games where key players are constantly missing in my campaign. Anyway, does anyone else have this dilemma and if so how do they deal with it?

First is to always concider that they are flaking on a game. To properly address this, one should always take that into account.

When we have a flaky player (and we do), we simply don't rotate the story around sed character. He's a good guy, just when a new game comes out, we can expect not to see him for a week or so.

As a GM, I don't plan on that character being there, but when he is, I add him in and welcome him. Simply put, we try not to make someone not showing an "issue". To make the player feel welcomed when he is there, I may give a small plot line he's in, but nothing that the group can do without.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

just be honest with them. Tell them that it wrecks hours of your work into the game as well as putting the death blow to your evening.

We say gaming isn't important, but really look at the work you might put into a game, a couple hours probably. You could be doing something else with that time if you weren't running a game. So I think it only fair that people respect that.

I recently had to lay down the law, as it were, with my group. It was a large group 9+players, with a few problem players, who would constantly crack up and generally be disruptive to the game. It takes a lot to get me angry, but that week (a kind of restart session) I had put in about 14 hours of work that week on the game, getting scenario, special rules, encounters, npc's, character hand-outs, and other projects ready. Before we could get 10 minutes into the game, the disruptive players trotted out their lame jokes and interrupting stories. I got "heated" and let them know that if they weren't going to respect the work I had put into the game so THEY could have fun, then I might as well not run. If they couldn't give me their partial attention for 6 hours then I could make much better use of my time. [/rant]

anyways, just bring it up and let them know that it kills your evenings and a little advanced warning would be greately appreciated.

[Nxla666]

I dont deal with flakey players they either show up and play at the appointed time or let me know they wont be showing up and have a valid reason or they dont need to worry about showing up next time as well, the rest of us are here why cant you be?

Some reasons are given a pass without questions; "my wifes in labor so we wont make it" is fine, "my wife/girlfriend wants to spend more time together" is a lame excuse because you and her should have had this sorted out a while ago. (Yes I am married and have been for the last 15 years and yes she does play but not in all the games I've run.)

When I recruit(ed) players I let them know up front that they are expected to show up at the appointed time and place (I always have had the games scheduled for the same day of the week and, usually, the same place) and if they arent able to keep to this then dont ask to play.

Yes I am hard assed about it.

[Overlord Rikonius]

Assuming you can't get the guy to not be a flake, and also that you want to keep him in the game, maybe you should modify his character in some way where the player's absense is accounted for in the plot.

Possibilities:
Exposed to weird radiation, sometimes vanishes from existence, only to reappear later
Split personality: When the player's there, he's the default persona. When the player can't make it, NPC him as another personality.
Possession: same basic idea as split personality.
Narcolepsy

[Spinachcat]

Be upfront with them. Let them know it blows when you have a small group and people flake and the game gets cancelled. The last minute cancellation thing is not okay. That screams lack of respect.

But don't expect to change their behavior.

Do whatever you can to get more players. Flakes often cause chain reactions that kill groups.

[Jesterzzn]

Here is how I delt with it.

The players' characters that are absent are still present in the game, but they are just there. They offer no out of combat input, they rarely take any out of combat actions, and the remaining players have to try and get by without them during any role-played events.

They are controled by the Gm during combat, but they only take generic actions. Shoot. Dodge. Move.

They get no XP for the session.


Eventually the players that flake will either start attending to keep their character at the same level range as the other players, or more likely, they will get frustrated with being under leveled and quit the game.

The reason I did things this way is because players are hard to find. If you have a good one that's a flake, you probably don't want to run him off. The odds of getting another good one are pretty slim.

[Nxla666]

I keep seeing this and it confuses me, how is a player "good" yet still a flake?

These terms are mutually exclusive to me.

[Jesterzzn]

I keep seeing this and it confuses me, how is a player "good" yet still a flake?

These terms are mutually exclusive to me.

Huh, my experience is that reliablity and role-play ability are pretty much two entirely different things.

[Nxla666]

I keep seeing this and it confuses me, how is a player "good" yet still a flake?

These terms are mutually exclusive to me.

Huh, my experience is that reliablity and role-play ability are pretty much two entirely different things.

No, a persons ability to RP is pretty much dependent on how often they show up, cant RP if your not there.

I'd rather have a mediocre player who shows up to game than a Shakespearan quality RPer who shows up when he feels like it.

[Jesterzzn]

I keep seeing this and it confuses me, how is a player "good" yet still a flake?

These terms are mutually exclusive to me.

Huh, my experience is that reliablity and role-play ability are pretty much two entirely different things.

No, a persons ability to RP is pretty much dependent on how often they show up, cant RP if your not there.

I'd rather have a mediocre player who shows up to game than a Shakespearan quality RPer who shows up when he feels like it.

Eh, then you must be lucky, cause in my twenty years of gaming I can't remember playing with anyone of Shakespeare quality to begin with. Usually I played with people that were either willing to rople-play or those that only wanted to kill stuff and get pretend money. The guys that enjoyed role-play and made the game enjoyable for others, were given a longer leash in the games I ran. Anyone can show up and throw dice, but not everyone that showed up every game was fun to be around and play with.

[Danger]

I keep seeing this and it confuses me, how is a player "good" yet still a flake?

These terms are mutually exclusive to me.

Huh, my experience is that reliablity and role-play ability are pretty much two entirely different things.

Agreed.