my D&D group is growing steadily, and I'm up to about 7 people total. I have 4 consistent guys, 1 player that can only make it every so often, and 2 other new guys that I'm not sure if they'll continue playing but it's possible. all of us are in our 30's and most have families, jobs, etc that keep us from being available every week for D&D. I've tried to have D&D on weeknights (2-3 hour sessions) if we just can't make it happen on a Friday night or Saturday night (4-6 hours). My problem here is getting everyone's schedule straight so that I can plan everything. I need help!

Usually what happens is that I email all 7 people as a group, and I'll get a broad range of responses. "I can't do the 14th, but I can do the 15th or 16th"...."I can't do the 16th, but I can do the 15th"...."I can't do any next week"...etc etc. I try to have a minimum of 4 players every time, but it just seems like that if anything changes and we need to push it to a different night, I have to start the email chain all over again. My group is notorious for not replying to emails, so it's a pain to do this every time. I've tried Obsidian Portal, but no one wants to check that. I thought email back and forth would be best, because I can't get anyone to check a central calendar. I thought about eVite or something, but that seems a little overkill.

Suggestions?

I use FaceBook. Everyone that plays is in the group. Of course, I generally cut my groups off at 5, so not sure how that would work for 7.

Sorry to say but cut them if they can't make it.

If you got 2 regular players, do it to their schedule as they are the regulars and the people that you can depend on and the ones that will drive the story/action forward, if the others can make it they make it, if they can't after a certain period of time cut them. They obviously don't want to play enough, so why bother having them there.

That is playing the game is your objective, if a social gathering is your objective, then have a social gathering and play boardgames or something that doesn't have a story line.

meetup.com

I haven't used it myself, but I've seen a lot of people on gaming forums use it.

Not sure if the people in the group can set aside blocks of time in the week when they'd be available (thus allowing you to find the best overlap) or if you just post a date/time and they sign up to be there. The other thing is, it might attract other people in the area that want to play (assuming they're already on meetup)

Another option may be Google Calendar tied into Google + circle.