Oh bear, do I hate people. It seems like no matter what I do, I cannot get a group of like-minded, conscientious roleplay gamers together. I have done several one-shots, with the hope of finding people who would stick around, answer questions, respond to my messages, and not be a dick. I have been trying to run a regular game for over 6 weeks. Either the players are jerks in-game, they can't respond to repeated requests to schedule the next session, or they tell me AFTER the session that they cannot commit to a campaign right now.

My IRL Wednesday group is great. Ever since we started doing table fees, we've only had an increase of players at the store. Each player pays $3 to the store, which goes to their GM as store credit. Wonderful. Everyone has shown up very consistently, actually engaged in the game, really seemed to care. So, I thought, I'll start charging for my online games.

Well, I got a lot fewer responses, that's for sure. I am glad for that. A lot of the responses I had gotten previously were very low effort; most didn't even read my game listing before posting. But now the trouble is finding players who are willing to pay $3 a session AND are not jerks who don't respond to messages.

Last Monday, I ran a one-shot with the idea that it was an "interview" of sorts for my campaign. Great. I posted a bit about the world, that there would be a "table fee" once the campaign started going, and only apply if you can seriously commit to this exact time and day of the week. I got 12 responses! Wow, I thought, ok, I know some of these people will probably be "cut," if you will, from the game, but this is looking very promising! The evening before the game, one of the players says they can't make that time slot regularly, but could he still play? No! I told him as gently as I could, best not. He seemed rather salty, but who was the one who didn't read my fucking post?? Morning comes, and three players don't show up on time for the game (or at all), so obviously, they were cut. One player then drops out about an hour in due to technical issues and ignored all my attempts to message him during and after the game. Another one got called into work toward the end of the session. Jear Desus, if you were on call, why did you apply?!?! Ok, fine, we're done to six. Six is a great number of players for a campaign. But as the week went on, every single one of these fuckers tells me they can't play at the time slot I've set.

So! Yesterday was take 2 of the "interview." Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up, but I was so tired of my time being waster over and over again that I told the new group how I had started with 12 and ended with 0. I told them right then if you cannot make this time slot each week, leave the game now and no one will say anything. No one left at that point, so I was feeling pretty good. I only had five players, but that's fine. Five is a good number. I ran them through my one-shot, roleplayed a bit, got to know them a bit, and they all seemed great. As the game was wrapping up, I send out the player surveys. I had written up a bunch of questions I wanted each player to answer so I could get an idea of how they felt about different elements of the game, so as to tailor the game toward them a bit and make a better experience for all. So far, only 3 people have returned their surveys. Two have not. And one of them was also the player who had literally never signed into roll20 ever in his life, let alone make a character for it. So right as the first combat encounter was starting, he was trying to set up his character sheet. I don't think I'll be inviting him to the campaign. The other person; I'm not sure what his deal is. Maybe he hated it and just wants to ghost me. Apparently, that is very common.

As it is, I am still on the hunt for the mythical, elusive player who actually gives a damn, shows up on time, engages in the game and answers fucking messages.

7:35 P.M. - 06.04.19