6 Ways to Keep Players Playing for Years…

One of the biggest challenges any gamemaster has to face is keeping a game going for years. The fact is, the story gets richer and the role-playing gets better the longer a game has the same players.

I have had the privilege of having a game running for over 25+ years now. It started in the Marvel Super Heroes gaming system and adapted into Marvel Heroic. Now I am launching a new group using Star Trek Adventures published by Modiphius. I hope to keep our starships journeys on way more than a five-year mission.

As such, I have been giving a lot of thought about what made my Marvel gaming group so successful and how I can emulate it again. Here are my tips if you want to make a game that stands the test of time.

1. Smash That Table
   The fact is, we grow up. People move. Work schedules differ. Some people don’t have a car. If you are stuck with playing around a table, eventually you will lose players. Time to graduate from the table if you want to have a decades-long game. I switched to an online play-by-email (PbEM) and have even adapted it further since then, which I write about later in this article.
2. Choose Your Heroes (Players) Wisely
   I am very careful when choosing which players. I am equally careful when I write my stories. The worst situation is when a GM invests a lot of time on allowing a newbie to make a character, builds a plot line around them, and then the player moves, gets married, or decides RPG is “not for them”. Any person I allow to play I vet as a “hardcore” gamer. Until such time, I will not allow a newbie to be the crux of a campaign. I will allow them to play a minor character or a guest-starring role. Proving grounds, you know what I mean?
3. Predict Life Changes
   Even the most stalwart of players has circumstances that make playing online difficult. Loss of employment. New jobs. Marriage. Kids. Death of a family member. Financial or health woes. Some of these you can predict and write your stories accordingly. Others, you cannot predict. If there is a sudden, unexpected change with a main player character, usually another skilled player can take up their mantle until the GM can find a creative way to put the character on hiatus.
4. Know How to Write in Guest-Stars
   So, you have a newbie who swears that they are die-hard RPGers. They have a favorite character they want to play; maybe a non-player character (NPC) who is a regular in your game or their favorite superhero. I suggest making them an O’Brien (as in from Star Trek TNG then later a main character in DS9). Write them into one scene at first to test them out. Make it so that if they don’t stick with it, it comes off as a cool guest-starring role. If they do stick around, you can make sure they play a less frontline role just in case they peter out. Then, give them another try as a headliner. Do this a few times to see if they are a true diehard.
5. Write Up the Story (or at least good synopsis)
   If you really want to keep players around for a good long time, write up your stories. I have literally decades of my groups Marvel Comic stories written up. In the early days, I just did a synopsis that I could cut/paste to my players to remind them of key plot points. Now, I totally geek out. I design custom comic covers for my Marvel game and include full story write-ups. Same thing with my newest venture, Star Trek Adventures. I post the full stories online for the players to enjoy. New players can easily reference past campaigns, which inherently bonds them to the stories.
6. Use Technology
   Do spotty RPG sessions prevent truly rich character development?  Do you and your friends have to actually make a living (hence, no more weekend-long RPG binge sessions)? If that is the case, I highly suggest switching to an online format. I write about it in detail in another article about how I utilize technology to facilitate the two campaigns I run and the one I play in. Check it out.

The satisfaction I feel after two and a half decades of gaming is like nothing else. I would love to hear about your stories of long-standing, ongoing campaigns. Here’s to great RPG!