>>395017
As obvious as it is to say, I think the takeaway here is that if you want to stay "engaged", you need to not stop engaging with your hobby. If your weekly game gets canceled, you need to find some way to supplement that instead of just taking a day off, because a few canceled sessions in a row and suddenly it's not just a "day off", but it's just another day and you will feel less motivated to stay with it. Think of it like a workout schedule. Start skipping too many days and soon you'll just stop going entirely. Once that happens, it will be harder to start all over again.
So, if you're the GM and you've got a canceled session or two, do not go through your week thinking,
>"I've got another week to work on my campaign material!"
Instead, you should still plan accordingly, as if you were going to be running as normal, meaning you should have enough material ready for the session that would have been happening. Then, for the next week, you should continue to work as normal too, having enough material for two weeks. Even if you're caught up with enough material for the next year, take that time to go in and fine tune things. Make sure you've got stat blocks for important NPCs. Think about plot-lines and sidequests that resonate with your party. If that's not the kind of game you're running, well maybe take the chunk of time that was meant for your game and sit down with the rulebook and just brush up on the basic mechanics for a while and use that knowledge to come up with encounters and challenges that will play to and push the limits of the party's abilities.
If you're a player, things are a little trickier. Sitting down to read the book and brush up on all your character's powers is nice. Planning out your next few level ups wouldn't hurt either. Use a canceled session as an excuse to maybe clean up your character sheet. Get a fresh printout and transfer everything over. Make and print out a quick-ref sheet of your spells or abilities. Paint, make, or obtain that mini for your character that you've been meaning to get. Build that terrain you've always wanted. Make that thing you thought your game always needed, like a good initiative tracker or something. Maybe pre-gen a few characters so you can be ready for other games or just gain a better understanding of how to play other character types in the system you're running.
For board and card games, the best I can suggest is taking the extra time you've been given by a canceled gathering to sit down and sort out things. Tidy up your shelves and maybe clean up around the area where you store your games so you can free up more space. If that's not a problem, consider doing some simple box modding on the games that get to the table most. Make dividers or hit up the dollar store for some trays and little cases that you can use to separate pieces and game components instead of having them floating around the box or in a dozen different little baggies. Sleeve some cards. Reread the rules, just because. Like I said at the start of this mountainous post, it's about keeping it in your mind and maintaining the habit.
If you're one of those people who are stuck hosting game night for your friends, consider taking the time to clean up shit. Like, really clean it. Reorganize the room a bit and throw some stuff out so it's not underfoot or eating up valuable floor space. Maybe replace that one squeaky wobbly chair that no one likes sitting on. Since this is now getting into housekeeping, maybe throw on an RPG podcast while you're doing this. I don't know, I'm really out of ideas at this point.