Sorry for not posting yesterday, unfortunately, I was unable to come up with a topic for discussion. Anyways, today I will be touching on the idea of game preparation. From the various groups I have played with, I have seen a few different approaches to starting games and running game sessions.
With my first group, we generally played on weekends and for the better part of two years, were dependent completely on the DM and when he wished to play. If he was too busy playing World of Warcraft, we skipped that week (usually to my and the other players disappointment). When someone else from the group started a campaign, the same thing happened but amazingly enough, school work was almost never the reason for not playing. With this being said, the players often are at a disadvantage due to being dependent on the DM/GM to continue play.
With the second group I have played with, the DM largely was more reliable. Unfortunately, the campaign fell apart after he was unreasonably strict and seemed to target specific players to unfairly punish. With this, the test did not arise when he was unwilling to run a session.
Finally, I picked up the torch and am leading a campaign now. I honestly want to be as reliable as possible but remain uncertain as to how to "punish" myself for missing sessions or having to postpone. Ultimately, I like running the games and hanging out with people so I hope nothing comes up, but if it does, I am trying to come up with something I could do to make it up to people. Maybe a free round at the bar on me would be fair.
I welcome any suggestions from players and other GMs over how to not miss sessions.
