A group without Players

Frequently, I have difficulty finding players for my campaigns. This leads to small groups consisting of players that I have often just taught how to play. Now, this isnt so bad; sessions are usually very fun and pretty creative learning experiences for everyone involved. I love to watch newcomers get used to the game, or fall in love and get really attached to the character they are playing. However, there is one massive detriment to small, newly organized gaming groups: the loss of a player.

Since I have moved back to my home town, I have run a variety of D20 games ranging from D20 Modern, Future, Past, Apocalyptic (Zombie and Robotic), and D&D v3.5. Each time I run a new system, it is because I'm running a new group with their own tastes for stories, and I am generally teaching a new person how to play with a D20 system every campaign. Normally, this is not uncommon for an experienced DM who hasn't gotten his roots deep enough into the gaming community of a new place. He may play one system with a group for a month or two before moving on to a new story (after the last group finished the story, of course). Unfortunately this has not been the case in my experience. Over the past year, I have run all of the above listed systems for possibly a few weeks to a month or even maybe just a few days at a time! This is mostly due to something I consider "the curse". Every time I recruit a new player, 1/4 to a half way through the adventure, something occurs in that person's life that forces them to go far away. So far, my players have gone to New York, California, Philadelphia, and Florida.

Now, I wish not to be misconstrued, while these happenings are VERY frustrating, I more mean this post to be a cautionary tale to other GMs out there who may happen upon this blog. It's the only issue I have ever found with playing TTRPG as apposed to video games; you have to actually have other people to make it work.