On the subject of TT RPGs (because I'm always willing to geek out about gaming to not think about other stuff): what has everyone's experience been with the process of getting the players to create their characters and backstory?

The reason I'm asking is I decided to try to run Rise of the Runelords again with a different group of players. I've never done a re-run of a campaign before and was excited at the prospect of seeing how things went differently.

I got the new players on-board a few weeks ago, but no one has made a character yet (the first session is still 3 weeks out, so it's not the end of the world yet) and I'm not getting any response when I ask them (individually or as a group) what their character concepts are or even if I make a "what about this?" sort of suggestion. Is this typical?

I'm beginning to wonder if I was just spoiled by my first group who spent the month leading up to the game in constant discussion with me and the other players about what everyone was playing and who they were and ways I could tweak their characters to match the AP (or vice-versa.)

We use FB chat to discuss upcoming sessions and have set up a google site where we can post our character sheets.

For the campaign I run some people have very elaborate backstories and some are more sparse. I try to tie them together in the chat and get them to work stuff up together.

I've also asked players what their characters would see in the Mirror of Erised and what form a boggart would take when confronting them.

But yeah I've had more trouble remembering elaborate backstories and keeping them in my brain during sessions than I have getting the players to flesh things out.

Yeah, I've got a Google Drive setup for the campaign. I don't think anyone has even looked at it yet.

These are all people I've gamed with before, though it's been 20 years since I last rolled dice with some of them. I'm not necessarily looking for huge backstories, right now I'd just settle for people to at least pick a class, race and alignment.

You might have to keep poking them. People get busy and forget someone's waiting on them.

I've sent enough emails that I'm worried I'm moving into annoying territory.

maybe try breaking the tasks into smaller items, and giving deadlines for each. "Let's have character concepts by the 3rd; class/race/alignment by the 10th; backstory by the 17th, so we can roll for traits on the 24th"

Or whatever (I've never GM's).

Nintendo Switch: [link]

maybe try breaking the tasks into smaller items, and giving deadlines for each. "Let's have character concepts by the 3rd; class/race/alignment by the 10th; backstory by the 17th, so we can roll for traits on the 24th"

Thanks. I just sent a "Please give me Class, Race and reason for being in the starting town before next Friday" and already got one response. Currently engaged in some back and forth with the player to flesh out his background. So that's a huge improvement over the last few weeks.

No problem. It's how I handle the students. Big tasks get postponed, smaller tasks are easier to accomplish, and they do.

Cool! I'm definitely feeling an ebb and flow when it comes to group enthusiasm and participation. Although we have rotating DMs, characters, and campaigns with the goal of playing every week, sometimes we have to take a week or two off because we can't get enough people together.

Is anybody playing MMOs besides me? I Just had a supremely frustrating run where I was trying to tank but DPS kept running ahead and pulling huge mobs. I finally quit out of frustration. Sometimes I wonder why anyone has the mettle to tank as their main class.