Is a campaign night a better hangout than a one-off, or am I just tired of teaching rules?

Last Saturday I ran a 3 hour one-off of a medium weight game for 5 people. Two of them had never played anything heavier than Monopoly. I spent the first 45 minutes just going over turns, answering the same question about what a worker placement even is, and resetting one guy's pieces twice because he kept picking up the wrong color. By the time we actually got going, two people were checking their phones. That same group did a 4 session campaign with a lighter game back in March and it was way more fun by session 2, nobody needed reminders, people were trash talking, we even ordered pizza. So is the learning curve worth it for a group that only meets once a month? Or should I just stick to games that take 10 minutes to explain and accept that we're never doing anything deeper? Has anyone else had a group that only clicked after a few plays?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren30710d ago

Wait, so campaign night is just one-off night with extra homework and pizza?

troykim10d ago

Got a buddy who ran a 6 session campaign of a sci-fi dungeon crawler with his coworkers. First session was brutal, one guy spent his whole turn just staring at the dice like they owed him money, and another kept trying to move his character through walls. By session three though, that same guy was setting up ambushes and even painted his little miniature. Now they only play campaign style because the one-offs feel like wasting the first hour on homework. The fun only starts when people stop reading the rulebook and start making jokes about the goblin with a grudge.