So you’ve got some people who expressed interest starting up a regular game. What now?
I would argue your best first step is to send out a survey. Google Forms is excellent for this (you can send results to a spreadsheet on Google Drive, which you can then share with the group to make a final decision). But there are definitely other options out there.
The alternative is often discussing things in email, text, Discord, or other written chat. If the group leans toward indecisiveness, that can be where decisions go to die.
Surveys help you make some executive decisions that you can then present back to the group, getting you past the initial jolt of “blank page syndrome.”
A survey should do two things: collect the information you need to make decisions (cutting through that early indecisiveness) and communicate options to players (since people will often bow out if they assume scheduling will be too strict for their situation).
Ask the right questions
The first time you draft a survey, I would recommend sitting on the questions for a day or two, and then review it before sending it out. It’s important you ask the questions the group needs to make a decision, as well as choose the right answer choices/field types to get useful answers.
Make sure the important questions are marked as required, so they can’t be skipped. Make sure an “other” free-text option is available for questions where people’s situations might not fit the provided options (but avoid using it where you think respondents might use it to avoid an important piece of information). Make sure it’s easy for everyone to interpret the results.
Depending on the context, you might consider the following prompts:
- What schedule are you interested in? Differentiate between “I’d be able to play regularly” vs. “I would not be able to play regularly, and would be interested in drop-in/drop-out or one-shots.” Not only does this let you gauge everyone’s availability, it communicates you’re open to working around players’ absences and irregular schedules.
- How often could you play? Weekly, every other week (avoid the confusion of “biweekly”), monthly, or irregular. You might provide an “other” option if you expect more complicated patterns.
- What days don’t work? Make this a checklist, so players can choose multiple options. These are days that absolutely won’t work , that should be ruled out entirely. This will tell you what’s possible , even if it’s not ideal . (We’ll talk about scheduling in the next section.)
- What days work best? Make this a separate checklist, allowing players to provide their preferences. This will tell you what’s ideal . If it works out, great; if not, you can always fall back to what’s possible . It also helps set expectations, so that players can indicate which days they may be iffy. (The “best” options may eventually turn into the “only” options if people were too optimistic about their schedules on the front end.)
- What role(s) are you interested in? If it’s not already decided, include a checklist with options for “player” and “gamemaster.” This helps identify who would actually run the game (if you aren’t going to be the GM, or if you want to swap out down the road).
- What games are you interested in? If you know what options you (or others) have available, it’s a good time to ask that here. Again, this can be a checklist, which helps identify people’s preferences and hard lines on certain games. This is rare and tend to be unspoken—most people won’t say “I won’t play (game X)” but you’ll see interest suddenly deflate if certain games are or aren’t chosen.
- What location(s) would work best for you (game stores you frequent, etc.)? If this is unknown, leave this as a short text field so that people can offer options (their homes or preferred FLGS’s) that you can discuss as a follow-up.
- Email, name, or Discord username: Require that survey participants identify themselves so as to help follow-up discussions.
Look for a workable schedule, not a perfect schedule
The biggest benefit of a survey is it collects all the scheduling information in one place at one time. Oftentimes, groups can get into the weeds looking for a time that is perfect for everyone. That can obscure the information that the group actually needs for scheduling.
In a survey, I’ve found that a clear “winner” for the day/time usually emerges pretty quickly (especially if you use a Google Sheets chart to graph responses). Unfortunately, it may also become crystal clear that some potential players just can’t line up schedules anyone else, so you might have to pick the largest group with the most reliable schedules.
It sucks to have to leave people out when forming a group, but it might be the difference between a game remaining in discussion limbo forever and actually getting off the ground. Remember that as GM, you can structure your game so that some players can drop-in/drop-out irregularly, which can be helpful as a compromise.
Hold survey responses loosely
Remember that if you get an initial yes, or even a survey response, that doesn’t mean that player will actually follow through. They may say they’re interested multiple times, and even give you information about scheduling, but for some other reason (unexpected conflicts, overestimating whether they’ll feel up to it, intimidation at the game itself, etc.) they might drop out when plans begin to finalize.
As someone who can be pretty sensitive and defaults to taking people at their word, this has been a struggle for me. It’s not fun, confusing, and you might take it personally (especially if you’ve tried to work around their stated schedule and preferences, or put effort into making things flexible and accessible). It’s especially disappointing when it happens with multiple people at the same time for different reasons. If it’s a regular pattern with friends and acquaintances it might even warrant discussion outside of gaming. But preparing for the possibility can be an important part of setting expectations—both for others and for yourself. (After all, if you’re organizing a game, you’re investing time, effort, and emotion upfront.)
Follow-up discussion after the survey will usually help confirm people’s intent—especially once you pick a specific date. If someone isn’t responsive to questions the group needs to know to plan the game (e.g., “what type of character are you thinking about playing?”, “do you need help rolling up your character?”, etc.), that’s a hint they’re going to bail. If that happens, you can always go back to the survey, see if there’s a better time that works for the remaining players, and keep moving forward.