For those who may be interested, our gaming group has gone through some changes of late, which have been very prositive, and just maybe it is something that other people's gaming groups can learn from to their advantage.

We have a small group of five of us who we, until recently, gamed with on a weekly evening session of about two and a half to three hours. It was proving unsatisfactory as it meant that it only took two people to be mssing for a session that it became unplayable. It started to get the the point where we were unable to play regaularly and became very frustrating. We were also finding the social side of the meeting was starting to slip as the game took over as we tried to squeeze as much play as we could. In addition, we've also found some of the gaming itself starting to slip, as I (at least) struggled to get games fully prepared for a weekly session, of there ended up being so long between planning the adventure and actually running it that I'd forgotten some of the details of it by the time I came to running it.

However, we have had, about once or twice a year, a "special" session, where we start at lunch time and play through until late, on a saturday so that the late night doesn't interfere with anyone's work or study. These specials have provided some of our best roleplaying experiences of the last few years, including the first ever sessions of Etherscope and my soon-to-be-released Savage Worlds setting, Sion: Deliverance.

The decision that we made was to ditch the weekly short session in favour of monthly "specials". We've had two now, one for December and one for January, and both have been execellent games, and well worth the wait. These specials have allowed us to expand out our group, inviting people from further afield or who wouldn't normally have the ability to get to the gaming session on a weekday evening due to being confined to public transport options. The gaming is better, allowing more time for planning and a much more immersive gaming session. And the social event is better, too, with more time for a chat during breaks in the game, and as I provide transport for half the group, some good chats in the car on the way home, too!

All in all it's been a very definite change for the better. I don't know what everyone else's gaming situation is like, but if you have the opportunity to change as we did I would very much recommend it!