Gaming

My gaming group has, typically, six people in it. Three of those six have been gaming together regularly since 1995 now. A fourth was brought in about two years later and has been with us every since and the fifth and sixth are newer, but not that new, to this group. For awhile, we had three wives playing with us, too, which made for a very large and interesting group. One of those wives was a starting member in 1995 (giving us a quartet at that time, three players and a DM). She was also the last woman to stop playing in the game and only did because she had children. She still sometimes wants to play with us, but until the kids are older, has to stand back.

Most consistently, we have two games running at any one time. Originally it wound up being one current and one on hold until the current DM hit a wall, life intruded, or we reached the end of the particular storyline. Then the other game would start back up and we would keep going. We have been lucky in that nearly all of the players also like to DM, so we have played a variety of different games and styles due to this wealth of resources.

We went from playing every week on Friday to playing less often and on the weekends for awhile, until a DM stepped up and started a “fortnightly” game on Thursdays to augment our playing. Now we play once a month on Saturday for a long session of one game and once every two weeks for a shorter period of time in another game.

Soon, one friend needed to quit the fortnightly game, but the rest of us continued on. He has continued to attend the monthly game.

Now, our current monthly session DM, who is also one of the players in the fortnightly game, has decided to call it quits from roleplaying altogether. While I understand that life issues came up, he dumped his game at an awkward time an way and has been in little to no contact with our group since then; it’s hard not to take that sort of thing a little personally. However, I assume he has his reasons and he has quit before only to come back 6 months or a year later to play for a while longer. The friend who quit the fortnightly game is seriously considering a move out of state. The friend who hosts and DMs the fortnightly game is moving about 30 miles away through some awful traffic patterns. This may impact our ability to meet on a “school night” for gaming. Especially as one member already lives 30 miles south of the current location—that will make for a long night and drive home for him!

So, after a good, long run, it looks like this group may no longer be able to continue their gaming as this year progresses. If we can, it will be likely in fits and starts and with a much smaller cast. And this cast will get smaller still, as I am actively working on my immigration process to go to Canada. Hopefully by the end of this year or early next, I will be moving to the east coast and joining with friends there who game to get my DnD jones on.

I hope this group can continue until I leave and beyond. It’s a good group of people.